On Our Own

Chapter 14

I woke up to a knock at the door. "Hey Leah can I come in?" Jess asked from the hall.

"Yeah," I said back as I jumped down from the top bunk and sat on the bottom one as Jess walked in.

"I'm glad we talked and that you got some sleep," she said sincerely.

"Yeah, me too," I said back.

"What are you doing today?"

"I don't know. It's the weekend, relax, maybe visit Carter," I said glancing at her from the corner of my eye.

I thought she would get annoyed but she just touched my hand and gave me back my keys. "You can have the car back, although I suspect someone may have been using it anyway," she said giving me a knowing look, obviously she knew that I had driven it.

"Okay," I said, poker faced.

"I don't hate Carter you know," she said finally.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Look Leah I want you to know, what he did, what I said, it wasn't that he was black. It was the fact that it was illegal and dangerous. If he was white I would have behaved the same way," she explained. "This has nothing to do with race, I just want you to be safe," she said.

"I know I shouldn't have implied you were racist, I'm sorry for that," I said sincerely. "His trial is on Monday, do you mind if I go?"

"The board meeting is on Monday at seven," she reminded me.

I nodded. "I'll be there."

She nodded back and got up to leave. I changed into jeans and a white crew neck t-shirt. I grabbed my wallet and went downstairs, I ate something as I checked my phone. I was surprised with myself, but I felt the urge to talk to Ethan. Why I felt like talking to him as if I hadn't just seen him last night, I do not know. I pressed call before I could change my mind.

He didn't pick up. I texted him, instead.

Hey Mr. Perfect, wanna hang out today?

I wasn't sure how long it would take him to respond, I sighed and took my phone with me onto the patio where I sat on one of the lounge chairs. I don't know how long I sat there but Monica came out and sat next to me a little while later.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi," I said back softly.

"You okay?" Mon asked

I shrugged.

"You made up with Jess," she said more like a statement than a question.

I nodded and picked my legs up and bent them so I could rest my head on them.

"I had a really good conversation with Ms. Partinoff last night," I said.

Monica raised her eyebrows. "Really? I haven't talked to her in ages," she said.

"Yeah, she's not so bad," I said smiling faintly.

"What's got you down then?" she asked.

"I'm fine, I made up with Jess, I met our not so terrible neighbor, I'm fine," I insisted, not looking at her.

"Cut the crap, who is it? A guy?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"What? Are we in the third grade?" I asked.

She gave me an annoyed look.

"Okay, fine. yes, it's a guy."

"Ethan?"

"How-" I started to say.

"Nina told me you've been talking to him," she said, cutting me off.

"Yeah, well I kind of think I like him and he almost kissed me and now I don't know what to do," I admitted.