Highly Strung

Going Home

 “Alex!” Kathy gasped from the porch, hurrying down the stairs to stop her daughter from beating Monica to death. I stood to the side and watched, arms crossed refusing to help as Talen stood awkwardly next to me.

“You should probably just go.” I sighed. “Alex will call you later, she has your number right?”

He nodded, and bolted to his car probably wanting to be as far from the scene unfolding as possible.

I looked back to see Kathy and Cole holding Alex back while Monica wiped the blood from her nose. Noticing this, Cole let go of Alex and hurried to the other girl’s side. I watched while he pulled her to him, holding back tears as my lower lip began to tremble.

Alex was at my side in an instant, abandoning her death mission in favour of her best friend. “Come on.” She urged, taking my hand and leading me into the house.

“I should never have believed any of you!” I wailed the second we were in my room, dropping to the floor. He had done just what I knew he would do, and the very same day that I had given in. In some ways I supposed it was better, I didn’t have time to get really attached and there was still time to get out.

“I’m going home.” I decided, sitting up and wiping the few tears that had managed to leak out from my cheeks. There was no way I was going to stay while Cole flaunted his girlfriend. Obviously they were still together or he would never have helped her.

“What?” Alex snapped, turning away from the door where she’d been listening to Mr and Mrs Hays’ murmured conversation about Monica in the kitchen.

“I can’t stay here. You can’t expect me to.” I sniffled. Pulling my suitcases out from under my bed, I began piling things inside, not bothering to fold them or make sure they would fit. It didn’t matter, I just needed to leave.

“I’m coming with you, I’ll stay with you until the end of the summer when my parents come back.” She nodded, as if it closed the subject altogether. “We’ll leave in half an hour.”

I watched the door click shut behind my best friend, wondering if her coming with me was a good or bad thing.

  I sat in the car, my cell phone in my hand as I tried to dig up the courage to call my boss and tell him that I was quitting.

“Just call.” Alex sighed. “I have to go tell my parents we’re leaving, and when I get back you’d better be nice and unemployed. I giggled a little at her words and nodded, dialling the number to the diner in hopes that he would be back from his ‘meeting’.

“Hello?”

“Conrad?” I frowned. “I thought the diner was closed today.”

“It is.” He didn’t give any other information.

“Oh...” I shrugged it off, not bothering to ask what he was doing there. “Is Jeff around?”

“No.”

“Okay... Well, can you give him a message for me?” His silence indicated that I should go on. “I’m quitting. I need to go back home. I got in a fight with my, er, boyfriend I guess? And it just isn’t worth sitting around and watching Cole and his girlfriend talking and laughing together.” I was choking on tears by the end, and hung up before Conrad responded.

Alex hopped into the car, red-faced and angry but it drained from her face as soon as she saw the tears. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” I smiled weakly, wiping the tears. Why was I crying so much? “I just had to tell Conrad because Jeff still wasn’t back.”

She nodded, looking sympathetic. “Well, we’ll be home tomorrow. Maybe we can hit up Mimi’s and see Kat? I hear she’s doing well with her new boyfriend.”

I zoned out as Alex chattered on throughout the drive, too tired to keep my eyes open.

 “Hey.” I groaned, pushing Alex’s hand away from me. “We’re home, wake up.”

I bolted upright, looking up at my house and my parents where they were standing on the porch smiling with confused expressions. “Why didn’t you wake me to drive?” I replied groggily, noticing how exhausted Alex looked.

I immediately felt guilty for letting her come home with me. She’d only just met Talen, and already she left him so much earlier than she was supposed to.

“Because you deserved some actual sleep, plus you were dead to the world.” She laughed, straightening up and heading into the house. Like a zombie, I followed her into the house hugging my parents before heading up to my room. Falling into bed, I was asleep again before my head hit the pillow.

  Over the next few weeks, Alex and I spent almost all of our time together. It was supposed to distract us from Cole and Talen, and it worked for the most part. My best friend did seem happier, but I suspected that was because she was still talking to Talen most nights. I still wasn’t speaking to Cole. He’d tried to call me every day since I’d been back, but I ignored them all hoping he would just get the hint, but still he persisted.

We were at Mimi’s, sitting at a booth near the window and sipping coffee from chipped pink mugs when he called again.

Finally, I got fed up and hit the answer button. “Stop calling me, Cole. I don’t want to talk to you and yet you don’t seem to get the hint.” I practically growled, watching Alex’s eyebrows rise over the rim of her mug.

“Please, just listen to me for a-”

“No.” I cut him off. “I will not listen, stop calling.” I ended the call, slamming my cell phone down on the table in a show of finality.

“He’s been calling me too.” Alex put in, putting her mug down, tapping her long nails against the side absentmindedly.

“You haven’t been talking to him, have you?” I raised an eyebrow at the guilty look she shot at the table.

“Maybe.” She mumbled.

“Alex.” I whined.

“He’s my brother!” She emphasized, exasperated.

“Well, what has he been saying?” I wondered, half hoping she wouldn’t respond.

Of course she did. “Well.” She mimicked my businesslike tone. “He’s been asking about you.”

“Is Monica still there?” Even her name left a bad taste in my mouth.

“Apparently.” She rolled her eyes. “I can’t stand that stuck-up bitch.”

“Are they still together?”

She gave me that sympathetic best friend look. “I don’t know honey. But if she’s still there, they could be. He’s done this so many times. They break up and she comes back crying and asking to be forgiven for cheating or lying. I just hope he makes the right choice this time.” Her expression turned to one of worry.

“Yeah, me too.” I sighed.