Because of You

Chapter 8: Told You So

I avoided Jayden for the rest of the day and he hadn't even attempted to find me and apologize. I laid on my bed in sweatpants playing Call of Duty on my Xbox waiting for Maddison to come over. We were going to hangout at my house a bit before heading out to a party she wanted to go to.

I was about to complete a mission when my phone began to vibrate on my desk. "Shit." I said as I hit the pause button and got up and grabbed my phone. I expected it to be Jayden, maybe his ego had worn off and realized he was wrong. But it wasn't him. It was Saylor. Why was she calling? "Hello?" I spoke into my phone confused.

"Hello?" I said again after getting no response. I heard a sniffle in the background. "Saylor?" I said as my concern increased, she sniffled again. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

"Noah," She finally choked out. "Please, don't say 'I told you so.'"

"What'd he do?" My jaw tightened as the possibilities were running through my head.

"I knocked on the door of his dorm room and he opened it, half naked with some chick in his bed. He just laughed and said 'well this makes it easier for me.'" She sobbed.

"Where's his college?" I asked reaching for my car keys on my desk.

"Don't, Noah. I am going to drive back tonight, I just needed someone to talk to. Abigail is out with Logan and I don't want to bother them."

"I want to kick his ass, Saylor. Where does he go to school?"

"Because that went so well the last time you tried to kick his ass."

"Fine, I won't kick his ass but at least let me come get you. You shouldn't drive."

"That would be pointless, Noah. It's a two-hour drive. I can drive."

"Then I'll stay on the phone with you."

"Don't you have plans with Maddison?" She asked.

Shit. I knew I couldn't tell Maddison I was ditching her for Saylor and I couldn't tell Saylor that Maddison would be okay with it. "Maddison had some sort of family emergency and postponed until tomorrow night, so I'm free." I lied. But I wanted to make sure Saylor would be okay.

"Oh." She said thinking on it. "You're going to really stay on the phone with me for two hours?"

"Yeah. Do you have a car charger for your phone?"

"Yeah."

"So, plug it in, put me on speaker and let's drive." I said as I did the same with mine. I put it on speaker and quickly sent a text to Maddison letting her know I would have to postpone until tomorrow because I had family stuff to deal with. She seemed to understand.

"When you get back in town, we can hang out." I said as I placed my phone on my desk and laid back onto my bed.

"Where?" She sniffled again.

"Wherever you want." I said throwing a baseball up in the air at my ceiling and then catching it.

"Okay." She sighed, not giving me the location where she wanted to go.

There was a little awkward silence where we both didn't know what to say. I knew I shouldn't bring up Ryan or Jayden or Maddison. My options were running low. "I have an idea." I said as I got up and walked over to my book shelf. I pulled a book and walked back to my bed. "I am Sam. Sam I am. That same I am, that Sam I am, I do not like that Sam I am."

"Are you seriously reading Green Eggs and Ham right now?"

"Maybe." I said laughing.

"Where are you right now?" She asked.

"My bedroom." I answered confused.

"So you're telling me, you have Green Eggs and Ham within reach in your bedroom?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that information." I laughed.

"I'm beginning to think you're an alcoholic, Drunk-boy."

"Am I not allowed to soberly appreciation Dr. Suess?"

"Maybe when you're five." She finally let out the laugh I had missed during this entire phone call.

We had been on the phone for over an hour. We had talked about things she was seeing on the road or my childhood memories but all our conversations avoided anything to do with her life. She didn't want to talk about it and I wasn't going to force her too. "How close are you?" I asked.

"Probably 45 minutes."

"Okay, I am going to take a shower. But keep talking." I said as I unplugged my phone and headed towards the bathroom.

"You're making me take a shower with you Drunk-boy?"

"Well, when you put it that way." I laughed.

"You're so weird." She laughed.

She was silent as I ran shampoo through my hair. I decided to break the silence by doing what I do during every shower, sing.

"What the hell was that?" She said after I was finished.

"I didn't think I was that bad." I laughed at her reaction.

"No, it wasn't bad. I just wasn't expecting that. You have any more hidden talents I don't know about?"

"They're hidden for a reason." I said as turned the water off and grabbed a towel from the rack and dried myself off.

"I think I'm like twenty minutes away." She said I walked back into my room.

"We're not going anywhere special tonight right? Sweatpants will be acceptable?" I asked, not into wearing actual pants.

"Damn, I wish I had sweatpants. I wore a dress and only brought jeans and skirts for the weekend." She said disappointed. I didn't want to know what she planned on wearing to sleep with if she didn't have sweatpants.

"Can we stop at your house?"

"No, they think I'm at Abigail's for the weekend and I'm not really wanting to make up a story saying it got canceled, so no to going home."

"Okay, do you just want me to bring an extra pair of mine? They might be a little big but-"

"Yes!" She said excited into the phone. I think that had been the most enthused she's been all night.