Meant to Crash | ✓

Chapter Thirty-Two

Rage.

Anger.

Some form of heat should've coursed through me. Why wasn't I mad? What part of me thought of this as unimportant? Fighting to remove the image of my mother kissing Wesley should've been the initial process going through my thoughts...But they weren't. My mind were silent, handing the keys to Akin so that he could do the driving.

"I don't trust myself to drive us safely to the airport," I announced.

Soon enough, the front door opened, and my mother came barreling out. She was dressed in a robe, something that alarmed me. She never stepped out of her house wearing only nightwear.

"Maddison! Please wait!"

"No, I don't want to talk about this."

"You don't need to talk – just listen."

"I don't want to listen to you," I said through the cracked window, pushing a button so that it could close faster. "Please, Akin, let's leave."

Neither of my friends knew what was going on. I didn't bother filling them in until we were at TSA, taking off our shoes and removing our electronics from our suitcases.

"Whoa." Akin blinked in befuddlement. "You're telling me...you're mom was fucking Wesley?"

"I didn't say she was screwing him. They were making out."

"Your mom was in a bath robe," Layla reminded me, "No doubt you walked in on the ending of their day together."

"Shut-up," I roared, "I don't want to think about it."

"You're not as flustered as I thought you'd be. You seem pretty chill after witnessing that." Akin nudged me. "You know, I never did say sorry for the bet. I really am sorry. I should've placed a different bet, and higher, on your mom sleeping with Wesley."

"Akin!" Layla said. "She told us to drop it."

They were right about one thing – this wasn't affecting me the way that it should've. The first thing my brain switched into was run mode – the same running I felt whenever I caught her with other men, or how awkward I felt when I saw her share kisses with my father. It didn't heat up my insides. I felt no real disappointment.

Oddly, I thought about Sebastian.

I wondered if he would respond to the email I sent him yesterday about me using my vacation hours. I thought, consistently while walking out of my apartment, how badly I wanted Sebastian to go with me instead of my two good friends.

Was...was I in love with Sebastian?

Quickly, as the though settled, I shook away at it like a bad cold. There was no way. No real way I could love someone who I knew so little about. 

"So you don't trust Sebastian?" was what Akin asked me when I relayed my thoughts - finding holes in my reasoning. "You've been working for him long enough."

"It's been three months."

"Three months can show someone's character."

I rolled my eyes. "It took my mom a year - from what my dad say - to really show her true colors. I think if anything, you don't know someone until you see them get angry. See how they react with their own emotions. Notice how they treat you when they think no one is looking."

"You want to piss him off?" Layla inquired. "That's weird."

"I didn't say that." I sighed. "Forget it."

"If you want to ask him something, or at least see where his head is at - why don't you call him?"

"We're about to leave. He wouldn't tell me anything I couldn't wait to hear once I'm back." 

They both tried to convince me to send Sebastian another message - anything - but I refused. Getting comfortable in my seat, I waited for the plane to take off. 

***

My dad was a religious man. But not one that seemed to wish everyone followed the same faith as him. It made him optimistic - hopeful for a better day than the last. I liked that aspect about him. He was so different than my mother. It made me confused as to what made them like each other in the first place. They acted like two polar opposite souls, never to have meant to cross paths. 

"Did you miss Little Rock?" dad asked.

"I missed you," I said after he picked us up from the airport. "I missed our old dog."

"Oh about that."

"About what?"

"Well, since you've been gone, I didn't want to tell you."

"Tell me about what? You're not being straight-forward."

"The dog got hit by a car."

"What the fuck?" I yelled. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"Well, you had just gotten that new job with the Lockharts. You told me all about it - and I didn't want to ruin your mood."

"Dad, that wouldn't have -"

"Yes, it would've," both my friends said almost in unison.

"You are such an emotional person - you would've left training week," Layla said, "and been at that dog's funeral."

"Oh, I had him cremated." Dad announced. "You can still see him. But I think there's something else you'd want to do first."

"This is not what I wanted to hear after arriving." I groaned. "I want to nap." 

Dad pulled into the driveway of my old house. "Someone else is waiting for you inside...sure you don't want any more surprises? I can tell him to leave."

"Who?"

"Sebastian," dad said, and that was when he pressed the garage door. And I saw Sebastian's car parked inside. "Sebastian Lockhart is here."

He must've flown private.

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