The Devil Wears Girl Jeans [BEING EDITED]

The Devil Wears Girl Jeans (Chapter 50)

The house was totally silent the next morning, lacking the usual screams and shouts of a house full of teenagers and children. Next to my bed, my alarm had started to wail, so I groped around for it, noticing through the early morning blur that my pillow was still wet. For a couple of beautiful, agonizingly brief seconds, I forgot what had happened.

Then it came crashing back down on me, almost driving the breath from my lungs all over again. Halden had cheated on me, how could I forget?

As if to prove how tired and depressed I was, the alarm actually got to the vocals part of that one Taylor Swift song about having her heart broken before I finally turned it off. It wasn't until a few seconds later that I realized there was something else on my side table, aside from my beat up old cellphone. It was a tiny pink box with a folded note tucked under the ribbon, which I assumed was from either the magic gift fairy, or more likely, my secret Santa.

I unfolded the note first, which had been typed out on a piece of notebook paper, probably so that I wouldn't recognize their hand writing and ruin the secret.

I'm sorry your boyfriend is a douche bag, I hope this at least cheers you up a little bit :) It read, and I smiled a little before ripping open the box. Inside was a tiny white charm in the shape of a heart that looked like it had been carved out of ivory. It dangled from a delicate silver chain, and I clasped it on before heading down to the kitchen, just in case my secret Santa was watching. I wanted him or her to know that I liked it enough to wear it, after all.

I descended the stairs quietly, just in case everyone was still asleep, but the clock above the fireplace informed me that it was nearly noon, so everyone was most likely out getting their last minute Christmas shopping done. Except, of course, Tristan's grandma who was hunched over the oven, pouring a waterfall of batter onto a frying pan.

“Good afternoon, dear. How many pancakes do you want? Is four good? I sent the boys out so that you could cry and be alone if you want to, but I was thinking that you could come out to do some errands with me and Penelope today if you want, maybe have some girl time? I know she's getting pretty sick of having all her sons bugging her 24/7. I told her to stop at Grant, but of course she didn't listen. Had to have four more of 'em, didn't she?”

“Pancakes sound awesome right about now.” I responded, grabbing a cup and heading over to the sink to get some water, not even bothering to be annoyed over the fact that Tristan's entire family had somehow found out that I had gotten cheated on. The window sill above the faucet was littered with knickknacks, and just beyond them I could see two figures flailing spastically in the snow, one of them wielding a baseball bat.

“What's going on out there?” I asked, sweeping a hand through my hair to get it all out of my face, my fingers getting caught in the parts that were still stuck together with the salt from last nights tears.

“Seth picked up some shatter-proof ornaments at the store yesterday, so him and Dallas are testing them out too see if it's true. Tristan left early this morning with Grant, I think. Is that really what you're wearing to go shopping today? Honestly, it looks like you jumped a hobo. Go put on that nice dress you wore to dinner, because if you look good, you feel good. Penelope will be here in 15 minutes, then we'll leave, so chop chop.” she scolded, poking me between the shoulder blades with a spatula in order to motivate me to go back up to my room. I sighed and did as she asked, because when you feel as horrible as I do, what else can you do but just accept any distraction that you're given?

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“Aw, Hartley. Don't look so sad. If it makes you feel better, one time Chris Brown had food poisoning and went to fart on stage and accidentally, uh, defecated in his pants.” Tristan's mom said with a sunny smile, setting a plastic tray of bad food court Chinese food in front of me.

“It does, actually. But it still sucks, you know? That I'm thinking of Halden constantly and he probably hasn't even thought of me at all.”

“Yeah, well. Just join a convent, you'll be a lot happier. Trust me.” Tristan's grandma muttered, stuffing a forkful or sesame chicken into her denture-lined mouth. Tristan's grandpa had run off a decade earlier with some woman he'd met on a trip to New York, and Grandma Wilks was still pretty bitter about it as far as I could tell.

“Yeah, me being a nun, good one.” I snorted, and Mrs Wilks coughed to cover up a laugh. “It would be so much easier if you could just block people in real life. That way, I'd just never have to deal with him or see him again.”

“Well you can, but it's called first degree murder. But honestly, dear, don't even worry about that goof. You're young, you're hot, and you're smarter than a fox. You could get any guy. Honestly.”

Too bad the guy that I wanted had moved on already. I guess it happens when you leave them hanging for months on end while you run off with your boyfriend.

“She's right. These are the best years of your life.” Tristan's mom agreed, and my eyes widened in fear.

“Wait, what? You mean it gets worse?”

For whatever reason, Tristan's mom and grandma found this hilarious, and spent the next five minutes trying to catch their breath and gather themselves.

“Much, much worse. I think what you need to do is make Halden jealous, and I have a certain son who would be thrilled to do the honour.”

“Yeah, well. I don't think Tristan likes me anymore,” I sighed, pushing a green bean across my plate and then back again. Mrs. Wilks furrowed her eyebrows at me in confusion, before shooting his grandma a sidelong glance.

“Tristan?”

“Yeah, your son?” I said slowly, raising an eyebrow at her, as if she had momentarily forgotten about his existence.

“Oh... right. Of course. Wow, I'm so full, aren't you, Jeanie? Maybe we should go home, clean the house before Christmas, eh?”

“Of course!” Tristan's grandma agreed quickly, shooting out of her seat, leaving me just as confused as ever.