Saving Ivy

15-16

Chapter 15

Ivy stepped into the bright winter sunlight, she marched to Jamie’s house, each footstep a forceful affirmation of her newfound resolution. She knocked on the door, bracing herself while looking at the doorknob.

No one answered.

Ivy knocked again. “Jamie.” She called, “It’s Ivy.”

No answer.

“Jamie please open the door, I wanna talk to you, please..”

Nothing.

She tried the know, it was locked.

“Please, open up. please talk to me.” She pleaded.

She waited for a long time before going back to her house.

Every day for the next two weeks, Ivy did the same thing. First she did it in the mornings, then after she got back from work, and when it was 2 weeks to christmas, she asked for sick leave and knocked on Jamie’s door as soon as she came home.

Jamie never answered. His house was always dark, too. None of the lights were ever on. Ivy was starting to think that maybe Jamie wasn’t there anymore. Maybe he took off in the middle of the night just to get away from her. Maybe she was knocking on the door of an empty, vacant house aand on the inside her knocking disrupted no one, just the stillborn silence.

But she kept knocking. Every day. Josh never had to ask if Jamie was there, one look at Ivy’s face and he knew the answer. For the second time in her life, his sister fell in love and got hurt.

“ Jamie it’s me. Again.”

“Jamie. Jamie, open up , shit!”

“Please, I just want to talk, you dont have to let me in.”

“Jamie?”

“ I’m sorry.. I mean it, I’m so sorry.”

“... Jamie please... I need you...”

Then one day, as Ivy walked up to the door, she saw a paper taped to it, fluttering in the wind. She ran to the door and pressed it flat, reading it excitedly. And scrawled there, in Jamie’s handwriting are two words.

Please stop.

That was it.

Please.

Stop.

And just like that, something inside her just disintegrated.

“ Please stop?” she shouted at Jamie’s door. “ Fuck. That’s all you have to say? Please stop? Everytime, you were just in there, you just sat there and waited for me to leave? Shit...”

She turned around slowly, it’sclear now. He was never going to open that door and let her in. Not again.

Chapter 16

Josh walked up to Ivy’s door, carrying three grocery bags. He planned on cooking her a christmas feast before he went home to Patrick’s place. The icy air seem to cut into his lungs, but it was the good kind of pain. The kind that makes you feel alive.

He fumbled around for his keys—when he saw –

Jamie, sitting in his house’s front porch, smoking.

And suddenly Josh was shooting right past the drive and running straight to him. “Hey! Hey Jamie!” he reached the step and stopped in front of the man.

Jamie took a drag of his cigarette and looked at him nonchalantly.

Before Josh can check himself, he blurted, “ What the hell is your problem?!?”

Jamie chuckled, “ Deeply rooted misantrophy. What’s yours?”

“My sister’s been trying to get ahold of you for weeks!” he exclaimed. Josh knew it wasn’t any of his business, and he didn’t care.

“ There’s a storm coming.” Jamie ruminated, squinting at the sky.

Sudden anger filled Josh, “ Who the fuck cares?!?” he shouted, clutching Jamie’s shirt. “ Look at me asshole, I’m talking to you! She’s been at your doorstep everyday  and you won’t even let her explain? Who do you think you are that you can’t even fucking open your goddamn door?”

“ She’s gonna be okay. I’m doing us both a favor.” Jamie said, prying Josh’s hands away from his shirt.

Josh looked at him in exasperation. “ She’s not gonna be okay, it’s killing her!”

Jamie’s eyes flashed,  clenching his fist, he turned to walk away.

“ You know what?” Josh shouted. “ I get it. You like to screw with people, don’t you? You like to mess with their heads, you like to be unpredictable. You fucked her up and now you’re done with her.”

Jamie stopped dead on his tracks and looked at Josh, “Shut up.” he said sharply.

Josh pointed at him accusingly, “And you know what? I think you’re glad Ivy fucked up. I think it’s what you were waiting for, all along.  You were just looking for an excuse to get rid of her, and now that she said the wrong things you get to watch her kick herself for it over and over while you sit back and fucking bask in it, you sick son of a bi-“

It three quick strides, Jamie was in front of Josh, punching him hard across the face.

Josh’s entire head snapped to the right, and his eyes stung from the blow.

“ I said. Shut up.” Jamie growled, black and deep. “ You don’t know shit about me, and you dont know shit about me and Ivy. You think this is easy for me? This is the hardest fucking thing I’ve ever done.”

Josh laughed. “ So you do care.” Looking at Jamie, amusement in his eyes. “You do care about her. You deflect and feed me convoluted logic, but then I hit close to home and you fucking fold. You’re an easy mark.” Josh laughed harder.

Jamie went rigid, wide eyed.

“ Look, I don’t know your reasons, but if you care about her at all, the least you owe her is an explanation.” Josh rotated his jaws to alleviate the pain. “ I know she messed up, and she’s blaming herself for it, it’s killing her and it hurts me to see her like that.”

Josh started to walk back to Ivy’s house. “So give her a chance.” He sighed. “ Or at least give my little sister a decent closure.”