Blended Family

Elliott

I'd broken up with girls before.  They'd broken up with me.  But nothing hurt like this.  I really really liked Joey, and I know she liked me too.  She said she needed space.  I hated when girls said that.  And in this case, how was she gonna get space?  We lived in the same household.

Imagine seeing the person who'd broken your heart first thing in the morning.  And throughout the day.  And at dinner.  And you have to civil towards them.  You have to hold yourself together.  Even though I wanted nothing more than to grab her face and kiss her.  I wanted to convince her she'd made a mistake, but knowing Joey that would push her away.  If she made a decision, she didn't want people second-guessing her.

I hopped into the shower Thursday morning, after she'd been in there.  We all knew she took long showers and needed the most time in there, so I'd always let her go first.  Before, I'd liked it.  I loved the smell of her shampoo and soap.  But now it was torture.

I toweled off, sighing, and went back to my room to dress.  When I made my way out to the kitchen table, Joey was sipping coffee.  Usually it was filled with sugar and milk, but it looked completely black.  She looked like hell.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked as I grabbed the box of Fruit Loops on the counter.

"Good morning to you too," she quipped, rubbing at her eyes.  Lin came over and set a couple pills in front of her, along with a glass of water.

"I think you should stay home," Lin told her, studying her face.  Joey rolled her eyes at the suggestion.

"I have a social studies test today and a group speech in science," she said.  "I can't miss."

"It's just high school," Lin told her.  "If you miss a day the world won't end."

"But my group is counting on me," she said.  "Plus, if I miss the social studies test, he doesn't let you just make it up the next day.  You have to do an essay test instead."

I sat down with my bowl and poured on the milk.  I didn't feel the greatest myself, but that was typical in the mornings.  I would never be a morning person.

"Well, if you're still feeling this crummy later on, come home," Lin urged her as he moved around the kitchen.  "There's no need to push yourself."

I think Lin and I both knew that wouldn't happen.  Obviously I didn't know Joey as well as Lin did, but she despised missing school.  At Hunter, missing a day could be disastrous.  We go so much class work that having to make it up was almost worse than just suffering through the day sick.

Joey swallowed her pills and then took her cereal bowl to the sink to rinse it.  She chugged back her coffee.

"Dad, do we have to-go cups?" she asked.  Lin nodded and grabbed a disposable cup from a stack in the pantry.  She filled up another cup, hoping it would be enough to power through the day.

Like always, we rode to school together on the subway, her earbuds already in.  She closed her eyes as the train jostled us around.  We got off and Joey took a detour to a drug store.  I went in with her and she bought a 5-hour Energy shot.  I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything.  So stubborn.

Like at any high school, word got around about our break-up, even though it wasn't technically a break-up.  People gave me sympathetic looks but I just ignored them.  I stuck with my friends and they didn't harp on it.  Everyone was still going nuts about Joey's party and how Selena Gomez had showed up.  You could definitely say Joey's popularity points had gone up.

At the end of the school day, I spied Joey coming down the hallway, looking thoroughly exhausted.  I mean, she looked like hell.  Some kid told her her party was often and she barely registered a response.  Even though she'd hurt me, I still cared about her deeply.  I didn't like seeing her like this.  I put an arm around her as she neared me.