Looking After You

(28) Ages: 19 & 16

Ages: 19 & 16

It had been two weeks since Jenny left for England, two weeks since she left James without saying goodbye. For years James had complained about having to look after her, hanging out with her on Friday nights instead of going to parties with his friends and made her feel like one of his many obligations but he would never have been able to fathom just how much he would miss her when she was gone. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself since she left and found himself spending his Friday nights in front of his television set or playing mindless video games with Rex. Despite his sadness over her absence, he found himself angry at her. It was a deep and passionate anger that he couldn’t let go of because he didn’t understand how she could just leave. If what she told him before she left was true, how could she ever leave and take those feelings with her like a thief in the night? Maybe she meant it at the time, and she didn’t have to say it for James to know she loved him - because he knew that same love all too well - but maybe it was the kind of love that’s easy to forget. She would be gone for six months. That was enough time to grow up, to regret childish choices.  

“…but make sure you put them in the one outside the door and not around the corner.”

James found himself slowly drifting back to reality as he finished scrubbing a table in the corner of the restaurant. He turned around to find Keira standing behind him with a familiar, concerned expression and her hand placed firmly on her hip. “That’s like the tenth time this week you’ve been off in some alternate universe where it’s socially acceptable to ignore people who are talking to you.” She smirked and snaked the rag from his hand before jokingly attempting to smack him with it. He smiled halfheartedly and followed her back to the counter that separated the eating area from the serving area.

“Sorry,” he apologized before sitting down on one of the bar stools. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately.”

Keira leaned into the opposite side of the counter, resting her elbows on the solid surface and her head in her palms. “Try again. A little less vague this time, please.”

He took a breath and leaned forward, folding his arms on the table and setting his chin on top so he was staring straight at Keira. “If you were leaving for, say…six months, wouldn’t you say goodbye to your best friend?”

She shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not, I guess it depends on how I’m feeling. The sensible and good side of me would insist I did just that, but the wild and adventurous side of me would insist I leave without telling a soul where I was going.” Keira smiled dreamily and James stared past her shoulder with a distant and dejected pout. “Then again,” she took a breath and he looked back at her with curious, large brown eyes. “I guess it would depend on the friendship as well. Maybe I just didn’t care enough to say goodbye.”

James shook her head and suddenly became very uninterested in anything else she had to say. “No. Despite everything, that’s one thing I’m sure of. She cares. I know she cares; some may even say she cares too much.” He stood up from the stool and she smirked in satisfaction.

“Ah, so this is about a girl.” She narrowed her eyes at him as he entered her side of the counter. “I thought you said you didn’t have a girlfriend.”

“I don’t.” His voice was honest and the words slid out as fact; nothing less, nothing more.

“For someone who isn’t your girlfriend, you sure seem awfully distracted by the fact that she’s left town.” Keira eyed him carefully as they both begin placing the salt shakers and condiments beneath the counter. He lifted his hand out from under the counter after placing a salt shaker and Keira’s eyes widened at the sight of a large black and blue mark across his knuckles. “And angry.” She reached for his hand, but he quickly retracted it and brushed off her comment with a snicker.