My Desert Haven (BOYXBOY)

Chapter 14

I’m not sure how to explain the day after I went to Aaron’s house. Depressing would be an appropriate word, I guess. First, I didn’t hear from Aaron. Not even a phone call. Which meant that while everyone else was at work, I was home stressing about it, and it wasn’t fun, either. It was strange to think that he’d been able to push practically all of the ‘family’ issues out of my head just because he hadn’t called. But, it was the truth. I hadn’t been lying when I said I liked him, and now I felt completely inadequate. There was obviously something about me that he didn’t like, and that just made me feel self-conscious. I was a self-conscious idiot. And it sucked.

On top of stressing out about Aaron, there was Luke. We were getting along just fine. There was no problem there, but it was obvious that he wasn’t himself. For the second day in a row he’d come home from work looking like someone puked in his lunch box. When asked about it, he just said he was having a bad week, but I couldn’t help wondering if his bad week had to do with disappointment in me. Again, I thought about telling him what happened with Aaron, but in the end, I decided that it would only make things worse. It would be best just to forget the whole thing, and hope that next week would be better, for both of us.

There was tension in the house, too. And it had to do with more than the dark moods Luke and I seemed to be stuck in. Eddie and Jase were still fighting. They were definitely doing their best to keep it from seeming obvious, but it was there. They were civil to each other, and they pretended that nothing was wrong, but neither of them could look the other in the eye. The fact that Jase was just as silent around me as he was around Eddie didn’t help matters, either. This bothered me, more than I wanted to admit.

I still thought that whatever was going on between them was my fault. Unfortunately, I was starting to care about that. I’d convinced myself that Jase didn’t want me there. After all, he said himself that if he’d known I’d be so much trouble, he wouldn’t have agreed to me being there in the first place. I was disrupting his family, and he wanted it to stop. Too bad I was just as trapped as he was.

I’d agreed to stay for the summer. I wondered if Eddie would let me go early if Jase told him to. It was an idea, and to be honest, after the last few days, I was ready to get out of there. I was more interested in getting to know Eddie than I’d been before; but it didn’t change the fact that he had a life, one that I didn’t see myself ever being a part of. I think it was a sad thought, but it was a true one for me. Maybe it would be best if I just got the hell out of there--if I went home.

And that brought me back to my grandmother. I had to call her. I knew I did. There was no getting around it. All I could do was avoid it, and I could only avoid it for so long. I had a feeling that the longer I waited, the harder it would be. That’s why on the second day, I found myself locked in my room, even though no one else was home, and picking up the phone.

Maybe it really was the perfect time to call. I was feeling so depressed that I doubted I’d get angry and start yelling. And it would be bad to start yelling. That would likely result in being hung up on, and being hung up on wasn’t an idea I liked because of all the questions I had.

Maybe if I was lucky, I’d get some of those questions answered, beginning with the reason why my grandma didn’t just do what my mom had asked her to. It would have saved all of us a lot of trouble. I made a mental note to point this out to her as I began to dial the number. Of course, the smart thing to do would be to point it out to her after I got my answers.

One ring, two rings, three rings.

..

"Hello?"