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Day 10: A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep

Day 10: A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep

"Rainy Season" by Hunter Hayes

Say that you love me, even if it's not true.
And say that this storm is just passing through.
And, baby, tell me you're not leaving.
It's just the rainy season.
The air's getting heavy and we both know why.
So dance one more dance and tell one more lie.
And, baby, let's keep make believing
That it's just the rainy season

Parents are out and I have the house to myself.  It’s so peaceful and quiet. 

So now why can’t I concentrate?

I sigh as I put down the book I was reading.  Pulling my sweatpants-clad legs up to my chest, I rest my cheek on my knees while staring out at the rain from my window seat.  The rain beats the window like cat paws pattering on a hardwood floor.  My mind drifts to the fight ensued between my now ex-boyfriend and I a couple weeks ago.

“I love you,” Eli tells me with a charming smile on his face.  He brushes a lock of hair out of my face while looking me in the eye, but the touch feels almost foreign.

“I love you too,” I murmur.

‘But do you really?’ a voice says in the back of my mind.

I couldn’t tell who it was talking to: me or Eli.

I lean my head on Eli’s shoulder so I won’t have to look at him.  He’d grown distant lately, always staying out late with his friends after practices and games.  He rarely texts or calls me back and when he does, they’re short and vague replies.

“What have you been up to these last few weeks?”

There’s a pregnant pause and my stomach twists into a knot.

“Oh, you know, here and there.  The season’s been busy.”

“Yeah, I know.”

We lapse into silence again and finally I can’t take it.  “What happen to us?”  I can’t bear to look at him.

Eli laughs but it sounds almost forced.  “What are you talking about, babe?  I love you and you love me.”

“Really?”  I sit up and turn to look at him.  “For the last few weeks you’ve become distant.  You never reply to my calls or texts anymore.  You never take me on dates… and you never tell me love me anymore,” I whisper the last part while looking down.

“I just did!  What more do you want!” Eli exclaims.

My head snaps up and anger flares within me.  “What do I want?  I want a guy who won’t ignore me.  Who’ll talk to me every day, even if it’s a text or something, just telling me I’m on his mind!  A guy who’ll tell me ‘I love you’…  and mean it.”  I slowly begin to stand up.  “I think we need to take a break,” not like we already weren’t, “and think about our relationship.”

Eli scrambles to his feet.  “I can change, really!”  But he only sounds slightly hopeful.

I shake my head.  “I’ll call you when I’m ready—and you better answer.”

Needless to say, I never called him.  Instead, I texted him after I found out that jerk was seeing another girl behind my back.

I sigh and lean back against the pillows of the window seat.  I wasn’t too surprised, not like I’m-going-to-murder-him-and-he’s-going-to-pay surprised, but more like I’m-disappointed-you-lied-to-me surprised.

In fact, I only cried once.  I guess I wasn’t as in love with him as I once thought I was.

But it’s always the people closest to you that give you the biggest disappointments in life.

I grab my book again and turn to where I left off from before.  Hopefully I won’t wind up rereading the same sentence fifty times.

Ding dong.

I groan and set aside my book for the second time that night, without having read a single word, before climbing out of my comfy spot from the window seat.  I pad over to the front door and look through the peephole, my eyebrows shooting up like a rocket.  I unlock the door and open it, the cold rainy air washing over me.

“Eli?”

My ex stands in front of me, soaked to the skin from the rain now coming down in torrents.  Why he came is unbeknownst to me.  “Can I come in?”

I completely avoid the question.  “What do you want?”

“For you to take me back.”

I make a very unladylike snort while pulling my hoodie tighter around me.  “Heck no.”

“Please, Layla.”  He sounds so desperate… a desperate man in desperate times.

My heart skips a beat in sympathy.

“Why should I?” I challenge.  “And besides, what happen to her?”

Eli outwardly cringes.  “That was a mistake.  I love you, Layla.  Not her.”

“You should’ve thought of that before you cheated on me!”  My voice raises more then I meant for it to go.

“That was a mistake!  Please!  Just give me one more chance!”  Eli steps closer to me and I move back, closing the door a bit.

“You don’t deserve anymore chances.  You blew them—all of them.”

“What if I show you?” Eli asks almost frantically, raking his hands through his hair and pulling on it.

If it was any other time, I’d laugh at how comical it looks.

I shake my head.  “That won’t do any good.  Please, Eli, never talk to me again.  I know my dad will gladly take his shotgun to your sorry butt.  And if that doesn’t scare you, Tessa will gladly rip you to shreds.  Go home, Eli.  And forget you ever met me.”  I shut the door and lock it, ignoring the pleas and yells on the other side of the door.  I trudge back to my window seat, wondering if I made the right call.

I honestly hated threatening him, but I know my dad and best friend would be on him like stink on manure if he ever came into a five mile radius of me with one of them nearby.

I grab my book as I hop back into my window seat.  Curling up with the book, I open the pages and lean my head against the cool pane of the window as I begin to read to myself, reading aloud in a low tone to the empty room.

Life is a map.  You may have your road trip planned, but sometimes a detour is the best thing that can ever happen to you.