Strained

Chapter Twelve

I stumbled through my classes still in a daze about what happened last night. My mom and Ivelyn's dad had at the very least, made out last night. I didn't want to think about how far things could have gone. I didn't want to even think about my mom like that, but especially not when it was something like this! Ivelyn was going to completely freak out when she found out. That was if I decided to tell her. I wasn't sure what to do. Obviously, I wanted to talk to my mom about it first. 

At least, it's Friday. 

I shut my locker and head to my car. Tonight is "Girl's Night," something Ivelyn had suggested last night. At the time, I had only agreed to go because I was in shock about my mom and Ben. Now, I was thankful for the excuse to leave the house. Of course, it would be at Ivelyn's but I was hoping to avoid her dad at all cost. He was the type that was hard to lie to, so if he asked me point blank I would have to tell him the truth. 

On my way to my car, I pass Erik. At lunch, he had told us he needed more time to make a decision. I didn't blame him. Ivelyn hadn't been a huge fan, but she had been distracted. Hopefully, tonight with us all hanging out it would distract her from bugging Erik to choose. I wave at him, but I don't stop walking to my car. He already has his motorcycle helmet on so he's about to leave. Things at the dinner had been complicated, one of which was Erik and I. Nothing had happened, but I couldn't deny how I felt. 

It was like walking on eggshells. I was afraid of crossing the line with him. It was a slippery slope -- the two of us hanging out. I knew how Sage felt about me and him hanging out and even though I was dating Jamie I knew why Sage felt the way she did. Erik and I had this chemistry that flared up at the wrong times. The two of us never had the timing right and that was okay. He had Sage and I had Jamie. 

When I got home, I saw that my mom wasn't. Sighing in relief, I ran upstairs and packed for tonight. We were all meeting at Ivelyn's in about a half-hour. It had been a while since I had a sleepover, so I probably over packed. Mostly, I packed a lot because you never knew what might happen with Ivelyn. I wanted to be prepared for anything. On my way out, I scrawled a note for my mom. I thought about texting her, but then that might lead elsewhere. I didn't want to have a conversation with her, but I needed to let her know where I was headed.

I tucked the note under the bowl by the door, where we kept our keys. Then, I was off to Ivelyn's. 

"So, I was thinking we could do a little spell." Ivelyn's eyes were wild in an unsettling way. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was up to. This was the kind of thing I figured might happen, hence the overpacking. 

"What kind of spell?" Kate asked with her big brown eyes. Of course, she was on board. The two of them were crackheads for magic and spells. I looked at Mir, who seemed nervous. I probably had the same look on my face. 

"I have two ideas," Ivelyn held up two fingers. 

"Just two?" I joked. Next to me, Mir laughed with me. 

"We can do a spell to help Erik decide," she continued, taking a moment to glare at me. "Or we can curse Troy? Totally up to you guys," she finished with a smile. Part of me waited for her to say she was joking, but the other part of me knew she wasn't. 

"That's really not funny," I sighed. This wasn't going to end well.

"Why would you want to curse Troy? You love him," even Mir sounded concerned. 

Ivelyn rolled her eyes, groaned and stood up. We were huddled in her bedroom, which was as pristine as the rest of the house. 

"He's dating someone else," she stood by her window. "This stupid girl named Polly, like what kind of name is that? The most ridiculous part is that she doesn't even go to our school, so she's totally clueless as to what she's done. Maybe we should curse her?" She said the last part to herself.