Last Year

Chapter 4- Maggie

When Lonnie and I walk in the house my mom is in the kitchen getting out some bowls and baking ingredients. She bakes when something stresses her out which I'm guessing yelling at Dylan did just that. During our almost year-long relationship, Dylan was around all the time and would bring me a sunflower every time he came over and then take a picture of me with it in my hand. I even have a box under my bed of every sunflower and every picture. Despite his attempts, about half of those pictures I made him take with me. It made me so happy, every single time. My mom knew that too which is why she loved him so much. He even brought my mom flowers on her birthday and Valentines Day. Honestly, I'm not sure if anyone knows I kept all of it. I might have mentioned it to Lonnie once but knowing her she doesn't remember.

The memories of all the good things he's done for me breaks my heart once again. Why did he have to ruin such a good thing? There was obviously something not right if he had the audacity to cheat on me, but I don't wanna talk to him to figure out what that is just yet. Right now I want to sit in my bed with a tub of rocky road ice cream and whatever my mom is making that already smells so delicious. "Sweetheart? Are you okay? You've been standing there for a few minutes now," my mother asks, breaking me away from my thoughts for a moment. I hadn't realized I was zoned out.

"Um...... no...... but I will be," I tell her, walking to the front door to slip my shoes off. "Do you mind if I ask what happened? Did I hear it correctly when you said he cheated on you?"

The thought of worrying my mother any further bothers me because she's already half way done with the cookies she's making so that's not a good sign. "Yeah," I say in a small voice. "I went to his house to hang out with him earlier because we had plans. But when I got to his house the front door was wide open so I got worried something might have happened to him; so I ran to his room to see him kissing Elle Baker."

Sadness clouds my mother's face when she hears this but Lonnie takes a break from eating the left-over batter from the bowl. Disgust radiates from her hazel eyes, "Elle Baker! Are you kidding me? Isn't she a grade below us?"

After walking to the freezer and taking out the tub of rocky road ice cream, I grab a large spoon out of the drawer. "I think so. I don't even think she has her license yet since Dylan picked her up and then had to take her back home." The comment makes Lonnie choke on the almost-empty batter. "He drove her?! There's no way it was an accident then if he was her personal chauffeur."

"Nope. He said he was an accident the first time but then it just kept happening, like I'd listen to some bs excuse for his behavior," I blabber while waving my spoon around. "Woah, Elle really is a whore," she giggles and swipes up the last bit of batter with her finger to put it in her mouth.

My mom's head snaps up, "Allonia! We don't call people that!" Lonnie and I laugh, really laugh. It feels nice to smile right now. I decide to defend my best friend, "I'm sorry, Mom, but she is."

She shakes her head and continues scooping the cookies up from the pan with her spatula. She knows we're right but has too kind of a heart to admit it. I've always liked that quality about her, except it does make it difficult when Lonnie and I gossip around her which we do often.

Lonnie points at the ice cream sitting in front of me. "Are you gonna eat that or just let it melt?" I almost forgot I even got it out. I get a small dish out from a cabinet and set it in front of me. This makes her glare at me, "Don't tell me you're gonna pick out all the nuts and put them in that dish again." I scoop out a peanut and put it to the side. "She does it every time," my mom chimes in.

"Why don't you just get a flavor that has everything but the nuts in it?" I take out two at a time and place them in there with the first. "It's not the same."

It's silent for a moment as I eat my now peanut free ice cream. Suddenly, I realize I haven't seen my dad in about half an hour. "Where did dad go?" My mom looks around and then her eyes light up like a light bulb just went off in her head. "When we heard Lonnie yelling he thought you guys were arguing over something girl related or were running from the cops. Either way he didn't wanna be involved so he went out back to the lake to go fishing so it would be like he wasn't home." My dad does everything he can to stay out of drama, especially high school girl drama. It's quite funny to watch him cringe over that stuff. "I went out there because I heard Dylan's voice and knew something was wrong. But he should be coming back inside any minute," she tells me with confidence.

Just hearing Dylan's name brings tears to my eyes. It's been only a few hours since it all went downhill and I already miss him. Lonnie notices my depressed state and comes over and hugs me. "I know it's not okay right now, but it will be one day I promise."

I sob into her shoulder, "I just want to forget everything.... I don't wanna feel like this." She sighs and rubs my back. "I know but sadly we can't do that, we just have to let time heal."

After a few minutes of comfort, we decide to take half the cookies my mom made and go upstairs to watch a movie. When we reach my room, I pad into my bathroom where I left my phone to check it. There's six missed calls and fourteen messages from Dylan. I decide to delete them all without checking them. Like I said, I don't care for what he has to say right now, I'm too hurt to think.

I head over to my bed where Lonnie has made a makeshift table from a pillow to place the plate of cookies on. I crawl under my covers and wipe a drying tear from my cheek. She notices but doesn't comment on it.

"So, I'm guessing you'll just want to sit around and eat your no-nut ice cream all day tomorrow?", she confidently asks. I think for a moment. I kind of don't want to sulk around all day, it might drive me insane. "No, I think I might go take some pictures out at the park instead."

I love photography, it's my favorite pass time. Something about it is so freeing but makes you feel like you're in control at the same time. You can take a photo of something that seems unimportant and make it into something beautiful. I have a photo book under my bed next to the box of sunflowers of all the pictures I've ever taken. It's a hobby I'm quite proud of.

It looks as if Lonnie is debating the idea of me being alone but decides to speak, "Okay, if that's what you wanna do..... just, call me if you need me, okay?" I smile and nod but I can't help the constant pain in my heart. Not only the pain from today, but the worry I feel about Dylan being away all summer. I try to push the thought out of my mind and help Lonnie searches for a movie to watch.

Lonnie is silent for a while, she even looks a little sad herself. "Lonnie.", I say in a small voice. She looks at me with cookie crumbs in the corner of her mouth, it kind of makes me giggle but I hold it back. "Yeah?" I sigh and look her in the eyes, "You okay?". Her fake smile fades, "Yeah, I just never thought he would cheat on you. Everyone at school thought you two would last, even though we're only in high-school. You had no idea this was going on?" 

I stop and think about that for a moment. I grew up reading stories and watching movies where girls would get cheated on, and in every single one they had a feeling something was going on. A dream, sickness, jealousy, or even just a gut feeling. But they knew.

I didn't have any idea. I trusted him with everything I had. I feel like I should have known, I wish I did. That thought almost makes it worse. He broke my trust and that isn't something you can forget about. If only it was that easy then maybe I would be okay.

I finally speak up to Lonnie, "No, I had no clue." She gives me a saddened look, "It will all be okay one day, I promise."