First Kiss, First Love, First Heartbreak

Chapter 15

I tighten the laces to my ice skates and attempt to stand up. I start falling and Lizzy catches me. I mutter a thanks, and she and Jere start cracking up. Jere grabs my hand and leads me to the ice. It's cold in here but not as cold as it is outside.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Jere and I promised we would stay in touch when he moves back. We're both upset, but we can't do anything, we're in no position to make demands.

I set my right foot on the ice and push off. I have horrible balance so I immediately slip, but Jere grabs my left arm and Lizzy grabs my right. Instead of me falling, they both fall, then realize no one is holding on to me, and I fall. The ice makes my clothes damp. I shiver. Lizzy puts her hands out and helps me up. "Remind me how you tricked me into going skating with you." Lizzy says as Jere skates past us. I shake my head, he said he wouldn't leave me. He comes racing back to us.

"You came because you'll miss me when I'm gone." He twirls Lizzy who snorts. "Livi, are you going to skate with me?" He puts his hand out, and I take it. "Bye Lizzy!" He says as he drags me behind him. We pass by people at a speed I would never accomplish by myself.

I feel my skates zipping across the ice, the noise is the best part. Lizzy catches up to us, and he gives my hand to her. I'm like the kid who needs babysitting, but instead of being watched, I need help to skate. Lizzy's tiny body makes it easy for her to fly across the ice. She starts pulling, and I move my legs as little as possible.

***

We pull into the nearest bakery. It's warm and smells sweet when we walk in. Lizzy runs to the glass showcases as fast as her short legs let her. Jere holds the door for me because I'm behind them both. I look at the variety of sweet treats. The cakes are three tiers. The cupcakes are huge. The doughnuts are all filled with something fancy. The ice cream is, I look again, untouched? Well, when it's cold out no one wants ice cream, well everyone except me. I look around at the blue and pink bakery. There's a pink velvet couch right by the door. There's also outdoor seating, but with the weather we have, everyone is indoors. Lizzy orders hot chocolate and two doughnuts, Jeremiah gets three chocolate chip cookies, warmed up, and I get two scoops of cookie dough ice cream. The employee looks at me like I'm crazy, but he gives me the ice cream anyways. I mean he doesn't have a choice. We all eat our desserts with smiles on our faces.

"So are guys going to do long distance?" I hadn't really thought of that. I mean I want to, but I'm sure there are prettier girls in Florida. Girls with seasonal tans who love the beach.

I love Jere, and he's worth trying long distance. I open my mouth to answer her question, but he beats me to it. "We will do long distance, and I'll still have to come up to see my mom, so we'll make it work. Right, Livi?" I know he's not asking if we'll make it work, because he knows we will. He's asking if I want to do long distance. He looks tense sitting in the pink and blue booth.

I push my glasses up. "Yeah. Everything will be okay." He smiles a big toothy smile. He leans back, no longer tense.

"Aw Jere, I've missed you, I can't believe you're leaving." Lizzy says as she sticks the whole doughnut in her mouth. One thing about Lizzy that I absolutely adore is that she doesn't care what people think, not one bit. She acts and looks however she wants. She wipes her hands on my napkin and places it on my lap. She gives me a smile. "Hank hoo," she says with her mouth full. Is that supposed to mean thank you? I just give her a thumbs up and take a bite of my ice cream. Once she has all of her doughnut swallowed, she says, "Livi, we should start saving up for plane tickets so we could visit Florida! Then Jere could take us to Disney, and the beach, and Universal, and... what else is Florida famous for?"

I shrug. "Miami?"

"Oh, yeah! Miami." She says as she gets up to throw her trash away. As she walks past me I get a hint of her regular vanilla smell. She used to always smell like lavender, but when she found out that lavender makes me sick, she made sure to not go near it. I felt special. She stopped wearing her favorite smell so she could be around me.

***

I dropped my house keys on my desk and dropped myself on my shiny tiles. I just polished them yesterday, and I smile at how nice they look. I turn on my diffuser and put wild orange in. I click the on button and breathe in the familiar scent. I lay on my bed on my back. I look up at my roof. I hear the front door and immediately hide behind my bed. Not because it's anyone bad, but since the diner I've been avoiding Matt. He walks into my room and walks out then walks back in.

"Olivia Ivy Page, I know you're here. Your coat is at the front door and it's cold, which means you recently got home." Shoot! He walks around my bed to find me rolled up in a ball.

I fake yawn. "Oh hey, I must've fallen off the bed while sleeping," I put my palm against my head. "Silly me."

He sits on my bed. He only does that because it's one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate dirty people sitting on my bed, like I don't know where you've been. "Why didn't you tell me? I thought Carolina loved me, but you knew she didn't, and you didn't tell me. And why didn't you tell me that you're dating Jeremiah again? He broke your heart and you crawl right back to him. That takes a special kind of idiot to do that."

"Don't call me an idiot. Jeremiah loves me."

"That's why he's leaving again, right? Because he loves you." He spats. He makes me feel like Jere doesn't actually like me. My heart sinks. I feel anger rising in my chest.

"Get out." I say, keeping my voice one level. Making sure I don't sound like I'm about to break.

He slides off my bed and sits next to me on the floor. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I believe Jere loves you, I really do. I can tell just by the way he looks at you. And I get why you didn't tell me about Carolina, I wouldn't have believed you." I nod. He hugs me and messes up my hair. "I love you, Livi."

"I love you too Matty." He hugs me one more time and gets up and leaves my room. Matt is insane, but he means well. I hear the doorbell ring, and I run to the front door as fast as possible. There's a white plastic package waiting by the door. I check who it's for and jump up and down when it says my name. I take it to the kitchen and rip it open. I smile when I see Jere's Christmas gift.