The Way You Hurt Me

Chapter Three

After everything that happened with Josh, it took me a while to remember I had been texting Mason and that I haven't checked my phone in well over three hours.

I pull my phone out of my back pocket as I plop down on the couch in my apartment. The gray couch cover is soft under my legs and I lean back against one of the many pillows Kelly put out here. Kelly has a thing for decorating. She was so excited to move into our new apartment this year and plan out everything she wanted to do to it. She covered the walls in framed pictures of us and on the wall behind the TV she placed four framed pictures of each of our favorite places. Mine is a picture I took at the beach my mom and I vacation to every year during summer. We found the place by watching a movie together only to fall in love with the filming location. We planned a spontaneous trip the very next day down to the small North Carolina beach town, found a cute little bed and breakfast to stay in, and fell in love.

Ronnie's picture is of Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy. The picture focuses on the big open plaza area, showing people milling about and the medieval architecture of the older buildings. She went there with her family for a week a year ago and immediately adored the place. The food was delicious, the shops and people were full of life, and what truly sealed the deal for her was when she went ice skating with her family at a local outdoor ice rink. The ice was choppy, it was overcrowded, but Ronnie loved it all anyway because at that moment she didn't feel like she was on vacation and some random tourist, but felt like she could truly belong there. That night she stayed out late, walking through all the shops with her family, gelato dripping down the sides of her hands, and felt like she had finally reached a point of inner peace within herself.

Kelly's picture is of her backyard from home. She's from a small town in Maine and has two brothers and one sister. Kelly has always been family-oriented, growing up her family was very close. The first time I met her whole family was this year when they all came to help move her in along with her boyfriend. In my whole life, I have never seen a happier family. They teased each other, cracked jokes, and reminisced about old times, laughing so hard Kelly's sister actually snorted.

Her parents are so kind-hearted that they make you try to act like a better person because you don't want to disappoint them. They're such a beautiful family that at first I was envious. I was so jealous that their family was so happy and supportive of each other when my own was a mess. Meeting Kelly's family showed me just how loving and stunning families can be, but it was so hard to see. All I could think about in the days after I met them was how different I would've turned out if I had had a loving and supportive upbringing. Eventually, I realized I couldn't think like that, and I should just be happy to get to experience what a family can be like through them. It gave me hope that one day I could have something like that and changed my perspective on families.

In the picture of Kelly's family's backyard, you can see one of her brothers playing soccer with her sister, her dad is sitting at the wooden table next to Kelly's mom; they're holding hands beneath the table and watching their kids. Kelly's second brother is sitting in the grass looking up at his parents with a smile on his little face.

Kelly told us when she chose that picture of her backyard she did it because it reminds her that her family is always right there with her, watching over her and rooting her on. Sometimes I'll find her staring at the picture on days when she has a major test or assignment due as if getting courage merely from looking at it.

Maeve's picture is a mystery to us just like Maeve is. She's over-involved on campus and is gone every day from 8 am to 10 pm. I'm never sure when she eats, but she must since she's still going. She's president of two different clubs, a business fellow, involved in at least three other clubs, and works in the registrar's office. She's one of those people who wakes up every day at 7:30, goes to the gym to work out, finishes all her school work early, and still manages to get eight hours of sleep.