Chapter 19
White hot rage fills my veins. I try to take deep breaths, but it doesn’t help at all. My mind is a combination of crazy thoughts, most of them pissed off and some of them are just wondering if somehow this was all a mistake. Like if Kennedy magically photoshopped those photos of my boyfriend and it’s just all one of her tricks to mess with me. But none of that makes sense because she and I apologized to each other at the end of school last year and we haven’t talked since. Why would she want to start crap now?
“Are you hungry?” I ask Aunt Donna after I pull back onto the road, my desire to look at my cell phone completely squashed after seeing April’s messages. “I’m hungry. Let’s stop somewhere.”
“How are you hungry? We had breakfast not that long ago,” my aunt Donna says. She gives me a weird look, which is saying something because she’s been giving me weird looks all morning. This one is different. It’s like she thinks I’ve lost my mind.
I shrug and take the next exit, pulling over at the first restaurant I find. It’s a Dairy Queen. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”
“We can’t leave Roscoe in the car,” Aunt Donna says.
I frown. It’s not like I forgot about the stinky fur ball in my back seat. And I’m not even hungry. But I just need todosomething. I have no desire to get to the hotel now, even though it’s only five short miles away. As long as I stay away from Ethan, I don’t have to face the fact that he’s with Kennedy. Or he was with her. Or whatever that stupid Snapchat story was about.
“Let’s get ice cream then,” I say, flashing a smile to my aunt. “I’ll get some fresh water for Roscoe too.”
I get out of my car and head inside the nearly empty restaurant. I order two vanilla cones for me and my aunt and a cup of plain water without ice for the dog.
There’s an outdoor seating area with picnic tables and umbrellas to shade from the sun, and my aunt is waiting there with Roscoe when I return. Roscoe is grateful for the water and he laps it up while I pet his stinky head.
Aunt Donna licks her ice cream cone and stares at me, but she doesn’t say anything. Maybe she thinks I’ve become weirder than she is with my earlier outburst and sudden desire for food when we’re not hungry.
I call my mom.
“Ella?” She sounds a little concerned. “Are you at the hotel yet? I just talked to Mrs. Poe and she said Ethan arrived but you haven’t yet.”
“Almost,” I say. “We stopped for some food. But actually I was calling to see if you could find another hotel we could stay at. Can you get online and check?”
“Why don’t you want to stay with Ethan?” Mom asks. Then she sighs. “Oh, right. Donna. Honey, the Poes will understand. You don’t need to worry about bringing her along. They’ll make room for her.”
“You didn’t tell Mrs. Poe that she was coming when you talked to her?” I ask, keeping my voice down so my aunt doesn’t overhear.
Mom sighs again. “No… I didn’t really think about it.”
“Right… sure. You’re just as awkward as I am.”
“No I’m not!” Mom snaps. “It’ll be fine. You don’t need to find another hotel room just because of Donna. She’ll be fine.”
That’s not the reason I want another hotel room. But I can’t tell my mom that. I am a little worried about showing up with my aunt and a dog in tow, but right now I’m more concerned with seeing Ethan. If Kennedy’s pictures are real, then he slept with her last night. Is he back together with her or something?
No.
My heart aches and pounds and feels weak all at the same time. I have couple new texts from Ethan, but I’ve ignored them. I can’t face him right now.
“Please, Mom.” I grip the phone tightly. “Please find us a new hotel. We need one that allows dogs.”
“Dogs?”
“Yeah, Aunt Donna has a dog with her.”
“I’m pretty sure they can’t refuse pets when it’s an emergency situation,” Mom says.
“I need a new hotel,” I say back.
“I’m looking.” I guess she really is looking because I can hear the faint clicking of her keyboard in the background. “All the hotels around there are fully booked.”
“What about somewhere further way? I can keep driving north. I have gas.”
“There’s nothing even remotely available, Ella. You just need to suck it up and bring Aunt Donna with you. It’ll be fine, I promise. You know the Poes are nice people. They’ll be fine with it.”
