I was momentarily stunned by his bluntness. “Believe me, you have nothing to be jealous about,” I confirmed before digging into my omelet. Martha had given strict orders that no one ordered waffles.
We procrastinated as long as we could. Tears flooded my eyes as we piled back into our cars.
“We’ll see you at graduation,” my dad said, pulling me close when we reached the airport.
“That seems like forever away,” I whined.
“We can cancel the cruise if you want,” he replied, a worried look on his face.
He and Martha were going on a cruise for Christmas. They left the day after and didn’t come back until New Year’s Day. While sightseeing, Martha had rattled on about renovating the house when they got back. This made June the only time I would be able to see them again. I shook my head. I refused to have them change their plans, just because I would miss them. “I’ll see you in June.”
It was Martha's turn to hug me tightly.
“Take care of my dad,” I said to her. I knew this was unnecessary to say to her. The love between them was clear and comforting.
“You take care of yourself,” she said sternly. “And don’t let your head mess up your relationship with that boy. He loves you and would do anything to keep you happy.”
We both glanced over at Kill, who was talking animatedly to my dad.
“I know he would, but I love him enough to want him to be happy too,” I answered, thinking of the one text message I’d sent that changed their lives.
“If you want it to happen, all you have to do is have a little faith.” She kissed the tip of my nose and seconds later they were walking away.
“How are you holding up?” Kill asked when we’d climbed into the car.
"I'm okay," I answered, leaning my head on his shoulder.
“Hey, I wonder if we'll do a gig close to them. We could invite them to the show, and Eugene could go over the security stuff he was telling us about,” D said as he drove us away from them.
Jessie stiffened in the seat next to me, and I noticed Van’s shoulders rise with tension.
“That would be awesome. We could get you girls out to some of our shows too when you can get away from school,” Kill said, running his fingers through my hair.
“I don’t know. I'm going to be really busy next semester trying to get everything done so I can graduate. I don’t see any reason to leave Portland,” Jessie snapped, her voice quivering. I reached over to grab her hand but she let her hand lay limp in mine until I let it go.
“I could come back between gigs to see you,” Van interjected with an upbeat attitude.
“No promises, Van. From what the tour company said, we'll be on the move constantly, trying to get our name out there as much as we can.” Van shot D a look that should have made him catch on fire.
D was either unaware, or didn't care of the trouble he was starting as he turned onto our street. As we piled out of the car a light rain misted the air.
Jessie and Van stopped in the driveway, while the rest of us hurried into the house. Before I shut the door, I watched as they stood arguing with each other, oblivious to the rain. Kill pulled at my arm to tug me the rest of the way into the house.
"There's nothing you can do. They're going to have to figure it out by themselves."
His words rang true, but I sent them positive thoughts before I clicked the door shut. I cuddled with Kill on the couch, both of us drinking hot tea and watching TV.
Van came in later, his shoulders slumped in defeat. When he lifted his head his eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I don’t know what else to do. She won’t listen to me, and I can’t keep up with this yo-yo relationship we have. I've never given up on someone before, but nobody, not even D, has made things this hard.”
He sat down on the couch next to us, placing his elbows on his knees and burying his face in his hands.
I rubbed his back, wishing I could take his pain away. “I’m sorry, Van. I hate to say this, because I love Jessie, but I understand if you can’t do it anymore.”
He looked up as his face twisted in pain. “I don’t know what else to do,” he reiterated.
“Come on. I know what will cheer you up.” Kill stood and held out his hand to help me up.
“No, man. I think I'm just going to stay in,” Van said, sinking back into the couch.
