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Leo
She's not answeringher phone. Not responding to text messages. She warned me she might not be able to if Max was hovering. Still, I have an uneasy feeling. It's been four hours. Four of the longest hours of my life.
Shooting her a final text, I let her know my change of plans.
ME: Heading back to campus Friday afternoon instead. Let me know when you get in town.
Staring at my phone, I wait for those three little dots to dance on the screen. The screen fades to black before it happens, an ache beginning to build in the middle of my chest.
"Still no word from your girlfriend?" Tandy asks, sliding her arm around my shoulder.
Shrugging her off, I slip my phone back in my pocket. "I'll ask you again, what are you doing here?"
Ten minutes ago I heard the doorbell as I was getting out of the shower. At first, I was confused. It was just going to be me and Mom today since dad wasn't back from Japan. Mom had ordered us dinner from our favorite restaurant yesterday, all we had to do was heat up the meals. No one else was joining us as far as I knew.
Then I heard her voice followed by my mother's squeal of excitement. Anger began coursing through my veins as their conversation filtered up the stairs.
Anger at Tandy for what she'd done to me. At my mother for being so nice to her, even though I never told her the real reason why we weren't together anymore. And I became even angrier when Tandy let herself into my room without knocking as I was getting dressed. Not that she hadn't seen me naked before. She no longer held that privilege. Evie did.
Which instantly made me feel guilty of a sin I hadn't committed.
"We always spend Thanksgiving together. You know my parents go to the islands."
"Yes, but that was when we were dating, Tandy. We haven't been together in a while."
"I didn't think that would matter. It's not like we're not friends."
"Friends? I haven't spoken to you since you broke up with me. For my best friend. After dating for four years."
Tandy takes a step in my direction but stops short when I shake my head.
"Four years, Tandy. You threw away four years for a fling that barely lasted four days. For a guy who was notorious for sleeping around. Who cheated on you without giving it a second thought. That's how little I meant to you."
"Leo, I—"
Holding my hand up between us, I halt the conversation before I say something I'm going to regret.
"You're sorry. I know. I've heard you say it multiple times. I listened to the voicemails you sent me all summer. Read the text messages. There's a reason I never responded, Tandy. This. Is. Over. I don't want to see you ever again."
"But—"
I hate being mean to her. I really do. In the almost four years we were together, we never once fought. There was no reason to. We were always happy, steering the car in the same direction, headed toward the future we wrote. Together. Until seven months ago.
The day things started to change is etched in my memory. It was right after spring break. I'd just come home from spending the week up north at our lake house, helping my parents get it ready for the summer renters. I was exhausted, and all I wanted to do was lay in bed and cuddle with Tandy.
She was originally going to go with us but backed out at the last minute, so I'd missed her after being away for ten days.
We had plans to hang out. It was the last night of break. The final stretch of high school was all that laid between us and a summer of freedom. Then we were headed off to State together, ready to embark on the next leg of our journey. One step closer to the future we'd been planning.
Only, when I called her, she didn't answer.
The next day, she wasn't at school. She still wasn't answering my calls, and her mom wouldn't tell me where she was. I worried about her non-stop until she showed up at school on Thursday, looking pale and exhausted. She claimed she had been sick, but that didn't explain her mom's refusal to let me talk to her.
What I found out a few weeks later that I didn't know then was that Tandy was pregnant.
The reason she couldn't return my calls and texts? Her mom took her phone away from her.
And she wasn't at school that week because she went to the clinic to have an abortion.
