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I roll my eyes at Ma and crack a smile. “Look. I don’t need you two judging my swear word usage.”
“We would never do that.” Tommy says sarcastically while snickering through each word.
“I hate you both.” I shake my head, gathering my mountain of used tissue and take them to the trash can.
“We love you, Kit Kat.” Eve calls out after me as I drag my bags to my room at the end of the hall.
“Love you too.” I yell back as I close my door. “Good night.”
I lean my back against my bedroom door and slide down, my knees stuffed to my chest. I want to call Theo. Want to apologize and just tell him why I ran. Why I literally hopped on a plane and got as far as I could just so I wouldn’t have to face my fears.
Losing my parents devastated me, but I survived.
Losing Derek crushed me, but I survived.
Losing Theo… I feel like my heart might just stop beating. I don’t want to lose him. But I might have pushed him just beyond my reach.
“Hellfire.” I bang my head against the door.
“And broomsticks!” I hear Ma and Pa say in unison. At least, I still have them. For now.
Chapter Twenty-Three
It has been a few days since I left Theo standing on the beach in Hawaii and each day has only gotten harder. I have cried more times this week than I did when Derek and I broke up. Thankfully, I haven’t accepted a full-time job binge watching Netflix shows and eating snacks. I picked up a few shifts before New Year’s Eve to distract me as much as possible.
Today, I am flying from New York City back home to Seattle. Unfortunately for me, Mindy, Derek’s girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend, I am not really sure at this point and I’m not in the mood to ask her, is flying with me. She keeps staring at me from across the plane. I am working up front and she is in the back. When we flew from Seattle over to New York yesterday, she wasn’t so obvious in her disdain for me, but today, she must be itching for a confrontation.
Honestly, I haven’t seen her look worse. When Derek broke up with me for her, I wished to see her this broken one day. For Karma to come bite her and for me to be able to see it with my own eyes. But seeing her now all puffy eyed, with her hair in a bun instead of it cascading down around her torso like a freaking mermaid, and smelling of depression, I can only pity her.
At some point during take-off, I fight the urge to run over to her, throw my arms around her neck, and tell her that she is better off without him. Instead, we stare at one another down the long aisle of the plane. I don’t owe her an explanation, nor do I owe her an apology for Derek leaving her for me, if that’s what really happened. But what I really don’t need is for my work life to be worse than my personal life. So, when the passengers have been offered their complimentary drinks and snacks and are distracted with their electronics and books, I walk to the back of the airplane and motion with my thumb for Halle, a recent transfer from Oklahoma, to take my place up front so I can talk to Mindy alone.
When we are alone, I sit in the jump seat opposite of the once perky and bubbly blonde. She doesn’t look up at me. I figured she would react this way, so I start the awkward conversation.
“I can only assume by the daggers you’ve been shooting my way the last two days that Derek broke up with you and said it was over me?”
Those icy blue eyes of hers slowly rise from her lap, where she is twisting one of her rings in circles, to me. “You must be happy with yourself.”
“Not really, no.” I shake my head, crossing one leg over the other. “Derek only said he wanted me back because he saw me in Hawaii with someone else. Did he tell you that part?”
She doesn’t respond, but I can see in her eyes that he didn’t bother to mention it.
“Did he also tell you that I rejected him? And that he proceeded to force himself upon me. Did he tell you that if Theo hadn’t come back to our room and stopped him that Derek would have -”
“Don’t!” She holds a shaky hand up. “Please, don’t. I don’t… I don’t want to know.”
I lean closer and rest my fingers on her knee, tears bubbling in her eyes. “I’m sorry Derek hurt you. I’m sorry he broke your heart. Believe me, I know how it feels. But Mindy, you are too beautiful, smart, and adventurous to be hung up on a man like him. You deserve better.”
She snorts up a sob and wipes her face with some tissue I snatch from the restroom and hand to her. “Why are you being so nice to me? You should hate me. I stole Derek from you after everything you did to welcome me to Seattle.”
“I guess I’m too tired to hate you, Mindy.” I shrug. “Besides, I’m going through a tough time myself and didn’t want you feeling alone.”
“Is it that guy you were talking about?” Mindy tilts her head. “The one from Hawaii?”
I really don’t want to talk about it. Especially with Mindy, but I mentioned him first. I politely nod my head, hoping she will let the matter drop. “I got scared and left.”
Mindy shifts in her seat. I haven’t seen her uncomfortable or awkward before. She has always been so put together and calm and disgustingly upbeat. It is almost unnerving for me to be the serene and level-headed one. Hell, I am not even rocking my typical bun today. I have two braids tucked against the sides of my head with the rest of my hair lying against my back.
“Derek and I ended up flying back together the night he dumped me. He said as soon as we got back to Seattle, he’d be putting in transfer papers for Dallas.”
