Chapter 23: Chapter 23

I freeze when I see what appears to be his face in the rear window. He’s keeping a look out to make sure he isn’t caught. He sees me see him. He’s caught. I turn in the opposite direction and run as fast as I can until my legs won’t carry me any further and then I find a soft patch of grass and collapse to my knees where I broke down and cry. Later, I don’t know how much later, there is a car driving really slowly down the street. It slows more when its parallel to me, then it stops. Anna comes running to me, “Oh my God, we’ve been so worried!”

I don’t want to move.

She calls over to the car, “I need help.” The car is thrown into park and Michael gets out of the back seat and comes over to us. He picks me up and carries me to the car. I cry into his shoulder. Anna gets back into the front seat and turns to me, “What happened?” I can hardly speak, “Scott was with...” I weep until I can’t do it anymore. I really like Scott and I feel humiliated that I made a fool out of myself in the bedroom and he just picked up another girl and did things with her that I wanted to do with him. Michael holds me the entire time, and then when I finish he carries me to her parent’s bedroom and places me in their bed.

Anna says to Michael, “I can’t stay with her, there’s still too many people downstairs. Can you stay with her until I get rid of everyone?

“Sure,” he reassures her.

“Make sure Scott doesn’t come in,” Anna warns.

“You can count on that,” he says assuredly. She turns to leave locking us in the bedroom. He climbs into bed with me and strokes my hair while I suffer from embarrassing sobbing hiccups that I can’t stop. I calm down significantly when we hear a knock on the bedroom door. Scott’s drunken voice calls out, “Isabella?”

I cower into Michael not wanting to see Scott, “She’s not here,” he says.

“Open the fucking door Michael, I know she’s in there with you!”

“Anna told me to guard her from you. You better back the fuck off!”

“She’s my partner,” he claims angrily.

“Maybe you should have considered her feelings before you left the party to fuck another girl,” he says spitefully.

We hear footsteps and then Jeremy’s voice, “Come on Scott, you better sleep this off. Go home before you do more damage. We called you a cab, it’s here.”

“Jeremy, I’m not drunk. You of all people have got to believe me.”

“Okay, I believe you, but Isabella doesn’t want to see you just like Lara doesn’t want to see me.” Jeremy says.

“Why doesn’t Lara want to see you?” Scott asks.

“Bitch broke up with me tonight. Can you believe it? What a shitty fucking night!” Jeremy complains. Their voices along with their footsteps slowly disappear and Michael stays with me until Anna can take his place. When he left, I fell fast asleep. The next morning, I find Anna’s arms wrapped around me. I try to shrug out of her grasp, but she tightens it, “You’re not getting out of this bed until you tell me what happened last night.” I flash back to what happened and dread and regret wash over me. What was I thinking stripping down for Scott like that and freaking out when I saw him with a girl? My head is pounding from the after affects of the vodka. I drank way too much, and my stomach is churning.

“I joined Scott at the pool and he gave me this look like he wanted me or something. We went upstairs, and he admitted it. He wanted me the way I wanted him. He looked awesome last night you have to agree with me? So, I beckoned him, stripped down naked and everything. You could tell he was torn about what to do. Instead of joining me on the bed though, he stood at the foot of it and said that sleeping together isn’t part of our equation and that I’m making everything harder for him.”

“Where you?”

“Yes, totally, because I wanted him. I got undressed and was willing him to take me for himself. He just stood there floored. I all but threw myself at him.”

“So then what happened?”

“He stormed off and I felt like a jackass. So I went back to the party and decided to go for a swim. I felt completely humiliated. When I got out of the pool I went looking for him. I found him in a car that wasn’t his banging a girl. When I was positive it was him I went running in the opposite direction until I couldn’t run anymore and that’s when you found me. It was so hard to see Anna. He started pounding on your parent’s bedroom door, trying to talk to me. I heard him tell Jeremy in the hallway that he wasn’t drunk, and I believe him. He knew what he was doing when he was with that girl, and that makes it worse.”

“He’s an asshole, and you shouldn’t have gotten that drunk!” Anna comments angrily. “By the way, Lara broke up with Jeremy for sure last night,” Anna informs me.

“I know, I heard him talking in the hallway to Scott.”

“Did she stay over?”

“Ya.”

“Did she get together with Michael?”

“No, I had a talk with her, told her our golden rule. She never knew.” Anna gets out of bed and pulls my phone from its charger, throwing it towards me before heading to the shower. The light is flashing blue, so I press the button and see: three phone messages, no emails and texts.

Phone message 1:

“It’s Scott, we need to talk. Call me.”

Phone message 2:

“Isabella, Please, can you give me a call. I need to explain what happened. Last night meant nothing.”

Phone message 3:

“You’re going to have to talk to me sooner or later. It will be easier if it’s sooner. Call me.”

I hazard to guess what the texts were going to say. I saw eight from him and two from my mother.

Mom 7:00 PM

U’r dad & I must have missed U. We packed a bag 4 U & left it @ the door so U have clothes 2 wear @ Anna’s.

Mom 7:02 PM

I left money 4 U in the side pocket of the bag, 2 use on food so Anna’s parents don’t have 2 pay 4 all your food. Have fun!

We congregate in kitchen where we decide on cereal and toast for breakfast, “My parents packed me a bag.”

Lara volunteers, “I’ll drive you home to get it.”

“Thanks. How did Jeremy take the breakup last night? I heard him talking to Scott about it.”

“Oh? What did you hear?” She asks.

“He was encouraging Scott to stop pounding on the door and leave me alone. He said, ‘Lara doesn’t want to see me, and Isabella doesn’t want to see you right now.’” I look over at Anna, “That’s when Scott also admitted to Jeremy that he wasn’t drunk. So he knew full well what he was doing last night with that girl.”

Lara looks at me, “What happened with both of you guys? When I finished breaking up with Jeremy you were gone, and Anna, Michael, and Johnson were out looking for you.”

I sigh, “Scott and I were sitting by the pool feeling it. He took me upstairs and I thought for sure we were going to get hot on each other. Then he started saying how getting together in bed isn’t in the cards. So I tried luring him in and he stormed off. I went looking for him later and found him banging some other girl in a car down the street.”

“Oh my,” Lara says under her breath, “that’s rough. It took him less than an hour to find a girl who was willing to spread her legs for him.”

“These are his messages,” I played back his answering messages and put it on speaker so the girls can hear, and then I pass the phone around, so they can read his texts.

“Don’t weaken on this,” Lara advises. “If he’s such a nice guy he would have considered your feelings.”

“I quite agree,” Anna sides with Lara. I finish my bowl of cereal and started washing the dish, “What happened with you and Jeremy?”

“I told him that I need a change, I won’t mind getting together once in a while for bootie calls, but I’m not interested in anything serious anymore.”

“Did you say, ‘Bootie Calls?’” Anna asks.

“Yes, he is quite prudish about the idea and took it offensively saying I was making him feel cheap.”

“Did you have break-up sex?”

“Of course we did, and we didn’t make any messes don’t worry.” Lara answers wistfully. If sex was that good everyday I wouldn’t have broken up with him.

“Isn’t that always the case?” Anna jokes.

We all hop into Anna’s car and drive to my place to get my packed bag. A phone chirps and as per usual, none of us know who’s it is, so we all search. I pulled mine out, “Not mine, surprised!”

“Not mine,” Lara adds.

“Oh my God” Anna comments under her breath.

“What?” Lara asks.

“Johnson just fucking broke up with ME!” “You’re kidding, by Email?” I ask.

“No, worse, text!” Anna exclaims. Lara reaches for the phone, “Let me see.” She reads it aloud:

Johnson: It’s been a slice (especially last night), but I want to be single for a while. You understand? Lets just be friends. Signed, feeling smothered.

“How crass,” I comment, “oh well, you were planning on breaking up with him anyway weren’t you?”

“The asshole beat me to it,” Anna seethes. Lara giggles, “Now you don’t have to worry about it. You said he bored you anyway. I’m staying friends with Jeremy, who knows Johnson might turn out to be a great friend. Boyfriends are overrated.” The following four weeks we live like total recluses. We make no unnecessary contact with the outside world, shy away from social media. If we aren’t by Anna’s pool, we are watching movies at Lara’s house. We swear off guys completely and get reacquainted with each other. I dread the day I’m expected back on the ice, not because I don’t want to skate, but because I will have to face him. Mom and dad are taking me in this morning, because Coach Tammy wants to meet with them to discuss the competition season. Dad is dressed in his best suit for work, the smell of his perfume fills his car. Mom is gussied up in a dress suit she only wears on special occasions.

We pull in, and I notice Scott’s car is already there. We stroll through the lounge to find Scott’s mother and Scott waiting for us on the Sofa. Coach Tammy is coming out of the skating office walking in our direction. He stretches out his hand to greet my father, “Welcome to our club Mr. Moyes, my name is Coach Tammy.”

“The pleasure is mine,” he says. I manage to avoid eye contact with Scott by focusing on Coach Tammy and my parents. Tammy starts leading us towards the club’s dining room area overlooking the rink. I’ve seen it before but never dined there.

“I ordered the kids a light breakfast, so they won’t miss their entire practice, we can stay up here and enjoy the rest of our meal while they skate,” Scott’s mom informs my parents.

“That’s lovely,” mom says.

There’s a private table set up for us next to the window giving us a perfect view of the ice. There are two extra chairs at the table, “Who are the two extra chairs for?” I ask.

Coach Tammy nods to Scott, “Do you want to tell her?” I looked into his dark eyes for the first time since the party and my heart gives out on me all over again. The embarrassment and hurt comes flooding back to me and I’m unable to maintain eye contact with him, I just pray Coach Tammy doesn’t pick up on it. The memory of him in the car with someone else is embossed like a stain.

“We thought you would want to have breakfast with Anna and Lara on your birthday and give them a private performance before your debut in the competitive world.”

“Oh My!” I look at mom, “I thought you guys forgot! Mom you told Scott when my birthday is?”

“Anna told me,” Scott admits. “Please don’t be mad at me for arranging all of this.” That’s when Anna and Lara show up in the dining room of the club. I go running over to give them each a hug and a kiss squealing with delight. This is huge! We come back to the table and that’s when dad says, “We’re so proud of you Honey, Happy Birthday.”