My Wish for You (17 page)

“What time is
it?” I groaned.

“Eight,” Sarah
grumbled.

“Who freaking
calls at eight o’clock in the morning?”

I pulled my pillow
over my head to block out the sound and the blinding light.

“It seems that
Sean intends to pay you a visit?”

“Ugggghhhhh,” I
pouted under the pillow.

Knock. Knock.

“I’ll assume
damage control; you assume the sleeping position. And don’t forget the snore,”
she added as she got up to answer the door. Snoring fakely, I assumed my
sleeping stance as she opened the door.

Apparently,
whenever I was drunk, or hung-over, I snored. We all knew this because, since I
didn’t believe them one bit, Brian and Sarah thought it would be funny to
record me while snoring and show it to everyone, proving their point. I never
snored normally, but something about alcohol….

“Hey.”

“What’s up?”
Sarah asked slightly groggily.

“Is Sam up?”

“Does she look
up?”

There was a pause
in which I assumed they both looked over at me.

“No…I guess not.”
Another, shorter pause. “Was she okay last night?”

“Seriously Sean?”
she asked disbelievingly. “What do you think?” She paused for him to think. “After
she finished puking her guts out, she cried until she fell asleep.”

I cringed
mentally.

“She did?”

“Yes. She did.”
A phone beeped. “Do you want to explain that to me?”

“Uhh…explain
what?”

“Explain what
the hell happened last night from the time you left this house to when you
brought her home trashed.”

“That was not my
fault,” he defended.

“You may not
have handed her the vodka, but you sure were the reason behind the drinking.”

Silence.

“Well, I don’t
really know. I wasn’t at the party or anything. So, I don’t know what her deal
is.”

“Oh please. You
may be able to fool other people, like Sam, but Sean, you’re not pulling the
wool over my eyes. So, you better start talking and you better start talking
fast, or else I’ll make sure you don’t get a chance to explain yourself to Sam.”

There was a
lengthy hesitation.

“Well?”

“Sam and I
were…talking. And I got a text from Jonny telling me that Tasha was at the
store.”

In that moment,
I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what came next. Dread filled me and I wanted to
run, but I was stuck. What else could I do? “Wake up” and have to talk to Sean?
I thought not.

“I tried to tell
Tasha it was over. She didn’t want to hear me. Finally, she got that I wasn’t
kidding around and asked if we could go talk somewhere that wasn’t a public
grocery store. We drove around for a while then stopped and talked….”

His voiced
sounded strange as he trailed off. I heard a phone beep again.

“And?” Sarah
pressured him.

“And we fought.
But in the end I told her that I was done. For good.”

My heart
quickened its pace. But Sarah had other plans for my heart.

“What else
happened?” I grew worried again.

“What do you
mean?”

Silence.

“You know what I
mean,” she implied.

More silence.
And my heart, followed by my stomach, dropped.

“I thought so.
Listen to me Sean, and listen well. You better not break her heart. She may act
all tough about you, but she’s got it bad, whether she wants to admit it or
not.”

I
really
didn’t.

“So, don’t screw
her around. You understand?”

Quiet.

“Do you
understand me, Sean? ‘Cause if you don’t, I’ll do my best to ruin any attempts
that you make with her,” she threatened.

“Yeah,” he said
softly. “I understand.”

A phone beeped
again.

“Who is trying
to get ahold of you so persistently?” she asked, irritated.

There was
another long pause while Sean hesitated again. I knew his answer before he
replied.

“Tasha,” he said
finally, sounding ashamed.

“Well, maybe you
should go take it. It seems to be important.”

“It’s really
not,” Sean disagreed. “She’s just trying to change my mind.”

“Still. I have
things I need to do.”

“Oh, okay then.
Later.”

“Don’t forget
what I said Sean,” Sarah reminded him.

“Yeah,” he
muttered.

Once I heard the
door click, I lifted the pillow off my eyes and looked up at Sarah. She stared
back at me.

“Well. That
could have gone way worse,” she said semi-cheerfully.

“Oh yeah,” I
muttered sarcastically, throwing my pillow at her. “I could have been awake…oh
wait—I was. And I heard the entire conversation.”

“Oh, quit being
so over dramatic, Samantha, and go back to sleep. We’ll talk later.” She threw
my pillow back at my face.

“But—” I started
to argue.

“No. I’m up. And
I’m going to take a shower. So, shut it and go back to sleep.”

I pouted as she
ignored my protests and went into the bathroom. Listening to the water run, I
grumpily rolled over and pulled my blanket over my head until I fell back
asleep.

***

It was still
ridiculously bright when I woke up three hours later. I rolled over to my
stomach and looked around. Sarah had already come and gone. Clean was what she
left behind, her bed made, everything straightened. I glanced over to my
bedside table and there was a glass of water and some aspirin.

Gratefully, I
picked up the aspirin and popped them into my mouth, chugging down the glass of
water after it. Head throbbing, I eased myself out of bed slowly. My stomach
gurgled and I realized I was starving. I got up and made my way down to the
kitchen.

Passing the door
to Brian and Sean’s room, I could hear Sean’s voice through the door. Not even
bothering to stop, I ignored it and kept moving towards the kitchen and some
food. Once in the kitchen though, I had trouble deciding on what I wanted to
eat.

I riffled
through the fridge and the cabinets, but nothing sounded remotely appetizing. I
didn’t want fruit. I didn’t want eggs. I didn’t want pancakes. Finally, I
decided on a package of Pop Tarts and some frosted flakes.

Surprisingly, it
was amazingly delicious. It seriously hit the spot. I scarfed it down until all
that was left was crumbs, washed the dishes, then returned them to their rightful
spots. My head was still aching, but it wasn’t as bad since the aspirin had
kicked in, and the food helped a bit.

Feeling slightly
better and more awake, I made my way back upstairs to take a shower and get
ready. I headed down the hallway and straight into the hornet’s nest.

“No Tasha. I don’t
want to fucking talk to you. Get it through your head and Leave. Me. Alone.”

He hung up and
looked up at me defensively before he realized it was me.

“Hey,” he said,
sounding more relaxed.

“Hi,” I replied,
walking past him briskly.

“Sammy, please,
just talk to me.” He put his hand on my arm before I tugged it away.

“No Sean. I don’t
want to talk. Not now. But apparently someone does,” I snapped, referring to
Tasha.

“Then when?” he
asked, ignoring my jibe.

“I don’t know,”
I bluntly answered.

“Then why, Sam?”
he persisted.

“Because Sean. I
am so pissed at you right now, it’s not even funny. I spent all night getting
sick and crying. I. Am. Exhausted.” I walked out of his reach to my door,
opening it. Of course he had followed me, so his face was still basically two
inches from mine. “And to top it off, I’m hung over and my head feels like it’s
going to freaking explode just thinking about you. So, no. I don’t want to
talk.”

I shut the door
in his face.

“Sam. Sammy.
Come on. Open this door and talk to me, please.” He knocked hard, causing my
head to ache. “I’m sorry.”

He sounded
genuine, but at that point, I didn’t care. I was still too hurt.

“Whatever Sean.”

He smacked the
door.

“Dammit
Samantha, quit being so unforgiving!”

Shocked and
offended, I went to go open the door to give him a piece of my mind, but he was
gone. I heard a door slam and I headed back to my window to see Sean storming
across the campfire area.

“Whatever,” I
muttered to myself before heading to my shower.

***

As I ran down
the stairs after my shower, the smell of fresh cookies washed over me. I
rounded the corner into the kitchen. Mrs. W was baking homemade cookies…a lot
of cookies. They weren’t the cookies from a bag kind of cookies. These were
real, homemade cookies.

“Hey, Mrs. W. What’s
with all of the cookies?” I asked as I picked one up and took a bite.

“Well, when you
find yourself surrounded by growing teenagers, cookies go quickly,” she
laughed.

“Want some help?”

“That’d be
great, Sam.” She scooted over and gave me some room to work. We worked in
silence for a while, rolling balls of dough peacefully. My thoughts drifted to
last night at the store, the way he’d walked away with her so easily…the way he’d
walked away from me. Probably just like the way they did that first night they
were together. I took a deep breath and smacked the new dough.

“Hm. Would this
bad mood have anything to do with my son?”

I looked up,
innocently shocked.

“What are you
talking about?”

She smiled and
turned the dough over.

“Well, usually
you two are running around all day doing things. And today, he’s gone off
somewhere in a tiff and you’re here, beating the dough to death.”

I forgot how
much more observant she was than my own mother. Since she and my mom were best
friends, she was like my second mom. I sighed and squished the dough again.

“Yeah, I guess
it does. We went to the store last night and ran into Tasha.” I paused and
looked at her. “Well, you know they ‘took a break.’ So, we were sitting in the
car talking about us. Better yet, what ‘us’ could mean, and then, Jonathon came
with Tasha following.” I altered the story slightly. She didn’t need to know
all
the gory details. “So, they chatted. And, she asked him to go with her. He gave
his keys to Jonathon and left.”

I took a deep
breath. I hadn’t realized that I had been rushing out the words without
breathing.

“I guess it just
hurts, that’s all,” I continued. “I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s driving
me insane.” I looked down and went back to shaping cookies.

“Don’t worry.
One day he’ll realize that you’re one thousand times better than she is.

I looked up in
disbelief. Did I hear her correctly? She looked like she hadn’t even said
anything. She was molding the dough with her fingers as if it was a piece of
clay being shaped into a masterpiece.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sean and I
avoided each other for the rest of the day…or rather, Sarah and I headed to
Cara’s to get away from the drama. After Sarah got back from hanging out with
some guy she met at a party, I convinced her to go with me, and we were sitting
behind Cara’s cabin listening to music and tanning. We had been back there long
enough for my skin to look golden bronze when my phone rang. I glanced down at
it while Sarah and Cara were discussing the upcoming summer trends.

Sam, would
you please just talk to me? This is ridiculous
.

“Why can’t he
just get it? He thinks that I’m upset for some stupid reason, when in all
reality, it was him being dumb that got me upset!” I interrupted.

“That’s because
he’s a boy, and boys don’t understand anything because they are dumb.”

“Here, here!”
Sarah agreed, raising her glass. Cara and I raised our glasses and clinked them
to hers.

“So, are you
gonna reply?” Cara asked, taking a drink.

“Yeaah,” I
muttered, concentrating on my phone.

“What are you
going to say?” Sarah inquired hesitantly.

“‘
No, I won’t.
Quit bugging me
.’” I hit send and turned off my phone

They both
laughed at me and Cara went to go take another sip. Finding her glass empty,
she stood to go fill up her glass inside.

“Anyone else
want some more?”

Sarah shook her
glass slightly.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Sam?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

I picked up a
rock and tossed it across the fire pit as Cara headed inside.

“Stupid boys.” I
grumbled under my breath.

“Yeah…I feel
you.” Sarah sighed and I could tell from her tone that something was wrong.

“Oh man. What
happened?”

“I basically
dumped Daniel today.”

“What?! Why?”

“Why what?” Cara
asked, handing Sarah her glass and looking at me.

“She dumped
Daniel.”

“That cute boy
from the boat party?”

“The very same,”
I confirmed.

“But why? He was
so cute.”

“I don’t know.”

We both looked
at her expectantly.

“All he wanted
to do was fool around…like,
all
he wanted to do. And man, one can only
take so much before she has to say enough. It was like every second of every
moment we were together, he wanted to get into my pants.”

“That’s the
thing though. All boys are like that.”

“Oh really? And
is Chad like that Cara?”

She smiled a
goofy grin that was so Cara.

“No,” she
giggled. “He’s a decent, well-mannered boy.”

“Who happens to
be a good kisser,” I added.

“Well…yes,” she
admitted.

We all laughed.
Closing my eyes, I thought about Sean and everything that happened last night.
Maybe I was blowing things out of proportion, but still, he’d said it
himself…it was hard for him to let her go. Maybe I should just let him go. It
ached my heart to even contemplate it, but maybe the right thing to do was to
just let him be with Tasha. I shouldn’t push him to make a decision that he was
not ready to make, a decision he could very well regret.