Red Flags (14 page)

“Thanks Mila, but I wanted to stay.”

“Yeah, but the mood turned downright nasty; I
should have pulled you out of there. I’m sorry Cara,” and Ryan’s
words were my undoing. It was a simple reminder of the last time I
felt bombarded, and alone.

Chelsea handed me a box of tissues and taking
my hands in hers, proceeded with her inquisitive onslaught.

“So have you heard from him? He should have
called by now.”

Her words hit me like a ton of bricks since I
knew that, four and a half hours later, I should have heard from
him, but I hadn’t. I shook my head and looked into my brother’s
steely eyes.

“I had a ton of missed calls and texts on my
phone but nothing from him.” I said, my lip quivering the entire
time.

“This is complete bullshit. You guys have
been seeing each other for what, three days? Complete bullshit
Cara.” Ryan’s protective big brother voice was on full display. “By
the way, we stopped by mom and dads and they want you to call.”

“Yeah, I figured. I had a couple of missed
calls from them too.”

Ryan looked down at his watch and knowing
that he had to leave, asked me if I was okay. I gave him a very
pathetic nod with a half-smile. He hugged me tightly, and told me
everything would be okay. I really wished I could believe his
words, but I didn’t share the same optimism. He kissed Mila
goodbye, and walked out of the apartment.

I moseyed back to the shower, but not before
checking my Facebook on my phone. I was secretly hoping for a
notification from Jason, but there was none. I did, however, have a
message from Jacob Bradley. My curiosity heightened and I eagerly
tapped the screen to read the message.

From Jacob Bradley:

Hi Cara. You probably know who I am at this point,
but in case you don’t, I’m Jason’s older brother Jacob. The nasty
comment he left on the picture, don’t worry about that. We have a
very love/hate relationship and someday, we will work through it.
Any who, you two look very nice together and I wanted to be the
first from this side to tell you that. I look forward to getting to
know you.

Jacob

Holy shit! If Jason knew that Jacob had
written me, he would throw a conniption fit. Then again, he wasn’t
really talking to me, so would he care? I went back and forth,
contemplating if I should write him back or just ignore it. My
curiosity got the best of me and I decided to write him back.

To Jacob Bradley:

Hi Jacob. I am well aware of who you are; you look
almost identical to Jason. Thank you for the nice compliment. I do
not know much about your relationship with your brother, but from
what I can gather, I know it isn’t the best. I do hope someday you
guys can figure it out.

Cara

I purposely left out the getting to know him
part because, I wasn’t exactly sure if I would ever meet him. I
stepped into the shower, and attempted to subdue the wandering
thoughts looming freely concerning Jason. Chelsea knocked on the
door before entering – which was a complete shock.

“Hey Cara.”

“Yeah…” I answered, yelling over the pounding
drops of the shower water.

“You haven’t tried contacting Jason have
you?” Her voice was full of apprehension.

“No! Why?”

“Just wanted to make sure. He’s the asshole
here, don’t go chasing after him.”

I inhaled and exhaled deeply, regretting her
words partly due to the fact that I planned to text him after my
shower. Her demand was now staring me in the face, and I knew that
I couldn’t contact him. I didn’t answer and she left the
bathroom.

I allowed the water to pour over my head and
down my face. It was quite soothing, and after about five minutes,
I cleansed myself, and got out.

Walking down the hallway, I decided to call
my parents. My mom answered the phone, and in her ever present
cheery mood, she quizzed me on all things Jason. This was
definitely the last thing that I wanted to dig into, but I obliged
and let her know all about our weekend – minus a few parts that she
didn’t need to hear about. She handed my dad the phone and I knew
it wouldn’t be nearly as easy to placate him.

“Hey Cars, how are you baby doll?”

“Fine Dad,” I was awful at hiding the angst
in my voice.

“Cars, it doesn’t sound like you’re fine.
What’s going on?”

“Dad, it’s really nothing, I’m pretty tired
from this weekend though.”

“Ryan says you guys had a pretty wild night
out last night, glad your brother was there with you,” and I could
hear the concern in his voice.

“We had a good time Dad.”

“Where were you when we were calling
earlier?” His tone was very stern and full of worry.

“I was sleeping; I’m sorry, I missed quite a
few calls.

“Well, I’m off tomorrow… its film day for you
right?”

How did he know my schedule better than I
did?

“Yes it is, but I'm doing an extra workout,
then I have a break, and then the film session.”

“Ok, I’m driving down… we’re going to lunch,
sounds like we need to talk.”

Shit! I would love to spend time with my dad,
but having him face to face, might make me spill some things that I
would otherwise want to keep to myself.

“Okay Dad, I’ll see you tomorrow. I love
you.”

“I love you too. See ya!”

My dad had always been my knight in shining
armor, but the one time I absolutely needed him, I didn’t want him.
I didn’t want to have to face the questions, the impending lecture,
and the stern warnings. I got dressed, leaving my hair down and
damp and headed back out to the living room with Chelsea and Mila.
They were watching some reality show, and while I didn’t usually
participate in that pointless madness, the laughs that came with
such unscrupulous people showcasing their lives on national TV was
quite amusing to me. I needed to laugh.

My phone buzzed next to me, and as my
expectations rose, in hopes that Jason was finally contacting me, I
was severely let down when I saw a Facebook notification from
Jacob.

From Jacob Bradley

Well, you should consider coming to Texas soon. My
parents will be having their annual charity dinner and dance. I
have already showed them your pic, and they are anxious.

I decide to write a quick response.

To Jacob Bradley

Sounds like fun. I will see what I can do.

Chelsea eyed me tentatively. “Cara, you’re
not writing Jason are you?” She asked, her voice full of
apprehension.

I shot her a quick smile and responded with a
very deliberate “NO!”

She looked pleased and left it alone, Mila
smiled at me, and continued watching her train wreck TV show.

I was drained, physically as well as
emotionally. I think I'd cried more that day than I had in the past
two years, and the next day, I had to face the prosecutor known as
my dad. I decided to turn in early because I could feel in my bones
that I was going to have a long day tomorrow. Unable to contain the
desire to reach out, I typed Jason a quick message, disregarding
Chelsea and her warnings.

To Jason Bradley

Good Night!

I plugged my charger into my phone, lay down
in my bed, and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 7

I woke up to my nerve rattling alarm at five
forty five in the morning, exhausted as ever, after getting
virtually no sleep the night before. Jason was looming heavily on
my mind, and as I shut off the alarm on my phone, I checked to see
if there were any missed calls, texts, or messages from him.
Unfortunately, there were none. I opened my Facebook app to check
for notifications, but there was no response to my message, and no
notifications that he had written to me at all. What happened? Why
had he cut off all communication from me?

I stumbled out of my bed and into the
bathroom to see a red eyed Chelsea brushing her teeth. Mila was
back in her room, blasting music. Seriously? We had morning
workouts, and while I didn’t feel the urge to be pumped up, my
emotions were flailing -- I missed Jason. Of course it had been
less than 24 hours since I had seen him, but his lack of
communication was causing distress that I couldn’t recall ever
feeling. I couldn’t remove the images of all of the fun we had this
past weekend, and yet, I was faced with the reality that he was
ignoring me and possibly wanted nothing more to do with me.

I quickly dressed, headed to the kitchen to
eat a bowl of Greek yogurt and fresh strawberries, and headed out
the door. I was quiet the entire ride, leaving Mila to crank up the
music in a desperate attempt break me from my funk.

“Pinks, what the hell is wrong?”

I looked at her, eyes swelling and burning,
and quickly turned away, knowing if I said anything I would burst
into tears. Chelsea reached from the back seat and rubbed my head,
trying to soothe the ache that was pummeling me from the inside. I
didn’t have to say anything; she knew exactly what was wrong.

I destroyed my workout, and felt rather good
about myself afterwards. The built up tension needed a release and
the workout provided the necessary avenue for it. We made our way
back up to the apartment, showered, and headed off to morning
classes. I was in my SSDU Softball warm up suit, my black Chucks,
and had my hair thrown up on the top of my head. I took my seat and
checked my phone finding my only message had come from my dad,
confirming our lunch date today. I took a deep sigh, but decided
not to dwell on the fact that I had been discarded like a piece of
trash. Classes went by like a blur, and I rushed to my apartment,
hopped in my Civic, and headed to Four Point O Deli; a cute little
sub sandwich shop near campus. As I pulled up, I saw my dad
standing outside, punctual as ever. I glanced at the clock on my
radio and saw that I was five minutes late. My dad’s lectures
suddenly replayed through my head; If you’re early, you’re on time;
if you’re on time, you’re late; and if you’re late, you’re toast.
Well, looks like for today I was toast.

I walked up to the entrance, into my dad’s
loving arms. He gave me a big sturdy hug, and then he held the door
open to the sub shop, and led inside. We took our seats and a
waiter took our orders, and I suddenly felt okay. It might have
been because I hadn’t been obsessing over my phone all day, but
then again, I was sure it was because I was in the company of the
one man who had never let me down. My dad would walk through fire
for me, and I felt it at that moment.

“So Cars, how was your weekend?”

“It was nice dad.” I left it short, hoping to
not open the door for too many questions.

My dad eyed me inquisitively, opened his
mouth, but thought twice about whatever he was going to say. I
decided that rather than let my dad dictate the conversation, which
I was sure of the direction it would be going in, I started asking
questions.

“So, how are you and mom? Ryan says you’re
planning a trip to the Bahamas.”

That sparked my dad’s interest. I could see a
sparkle go off in his eyes.

“Yes! Your mom has wanted to go for a while,
so I decided to take the time off to take her over Spring break.
All-inclusive -- the works. She’s such a hard working woman; she
deserves it.”

“I completely agree. Where are you staying?
Chels says there are some amazing resorts that her family likes to
travel to.”

“The Sandals Royal Bahamian. I spoke to a
travel agent and decided on that one. All your mother knows is that
we’re going – no other plans. So, I really hope it lives up to
everything I’ve been hearing. I want to make this special for
her.”

Suddenly, the tears were making a raucous and
unwelcomed return in my eyes. I looked up at my dad, through glossy
eyes, and smiled at him. He was my example of what I wanted in a
man. I didn’t want to settle for less. He had been the exact
illustration of a man who loved his wife with every inch of his
being, and I knew that there was someone out there for me. A couple
of tears started to stream down my face, and he looked at me with a
half anxious smile.

“Cars. You know I wanted to speak to you
since Friday, and now, seeing you like this, I am absolutely sure
that our face to face sit down is the right avenue.”

“I know Dad. I just wanted to try to get
through this lunch as joyfully as possible. I see how in love with
Mom you are – how you go out of your way for her, and I know that I
want that too – someday.”

“So what’s the deal with Jason? He seems like
a nice guy, but I want to hear it from your mouth.”

My Dad was gazing into my eyes, burning an
answer out of me.

“He is a really nice guy Dad. I have him in
class, so we’ve been speaking for a bit, but finally decided to
give it a go.” I tried to tell my dad with as straight a face as
possible.

I know I fibbed, and withheld some
information, but the truth of the matter was, if I had told him
that I had been blowing him off, and we all of a sudden starting
seeing each other, the red flags would have gone up and I would
never hear the end of it. Come to think of it, those red flags that
I felt about him were starting to creep up – his disappearing act
was putting them on the forefront.

“Well, he was pleasant at dinner, and Ryan
says you all had a great time at that club the other night – but he
also said he has a bit of a temper.” The concern was plastered on
his face.

That sentence sealed my fate. I didn’t know
if I was crying because it was true, or because it felt like Ryan
had ratted me out. My Dad saw my tears and moved to the seat
directly next to me, gently grabbing my head and laying it on his
shoulder, allowing me to cry.

“Cars, I know he’s good looking, and
wealthy.” What? How did he know that? “But, the fact of the matter
is, you don’t have to deal with a temper. I have never raised my
voice to your mother, and I hope no man ever raises his voice to my
daughter.”