"So...how have you been? I thought you left with Ava?" I asked her.
"I was going to but she told me to come inside to talk to you." She said.
"I don't know why she would tell you that." I said. Ava was sneaky.
"I didn't mind. After all, you took care of me after I was released from the hospital. I know how boring it could get when you're alone."She said.
"You can leave!" I insisted.
"I could but i'm not. I know things between us haven't been the greatest lately but I want to be here for you like you were for me." She argued.
Knowing how determined she could be, I backed down. There isn't anything I could say to change her mind and I knew that. I just didn't know how to grasp a conversation with her knowing how she felt now, if she even felt the same way about me. More than anything, I wanted to just hit the reset button and redo everything that has happened between the last four years until now. No one would be hurt and I wouldn't be so confused. Any guy would give anything to have two gorgeous girls fawning over him but here I was, feeling like the world's biggest douche bag.
I figured this would be a good opportunity to ask her where she's been for two months. I haven't seen her around or in the tutor room after school. The curiosity grew.
"So where have you been lately? I haven't seen you at school." I asked.
"Busy." was all she said back.
"Busy? Are we just going to start giving dry answers now? Come on."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Well what do you want to talk about?"
"How you ended up here?"
"No one told you?"I asked relieved.
"No. Ava just called me this morning to tell me you were in the hospital because of an accident. She picked me up on her way here. I thought it was a car accident but clearly you look fine. When I got here, your parents told us you were still asleep so we went to wait downstairs when the doctor walked in to talk to them. I asked Ava but she said to ask you" she stated.
I had a decision here to make. Either I could tell her it was a sports related injury or the allergy to condoms. I thought about it for a while and went with the sports injury.
"I was running and one of the guys was messing around and pushed me. I fell and hit my yanno on the ground pretty hard." I lied.
She thought for a minute before saying,"Ouch. who knew running could lead to horrible accidents." I shook my head in agreement. She bough it! I made a mental note to tell Ava about my little white lie in case it was ever brought up again. "Yeah it happens to the best of us!"I exclaimed. I knew I was wrong for lying to her but how do you tell the girl you were in love with you just found out you were allergic to latex because you were having sex with your girlfriend. I meant was in love with, however you word it in the past tense.
"Ava was wrong by the way. To tell Jenny she was just a distraction. She didn't deserve that." She said.
"Well once the girl starts speaking her mind, she doesn't know when to stop. The thing is, she won't give Jenny a chance. She's been nothing but good to me and I've gotten to know her a little more. She's a great person, I just wish Ava would see that. I'm happy with her, like really happy." I stated. I can see Evie roll her eyes and scoff but I decided not to call her out on it.
"I have no Ava advice to offer but i'm glad you found someone to be happy with." Evie said forcing a smile.
"Is it weird for me to talk about Jenny with you?" I asked.
"No! What makes you say that?" she shook her head.
"Well for one, your nostrils seem to flare up and you have been avoiding eye contact with me." I fired back.
"Excuse me for not being so enthusiastic then. I guess I just don't know how to take it all in. First you were confessing in my living room and the next day, you're dating Jenny."
"I know what I said. I have no right to tell you who to be happy with and frankly the way that I feel is no longer your problem but i'm upset even though I know I shouldn't be. I didn't expect it to hurt seeing you two together but it did. When I saw that photo she posted on Instagram, my heart dropped. I guess you didn't need much more to move on and forget how you feel about me." She said. I couldn't help but to start laughing. I was the one who made countless attempts at winning her over just to be rejected in the end but here she was hurt doing exactly what she wanted me to.
But you just said-"
"
"You're hurt? God, you're impossible. You're the one who told me to move on. You're the one who told me it was better to find someone else and that you didn't want to be with me. I have been courting you since we were fucking thirteen years old. I waited for you for four years and you wait until i'm in a relationship to tell me about how you feel. Unlike you, Jenny wanted me back. She cares for me and didn't make me chase her around like some fool. I'm not the one who keeps running away from love, you are. Evie, I never forgot about you but I was tired of being the one who always ended up with the short end of the stick. I couldn't wait around forever." I proclaimed.
"I'm sorry for not knowing how to let people in. I wanted to say yes. I was going to tell you yes at that stupid party. I realized i'd made a mistake sending you away when I knew I wouldn't be able to handle you walking out of my life and I couldn't handle just being your friend after that day. I've fallen in love with you and it's such terrible timing but I can't carry that weight anymore. This is my big grand gesture to you. I love you and I always will." She said sobbing. "It's better for me to go but at least I won't have to hold that in me anymore. Just know that i'm not asking you to leave Jenny for me. I knew I had my chance and I messed it up. I just needed you to know that i'm genuinely and insanely in love with you. I probably said that three times but once you say it, it just won't stop. Bye David."
Evie hurriedly ran out of the room. More like stumbled and hit the table in front of my bed knocking over empty cups of coffee left by my parents from earlier. I decided to take a nap before anyone else could come in and give me a lecture or confess something again. I laid back down and shut my eyes letting myself slip into slumber.
"Yo my man, wake up. David, DAVID! I SAID WOKE YO ASS UP!" I heard Sander say as I groggily wiped my eyes.
"Dude what the fuck. Can't you see I was taking a nap?" I said irritated.
"Bro it's 5 p.m. I think you've slept long enough. Besides I was making sure you were still alive, homeslice."
"Okay well what's up man?" I asked. The quicker I get rid of Sander, the quicker I can fall back to sleep.
"Nah man, I should be asking YOU what's up?" Sander emphasized with a smirk. I knew him knowing about my little incident will not go down easy.
"I know you know what happened. I'm not going to say it again or give you any open shots to take at me."
"My man that was your problem, you covered the shot with latex" Sander said laughing. "Finally you got some though. I was pretty convinced you had a vagina there for a minute. You held out long enough my man."
"You're lucky I'm hooked up to this machine or i'd drop your ass right now!"
"Boy, all i'd have to do is put on a pair of latex gloves and punch you in the face. The allergy would take over for me." He smirked. " When are you getting released though my man? Coach is worried his star athlete will miss the meet on Thursday."
"Tomorrow."
"Ahh... I see. That a little injury isn't going to affect you right?"
"No. I think i'll be good to go by Thursday bro."
I had to admit, having Sander around helped get my mind off of everything that happened today. He was distracting me with stories of his date last night. Epic fail to say the least.
"Dude I took her to Lou's Restaurant right. She's a fine mami so I thought i'd splurge a little more on her. Trying to be the gentleman that I am, I went to open her door for her. When she was out, I slammed the door on her dress and it ripped. That was just the beginning of the mess for my evening. When the waiter came back to give us our drinks, I accidentally knocked hers over and it spilled on her already ripped dress. She was fuming at this point and I thought she was done with my shit. No Dave, she let me fuck it up more. When we got to the ice cream parlor, I told her i'd make her my special combination and told her to go sit down in the booth. One lick of it and her tongue began to swell. She was allergic to pecans! Fucking pecans, David. I dropped her off after buying her some Benadryl and blocked her number as soon as I got home." He said.
"Wait, wait why were you the one to block her number when it sounded like it was your fault?" I asked while laughing.
"Because I knew she was going to do it but I wanted to do it first!"
"Right, right so a girl whose dress you ruined and gave an allergic reaction to needed to be put in her place?"
"Yo that's what's up. That's why you're my best friend, you get me." He said.
I shook my head at him while I continued laughing. Sander always had a problem when it came to owning up to his mistakes but never had a problem in finding ways to make him the victim. You either loved the guy or hated him for it. Personally, I just found his reasonings humorous. After his little story time, we decided to turn on the t.v in my room and watch some of the basketball highlights. He stayed until my parents arrived back at the hospital with some more food. They ordered pizza from Giolo's and the site of the Italian sausage brought back memories of when I first went to Jenny's house. Speaking of Jenny, I haven't heard from her since she left and she was supposed to be coming back.