Scarred Hearts (Blackrock) (6 page)
I have never heard my mother curse before so I am a little taken back by it, "Yeah a car mom, you know because dad lives in the hills". "NO I do not know, Bailey I don't care either, if he lives in the hills or on the beach, who does he think he is getting you a car? And what about school, are coming back to start college next week?" she continues to shout down the line at me, she is breathing even harder now and I can hear her heals clicking on the tile as she walks. "He is my dad, mom, he can buy me a car if he wants to, it's his right and to answer your question NO I am not coming home for school" I yell.
"Oh yes you are young lady, you get back on a plane and get your butt home, I am not having my daughter uneducated" she says. "You know no man will want a bum, what will Brad do if he finds out you are lounging around, he won't take you back". Ah Brad again, "Mother Brad and I are done, I really don't care what he thinks of me. For the record I think he is a coward and an asshole, and for your information I won't be a bum because after I get my degree I will be able to stop fucking losers like Brad and Ben from ever hurting anyone again" I roar through the phone at her and hang up. I can't listen to her anymore. "You ok?" dad asks me. "Dad why is she such a bitch? How did you ever love her?" I ask. He just looks at me "people change, some for the better some for worse". "Yeah and I'm guessing she changed for the worse, or was I just a silly child who didn't know any better?"
He sits down on the window seat in the kitchen and pats the space beside him, I walk over and flop down on it rubbing my face with my hands, "Now my birthday really sucks balls". "Bailey, when you did you get such a potty mouth," he asks in a high-pitched voice. I laugh at him and shake my head, "Sorry" I mutter. "So you want to tell me who Ben is and why him and the lovely Brad hurt people" he uses air quotes when he says the word lovely. He is looking at me expectantly, I close my eyes for a minute and picture the last day I saw Summer.
My eyes fly open, I do not want that image in my mind but it will forever be there. "I can't dad, it's too soon. Lets just say I found out who Brad really was and Ben is a douche who I wouldn't waste my breath explaining about" I answer.
He nods in understanding and slaps his hands against his thighs, "So birthday girl, what's it to be for the rest of the day?" he holds up his hand and begins to tick off on his fingers, "we got the gift" one finger gets ticked. "We had a birthday lunch & breakfast cake" another finger. "We endured a phone battle and came out relatively unscathed" next finger. "So what's next?"
I smile at him "dad its just you and me now" I say. "My BFF is gone and my MBFF is in Florida so that leaves" I hold up my hand like he did and tick off my ring finger "you fire up the popcorn" and last but not least I tick my little finger and wave it at him "girly movie marathon" I say jumping up off the seat.
He groans at me and hangs his head down, but I can see him smiling. "I don't have any girly movies," he says. I put my arm around his shoulder "You know they have this cool thing now where you can rent movies straight from the TV" I say and slap him on the back. I run up to my bedroom and get changed into my yoga pants and a grey t-shirt. I can smell the popcorn as I skip back down the stairs toward the living room.
I don't usually watch TV in here as I have the one in my own room but it is my birthday and we are camping out on the sofa for the rest of the night. Dad walks in carrying a bowl of popcorn in one hand and a giant bar of white chocolate in the other. I smile at him while flicking through the movie menu, I think to myself, it has been two years since I spent any time with him, yet he still remembers that I prefer white chocolate, what a cool dad.
We end up watching Pacific Rim, the Host and the Hangover 3, by midnight I am stuffed to bursting and dad is rubbing his eyes. "Now if I knew that was your idea of a girly movie night I would have stuck around with you and Summer on your sleep overs," he says yawning. "Yeah we didn't want parents there that's why we said girly movies, you know because we couldn't exactly talk about boys with you around" I smile at him. "On that note I think I will go to bed" he says.
I get up off the sofa and give him a big hug "Thank you dad, for everything" I kiss him on the cheek and he hugs me back "you are welcome kiddo".
I clean up our mess and head to bed myself, over all it has been a good birthday but I miss hanging out with Summer.
Its Friday already I think as I sit in the kitchen drinking my coffee, it is already noon and I am just lounging around. I decide to go up to my room and sort through my clothes; I need to figure out what I want to keep and what I don't like anymore. When I left my moms house I just put everything into two suitcases and one of those is still packed.
I heft the case up onto my bed and unzip it; I start taking out all of the clothes I just threw in there. I find a black and white knit top that Summer had loaned me for Easter to go with my black leather jeggings. I remember when I bought them; Summer and I had a moment of madness and decided we were going the leather route. She bought a pair for herself but ended up not liking how they made her ass look so she gave me her pair too.
Now I have two pairs but mine have a rhinestone design on the back pockets. I wore them to Brad's Easter party, he told me my ass sparkled when I walked, and it was probably meant to be a compliment but just didn't sound right.
As I am pulling out my clothes I hear the doorbell ring, I wasn't expecting anyone because usually no one ever rings the bell. I come down the stairs and open the door, "Bailey Mortenson" the guy asks, "Yeah that's me" "Sign here, delivery for you". I sign the delivery slip and look over his shoulder; my heart nearly stops when I see my shiny new Camaro sitting on the back of a flat bed truck. I watch the guy lower it to the ground; he pulls it forward and parks it.
I run over to him when he steps out of the car and hands me my keys. "Thanks" I say grabbing the keys. He salutes me and gets back into his truck and drives off.
I am so excited I jump up and down, my car; I put my arms across the hood and give her a hug. Running back inside to put on some shoes because I am taking this baby for a drive. When I reach my room my phone is ringing, I slide the screen to answer it "Hello". "Hi Bailey, its Cindy Anderson" says the voice. "Oh Hi Mrs. Anderson, how are you?" I ask. "I am good Bailey, I just wanted to call you to let you know that I am clearing out Summers things and found a box of photographs of you guys and a letter for you". A letter, my heart freezes in my chest and it is hard to think with the pounding of blood in my ears, "Oh umm yeah sure" I say.
"That's great, do you want me to stop by this afternoon and drop them off?" she asks. Oh crap I never told her I left town. "Actually Mrs. Anderson I don't live in Grove anymore. I moved up to Blackrock to live with my dad" I tell her. "I couldn't stay there anymore, every time I went into town or just being in my own house made me feel like a part of me was missing".
"That's ok Bailey I understand, that is why I am calling you too, Summer's dad and I have decided to sell the house and move on, the memories although good are too much right now". We talk for a few more minutes and I tell her I decided to go to college up here and give her my dad's address, we say our goodbyes and she promises to send me her new address so we can keep in touch.
I decide I need to take the car for a spin and to get out of the house for a bit. I start up my car and just listen to the throaty sound of the engine for a minute; I plug my iPod into the USB port and let it play. Driving into town at record speed loving my new car, its smells all new and clean and yummy. I slow down as I reach downtown, there is a lot more cars here than usual so I end up parking at the end of the strip by Georges karaoke bar. I get out of the car and lock it with a beep.
As I step up onto the sidewalk the door to Georges opens, I look up to see TDH coming out of the door wearing a black t-shirt that clings to his biceps as he brushes his hand through his hair, I never noticed his body last time, he looks muscular and hot not to mention HOT. I think I am going to have a heart attack. His hair looks different from last time, it's longer at the top and short on the side's maybe he got a trim. He is standing there in front of me watching me staring at him. He crosses his arms over his chest which causes all kind of muscles to bulge, "See something you like Darlin?" he asks me cocking his eyebrow. I look into his green eyes and I swear my heart is fighting me to break loose of my chest.
"Don't you speak Blondie?" he asks me again. "Yeah I do, B-but I-I have to" I start stammering like an idiot while pointing down the street. He looks at me like I am nuts so I just walk away again. Oh my god, what is with this guy why the heck do I keep walking away from him, besides the fact that he's hot, usually I can give as good as I get from smart mouth boys. But with him, it seems like my brain disengages my ability to speak.
Feeling a little, no a lot flustered I walk down the street and turn into the first store I come across. As I push open the door I realize I came into one of the vintage clothing stores. "Hi welcome to Beth's" says a girl from behind the counter. I smile over at her and move through the store. I start browsing the racks at the back of the store and find a cute gypsy shirt, it is cream with an elasticated waist and short sleeves, the ribbon that runs through the top is missing giving it a look of a cone, I check the price and see its only five bucks and throw it over my shoulder and continue browsing.
About an hour later and with a few bags from different stores I head back to my car, I am walking by a sandwich shop when I hear my name being called, I turn to look and see a girl with long brown hair waving at me, "Bailey hi" when she gets closer to me I recognize her as preppy tour guide from the college. "Hi" she says when stops in front of me. "Hi" I answer back. "Oh do you not remember me? I'm Paige, from the college" she points over her shoulder. "I remember, yes," I say. "So are you going to be starting classes on Monday?" "Yeah I decided to do the computer classes," I say. "That's great, so I see you have been doing some shopping". "Yes just getting some bits and pieces". Man this conversation is weird. "Did you pick up your books yet? I am going that way if you want to walk with me" she smiles at me looking like she is about to be murdered and I am her only hope of an escape.
"Eh ok sure, but I don't know what books I need, I never got a list," I say to her. She just waves her hand and begins to walk to the bookstore; we walk side by side in unnerving silence. When we reach the bookstore she steps in first and I follow, the place is packed, I look around and I think every student for five states is in here. "What is going on, are they giving away the books?" I ask Paige. She laughs "No the store only got all the books yesterday, I guess there was a delay in the delivery, so all the high school and college kids are in here".
Paige steers me over to a machine that looks an awful lot like the self-check in kiosks at the airport. We wait for about five minutes before a machine is available; as Paige steps up to the machine she asks me "So did you ever use a college course kiosk before?" "Um no, I don't even know what that is". She points to the machine in front of us "Ok so I'll do mine first and you can watch me" she says.
Paige taps the screen; she selects BRU and then enters her college ID number. The screen changes and brings up her name and spaces to enter her class codes. It takes her a few minutes to enter all the information then she hits send. The screen opens an E-sign page and she signs her name with her finger. "All done" she chirps. "Now your turn"
I look at the machine feeling a little dubious, Paige taps the screen for me, and I enter all my information and courses just like she did and sign the page at the end too. "So now that we have that done, lets go sit by the window". I follow her over and sit down, "So what is that for" I ask. "Oh the kiosk, basically all the information you put in pulls up your book list for the year and sends it over there" she points to a counter with about five very stressed out cashiers standing behind it. "The elves in the store room at the back pull all of your books out in one go and then you pay for them, without any stress" she explains.
"Wow cool idea" I answer. "Yes she says and smiles". I look over at her she is grinning like she won the lotto "are you ok?" I ask. She giggles and says yes then she tells me that she designed the college course kiosk two years ago when she was in high school because she was tired of having to go hunting for her books all over the store.
I look at her with my mouth hanging open, "Seriously" I say. "You designed that," I ask incredulously. "Don't look so surprised Bailey, I am not a small town hick you know". "What, no I didn't mean it like that". "I know, I am only pulling your leg," she laughs again.
"Oh" I look over at her and smile. "I know what you are thinking but you are wrong" I raise my eyebrows at her, "I did design the machine, I am just pulling your leg about the small town hick thing" she says.
Oh shit, I think to myself maybe I did peg this girl all-wrong. We sat there on the window seat watching all the people collecting their books, we began making up stories about each person and were guessing what classes they were taking. After about thirty minutes our names were called, we walk over to the counter and both receive a pile of books. I pay the cashier with my dad's credit card and take my now three bags of books.
Paige and I walk outside into the sunshine, "So what are doing for the rest of today?" Paige says to me. "I was going to go home and chill, put all this stuff away" I say. Her face falls a little "ok then, I am happy to have helped you" she says. I feel bad, I don't just want to run off now that she helped me but I want to go home and get organized. I am standing on the street facing her with my hands full of bags, which are starting to hurt. "Hey are you living on campus?" I ask her. "No I have an apartment just on the South side of the campus, you?"
"I live with my dad up at lakeside" I say nodding in the direction of where our house is.