Chapter 44
JAHNVI
I t hurt. Holding in my tears, it hurt. It hurt my throat, and it felt like I was swallowing a rock when I tried to keep it in. Just three more minutes and I’d be home.
And suddenly, the world was horizontal before I could process anything.
I hadn’t been paying attention to where I was stepping and tripped on a stray branch.
Tears clouded my vision as my elbow and right knee burned.
Blinking, I looked down and touched my scraped knee.
My shoes also swam into my vision, the dark blue ballet flats I had bought with my server money because it matched the dress I was wearing. They had a cute little bow on the heel.
They had also gotten scraped in my fall.
Everything combined, and I erupted. Tears streamed down as I buried my face in my hands. Silent sobs racked my body, and I could feel the snot in my hands. It was nasty, gross, and so pitiful.
Crying on a sidewalk.
Why was I crying on a sidewalk? Isn’t it obvious what had happened?
I got stood up.
I sniffed, looking up at the graduation banner from the cement. The first hour was fine; I spent it in denial. Maybe something had come up. It was a busy week for him, and he was carving out time for me . So, I owed it to him to be a little patient.
The second hour was when people started giving me pity looks in the foyer of the movie.
The third and fourth hour was when the sting in my throat started. I’d called, texted, and even DMed his Instagram.
How could he do this to me ?
We had talked. We worked it out. Everything had been decided, and he’d said he loved me . A sob got caught in my throat, and I wiped my nose with the back of my hand.
I had been so naive and gullible, hadn’t I?
I hadn’t felt this childish and stupid in a while. I was graduating in a few quick weeks. I was going off to college, needed to get a real job and figure out taxes and all that fun stuff, but I was sitting on a sidewalk and crying about a boy who couldn’t be bothered to show up for one simple date.
I was supposed to be partying, senior sliding, reveling in the last few weeks of my childhood and no responsibilities, but I was so roped up about a boy who was all talk.
It was supposed to be fun, graduating. It was supposed to be a memory to cherish, to keep, and to tell my grandkids about.
Shit, I was finishing twelve years of school.
But now all I’d remember were Everett’s broken promises.
Well, that would end now.
With an angry sniff, I wiped the dirt off my skirt and got up.
I wasn’t going to be used like that, not anymore. If Everett couldn’t even show up to the one thing we were going to do together that didn’t involve speech or his stupid restaurant, then I wasn’t going to keep making excuses for him.
Limping my way back home, I balled my hands into fists. This was so stupid. I had so many other things that I needed to be worried about.
Graduating was...strange. I still felt like a kid, dancing around my bedroom and getting money from my dad when I went to the store.
But all of a sudden people expected me to know things like how to write a check.
Everything was changing quickly, and it was time I did, too. I needed to forget Everett.
I should have been angry.
No, I should have been seething .
Then why are your eyes tearing up?
Reaching my house, I wiped my tears away and slipped my shoes off before I opened the door.
Well, tried to open the door.
My dad had kicked it open with his foot, holding a big cardboard box.
“Oh, where you going?” I got out of the way, holding the door for him.
“I need to head back to the store. I’ll be a while” He walked to the car, with me following behind. He had an annoyed look on his face that made me confused. “He really fumbled with this one.”
“Who?”
“Everett. He just bailed on the wedding order.”