Stay Close, Don't Go

As usual, the Sykes’ house smelled of baking and laundry. An odd mix, but a nice one. The smell filled my senses the moment Oliver opened the door for me and calmed me down. Part of my mind really just wanted the smell of Mrs. Sykes’s baking to distract me out of my future conversations.

“Tom is probably up in his room, yeh can ‘ead up there now. It‘s the attic.” Oliver informed me while he slipped off his shoes. After pushing me towards the stairs and smiling, he disappeared into the kitchen.

With each step up the stairs I took, I thought about things I wasn’t going to talk about. Unless it was brought up for me, I was going to be a pansy and avoid all talk about today. I wasn’t good with my words.

My feet dragged slowly down the hall until I approached the door at the very end which led up a few more steps to another door. I could hear soft music and knew Tom was probably inside. Hesitantly, I raised my arm up and tapped on the door.

“Come in.” The voice on the other side announced quietly, I could hardly hear.

Taking direction, I opened the door and peaked my head inside, eyes connecting with Tom’s as he looked up. A small smile took over his face and he waved me into the room.

“Hey Tom.” I greeted, walking over to the black couch in front of his bed where he was sitting. Tom patted the spot next to him and I sat down.

“‘ow are yeh Madison?” He asked, smiling at me. I’d never seen Tom this un-shy before. It probably has something to do with being in his own room.

“Good, now.” I replied, returning the smile. Tom blushed and looked down at the computer on his lap, fidgeting with the keys. I take back what I said about him not being shy.

“I uploaded those pictures from the concert,” He told me, clicking a few things before turning the laptop around to face me.

The screen showed thumbnails of all the pictures. Most of the pictures were of Oliver’s band playing or the crowd. One, however, happened to be the one of Tom and me. Instantly, I smiled and leaned over, clicking on the icon to make the picture bigger.

“I love it.” I told him honestly. Somehow, Tom had managed to make me look great in a picture.

After clicking through a few more pictures, I came across one of SJ and I talking. We were the only people that happened to be in focus, while the rest of the crowd was blurred around us. This was around the time when SJ told me about Mercy.

“I like this too.” I told him, trying to cover up the new expression on my face.

Tom just nodded and made an expression like he was thinking. Instead of browsing through more pictures, I leaned back on the couch and looked at him, waiting for a response.

“What did you two talk about?” Tom asked me quietly. His eyes were focused on the Apple sticker next to the keys on his computer. I knew right then he figured SJ had mentioned something about Mercy.

I chewed my bottom lip, taking my sweet time to answer him. I didn't want to throw SJ under the bus for telling me, but I wanted answers, and I wanted them from Tom.

"Well, you know SJ better than I do," I finally replied. "The girl's like a fountain of knowledge."

He frowned uneasily. "What did she tell yeh?"

I crossed my arms and took a deep breath. "Why don't you guess? First thing that pops into your head." I was being a little unreasonable, I knew, but in my defense, I was angry. Everyone was lying to me - everyone. I just wanted to know what the point was.

“It was about Mercy wasn’t it?” He finally muttered, defeated. When I nodded, he sighed and started to talk again, “Look, I’m sorry. I mean, what was I goin’ to tell yeh? ‘Oh by the way, a girl used me for Oliver and now you’re her friend’.”

“That would have been better than nothing.” Was my immature response. I was acting like a child and I knew it, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

“Yeh don’t ‘ave to go an’ get all defensive now, all I‘m gettin’ at is not every one needs to know everythin’.” Tom told me, shift on the couch to face me fully. “Like I said, I’m sorry. I didn’t want yeh to know, I hardly want anyone to know. Do yeh think I like talkin’ about my failed relationships, especially to a girl I like? No. It’s shit, and now you’re bringin’ it up.”

“Heh, so it’s now my fault.” I said quietly before mentally slapping myself. This was too much drama for my liking and it was getting frustrating.

“Yeh over looked everythin’ I said except that last part.” He replied, rolling his eyes.

Tom raised his hands to his face and rubbed his forehead before dropping his hands back to his lap and looking at me. Biting his lip, he shrugged, “I don’t know what else I can say.”

“Me either.” I responded and stood up off the couch, grabbing my bag as I did. “I’m going to go, let us both cool off. See you tomorrow, sorry.”

&&

“Want a bite?” My mom offered, holding out her large spoon of vanilla and caramel ice cream. Nodding, I snatched the spoon from her fingers and dipped it into the carton and scooped a huge chunk out.

“Your bad habits are rubbing off one me.” I told her, the cold ice cream still in my mouth. Licking my lips, I moved to get another bite.

“Now before I let you eat the rest of this,” My mom started to say, grabbing the carton out of my reach and holding it away from me, “Explain, now.”

Slowly, I swallowed the cold chunk of vanilla in my mouth and thought of what to say. Not too long after, my mom and I were sitting on the couch as I explained the whole situation. I included the fact that I knew I was over reacting.

“Buggie, this isn’t the end of the world.” Was the first thing out of her mouth. “Can’t you see why he didn’t want to tell you? He’s probably cautious about relationships now, and you being unwilling to just leave it be won’t help.”

“But I want to know.” I replied childishly, glancing down at my lap where my hands were folded.

“And maybe he’ll tell you, over time. Just be patient, go apologize, and stop eating all my ice cream.” She concluded, taking the now half eaten carton of ice cream from me. The look in her eyes explained that I should probably try an apologize now.

Nodding, I uncurled my legs and stood up off the couched and headed up to my room. As I walked, I wondered how the hell my mom got so good at relationship advice. Not only does she fail at all things relationship, other than my dad, she never lasts more than five or six months. Yet, somehow, she manages to tell me exactly what I needed to know.

Now, in my room, I took my phone from my pocket and flopped onto my bed, staring at the screen for a moment before dialing.