Last Years Wishes, Are This Years Apologies

(Jenna’s POV)

I untangled myself from Travis’s arms and sat up. I was so happy he was understanding and didn’t think less of me because of last night. But I felt bad for… not putting out. He wanted to have sex with me and I wasn’t ready. He told me he thought we were both ready because we had been together for three months. But every time we got close to doing it, something told me to stop. All the alarms inside my head were going off.

“What’s wrong?” He asked while I got up from the bed and straightened out my shirt.

“My mom called earlier today and I never called her back. Do you care if I call her real quick?”

He shook his head and stood up from the messed up bed, “Nope. I’ll be out in the living room.” I smiled at him as he left and I grabbed my sidekick off of the computer desk and dialed my house number. The phone rang three times before a warm, familiar voice answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Mom!” I said excitedly.

“Sweetheart,” I could almost see her smile through the phone, “How are you? I miss you so much.”

I smiled, “I know, I miss you too. You and dad need to come home to New York.”

She sighed, “I really want to, but your father has some important project to finish in Chicago before we can get down there.” I hadn’t seen my parents in almost four months and I missed them so much. It was weird, living without my parents. I didn’t have a curfew, but I came home at a reasonable hour. I didn’t have parents home all the time to tell me ‘No, you can’t sleep at your boyfriends house.’ But I rarely did that. “How has the first day of summer been for you?”

I sighed and plopped down onto Travis’s bed. “Well my first night of summer wasn’t very good. Neither was the beginning of the day, but it definitely has gotten alittle better.”

“Well I’m happy things are better now, honey,” she said.

“Thanks mom. But remember how I told you Travis’s band got signed?”

“Yes,” She said.

“Well he’s leaving in two weeks for California to record and he won’t be back till the beginning of September.” I didn’t want him to leave, I could already tell things back home, in New York, were going to be boring and lonesome. I wouldn’t even be able to be with Gabby. She was going to Florida to visit with her cousins for a whole month. Both my boyfriend and my best friend were abandoning me.

“I’m sorry Jen. But you’ll have Gabby, right?” She said trying to reassure me things would be okay without Travis.

I sighed and rolled over onto my stomach, “She’s going to Florida to visit with her cousins.”

“Oh hunny, I’m sorry. I could try and come down there…” she said. I could tell she was biting down on her lip. Whenever she was nervous or wasn’t sure of something she would bite down on her lip.

“No, don’t worry about it mom,” I said.

“Well okay, Hun. But if you did need me, you know I would take the first flight there.”

I giggled and smiled, “I know mom. You always say that.”

“Well its true. But, um sweetheart could you hold on a second?” She asked nervously.

I nodded my head before realizing she couldn’t see me. “Yeah sure.” I listened as my mom slid the phone under a pillow. I could hear muffled screaming, it sounded like someone was yelling at my mom. It couldn’t have been my dad, because he would never yell at her like that. Would he? The screaming stopped and I heard a door slam.

“Hi, honey. Sorry about that,” she said clearing her throat.

“Who the hell was screaming at you?” I asked with a shocked and confused voice.

“Um, your father was yelling at your brother and I was uh… trying to calm him down,” she said. I wanted to believe her, but she was a horrible liar.

“Oh, okay. But mom I have to go. Sorry. I love you and miss you.”

She sniffled and sighed, “Okay, I love you too. And I want you to come home, to Chicago, sometime this summer.”

I smiled at the thought of going to Chicago to see my parents, “I’ll try. Talk to you soon.”

“Bye sweetheart,” she said before the line went dead.

I sighed and slid my sidekick into my pocket. My dad was just yelling at Jack. He respects my mom more than anything, he wouldn’t yell at her like that. He was just having a bad day, that’s it. I walked into the living room and saw Trav lying down on the couch. I sat down next to him and twirled my pointer finger in his curls.

He sat up and smiled at me, “Hey baby. What do ya want to doooooo?”

I giggled and rested my head on his shoulder, “I have no idea.”

“Well, my mom said she wants to meet you. And she wants you to eat dinner with us tonight,” he sucked on his bottom lip and played with the loose string on his jeans.

“Oh, um. Sure. Definitely,” I said trying to sound excited. He lifted up my chin and kissed my lips.

“You’re going to love her. And she’s going to love you. I know it,” He said excitedly.

“I hope so,” I said biting my lip.