She Used to Be a Pearl

"Caty. Come on, sleeping beauty, wake up." I heard a gentle voice call.

"What?" I asked with my voice full of sleep.

"It's time for dinner. You didn't think I was going to let you sleep all day, did you?" John grinned.

I gave him a smile in return and shook my head.

I hated to admit the butterflies I felt when he looked at me, let alone smiled at me like that.

Maybe he really did want me here.

No. There's no way. He's just being nice because I'm Amanda's friend and he promised her that he would take care of me.

How could I be so stupid to think that he might like me?

"Okay, doll. I made spaghetti. You'd better get some before it's all gone!" He warned.

I chuckled and started getting out of bed. I hopped down from the bunk and fixed my clothes before making my way into the main area of the bus.

"She's alive!" Garrett announced.

Everyone laughed and sent smiles my way.

"I saved you a plate!" Pat smiled as he thrusted the plate at me.

"Oh. Thank you, Pat." I said as I took the plate and grabbed a fork from the table.

I took a seat in the small booth and slid in all the way so that I was looking out the window watching the country fly by at 60 miles an hour.

"So Caty where are you from?" Jared asked.

His hair and eyes reminded so much of my younger brothers. It made me feel more comfortable around him.

"I'm from Pennsylvania. A little town outside of Philadelphia." I answered.

"Cool, cool. Last time we played in Philly I wanted to go see the Liberty Bell but no one would go with me." He said pouting.

I chuckled at his expression.

"You should take me this time!" He exclaimed.

"Um, sure. That would be fun." I replied.

"Yes! Caty's taking me to the place where freedom rings!" He cheered as he did a fist pump.

"Dude, shut up. You're freaking her out." Kennedy interjected.

I laughed again.

"You're just jealous that you won't get to see freedom!" Jared shot back.

Kennedy just rolled his eyes and went back to watching tv.

"Why did you decide to move to Arizona?" John asked.

Because it's very far away.

"School." I replied simply.

"Do you visit home a lot?" He asked.

"Not really." I answered.

Or not at all.

"Don't you miss your family?"

"Well, yes. But we talk on the phone a lot-"

"But it's not the same as seeing them in person." He interrupted.

I didn't say anything back to that.

He was judging me for not seeing my family. He didn't know me. I had my reasons.

"I'm sorry, Caty. It's not my place." He apologized.

"It's fine." I assured him.

"What's your favorite movie?" Garrett asked from the couch.

The conversation went on like this for about an hour. The guys seemed to want to know everything about me.

Finally, everyone started to settle down. Either going to bed or getting ready for bed.

I pulled out my laptop and started to play solitare when John sat across from me.

"I'm really sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have pried. But seriously, if you ever wanna talk I'm here." He said looking me in the eyes.

"Thank you, John." I said quietly as I looked down.

"Are you ever going to let me in?" He asked matching my tone.

I was shocked by this question. Why did he even want to be let in?

After silently arguing with myself I heard John speak up again.

"I know that you're not fine. Whatever it is that you're keeping bottled up is going to have to come out sometime. I just want you to know that I want to listen. I won't judge you."

"How did you know?"

"I can see it in your eyes. He broke you." He said lowly.

My eyes started to mist and I quickly averted my gaze to the floor.

"I...I just. I'm not ready to talk about it."

"That's fine. When you're ready, I'm here."

With that he stood up and walked over to my side of the table.

He bent down and placed a swift kiss on my cheek.

"Goodnight."