Meet Me Halfway

JR

It had been about a week since the incident with Aubrey in L.A. It was definitely one of the worst moments in my life. For a couple of hours I had no idea where she was and kept thinking the worst had happened to her, but hearing she was at the hospital had at least assured me she wasn’t dead. That was the last thing I needed – hearing another one of my friends was gone.

The beach house was beyond quiet without Aubrey; and I had to admit, I actually missed having her around. The place was way too big for just one person to stay in. Throughout the week, I mostly kept busy out of the house, hanging out with Kelly and her friends, working out, visiting the ice rink, or enjoying the hot weather on the beach. But coming back and knowing she wasn’t there made me realize how lonesome I was. I guess it was safe to say that I didn’t just miss having her around, but that I just missed her.

“I’d like to go out there and spend some time with you.”

I shook my head, letting my previous thoughts vanish as I realized I was on the phone with Ashley. It had been a couple of days since I’ve talked to her and I almost told her what happened to Aubrey when I remembered she didn’t even know Aubrey had been staying here too.

“But I thought you had to go back to Seattle after you left Florida?” I asked.

“No, I don’t have to. I kinda already asked my parents if I could catch a flight over there from here and they said it was okay. Unless, you don’t want me to go over there…” she said in a low tone.

It’s not that I didn’t want her to come, it’s just that I didn’t know if Aubrey would be coming back and if she was, I didn’t know when. She hadn’t answered any of my messages since she left, which made me think she was still ticked off at me. Maybe she wouldn’t come back.

I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. “Of course, I want you to come. It’d be nice to have the company.” It was the partial truth; I did want the company, but it wasn’t her company I wanted.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m sure. When can you be here?”

She stayed silent for a moment. “In a couple of days? That’s when we leave. I can try to find a flight over there,” she answered.

“Okay. Let me know and I can pick you up from the airport,” I replied.

We talked for a few more minutes and then I told her I had to head out even though I didn’t have any plans to leave the house. I got up from the bed and my way to towards the stairs. I stopped in front of the room Aubrey had been staying in this summer. The door was slightly open, but no one had been in there since the day we left to L.A.

I took a deep breath and entered the room. The bed was unmade, some of her clothes were scattered on the floor, and the box of letters sat on her bed. As I was about to sit down on the bed, I heard the door creak open. I instantly turned around and when I saw her, my heart stopped.

“Aubrey?” I questioned.

She smiled a little and set her bags down on the floor. “The one and only,” she said.

“You never responded to my text messages,” I said, getting a little angry.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I just got my phone back today. I figured it was pointless to respond since I was coming back,” she said walking towards me.

“You couldn’t even tell me that?”

She frowned and averted her eyes to the ground. “I should have.”

I couldn’t believe she wasn’t fighting with me or throwing snide remarks. She was almost a whole new person. What did she do in one week that could possibly make her change?

I walked up to her and placed my arms around her, giving her a comforting hug. “I’m just glad you’re okay and you’re back.”

I felt her slide her arms around my back and lay her head on my chest. “You are?”

I chuckled. “Believe it or not, I am.” I broke the hug and smiled down at her. “So, what did you do while you were gone?”

“How about I tell you over lunch or something; I’m starving,” she said, rubbing her stomach.



We finished ordering and gave our menus to the waitress. The restaurant wasn’t too busy, so we were able to talk without being disrupted by things around us.

“You still mad at me?” I asked.

She finished taking a sip from her drink and then shook her head. “No, I’m not. I mean, I was hella mad at you at the time, but once I got home and the days passed by, I just let it go.”

“Good to know. When you didn’t answer my messages, I figured you were still pissed at me or something,” I laughed.

She smiled. “I wouldn’t have answered the first few days, but eventually, I would have. But my parents thought taking my phone and laptop away would benefit me.”

“And did it?”

Aubrey bit her bottom lip, her face showing she was pondering on the question. “You know? I think it did. All I had was my camera and journal and I think that was all I needed.”

“Is that all you did? Take pictures and write down what you did all day?”

She rolled her eyes and smiled at me. “I did take a lot of pictures, but the journal wasn’t for writing down what I did all day.” She must’ve seen my curious expression and continued, “My parents wanted me to talk to someone, but I told them I didn’t need or want to.” She took a sip of her drink. “So, I started using the journal to write to Lauren. Kinda how she wrote all those letters for us.”

I shifted in my seat, never take my eyes off of her. “And now you’re all better.”

She shook her head and fiddled with her fingers. “I’m much better, but I’m confident I’ll be all better soon. I have new things to help me cope with everything.”

I reached my hand over and placed a comforting grip on one of her hands. “I know we’ve had a rocky relationship, but like I told you before, I’ll always be here for you,” I smiled.

She half-smiled and nodded her head lightly. “Thanks,” she replied.

Our food came a couple of minutes after that and we, for the most part, ate in silence. I paid for our meals and Aubrey got the tip, which was the only way she’d let me pay for her.

Aubrey sighed and laid her head back on the headboard. “I could use a nap right now,” she yawned.

I glanced in her direction and smiled. “Sounds like a good idea,” I said, starting to feel drowsy myself.

A few minutes later we were back at the beach house. Aubrey started to head up the stairs and I started to make my way to the kitchen to get some water when I heard her call my name.

I turned around and saw she was just a few steps up the stairs. “Yeah?”

“Did you read Lauren’s letters while I was gone?”

I shook my head. I didn’t see the point in reading the letters when Aubrey was gone. Usually, Lauren had something planned for both of us and without one of us, it just wouldn’t be the same.

“Oh. Well, maybe we should just skip today’s too,” she suggested.

I nodded in agreement and watched her continue her way upstairs. I headed back towards the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. As I reached the stairs, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I got it and saw it was a message from Ashley.

Hey! I’ll be seeing you in a couple of days =) I’ll text you tom with the details. Love you <3

I texted back saying that was great and I’d be seeing her soon. After I pressed send, my eyes widened when I realized that Ashley and Aubrey would be here at the same time. I quickly ran upstairs and barged through Aubrey’s door.

I froze in place when I saw she was stripped down to her underwear as she changed into more comfortable clothes. I covered my eyes and turned around, feeling myself blush at the sight of her.

“I am so sorry, I should’ve knocked,” I apologized.

I heard her laugh. “JR, it’s okay. You just scared me a little. Besides, you’ve seen me in a bikini, which isn’t much different from my underwear. Now, what’s so important that you rushed up here?”

I turned around and found her fully clothes with her arms folded across her chest. “I, uh, I have a dilemma,” I said, trying to find the right word for the situation.

She eyed me curiously. “What dilemma?”

I sighed and walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it. I ran my fingers through my hair before speaking. “Ashley’s coming here in two days,” I said.

I felt the mattress sink beneath me and saw she was sitting next to me. “Okay? Not seeing the problem.”

“Well, she doesn’t know you’ve been staying here too and I wasn’t sure when you were coming back or if you ever were, so, I told her she could come. But now you’re here…” I trailed off.

“Oh, I see,” she said, finally realizing the situation.

“I’m not asking you to leave or anything. I just need to find a cover up for why you’re here.”

We sat in silence for a moment, trying to think of something (or at least I was). I heard her sigh and she fell back on the bed.

“You’ll be picking her up from the airport right?” she asked.

I turned to look at her. “Yeah. And?”

“Well, how about I pretend to show up that day and say the Vosteen’s wanted me to pack some of Lauren’s things to take back to their house,” she proposed. “Just text me when you get here and I’ll come by after that.”

“That could work. Okay, but no mention of you ever being here the first week.”

I saw her roll her eyes and she sat up. “I don’t know why you never told her I was here.”

“Because, Ashley isn’t exactly thrilled when other girls are around me. She gets sorta jealous. And if she had known you were going to be here too, she’d probably never leave me alone or worse, flown over here as soon as she could.” I was over exaggerating on the last part.

She smirked. “Well, she’s going to have a pleasant visit then.”

“Aubrey, please, don’t aggravate the situation. She’ll only be here two, three days tops. I don’t need her being in a bad mood while she’s here.”

“Then why are you still with her? Sounds like a pain to deal with,” she said.

“Because I love her and we care about each other,” I said, not looking at her.

She didn’t say anything and after a few more seconds I got up and walked towards the door. “I’ll let you sleep. We should order in for dinner since we’re low on groceries. We can get some tomorrow,” I said.

A small smile graced her lips and she nodded her head. “Sounds like a plan.”