Sandcastles

I felt like I had overreacted. There was no way Jonathan could have known that some girl from his past would come popping back into his life. It wasn’t his fault that she practically threw herself at him. And he knew nothing of my slight insecurities when having to compete with a girl who seemed to be everything I wasn’t. Her blond hair made my auburn locks look like nothing, her eyes easily put mine to shame, and I had never in my life fit myself into a size nothing. Maybe it was the fact that I had recently been cheated on, or that I had always had a slight insecurity about my body, which there was really nothing wrong with. I acted like your typical middle school girl sometimes when it came to looks, but I wasn’t going to let that ruin anything.

We only had five more days in paradise, and I had no intention of letting anything get in the way of them.

Once Sara left me to digest her latest news, I couldn’t get over the lonely feeling I had. Getting up off my bed, I slid on my shoes and headed out the door in search of Jonny so I could apologize. My feet carried me straight towards the suite I knew he was sharing with the other guys. When I reached the door with 219 on the front, my hand reached out to knock, but I never got the chance. Something caught my attention. Yelling from inside. Normally, I wouldn’t be one to eavesdrops, but I couldn’t seem to help it. Pressing my ear against the door, I listened carefully, trying to make out what was said.

“You can’t just break up with me over the phone and not expect me to show up down here, Jonny!”

“I can, and I did.”

“Why? We were doing so well before you left…”

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

“Don’t try any of the cute shit with me, Amber. You’re not supposed to be here!”

“Oh please. Because you’re busy playing a perfect little game of house with that…that…”

“Watch those next words.”

“You know perfectly well that when you get back home, she’s going to be a distant memory, just like this place. Once you land in Chicago, you’ll be right back in my arms where you belong.”

“I doubt that.”

I heard moving towards the door and managed to remove my ear just in enough time to have it swing away from me. The look I receive from this…Amber good was enough to kill me. “I was…uhm…just…”

No good excuse came to my mind, but it seemed like I didn’t really need one.

“Listening in on our conversation?” A roll came from her blue eyes as she stormed passed me. Glancing after her, I let my own eyes roll before I turned to see Jonny inside their suite. He was sitting on the couch, head hung, eyes focused on his hands. It was as if he hadn’t even noticed I was there. Instead of inviting myself in, I just stood in the doorway, like an idiot, looking at him.

“Come here,” he practically whispered, looking up at me with a weak smile on his face. It still looked terribly bruised, but I couldn’t deny that look. Walking in slowly, I closed the door behind me and glided over him, trying not to make a lot of noise. I didn’t know what was coming, and I didn’t want to know what was coming, but walking away now would have been the worst thing I could have done.

When I reached the couch, Jonny was quick to pull me into his lap and lean back against the couch. I curled myself into him like I had done so many times before, letting my eyes flutter shut. In a way, I hoped when I opened them that our vacation was back to perfect, and that horrible woman didn’t even exist.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, resting his head against mine. I could feel him take in a deep breath before I let me eyes open. Of course, my wish hadn’t come true.

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t know she was coming… By the way, who is she?”

I had a pretty good idea. He had mentioned a girl when we had first met, but I never pressed it. I just thought that she was so far out of his life that he wouldn’t have to deal with her again. I was, apparently, wrong.

Her name was Amber Lynch. She had met Jonny at some sort of bar or club or…something that I didn’t quite keep up with. It was supposed to be just a one night stand, like hockey players seemed to be famous for in their young years, but somehow it turned into more. She kept running into him, tracking him down. As much as he hated to admit it, he was attracted to her. Obviously she was far from hideous, anyone with eyes could see that, but she was also fun-loving and carefree, two things that Jonny knew he wasn’t most of the time. They had hit it off after a couple dates, and he had been with her for a few months.

But, as they kept dating, it became obvious to Jonny that she didn’t care about him much. She cared about his name. The image that Jonny had spent forever to build up was all she wanted. Of course she never flat out said that, but it was obvious in his eyes just what was going on. They had been together for nearly a year when he called and ended things.

“So then why is she here?”

He shrugged slightly, not wanting to bounce my head off of his shoulder. “She wants me back, or so she claims. She wants ‘us’ back.”

I could hear the scoff in his voice as he spoke, shaking his head lightly.

“If you want her back…” I began.

But I was quickly cut off by a bit of a laugh. “I don’t want her back, Bailey, but she’s not leaving. She’s made that perfectly clear. I just don’t want her to ruin anything between us.”

I lifted my head to look at him, not sure what to say. “What if she’s right though? What if when we all go back, you forget you even met me?”

“I promise you, Bailey, I will never, ever forget you.”