Like No Other

It’s been almost a week and I still haven’t heard from Jeremy. I was a little worried. I hadn’t texted him yet, not sure if he even wanted to talk to me considering the way we acted the last time we saw each other. I saw Drake two days ago but he said that he didn’t know what was up either and that he hadn’t seen him since the day we got back from Columbus. I decided not to worry about it anymore. I mean, even if we would have worked out, this relationship would have been nothing more than a summer fling. I’m going away to college come August. It never would have worked out.
I was getting ready for bed one night when I heard something hit my window. I went over to it, peeking out, but I couldn’t see anything. I opened it up wide enough to where I could get through and climbed out. “Hello?” I called out quietly, searching for the suspect.
“Cassie.” It was Jeremy’s voice.
“Jeremy?” I called out again. Finally, I saw him. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you. Come down! Please?”
I thought for a second and sighed. “You better be glad you’re cute,” I said, coming back inside. I changed out of my PJs, slipping back on the khaki shorts I had on from earlier. I stuffed a pillow under the covers to make it look like I was asleep under them. I crept downstairs and let myself out the back door. Then I jumped over the fence and found Jeremy at the end of the driveway.
He gave me a hug. “I missed you. Sorry I haven’t called. I’ve been kind of busy with family things.”
“Is your mom okay?” I asked him.
“Yeah, she’s great,” we started walking towards his car, which he had parked down the street. “She’s recovering.”
I wanted to ask him what happened again, but held my tongue. Once we got in the car, I could finally see his face. He looked tired.
“Wanna go to the beach?” he asked, starting the car and pulling away from the curb.
“Sure, whatever,” I said shrugging. It was silent for a moment.
“Sorry about last week. I was just stressed and upset and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you,” he looked over at me, “You forgive me?”
I pretended to think about it for a minute, “Eh, maybe,” I smiled at him.
He pulled in a parking place and we got out and started walking towards the water.
“So how have you been?” he asked me, stuffing his hands down deep in his pockets.
“Okay I guess. Been hanging out with Becca, which is always exciting,” I replied thinking back to the past week. I went back to the Runway and we hit it off. “She’s really not that bad when you get past how shallow and slutty she is.”
“Nice,” Jeremy laughed at my bluntness.
“So, are you going to tell me what happened?” I asked him hesitantly, hoping he wouldn’t shut me out again.
It took him a while before he spoke again. Just when I thought he wasn’t going to answer me, he said quietly, “She ODed.” It was so quiet I barely heard him.
I tried to keep my reaction calm, even though in my head I wanted to gasp and give him a big hug. “On what? You don’t have to tell me, but just know that I’m here and I won’t judge you.”
“Just don’t tell anyone,” he said seriously.
I looked straight into his brown eyes, “I would never ever do that to you. You’re secret is safe with me.”
He grabbed my hand and we sat on the sand a few feet away from the shore. “My parents…” he paused, trying to gain his composure and started again, “aren’t the best parents. Um, when I was thirteen, my parents started doing pot. I found them one day in the attic smoking. I thought it was just a stage, but then they started doing more of it. They even offered to smoke with me. I did a few times, thinking it was cool that my parents were so laid back. But I knew my limits. I started playing soccer, so I stopped smoking. My parents didn’t.” he took a deep breath in and then out. Looking out into the ocean, watching the waves he continued. “Two years later, about a week after my fifteenth birthday I started finding pills around the house. I started to get worried. My parents just kept getting worse and worse. I never told anyone at school and the only person who knew was Marcus because a couple times, when they had kicked me out, I had to go stay with him. I tried several times to get them some help but they refused. When they started getting into meth and cocaine, I was eighteen. I offered one last time to get them help and again they said no. So I moved out. And then, last week, my dad called telling me she had overdosed on heroin.”
My hand had reached out and slipped into his when he was talking. I squeezed his hand. “Jeremy,” I felt so bad. I didn’t even know what to say. His face had so much pain in it. I wanted to hug him and make all his pain go away.
A single tear fell down his cheek but he wiped away quickly, putting a smile on his face. But the smile didn’t match his eyes. “So, yeah, that’s my life story for ya.”
“That’s horrible. I’m sorry,” I gave him a hug. When I pulled back he leaned in to kiss me. I turned my head quickly.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered looking down, this time not talking about his parents.
“What?” he asked, longing in his voice.
“Jeremy, who are we kidding? This will never work. In the end, both of us will be heartbroken,” I couldn’t look at him.
“What are you talking about?” he asked. “Cassie, look at me.”
I looked up, “I’m leaving at the end of the summer. We can’t do this. We shouldn’t get attached.”
He was quiet for a moment. “What if I don’t care?” he challenged.
“Well I do! I will not be hurt. I will not be let down.” I said the words out loud, but on the inside I was dying.
“Let’s just enjoy it while it’s here and we can deal with whatever comes in when it comes. We’ll work it out. I don’t want to be with anyone else.” He leaned again. And this time I didn’t pull away.