Wonderwall

The few months that followed were splendid! A huge portion of that was thanks to Kaden, not only for being a totally amazing boyfriend, yes. Boyfriend. But another perk of dating was that it was less time I had to see Ryan. It made Taylor happy too, because we could still hang out but it wasn’t always at the guy’s house now.

Kaden and I had been dating for roughly about three months. We rarely fight and it feels so good just to be happy for once. He’s everything a girl could want in a guy! He’s athletic, but not to the point where it consumes his life and leaves him no time for relationships. He’s sensitive, but not overly sensitive so we still joke around and have fun. And he’s sweet, but not so sweet that you get used to it and it isn’t special anymore. And his beauty is just a plus.

I seriously thought we were beginning to get serious, until this past week.

We haven’t talked on the phone once. I’ve made attempts but he’s always really tired from whatever he had done that day. I wouldn’t know what he had been doing because he also stopped regularly texting me, just to say hey and see what was going on. He’s still the same guy when we hang out, but now that I think about it we don’t ever really see each other much anymore.

He had said something about picking up extra shifts at work, but he never told me he got any so I’m just confused by the entire situation. I shook all the negative thoughts from my head and figured now would be good time to try to see him. It was almost dinner and I was starving, so maybe my precious boyfriend could take me to eat.

I called his phone, letting it ring until it went to voicemail. ‘Yo, it’s Kaden. I’m busy now, but..” I hung up without leaving him a message. Apparently he’s still busy. My phone vibrated, signaling I had a text.

Kaden: Hey babe, can’t talk. I’m at work.

Well this was totally surprising, not. I sighed and flopped down, stomach first onto my bed.

Me: What time do you get off? I miss my boyfriend!

Kaden: Late, I’m closing. Call you later

I didn’t reply because I didn’t want to bother him at work. He was always so busy now a days and I wanted to see him now. He claims he needs the extra hours, but I know his family and he doesn’t need that much extra cash. If he couldn’t come to me, I could go to him though right? Going to visit him at work seemed like a great idea. The management didn’t know that I was his girlfriend and they weren’t going to kick a ‘customer’ out for talking to a worker.

I drove the ten minute drive to the local surf shop, found a spot and went on in. There were rows and rows of boards of all kind, any kind of cords and wax you could think of, and then on the other side was the clothes and suits. Making my way through every aisle, I kept an eye out for Kaden.

He wasn’t on the floor, but maybe he was in the supply room or on his break. Approaching the front desk, I asked for Kaden, claiming that I had talked to him on the phone about a getting my board fixed and he told me to stop by and let him look at it. The girl at the register looked at me like I was crazy, and said there was no way I could have talked to him because he wasn’t scheduled to work today at all.

My mouth almost hit the floor. Why would he have lied to me? This had to just be a misunderstanding. Maybe she was new and didn’t know who I was talking about.

“No, I’m positive I spoke with him. Are you sure he isn’t just on break?” I asked her, hoping that was the case.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but Kaden hasn’t been scheduled since this weekend. “

Thanking her, I walked out the door and back to my car. The old me would have went home and called him again, checking his story then probably letting it slide after he made up some bullshit story.

Not anymore. The new me was going to drive straight to his house, barge in and confront him for being the lying son of a bitch he is. That’s exactly what I did too. I could barely hear what was playing on the radio over my rage. I pulled into his driveway, right behind his truck and marched up to the door. I was prepared for his story and I was preaching to myself, whatever you do, don’t cave. Don’t give in and believe his stories.

I rang the doorbell and waited about thirty seconds before I rang it again. I guess I’m impatient in bitch mode. A girl opened the door that I didn’t know, which pretty much confirmed my thoughts.

She stood there staring at me with a blank look on her face. She stood abut 5’2” and her hair literally looked like she washes it with peroxide. “Who’s at the door babe?” I heard Kaden ask from somewhere in the house. I gave her the bitchiest look I had and pushed past her into the house.

“Oh just me BABE! Just your girlfriend! Oh wait, I meant ex-girlfriend! Yeah, just in case you couldn’t tell Kaden, we are over,” My volume never once dropped throughout the entire time I stood there and yelled. He just looked at me before taking a step closer. I reacted by taking a step back.

“Let me explain.” I could not believe that he didn’t even try to argue with me for dumping him. But

I guess he doesn’t really have a good case here, so nothing he could say would work.

“Nope. You’re a lying bastard and you get no time to give me some fake ass explanation. All you get is the new relationship status of being single. But I guess you didn’t need the status to act like you already were! Have fun with that slut.” The door slammed behind me and I didn’t stop running until I was in my car. I drove out of his neighborhood, trying to call Taylor as I went. Of course in my time of need her phone would be off or dead.

I drove the short drive to her house, only to see her car wasn’t in the driveway meaning she wasn’t home. I tried her phone again without luck. She was probably with Casey, and as much as I hated to do so I drove to Ryan’s in desperate need to find my best friend. When I put the car in park and cut the engine is when it really soaked in.

Breathing heavy, the first tear fell down my cheek and I just sat there and cried. I hit the steering wheel as hard as I could over and over until the anger was gone and it was just the sadness left. I let the tears fall for a good ten to fifteen minutes until I decided I needed to go in.

I stood on the doorstep and rang the bell, wiping at my eyes in the hope that my makeup wasn’t too smeared and my eyes weren’t too red. Ryan opened the door. This really is the last thing I need right now, so I said a quick, silent prayer that he would just leave me alone. “Is Taylor here?”

I asked without looking up. If I could just avoid eye contact, then maybe my tear stained face wouldn’t be as noticeable.

After he didn’t reply, I finally took a quick glance up. He just looked downright confused. “Um…no. No she isn’t, why?”

Avoiding his question I asked the same thing about Tony. If Taylor wasn’t here then Tony would be my second best option. At least he could make me laugh and forget about my problem just for a little bit.

Ryan shook his head, “Nobody’s here but me right now. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Sorry..um..bye,” I had no clue what to say to him. I obviously wasn’t about to tell him what had happened. He would just hold it over my head and make me regret ever giving him the time of day. So I simply turned around and was about to walk off the front porch and just go back to my house, when I felt a hand grab my wrist.

“No, Jesse. Wait, what’s going on?” Why was he acting like he cared all of a sudden?

“Don’t worry about it Ryan! Please just let me go,” I tried to sound strong, but my voice cracked and the fresh tears began to fall.

“Obviously there is. You can tell me about it, I promise to be nice.” He smiled at me. I knew this was a terrible idea, but I was in a period of devastation and I just needed somebody to listen. I sat in the kitchen trying to control my tears as he poured some coffee in a mug and handed it to me and then guided me outside onto the balcony. We just sat there for a few minutes in silence until he broke it.

“This is where I always come when I’m upset. This view just seems to make everything a little better.” I looked up at him but didn’t say anything so he just continued. “When I first got the house, my parents were still going to court and fighting for custody. I spent a good bit of time out here.”

Hesitant to reply, I just nodded in agreement. “What happened tonight Jess? And don’t say nothing again because I’ve never seen you that upset and I see you upset all the time. True I am the cause of most of it, but I can tell this is different.” Trying to figure out how to put it, I paused before finally speaking.

“He’s been distant lately, but I didn’t think much of it. Then today, I tried to hang out with him, and he blew it off saying he had to work. I was chill with that, and decided to go see him at work and whatever. He wasn’t even working tonight!” More tears ran down my face and soaked my sleeve as I dried them. “So I go to his house to call him on it, and some girl answered the door. He fucking cheated on me!” I broke down right then in there in front of Ryan Sheckler.

I guess it can take a time like this to bond people, because Ryan didn’t make fun of me like I expected. He got up from his chair laid in the hammock beside me until my tears started to slow down. Then he did something even more shocking than not making fun of me. He hugged me. At first I just let him hug me, but then I wrapped my arms around him returning it. Hell, I needed one right about now. We sat like that for a while, me crying, him hugging me.

I guess in that moment would be when I stopped hating Ryan.

That’s all it took was one moment of compassion for another person. Sure he showed them with other people, but definitely not me and hardly ever when I was around. I’m not sure how long we lay there but he gently rubbed my back keeping me calm, at least on the outside.

Eventually we had to get up and go inside. Ryan gave me an extra pair of clothes and led me to one of the many spare bedrooms. My own bed sounded amazing, but I wasn’t in any condition to drive after such a long night and I didn’t want to ask Ryan to take me home either due to it being so late. I’m not sure where this would leave us when I woke up though.

Would we be friends like we had been tonight or would it go right back to the childish jokes and stubborn fighting? Because honestly, hating him was becoming hard.