Stuck Inside Your Hurricane

“Jack, honey, you need to get up. Dad needs your help with some things,” my mom said as she gently shook me awake. I groaned at the intense pain in my head from drinking the night before and rolled over. I looked at my phone and saw it was just past nine in the morning. I groaned once more and sat up. I, quickly, changed my clothes and put a pair of shoes on before walking down stairs to find my mom making breakfast and my father sitting at the table reading the paper.

“How many times a day do you read the paper?” I asked him as I slumped into a chair next to him and poured coffee into a mug.

“More than you ever do,” my dad said and I couldn’t help but snort.

“I have the internet for that.”

I set my cup down just as my mom placed a plate full of waffles, fruit and bacon down in front of me. I picked up the maple syrup and drowned my waffles in it.

“So what did you need my help with, pops?” I asked before taking a bite of my waffles.

“I need you to mow the yard, front and back. Christopher’s lawn crew is short staffed and I told him not to worry about it because my son is home and that he would still get his check,” my dad explained and I groaned again.

“I’ll get it done after breakfast,” I muttered and quickly began eating my food. It took me about twenty minutes to finish my breakfast and when I did I placed my dirty dishes in the sink and went to put my tennis shoes on. I walked into the garage and opened it and started dragging the lawn mower out. I decided to start with the massive back yard before moving to the front. It got really warm out and my mom, was kind enough to bring me a bottle of water. I had just starting mowing again when I looked to my left and saw Caroline walking towards me in maroon leggings, classic vans and a black hoodie. She looked great and my heart still yearned for her but I had so much pent up anger towards her. I shook my head and let go of the lawn mower and turned around to go back inside.

“Dog shit on the porch, Jack? That’s a new low,” Caroline yelled as she continued to walk towards me.

“What are you talking about?” I asked her, as I faced away from her.

“Oh please, you and I did that prank to Mr. Martin all the time in high school. I’m not an idiot,” she said and I turned around.

“Fuck off, Caroline.”

“It’ great to see you again too, Jack,” Caroline, sarcastically, said. I turned around and glared at her and she had a smug smile on her face.

“You reappear after eight years and you expect me to be happy to see you? You expect me to just go right back to normal?”

“I was hoping so, yes,” she said as she nodded her head. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“What’s there to talk about? You try to kill yourself then take off to some unknown location to get help and never speak to me again for eight years! Do you know what that did to me? I loved you, Caroline!” I yell and throw my hands up in the air.

“I tried to talk to you, Jack. I tried for five months but in order for me to recover from my depression, I had to do it on my own. I had to find myself,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest and stepped closer to me. “I’m sorry, Jack. I never meant to hurt you.”

“You’re unbelievable. You could’ve told me you needed time to find yourself, I would’ve waited,” I expressed and, mindlessly, kicked a stone on the ground.

“I know I could’ve and I know you would have waited. But I didn’t know how long it would take and I didn’t want you waiting on me forever,” Caroline said and I shook my head in disbelief. I took a good look at her. Her hair is now blonder, no longer strawberry blonde, and just past her shoulders, as opposed to her hair hitting the middle of her back in high school. Her cheekbones were more prominent and fuller around her button nose. Her green eyes were brighter than when I last saw them and she’d put just enough weight on that I could now consider her healthy. She looked happy.

“You seem happy,” I, dully, spoke.

“I am happy,” she said with a small smile on her face. “I’m very happy. You look good too.”

I shook my head and stepped back.

“I can’t do this. I can’t sit here and be civil with you, knowing what you did to me. I’m glad you’re happy, but I have to go.” I turned around and opened the front door of the house and just as I went to shut it I heard Caroline yell my name, but that didn’t stop me. I moved to go upstairs when my mom walked out of the living room.

“Was that Caroline you were talking to?” She asked and I nodded my head. “Did you two patch things up?”

“I don’t think that will ever happen, mom,” I said as I stalked up to my room, in hopes of escaping my mom. However, I heard her footsteps behind me.

“You don’t know that, Jacky. I know she hurt you, but maybe you could hear her out? What if she still wants to be with you?” My mom asked as she walked around my room and picked up my clothes I threw from my suitcases and put them in my dirty laundry hamper. She won’t admit it, but she’ll always treat me like her baby.

“Then she would’ve reached out to me a long time ago. Look Ma, I really don’t want to talk about this. I’m gonna go hang out with Alex,” I said as I changed clothes and walked past my mom.

“You can’t hide from your problems forever, son!” I heard her holler after me. Pretty soon I was in my car and backing out of the driveway.

It didn’t take me long before I was pulling into Alex’s driveway and stepping out of the car. I knocked on the door and a few seconds later my best friend was pulling it open, looking a bit rough.

“Why are you up so early? I’m dying,” he groaned as he opened the door wider and trudged back into his house.

“My mom woke me up and I had to mow the grass,” I muttered as I followed him into the kitchen and watched him grab some pain meds from the counter and swallow some.

“Doesn’t explain why you’re here,” he muttered as he sat next to me and put his head on the counter top.

“I was mowing the grass when Caroline approached me.”

“You fucking serious?” Alex said, popping his head up from the counter and looking at me. I nodded my head. “What did she want?”

“She knows we lit the dog shit on fire on her front porch,” I said and he sighed.

“Of course she did, she was the master at that prank after all.”

“She also expected me to act normal towards her after eight years of absence,” I informed him and he shook his head.

“I thought she was smarter than that. I’m surprised she’s even in town,” he said and I nodded my head.

“I just want to get this trip home over with so I can go back on tour and then be in L.A. for awhile,” I muttered and Alex, absentmindedly, nodded his head. “And hopefully never see Caroline again.”

“What’s she even up to these days?” Alex wondered and I shrugged my shoulders in response.

“I didn’t have much to say to her this afternoon.”

“Are you excited for your dads thing tomorrow?” Alex asked me as we stood up and moved to his living room so we could play some video games.

“Not really, his co-workers don’t like me because of my career.”

“Lame. Wanna get drunk?” Alex asked as he pointed to the bar. I nodded my head and stood up to make us both some drinks.

It was going to be a long stay at home.