Melanie

I tried to call mom to get her to pick me up from the airport. I hadn’t heard from her all week, but she knew that I was busy with testing. Now I wanted to get home though. I tried calling Scott and he wasn’t answering either. His phone was going right to voice mail like it was off.

There was no need to panic. I figured that they didn’t know I was coming home today. I was supposed to be home this weekend, but with Amber gone I’d had a lot of time to take care of my things and everything that was needed so all I had to do was leave when my last exam was done. Since I hadn’t wanted to stay any longer than I had to, I made sure that I was on the first flight back home. Dustin had called a few times and he was the last person that I wanted to talk to.

Now though, I wish I’d called at least to let them know that I was coming home.

Finally, I couldn’t think of anyone else to call that I knew the number for except Carl. He’d had the same cell phone since I had my crush on him and back then I had memorized it so that I would never forget it. I still hadn’t and I wondered what it would be like to call him because I’d never actually used the number before. After everything that had happened between us, I still looked to him like he was more than just a man. It was a habit I was really going to have to break if I wanted to keep my sanity.

When I called his number, I was nervous. It was ringing and I wasn’t sure if I really wanted him to answer it or not. I wasn’t sure if I did and when he said hello, my heart stopped a little bit. All of the emotions that I’d been putting off for so long were back and there was nothing that I could do about it. It overwhelmed me so much that I had to take a breath before I could go on and he had said hello again because I was taking so long.

“Hello?”

“Hey Carl, this is Melanie.”

“Melanie, good to hear from you. Are you back home yet?”

He sounded like he was excited to hear from me and it threw me off more than the deep tremble of his voice had done. It made me want him more than I could have imagined and there was hope laced with it all that it meant that he was ready to get over all of these rules he had made for us. It was time for us to let it all go and see what happened next.

“Yeah I’m still at the airport and I can’t get ahold of anyone. Do you know where everyone is?”

“You haven’t talk to your mom or Scott since you left?”

“No, why?”

There was something that he wasn’t telling me and by the sound of his voice, it was a good likelihood that I didn’t want to hear it. “What’s going on Carl?”

“I don’t know. Give me a few minutes and I will be down there. I’m over at the house so it’s going to take a while.”

“Okay, thanks Carl. Sorry to bother you with this, but I didn’t know who else to call.”

“Don’t worry about. I’m always here if you need me Melanie, about anything.”

I didn’t mention that it obviously didn’t apply to what I really wanted, but I decided that it wasn’t the right time. He still sounded pretty weird and I didn’t want to jinx it. He wasn’t running scared, trying to avoid me like the plague, so I was going to take that as a win. Sad my expectations had been lowered so much.

“Thanks Carl, I’ll see you when you get here.”

I hung up and smiled to myself. Maybe my plans were going to work before too much longer. I was determined this time. Being with Carl, wanting Carl had changed my mind about so many things. Dustin didn’t even bother me anymore and a few weeks ago, I didn’t know how I was going to go on without him. My perspective since then had changed dramatically and I knew that it had a lot to do with Carl and this ever increasing need that I had for him.

It wasn’t long until he was there. I was sitting down next to an older gentleman that was waiting for a ride too and when I saw Carl, I smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back at me.

I didn’t know what was wrong with him until we got out of there and were talking to the parking lot.

“Don’t you think you are a little young for him Melanie?”

“What? Who?”

“That guy back there that you were flirting with. He had to have been twice your age.”

I laughed and that made him look even madder than before. He didn’t find it funny, while I did. What was he thinking?

“It was just some guy that I was talking to. It helps pass the time.”

He liked that answer even less and I remembered him saying something about passing time a long time ago. I couldn’t believe that he could think that.

“You really think that I was hitting on that guy?”

“No, but it looked like the two of you were getting pretty cozy.”

I shook my head and got in the truck. I wasn’t even going to answer him. He was already ruining my mood and I was going to ignore him if he was going to be that way.

The ride was quiet until we got off on our exit and instead of going home; we went east towards Coloma, the town over.

“Where are we going Carl? The house is back that way. Are you finally going to say the hell with my brother and give me what I need?”

I had hope that it was the reason, but I was quickly told that it was not the reason at all.

“I hate to be the one to tell you this Melanie.”

He was acting so serious and I smiled at him because I was trying to lighten the mood. “Tell me what?”

“Your dad is in the hospital Melanie and it doesn’t look good. Your mom and your brother have been there for a while, several days now.”

His words hit me like a Mack truck and I don’t know how long it took for me to remember how to breathe again. Why was it so complicated to do so all of a sudden?