Two Months Later

 

 

“Meyah!”

I rolled my eyes and giggled, pausing with a dramatic sigh as I waited for my roommate, who was quickly becoming a best friend, to catch up to me.

“If you’re ever going to make it to class on time, you really need to learn how to wake up earlier, Dakota,” I teased, knowing that wasn’t going to happen given that Dakota was never early for anything… ever.

Maybe it was the fact she stayed up late every night watching Netflix and making cups of tea.

Yes, she drank tea.

Not coffee.

Maybe that was the issue.

It’s like she had this really strange internal clock that was flipped the wrong way.

I really wasn’t kidding about the making it to class thing, though, she hadn’t been early for a single class since we started school. She barely made it in time to slip through the doorway and smile at the teacher like she actually wanted to be there.

The two of us were very different, but I found she actually pulled me from the shell I continually tried to hide within. Dakota talked a big game—for someone so short—and backed it up with sass and confidence. While she’d been a shock to begin with, I don’t know what I would have done the last couple months without her.

 

The door creaked open, and I peeked around it, praying in my mind that if I did have a roommate, they were open-minded.

While most classes didn’t start for another six weeks at least, it turns out I wasn’t the only one with the idea to come early and start summer school. Every second room on the floor was already open and had students inside. Some were already drinking and listening to loud music even though move in had only opened up yesterday.

The dorm room corridors were plastered with posters of positive school spirit and information for new students about how to get around campus and how to get involved.

For a moment, I passed by them all, the idea of being around people and having them all looking at me, whispering, muttering things behind their hands didn’t feel appealing. But then I remembered—I was in another state, I was in another school, and with my friends from high school not coming until after summer, not one person knew who I was here.

“Oh. My. God,” I muttered, pushing open the door to room number 209, my dorm room, with a huge grin plastered on my face. “Nobody knows who I am,” I whispered to myself, feeling a little giddy.

“That’s the attitude,” someone beamed back at me, and I dropped my suitcase, a petrified scream filling the small double room. Another scream echoed back at me, but it wasn’t mine, it was higher pitched, and it was followed by a fit of laughter. “Holy shit!” she giggled, falling back onto one of the beds, her silky blonde hair falling across her face.

“Holy shit, is right,” I gasped, closing the door with my back before bracing my body against it, my hand going to my heart to try and stop it from exploding out of my chest.

The young pixie-like girl with herself and her suitcase spread across one of the beds wouldn’t stop laughing, and while I was still wondering if I was about to have a stroke, the sound became contagious.

“You made me pee a little in my pants,” she accused.

“You almost killed me.” I slid down to the floor, fighting to breathe but strangely embracing the hilarity and ridiculousness of the situation. Pixie rolled off onto the floor, so we were a few feet from each other. The only thing between us, the old, worn smelt-like-the-last-girls-who-lived-here-ate-too-many-Doritos carpet.

“Don’t worry, you’re still breathing, drama queen,” she poked with a smile now that the laughter had subsided and the both of us were sitting eyeing each other.

I finally took a look around. “Wow! These rooms are kinda small,” I examined in awe—and not a good kind of awe. I was going to be stuck in this room, with this girl, for the next twelve months, and it was smaller than my bedroom at home. There was a window directly ahead with two dressers underneath it, about three drawers high which seemed to also double as bedside tables. On either side of the window, were two single beds, and at the foot of the beds were two desks with storage drawers and a rolling chair.

The space between the beds actually wasn’t too bad the more I examined it, and the beds were raised slightly to make room for more storage underneath.

It wasn’t horrible…

But just wasn’t home.

I made this choice, though. I needed to be more independent and stand by what I was saying—stop letting people dictate how I wanted to live my life—because so far, it’d been kind of crappy.

“Okay, let’s just get this out of the way,” the pixie girl said, leaping up to her feet. “My name’s Dakota, like the state, but without the north or south. Yes, I’m short. No, the weather isn’t great down here. No, I’m not some kind of baby genius. Yes, I can drive a car without a booster.”

I grinned across at her. Honestly, I didn’t think she was short, if I had to guess, I’d probably say around five-feet-two but I guess I didn’t exactly get the tall genes in my family at five-six.

“Those are just the normal comments. I’m also pretty awesome. I love adventures. Sometimes my mouth can get me in trouble. If we’re friends I will fight hard for you. Oh… and dancing is everything to me,” she rattled on, but her words weren’t bitchy, they were actually kind of warm.

“I’m Meyah,” I said, finally finding my voice. “I got picked on a lot during high school. My mom’s only just told me who my dad is. The guy I’ve been in love with for the past year basically broke me. And I’m sick of people telling me I’m too young or trying to control what I do. I’m ready to stand up for myself… and I could really use a friend who will fight for me… or at the very least, with me.” I laid it all out there, and for a few brief seconds, as Dakota took it all in, I felt incredibly exposed. Like at any moment she was gonna take something I said and laugh. It was painful, but Dakota seemed like she was so empowered and so ‘fuck the world, watch me take charge of my life,’ and that’s what I needed.

“Well, Meyah, who’s ready to stand up for herself and be in control of her own destiny,” Dakota announced with a smirk, one that I was already totally in love with. “I hear there’s a nightclub downtown looking for workers over the summer.”

My brain screamed… uh, no! Being around people? Uncomfortable. Nervous. Blah, blah, blah. So instead of listening to my mind I focused on my heart—well, what was left of it—and cleared my throat. “Let’s do it!”

 

Just before we reached the classroom, I felt my cell begin to buzz in my pocket. I thought about ignoring it. I’d been doing a lot of that lately, mostly because I was scared I’d burst into tears and they would figure out exactly how much I missed them.

It was kind of sad considering my conversations consisted of—Mom constantly on at me about looking after myself. Uncle Leo continuously asking me if I was okay. And then there was Emma who would shut down completely when I asked her anything about the club.

Or about him…

“You gonna get that?” Dakota asked me, pointing to the incessant noise with her eyebrow raised. “It sounds like you have a vibrator going off in your pants.”

Rolling my eyes, I finally ripped my phone from my jeans and sighed, seeing my uncle’s scowling face light up the screen. He didn’t like photos, none of the guys in the club really did. Pictures were evidence, evidence could be used against them. “I’ll be in soon,” I told Dakota, stepping backward, my thumb hovering over the green button to answer.

She offered me a supportive smile before tearing the classroom door open and walking through the door like a model making her way onto a runway at fashion week.

Did I mention she loved to make an entrance?

Breathing out, I finally flicked my thumb across the screen and moved the cell to my ear as I stepped away from the classroom door, walking a few steps away to a bench and dumping my bag onto it before taking a seat. “Hey, Uncle Leo.”

“Hey, girl,” he replied, his voice gentle but with a gruffness that warmed me, reminding me of home. It instantly made me well up, and this was exactly why I didn’t like to talk to anyone. “You going to class today?”

“Yeah, I’m sitting outside right now about to go in.”

“Good. I won’t keep you long then,” he drawled. “Your mama really misses you. So does the club. Was hoping you might come home next weekend. We’re having a… party.”

My brows knitted together. “A party for what?”

“Since when do we need an excuse to party?”

I snorted. “Since all you boys started popping out kids and spending more time making bottles than making drinks.”

His deep chuckle brought a smile to my face, and I relaxed back onto the bench, suddenly not feeling so stiff and defensive. Uncle Leo had been around as long as I could remember. I knew my mom didn’t like him much when he started dating Aunt Kim, but I loved him instantly. There was a connection with us. There always had been since the moment he walked into our lives and never walked out.

“Just bring that smart mouth back home, will ya?” he finally answered with a heavy sigh. “Creed is growing so damn fast. And if Macy has to wait until her birthday to see you, she’ll fucking combust, and I’ll start losing my hair.”

“Start?”

“Meyah…”

I laughed softly and ran my fingers through my hair, pulling the purple strands back from my face. They were a new addition, one I loved, and that made me feel like this was indeed a new start for me. A new start which I needed. Where I could be who I wanted to be. Where I could find who I was, and where I could piece together my heart without anyone having to know how broken I was and how stupid I’d been and looking at me in pity.

“I’ll see what happens. I’m meant to be working.” I picked uncomfortably at the threads on one of the rips in my jeans.

“I’ve put the money for the plane ticket in your bank account. Oh, and Macy’s already drawing out plans for your welcome home cake,” he stated, completely unashamed of how he knew that would make me feel bad. I should have known better. These guys, they didn’t mess around. When they wanted something, they would do what they had to do in order to make it happen. Even using my five-year-old cousin as guilt tactics.

I groaned and took a deep breath. “You can’t do that.”

He scoffed loudly. “I can do what the fuck I like. And I will do, in order to get you back here so you can be with your family… even if it’s only for the weekend.”

“Meyah!” Dakota hissed from a crack in the classroom door. “Come on, it’s starting.”

“I gotta go, Uncle Leo.” I jumped to my feet and hiked my backpack up onto my shoulder.

“Work hard,” he ordered, but I could hear his smile. “And I can’t wait to see you.”

“Same,” I whispered softly before hanging up.

It was the truth.

I missed him like crazy—I missed them all like crazy.

Even the one I shouldn’t.

The one who I hadn’t heard from, and that no one had spoken of since I walked out. I don’t know if that made it hurt more or less.

I just knew that things weren’t done.

I could feel it in my gut, and maybe I needed to face him now rather than later so I could move on and really find the new me.