Authors: Virginia Jewel
“Seriously Mel, I’ve never met a guy who was so secure in how he felt about a girl. He’s been there for you since before I met you guys. There’s no way that one little fight is going to end all that.” Carrie added.
“Besides, he called me this morning and set all this up, so I’m sure he’s over the whole fight. If he really wanted to stop the whole thing, why would he set this up?” Sasha jumped in with the closing argument.
I nodded my head in agreement and within seconds I was feeling much better. Josh had set the whole thing up for me after the fight. I felt better, but I still wish I had talked to him.
I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes one last time. I’d been so upset that I hadn’t noticed what Jody had handed me to dry my tears with. I held it out in front of me and looked closely at it.
“Is this a diaper?” I asked with disgust.
“Oh relax! It was clean!” Jody said angrily.
I looked at it again, and saw the wet tearstains and mascara marks. I couldn’t help myself, I just started laughing hysterically. All three of my friends joined in and we sat in the minivan for a few minutes just laughing.
We ended up at a local bar. Sasha wasn’t completely comfortable with a club, so we just sat around at the bar drinking shots and engaging the men at the bar in our silly drinking games. I drowned my worries in my shot glass and just let go.
“Just promise me one thing,” I said to Sasha while I was still able to think rationally, “Don’t let me dance on the bar. Josh hates it when I do that. He always pulls me down and lectures.”
Sasha nodded her agreement.
I don’t remember much else after that.
When I woke up the next morning, I was lying on the floor of the bathroom. There was a pillow under my head and a bottle of water next to me. I didn’t move for a few minutes, just stayed still and tried to steady my stomach. When I did move, a groan escaped involuntarily.
“Good morning sunshine!” Josh greeted me from the doorway.
I groaned again in response.
He bent down and crawled across the bathroom floor to lie next to me with a grin on his face. “How are you feeling?”
“You know how tequila has a worm in the bottom of the bottle?” I said without moving.
“I am familiar with that particular spirit, yes.” Josh smiled at me some more.
“I feel like that worm.”
He laughed at me, but I didn’t have the strength to laugh with him. Very gently, he reached over and pushed a piece of hair out of my face. “I’m really sorry that I yelled at you.”
I felt the sting of tears in my eyes, so I closed them tight.
“I shouldn’t have yelled, and I’m sorry for running away again.” He brushed a tear from my cheek. “I said some things that I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”
I opened my eyes and looked at him, “I’m sorry too. I keep putting all this pressure on you to make everything right and it’s not your job to do that.”
Josh pulled his hand away from my face, “You’re right though, there are some things we need to talk about. I’ve been focused on the actual wedding and not thinking about what happens after that.”
I shook my slightly, “I don’t want to worry about all that right now. We can talk about it later.”
Josh raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” I smiled at him.
“Do you want me to fix you some breakfast?” he said as he pulled himself off the floor.
“Please don’t mention food.”
He laughed at me.
“How about a breakfast of pain killers? Maybe a Bloody Mary? A little hair of the dog?” he chuckled at me.
“Didn’t you go out last night, too?” I slowly pulled myself up off the floor.
“No, I had the guys come over and we had a furniture themed bachelor party. Didn’t you notice the complete lack of boxes in the apartment when you stumbled in last night?”
“I don’t remember anything after making Sasha promise to not let me dance on the bar, which I’m pretty sure I did anyway.” I rested my head on the toilet.
Josh laughed, “You did.”
I looked up at him, “Who told you?”
“No one told me. I saw it with my own eyes.” He smiled broadly.
“What?”
“Sasha got in a little over her head and gave Tommy a call. So, the guys and I headed over there to help out. You didn’t honestly expect a seven months pregnant woman to be able to keep you off the bar, did you?” he said dryly. “When we walked in you were halfway through your usual routine. I had to pull you off the bar, again.”
“Never again will I drink tequila.”
Josh walked away laughing, “I’ve heard that before!”
14.
“Hello?” I said breathlessly. I dropped my bag on the floor and collapsed on the couch. I’d heard my phone ringing in my dorm room as I came down the hall and ran to catch it. My heart beat wildly in the hopes it was the cute guy from my freshman lit class.
“It’s me, Melody. I have to tell you something, are you sitting down?” my mom’s voice sounded strange and worried.
“What’s wrong? Is it dad? Is everything okay?” a knot was forming in the pit of my stomach.
“We’re fine, honey. It’s Mrs. Matthews, Mel. There was an accident and she didn’t make it.” I could tell she was crying as she spoke.
I felt the tears falling down my face as well.
“Does Josh know?” I asked.
She sniffed loudly, “His dad can’t get ahold of him. He asked me to call you to find out where he is.”
I thought for a second. Josh and I had each other’s schedules memorized. I knew that right now he was just sitting down in Macroeconomics with Dr. Trofley.
“He’s in class.”
“Melody, I hate to ask you to do this, but you need to go get him. He needs to come home.”
The knot in my stomach grew heavier. “You want me to tell him that his mom is dead?” I sobbed into the phone.
“You don’t have to tell him, but you have to get him in touch with his dad,” my mom said sympathetically.
“He’ll know something is wrong, mom. How am I supposed to get him out of class and to a phone without telling him?” I wiped my face with the sleeve of my shirt.
“I don’t know, Mel, but he needs to know.”
I told her I’d do it, but before I left the room I sat and cried for a few minutes. There was no way I would be able to break into his class and get him, so I waited until the class was almost over.
I walked quickly across campus to the Econ building and up to the hallway his class was in. I took several deep breaths and wiped my face dry again. Several people walked past, giving me strange looks, but I just ignored them.
Finally, the doors to his class opened up. A steady flow of people rushed out and I paced back and forth looking for him. He was one of the last to come out. I heard his laughter before I saw him. The sound of his laughter made my eyes tear up again, but I swallowed and pushed the feeling back.
“Mel? Hey, what are you doing here?” he said when he saw me in the hall.
“I need to talk to you.” I said as steadily as I could.
He looked at my face, “What’s wrong? Have you been crying?”
I pulled him towards an empty classroom.
“Mel, what’s wrong? Are you hurt? You’re scaring me. Is everything okay?” he asked frantically.
I pulled his backpack off his shoulder and pushed him down in a chair.
“My mom just called me. She said your dad has been trying to get in touch with you. He couldn’t reach you so he asked her to call me.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
“What’s wrong, Mel?”
I could feel the tears coming up again as I heard the fear in his voice.
“It’s your mom, Josh. She was in an accident,” I gulped for air and sobbed, but continued. “She didn’t make it, Josh.”
He grabbed my arm. “Stop it, Mel. That’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking. You have to go home now.”
Josh let go of my arm and started speaking rapidly. “This isn’t true. It can’t be true. I just talked to her last night. She’s my mom. She can’t be dead.”
I bent down so that I could look at him in the eyes. “She’s gone, Josh. She didn’t make it. I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head back and forth. I stood up and wrapped my arms around him. He broke into sobs. I squeezed him tighter and cried with him.
We sat in that room for an hour. I didn’t let him go until his sobbing stopped. When he had calmed down enough to leave, I grabbed his bag and carried it for him. He leaned on me as we headed straight to my car. We didn’t talk the whole ride home.
When we pulled into his driveway, my parents were there to greet us. His dad was still busy working out the details and taking care of paperwork. My mom rushed to Josh and pulled him into a big embrace, causing him to burst into tears again. My dad grabbed me and hugged me.
“You’re a great friend to him, Mel. Thank you for being so brave,” he whispered to me as I cried against his chest.
My family stayed with Josh until his dad came home. When Mr. Matthews walked in the front door, he and Josh hugged and cried into each other’s shoulders. My parents and I left quietly.
Back at my house, my mom made my favorite dinner. My parents didn’t let me out of their sight and kept telling me how much they loved me. I headed to bed early and pulled the comforter up around me tightly.
A light tap on my window made me sit up. I flipped my light on and saw Josh standing outside my window. I jumped out of bed and ran to the window.
“What are you doing here? Are you alright?”
“I can’t stay in that house tonight, Mel. Can I stay with you?” he sounded broken, and I couldn’t say no.
“Sure, my mom can make up the guest bed.” I pulled the curtain back to make more room for him.
He crawled in through the window.
“You could have used the front door, you know. My parents love you and would do anything for you, especially now.”
“I know, but I don’t want to be alone right now. Can I just stay in here with you?” He pleaded with me.
“Of course,” I crossed the room to lock my bedroom door.
Josh shut the window and closed the curtain.
He sat on my bed and kicked his shoes off then just sat there staring at the floor.