Milo needed time to get the hang of being a vampire, and his new jealous streak made it more dangerous for me to hang around Jack, but this was ridiculous. They both promised to talk to me soon, and it had been three days.
One entire day was spent consoling my mother when she learned that Milo left without really saying goodbye. After crying a lot, she started drinking even more, and ended up yelling profanities at me and throwing things.
On top of everything, school was less than two weeks away. Once summer vacation drew to a close, I’d have to deal with curfews and school that’d keep me away from Jack and Milo even more.
I was going to spend the rest of my life cooped up inside this apartment by myself, and they didn’t even have the decency to call and give me one last blowout before deserting me for the rest of time.
In some form of misplaced pride, I’d been waiting for one of them to call or text me. But I was tired of waiting. I couldn’t stand the thought of spending another night suffocating in my tiny room.
Hi. What are you doing? I text messaged Jack.
Not much. What about you? Jack responded. It took him three minutes to answer, which was an unusually long time for him, especially since it was after ten o’clock at night. Even he never slept in this late.
Even less. I haven’t done anything in three days. I tried to lay on the guilt.
You haven’t talked to Jane? Jack was suggesting that I hang out with Jane.
Wow. Things were worse than I thought. After Peter, Jane was Jack’s least favorite person in the whole world. And he was encouraging me to hang out with her? Wow.
Not so much. But I guess I could. Great idea. I replied.
Right now, Jane was probably getting drunk or giving oral sex or something. If it were earlier, we might be able to do something more reasonable, like shop. But with only two weeks until school, I knew that for her, every night would be a blur of alcohol and debauchery.
I’m just pretty busy lately. Sorry. Jack texted.
No. I totally get it. It’s great. I’ll just do something else. That’s what I said, but I knew that I was going to spend the night in bed crying myself to sleep.
No. Wait. Are you ready? Jack text messaged back, but it was too little too late.
Never mind. I’m good. I responded.
Just be ready and outside in like fifteen minutes, okay?
I didn’t reply to that. I couldn’t even decide if I wanted to get ready and go outside to meet him. I honestly didn’t want a pity hang out, even if I really did miss him. It was stupid how much I missed him. But I was bored and lonely and couldn’t stand it.
Almost grudgingly, I got up and pulled on a pair of jeans. I wore a white tank top and pulled my hair back in a ponytail. I quickly applied some eyeliner and mascara, and then ducked out the door, unsure if I was making the right decision or not.
When the black Jetta pulled up, I got my answer. It was absolutely the wrong decision.
Mae had come to pick me up.
I considered turning around and going back inside. What would I achieve by hanging out with her? I’d feel stupid and pathetic all night, and I was just prolonging the inevitable. When a guy sends his sister to hang out with you instead of him, I think that’s the beginning of the end.
“Hello, love,” Mae said when she had rolled down the car window. She leaned across the passenger seat towards me, looking sheepish. “Sorry, Alice. I know it’s not quite what you hoped for, but Jack thought you needed to get out of the house.”
“You know what? I’m actually fine.” I chewed my lip. “He’s um… he’s mistaken. I’m sure you have better things to do then baby-sit me, so I’ll just go back in.”
“Nonsense! You know how much I love spending time with you. So come on. Get in the car.”
“You really don’t have to do this,” I said.
“I know.” She nodded towards the empty seat, so I sighed and I got in the car. “It’ll be fun. You’ll see.”
“I bet,” I leaned my head back on the seat as she pulled away. “The last time somebody came in place of Jack was when Peter picked me up. And we all know how well that turned out.”
“This isn’t like that.” Mae shook her head. “Jack really wanted to see you. He just can’t right now.”
“What is he doing? Teaching Milo how to turn into a bat?” I mocked, and Mae scowled.