“Rise and shine, Al.” I groaned when I felt a set of hands on my shoulders, slightly shaking me, and rolled over to my stomach, hoping that I could just fall back into my deep sleep where everything was right with the world.
“Ally.” I heard Remy’s usual carefree voice come out sternly, before her body landed hard on my back and she proceeded to bounce up and down on me. I tried to ignore her as best as I could but for such a petite girl she was literally smashing me, and if I didn’t stop her, I was likely to suffocate. Not the way I was planning on leaving this world.
“Alright, I’m up, I’m up.” I twisted my body around, and slowly sat up, blinking at the blinding light that was pouring in through the now open curtains. I glanced over at the clock and saw that it was almost seven p.m. “Why exactly did I need to get up? Aren’t you heading into work soon?”
“Because.” Remy licked her lips, putting on what I think was supposed to be her mean face, if that was even possible. Remy wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone look as if she was about to rip me a new one.
“You need to get out of this funk, Al. I know I told you to take some time to heal, but I didn’t mean that you needed to lay your ass in bed all day. It’s not healthy. I need to see just a little bit of my happy-go lucky Ally. So, here.” She shoved a large paper cup into one hand, and her phone into the other. “I picked up one of those Chai tea latte thingies that you like so much. And Leah wants to talk to you,” she added on quickly, before giving me a guilty look and hurrying out of the room.
That little…I wasn’t even given the chance to get angry at Remy before I heard Leah’s voice, and I knew I was going to have to get this over with. I couldn’t hide forever.
“Yup, I’m here, L. What’s up?”
“What’s up? Really, Al? That’s what—” I heard her take a deep breath, and her voice sounded a little bit calmer when she began to speak again. “Al, why didn’t you call me? I would have been there for you in a second. Instead, I had to hear about what happened from Remy.”
I could hear the hurt in her voice that I hadn’t confided in her. Normally, Leah and I always turned to each other in difficult situations.
“I know, Leah. I’m sorry, I just needed a little bit of time.” Really, I needed more time, but apparently, Remy didn’t think so. “Plus, you’re a little busy right now. You can’t just put your life on hold every time something goes wrong in mine.”
I finally took a sip of the tea that Remy had remembered I liked so much. It tasted heavenly, and for the first time in my week of mourning, I actually felt a little better. But then I ran a hand through my hair, and suddenly felt like I needed a shower badly.
“Ally, I would’ve figured something out. You could have just come home so I could take care of you. And it’s not like this is just a bad break up with a boyfriend or something. I’m assuming you’re div—”
“Don’t say that word,” I interrupted quickly. “I really don’t want to think about that right now.”
“Ok-ay,” she dragged out, clearly annoyed that I was avoiding the main reason she had called. “Well, I’m at least going to call him an asshole. In fact, I’d really like to beat the shit out of him. I can’t believe he would do something like that to you. Who in their right mind would really screw something up with you? I know he didn’t find anyone else more amazing. I’m sure the girl is a total slut and—”
“You definitely got that one right,” I muttered, stopping her before that picture popped up in my head again. Not going there.
“But, I’m over it. And I know I’ll have to deal with Teddy sooner or later. Do me a favor and contain yourself on the whole beating his ass thing. I don’t think Caleb and Ava would survive without their mama around, and neither would I.”
“Yeah, well, Chase might just beat me to it. Well, I’m going to let you go. Apparently, Remy has a night out planned, so I wouldn’t want to keep you from having a little bit of fun. Just promise me one thing?”
“Sure,” I replied absentmindedly, more focused on what exactly Remy had planned for us. A girls’ night in, binging on ice cream and watching sappy movies, actually sounded pretty good.
“Answer your damn phone next time I call.”
“Fine, Miss Bossy.”
“Oh, and I already talked to your mom. Call her, she’s worried,” she added in a sweet voice. The call ended before I could yell at her, so I tossed the phone on the bed, knowing that I would eventually have to call my mom now.
My phone had been turned off since I got here, but since Leah decided to be a little tattletale, I couldn’t play the avoiding game anymore. Next to Leah, my mom was one of the people that I talked to most often, and knew I could always count on her being there, no matter what. I’m sure she was a little hurt that she had to hear about what happened from Leah, and not her own daughter, but I understood why Leah did it.
Now I just needed to see what Remy had in store for the night.
Chapter 5
Nick