I saw Michael less and less after that. I couldn't stomach looking at his face again, he made me sick.
He called me nonstop and each time I would pick up the phone and put it back down, just to mess him up. One time though, I answered it.
-"Hello?" I asked as if I didn't know who it was.
-"Peyton? Listen to me, we should talk. I love you. I'm sorry..."
-"Well!", I said, in a voice almost giddy, "That's great, Michael, but I'm afraid you're too late. I'm seeing someone." I laughed to myself. I wasn't seeing anyone.
The line was silent for a good minute and a half.
-"... Well,Okay, ummmmm.....I'm never gonna stop trying." He said
-"That's fine." I said calmly, all the while with a smile on my face. "Bye now."
I hung up the phone before he could say anything else. I told him to lose my number, but at the time, I was glad he didn't because that was just too damn fun.
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Fast forwarding a month to Christmas time , I decided I wanted to go be with my family who was going back to the Dominican Republic (Christmas begins in October and ends in January there) to celebrate with my grandma, who would have nobody to celebrate with since Grandpa passed away. Everyone would be gone from the school and dormitories for two months of the three due to their own family traditions, so I figured I might as well. I needed to fly to Seattle first, to help my family get packed, since we'd be gone so long.
Once again, I packed all of my things, drove my car down to the LAX airport and boarded the plane, Seattle robust.
I would stay there a few days, then we'd be off to the republic.
I felt anxious to see my family, and when I arrived at my front door, I hesitated to knock.
When I did, I was greeted by my father, my kid sister, and my kittens.
“Peyton!” My little sister, Magdalena said, running to hug me.
I picked her up and held her for a minute. “I have so much to tell you!” She said
I put her down and said “Let me put my stuff down and then you can tell me, okay?”
“Okay!” She said, running off.
Me and my dad just sort of looked at each other for a second. Then he embraced me.
“Uh…hey, dad.” I said, pushing away
“I’m so glad you’re home.” He said
“Yeah.” I shrugged and went to put my stuff down.
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Being back in Seattle, where it rained a lot and people committed suicide everyday, made me strangely happy. It was raining the whole time I was there, and I took in every minute of it. It almost made me forget about everything in California. ALMOST.
I wondered if Michael had tried to call me, or come by my dorm. I wasn’t sure if I was still upset about what happened, but I knew that we weren’t getting back together.
When my family was done packing, we shipped off on our trip. Everything was waiting for us, our rooms and my grandma with fresh food cooked. I couldn’t wait to have some of her Langostinos con Salsa Rosa and patatas fritas. Spending time with my family made me realize I missed being back home.
The celebrations are always so crazy in the Domincan Republic. Everybody knows each other and everybody’s outside having a good time. Somebody would play some music and me, my grandma, my sisters and the other girls would get out there and dance salsas, cumbias, and merengues.
What I liked most though was the beaches there. All the girls would come out in hot bathing suits and make the unworthy boys drool. All the hot boys would make all the girls raise up their sunglasses and say ‘Ay! Papi chulo!’
I was walking the beach by myself and just thinking when I heard my name.
“Peyton!” someone yelled
I turned around and saw my old boyfriend, Maureo.
“Hey.” He said and smiled
‘Uhh..hey.” I said back. He was all wet from coming out of the water but he hugged me anyway.
“Oops. Sorry.” He said.
“It’s cool.” I said
We continued to walk and talk. Everybody was out that day and the beach was full so we found a spot where we could just talk without all the congestion.
“So how have you been?” I asked
“Good. It’s been boring here. You don’t really visit as much as you used to.” He said. Then I felt bad.
I sighed. I looked up at him. He had big brown eyes, like Michael’s which made me angry.
He just looked at me for a while. “I missed you.” He said and gave me a goofy dimpled smile.
“I missed you too.” I said, I think actually meaning it.
He smiled again and rested his head on his hand, looking out at the water.
That awkward moment when being with your ex makes you think about…your ex.
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Later on was the island bonfire. THAT was fun, and if you can't tell, I'm being VERY sarcastic.
Of course, Maureo needed to be where ever it is that I was at ALL TIMES. Trying hard to shake him, I made sure I was talking to someone every time he was in the vicinity.
Every time, EVERY SINGLE TIME,he would find me and find ways to cut into the conversation. Finally I had to say something. ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH! " Maureo! I'm TRYING TO TALK here, okay babe?"
He looked at me like I just stabbed him the stomach. "Okay. Sorry..." He said and walked away.
I didn't mean to be that harsh to him, I just needed him to give me space for a second, you know,some breathing room.
Needless to say,he stayed VERY much away from me for the rest of the time we were on that beach.
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When the time came for us to leave, things were sad. Maureo begged me to stay, and I firmly assured him that I INDEED HAD TO GO. My grandma cried and I teared up a bit as well.
I kissed her on the forehead and told her that everything was gonna be okay, I would come back and see her when I got out for the summer.
Going back to California was going to be a drag and on the plane back, my mind filled up with everything I was going to have to deal with. For one thing, I missed WAY TOO many extra days of school so I would need to make up that work to salvage my semester.
Then, there was Michael. "Pfft! Why in the hell am I thinking about his cheating ass?"
I rolled my eyes and stared out the window. I drifted off asleep eventually and when I woke up, I was in rainy Seattle Washington.
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I sighed loudly when I boarded my plane to get back to Los Angeles. Who even has the money to keep doing this? Boarding planes and leaving every two weeks?
On a brighter note, I arrived home and crashed hard in my bed, exhausted and jet-lagged. When I woke up, I looked at the clock and saw 9:32 p.m. A strange urge came over me to ride my bike. I dug my 12 speed out of the closet and went for a ride.
It was dark and humid out, and the streets were crowded when I rode downtown. I rode through San Francisco, Fresno, and Encino.
I was riding peacefully when I hit a small piece of glass that busted my tire and I had to walk my bike to the nearest gas station.
I walked past dark houses and was beginning to get the creeps when I walked past a huge, gated house with a lot of windows and a fountain in the front.
I saw a figure sitting out on the front steps but I couldn't make out who or what it was.
Then out of the blue, the figure stood up and started waling toward the gates, toward me. I almost stopped dead in my tracks, too nervous to walk any faster or even run.
I just pretended like I didn't see anything. The gates opened, leaving a gaping hole between me and the mysterious person.
The person continued to walk toward me until I could begin to make out features.
-afro secured under a rebel cap.
-tall, skinny
- big eyes....
Wait a minute...
"Michael?" I said
"Hey,baby." He said coming closer to me until we were standing face-to-face.
Something was different about him. I struggled to figure out what it was but then I had it.
"What'd you do to your nose?"
He touched his nose and blew a bubble with the gum he was chewing.
"I...got it fixed." He said quietly
"What? Wait, what do you mean you...got it fixed?"
"I had a nose job last month. I fell and broke it."
I stood there for a second and then I said "Whatever. I gotta go. Not that it's of any consequence to you."
"Where ya going?" He asked
"Why?" I asked as I began to walk away.
He shrugged and started to follow me. "I wanna come with you. We should talk."
"HA! NO we shouldn't."
"Yeah, we should. I missed you."
"There's NOTHING for us to talk about."
He was silent for minute and then he said "I see you have a flat tire." He said, examining my bike.
"Yeah. So?"
"Soooo, you should get that fixed."
I sighed. "That's where I'm going."
"Well, it's getting late and I don't want you out here by yourself. So I'm coming with you." He said with a big grin on his face.
"UGH!" I said and stormed away with my bike, Michael marching right beside me.
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We reached the gas station and I bought some quick-fix, a quick drying rubber cement, and patched the tire up, then filling it with air.
I gave it a test ride and saw that it was fine so I started to head back to L.A.
Michael hopped on the back of the bike and wouldn't let go.
"Get off!" I said, riding crookedly on the sidewalk.
He laughed. "No!"
I wiggled around wildly trying to shake him but he wouldn't get off, he just held on tightly to me, so I sped up,hoping he'd fall off. But he didn't, not even when we rode past his house, through San Francisco, Fresno and the streets of Los Angeles.
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We got to my dormitory and we both got off the bike. I started into the building and Michael followed me.
"STOP FOLLOWING ME!" I screamed
"Nope." He said and giggled. "Not until you talk to me."
I took a deep breath and said calmly "Michael, PLEASE. I don't want to talk to you. What we had was good, but it's over and now all I want is to be left alone."
"I can't do that." He said
"Why not?" I whined
"Because I love you."
I just looked at him and he looked back at me with an intense look in his eyes.
He stepped forward, pulled me in closer to him, and kissed me.
"NO!" I yelled angrily and pushed him back.
He looked frustrated. "I don't understand. I've said I'm sorry over and over and you still won't talk to me."
"Would you talk to me, if I lied to and cheated on you? If I did what you did to me?"
Then he got quiet. "I didn't think you would, either. Now please, leave me alone." I said, unlocking the door and going in,slowly closing the door behind me.
On the other side I could hear Michael say "I'm sorry,baby."
I looked out the little hole into the hallway and saw Michael begin walking away. I did a quick reassessment on everything I'd said.I went back and forth with myself and my mind and decided that maybe I was being too quick to write his apology off.
I opened the door and said "Michael?"
He turned around and said "Huh?"
I motioned for him to come in the room.
I closed the door and we sat on my bed.
We were both quiet until he laughed a little. "I remember the last time we were on this bed together."
I knew what he was talking about. "Yeah, so do I."
"It was beautiful." He said and smiled.
I tried to smile too. The sudden change in my behavior towards him, scared me a little bit. "Um, so you wanted to talk." I said quietly.
He nodded. The smile faded off of his face and he said "There's so much I wanna say to you."
"Then say them."
"...I don't even know where to start...."
More silence. I was beginning to think I'd made a mistake by letting him talk to me when he said "I love you...and I'm sorry for hurting you.I can't even tell you why I did what I did. I don't love her anymore. I don't want her, I want you."
He kissed my cheek, rubbed the spot where he kissed and then continued "I want you and only you. I was weak and lonely because you left. I'm not gonna say that it's not partially, if not all my fault but she took advantage of me and...I let her. I'm so sorry. I don't even know how many times I can say I'm sorry....I love you."
For some odd reason, I felt tears sting my eyes.
I didn't want him to see but I guess he caught sight of them and he hugged me.
"Why are you crying?" He asked quietly
"I don't know. Because you're stupid?"
He laughed softly. "I love you", He whispered, "You love me?"
I nodded, still crying.
I wiped my eyes. "Ugh, I'm such an idiot."
He tightened his hold on me and kissed me. Controlled by...I don't know, some unidentified force, I reached to unbutton his shirt and slipped it off his frame. I rubbed his chest and he kissed my neck.
He slipped my shirt over my head . I unbuckled his jeans and he slid out of them. Now we were just in our underwear.That moment reminded me of our first time together, except now we were more sure of ourselves. He continued to kiss me and picked me up off the bed and laid me down, flat on my back,to where he was lying on top of me.He rained kisses down my torso, but stopped and laid down next to me.
"What's wrong?" I asked quietly
"I don't think we should do this right now. I just want to hold you."
I smiled and kissed his nose. He pulled my blanket over the two of us and cuddled up closer to me. For the rest of the night, we held each other, kissed, and told each other secrets.
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The months passed by and getting my grades up was not easy and that's why I was glad when the school year was finally OVER.
I told my grandma I would come back to see her as soon as I got out of school and that's exactly what I planned to do. When I told Michael,he seemed disappointed but had an idea.
"Why don't I come with you?"
"Ummmm....what about your career and stuff?" I asked
"Joseph will get over it." He shrugged
"Uhhh, OKAY!" I said and gave him a bear hug.
With all the preparations that we needed to take care of, we could be pretty busy. If there was one thing I was sure of though, it was that this trip was going to be one of the best I'd ever had.
{THE END}
I really like this update! *gasp* a new love interest?! I can't wait to see how this plays out!
Also, can't wait to more of your writing.