I waved goodbye to Ryder and stepped into my home. We spent the rest of our movie day at his house bingeing every comedy movie that we actually agreed on which was harder than we imagined.
Any thoughts of Jaxon had melted away in those few hours but as soon as the front door clicked shut, my mind ran a mile a minute.
See where it goes.
Ryder’s words came flooding back in. He was right. If I tried and Jaxon said no then that was that and I’d move on to the next. I opened Instagram and messaged him. For all I knew, he was eagerly awaiting my text.
Pfft, yeah right.
My mom’s voice cut through my semi-wishful thinking, “Isn’t Ryder joining us for Sunday dinner?” She asked, poking her head out of the kitchen. I shook my head, “And why not?”
I laughed at her offended tone of voice, “He’s going to his parents' house.”
“Hm, that’s fine then. Go tell your sister that dinner will be ready in five minutes.”
Without another word, she ducked back into the kitchen and the familiar clanking of ceramic plates against the counter top filled the silence that followed. I ran up the stairs and flung my sister’s bedroom door open.
“Come in,” She snapped, glaring at me. I flopped onto her bed beside her.
“Mom said dinner will be ready in five minutes.”
Gianna breathed out a sigh of relief, “Finally. I’m starving.”
“You do know that you can cook instead if you don’t want to wait this late. I’m sure Mom won’t have any complaints,” I suggested with a sly smile. Our mom made sure she taught both of us how to cook. She didn’t want us eventually going off to college and having to eat the same two meals every few days. Unlike me, Gianna hated every second of it. She was a great cook either way, just that she spent half the time complaining.
“No, thanks. I’m good with waiting.”
After dinner, our parents left to have dessert at one of their favourite places, leaving my sister and I home alone. Gianna went up to her room and I settled in on the couch.
As I reached for the remote, Jaxon's face flashed through my mind. Something about the way he looked at me bothered me way more than it needed to. I swallowed my pride and opened Instagram, sending him a DM before I thought too much about it.
Brit M:
Hey, how are you?
It took him twelve minutes to respond to me.
Jaxx:
Fine. You?
Brit M:
I’m good. What are you up to?
Jaxx:
There’s nothing to talk about here.
What?
Brit:
What’s your problem?
Jaxx:
I have nothing against you. There’s just nothing to talk about.
I immediately exited the app, dropped my phone and left the room. My temperature rose and the pulse in my ears was deafening. I was right. That man hated me. My legs carried me right into Gianna’s room and I fell face first onto her bed.
“What’s wrong?”
“You were wrong. Jaxon wants nothing to do with me.”
I heard her sigh and felt movement on the bed, “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“I messaged him on Instagram and the frosty attitude he had yesterday is still intact,” I mumbled into the bed, “I guess that means no epic summer romance for me.”
“Let me get this straight… one DM doesn’t go your way and you’re done?”
“Sounds about right to me. Yeah.”
My mind ran wild with memories of Jaxon and I pushed them all back before anything stuck out. I didn’t want to think of him.
“Why’d you even put me up to this?” I continued.
Gianna ran a hand along my back as she spoke again, “I thought it was a fun idea. You’re always in the house and literally only hang out with two people other than me. We’re going off to college soon so why not live a little?”
I groaned and flipped over, focusing solely on the light above, “You didn’t have to say it like that.”
“That’s the truth,'' she countered. I knew she was smirking without even looking at her.
“This is never going to work anyway. The guy hates me and I’m not going to embarrass myself.”
“Make a challenge out of it. You don’t even need a romance… just try to make a new friend.”
“You sound like our mom when we were in preschool.” I laughed, finally looking over at her. She was in her favourite flamingo pajamas with her hair pulled into a bun.
I sat up and faced her, the bits of hurt trickling away with every passing second. It was weird having my sister give me a pep talk about making friends at eighteen. Was I lacking that badly?
“He just needs to get to know you. He’d like you if the two of you actually had a conversation.”
Something felt off. ‘“Why are you pushing this so much? It seems cut and dry to me. Jaxon wants nothing to do with me and I’m perfectly happy having two friends.” I eyed her suspiciously. If it was one thing that I knew about my sister, it was that she doesn’t care about much and lets things go.
Gianna rolled her eyes, “I was trying to avoid saying this but… I’m tired of having to bring you everywhere with me and I kind of feel bad when I leave you alone to go out with my friends.” I flinched.
Without another word, I slipped off of the bed and made my way out of the room. I closed the door behind me but not before hearing her soft voice, “Sorry.”
A single tear fell as I walked into my room. What she said shouldn’t have hurt me. She always did and said things like that. It wasn’t a surprise yet here I was. My eyes pricked as I tilted my head back, blinking furiously. I refused to let her get to me.
At least she felt bad about leaving me alone.
Maybe I did need to branch out more instead of being closed off, and I knew the perfect way to start.
‐‐----------------------
A/N
Thank you for reading my story! It means so much to me.
YOU ARE READING
If I Do
Teen Fiction"I've been trying so hard to keep you out of my head," he whispered, looking down at me. I bit my lip as his eyes trailed over me. "Then stop trying." He took a small step forward, placing one hand on the small of my back and brought th...
