If I Stay

Chapter 8

Its been about a week & I havent heard from Jc since the pool. Althought I DID mean what i said about him leaving me alone, i regret it. I miss him.

"Courtney! Rickys here, do you have all of your things packed?" My mum yells from the bathroom. I groan.

We're moving into a 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooom condo about 2 blocks away from Rickys apartment.

"Yes mum." I holler back, grabbing my phone & suitcase. I was excited to set up my room & have it to myself. Back in Hawaii, we lived in a very small house that my grandfather had built a couple years before he passed. I had to share a room with Nalla because my dads office took the other room.

Speaking of my dad, I miss him. He's supposed to be flying in from Germany next week. He got offered an even better job here in cali, which is why we moved.

I walk outside into the warm air. God I love it here. I throw my suitcase into the small trunk before getting into the back seat with my sister. "Good morning Al." I say, smiling at my little sister. She smiles weakly. "Tired?" She nods, leaning her head into my hip. I chuckle softly, & go on my phone on twitter.

I decided to make one last night because Facebook was getting boring. My username is 'courtneyeah'.

I scroll down my timeline, skimming through tweets. I stop to read Jc's recent tweet; "i miss u like crazy 😣 @michellexoxo". My eyes widen. He has a girlfriend? Since when did he have a girlfriend? I tap on her username & creep on her profile, reading her tweets.

"stupid & in love with you baby 😘 @jccaylen."

I feel my face turn red.

"had fun on the pizza date with my boobear, @jccaylen ♡ cant wait to see you! xoxo."

I ball up my fist, holding back my tears of jealousy. Why the fuck didnt he tell me?

"Leave me alone!"

Oh, right.

I let a tear roll down my cheek & fall onto my jeans. Im stupid. I shouldnt have said what I said at the pool. I shouldve told him about Ricky & how he abuses me. How can I be so stupid?

I roll down my window, in desperate need of some fresh air. "Everything alright back there?" Ricky asks, looking at me through the rear view mirror. I nod. I cant help but notice that he seems a little, well, nicer today. Normally, he'd never ask me how Im doing, because he knows my life is shit, that IM shit.

He turns into our driveway. "Here we are!" He smiles, turning off the car. My mum claps her hands excitedly. "Oh this is gonna be fun!" She climbs out of the car & goes to the trunk to retrieve our stuff. "Al, wake up. We're home." I gently nudge her with my elbow.

She wakes up & yawns. "Really?" She sits up to look at the house. Her eyes widen. "Its beautiful!" She climbs over me & stumbles out of the car. I giggle, shaking my head.

"Need help with that?" Ricky asks, grabbing my suitcase. I smile, "Yeah." I hand it to him. "So are you excited to be living closer to me?" He softly pushes me. I laugh. "Sure. Maybe you can teach me hoe to skateboard." He throws his arm over my shoulder. "Sure thing chicken wing."

Seeing Ricky happy is probably the weirdest thing ever, & its definitely making me wonder as to why he's acting like this.

"Hey mum, I thought itd be cool if you, Nalla, & Court would join me & the guys for dinner tonight." He smiles, resting against a wall. She smiles, "Okay, thatd be great!" She hugs Ricky tightly, then retreats to the master bedroom.

He looks at me raising his eyebrows. "I cant wait for you to meet the boys!" He hits my shoulder softly. "But, Ricky, I-" I began, but my mum called me to her room.

I walked to her room. "Yes?" I sit down on the wooden floor indian style. "Listen, Ricky. He uh." She scratches the back of her hand; uhoh something happened. "He, uh. He lost his most of his memory. He doesnt remember anything from the dinner back at the hotel. He doesnt even remember his childhood." She buries her face in her hands, sobbing silently.