Ohio Isn't Forever

f i v e

The one thing about the neighborhood I lived in, and Cleveland in general, was that news spreads fast, particularly drama. Everyone was always in everybody's business, and that's how people kept themselves entertained. So you could imagine how shocked I was to find out that nearly everyone knew that me and Rob had gone out the previous night. I was bombarded with all sorts of questions from every girl he had previously rejected.

The first was Jenny Williams, no relation to Calvin Williams I might add. She wasn't really that well liked here, because she had three babies by 3 guys and she was only eighteen years old. We attended the same high school, and she was known for trying to have a kid with every single guy she dated. Of course, the three that fell for this actually regretted it, and that's why she was a single mother.

She came up to me at the grocery store while me and my mother had been shopping, fishing for answers and trying to figure out why she had been rejected by him.

"I just don't understand. Have you two got something going on? I've been single for a long time now. It's been forever since I've been on any dates. I was really hoping he'd say yes to me asking him to lunch." she had told me.

"Jenny, I'm sure you're just looking for a guy so you can help raise the three kids you've got with them. Have you ever thought that maybe it's time to focus on them and not chase after guys?" I asked her.

My mother had went to a different aisle, and I was glad, because she would have yelled at me for saying that to Jenny. But it was only the truth, and I was never afraid to speak it.

Jenny's mouth hung open at my response, and she turned on the heel of her boots, leaving the store in a stormily fashion.

"Hey Heather!" someone called from behind me.

Amanda Bates was a pretty tolerable chick that lived not very far from me. She was always nice, but she was the type to keep to herself. She never talked to many people until they started the conversation with her first, or if she knew them.

"Amanda? Hey."

"I heard you went on a date with the hot new guy?" she said smirking.

"Who exactly is spreading this around? It wasn't that big of a deal." I said rolling my eyes.

"A few guys from school saw his car pull up at the theater. They said they saw you inside, and now it's spreading like wildfire."

"Jenny Williams came up to me fishing for information about it."

"Yikes." Amanda said cringing. "That's scary."

"You can say that again." I said.

With all the talk of me going on that date with Rob, I was a little worried. What would Calvin think when he heard about this? He'd think the reason I ditched him was because I wanted to be with Rob, but that wasn't true at all. But I didn't have to worry for long about what he thought, because he made his appearance after I left the store.

I decided to go for a walk to clear my head, even though it was still a little humid out. Calvin drove slowly near me, and I stopped, waiting to see if he would say anything. Our street was never really that busy, so there weren't a lot of cars to worry about all the time. Calvin stopped in the middle of the road, and rolled his window down.

"You know, you could've told me that Rob Miller and you were a thing instead of lying. Everyone's talking about it. Did our night not mean anything to you?" he asked, visibly irritated with the conversation already.

"We're not a thing. I've been trying to figure out a way to explain it all to you, but I haven't had the guts yet." I said.

"Yeah right. You're just like every other easy girl here in this town. I thought maybe you'd be different. After all, you are Heather Whimes. I'm sure you don't go out much."