Don't Get Angry

60- Otis: Saying Goodbyes...And Hello Agains

A few months later...

Things changed for me... They changed for all of us. I got a therapist and started talking about all of my pent-up feelings. I started to understand Otis and why he chose anger over tears. I did what I did for the same reason Dalta chose to become like me. I thought my feelings were my weakness.

Peter enrolled into an art school and started working harder on his degree. He became less of a slacker and began to focus on making his parents proud, and his future. He would occasionally invite me over to play video games. Penny herself had changed. After taking swimming lessons for nearly eight months, she had lost a lot of weight. She started a support group for girls struggling with self-esteem issues and bullying at our school. Dalta joined her. Todd...let's just say Todd got everything he wanted and was happy.

I watched Dalta get better from afar. After our...incident, she started going to therapy as well. I watched her become calmer and happier. She became exactly what I fell in love with and better. She became more open...happy and loving. Especially after Betty gave birth to a little girl she named "Diana." Dalta began to "see the world through everyone else's eyes" according to Todd's words, just like him, her boyfriend. And I... I never stopped loving her.

We went to prom, graduated and were now preparing for college. I wasn't sure where Dalta was going, but I knew that she had applied to a lot of schools along with Penny. Todd and I were going to another state. I wasn't sure I would see Dalta again for a while...until she showed at Penny's. I was standing on my porch with my bags saying goodbye to my mother. She squeezed my cheeks and stared into my eyes with tears in hers. "I'm so proud of you, baby." Her thumbs wiped my tears.

"Thanks, mom." I hugged her one more time, squeezing her tight. I slowly slipped out of her embrace, then looked at my grandmother.

She opened her arms to me, then plagued my face with smooches. She touched my cheek. "You're definitely your father's son," she whispered.

"Thank you, Grams." I turned to my little sister who had been growing through a grown spurt.

She stood in front of me with hands on her hips. "By the time you come back, I'll be taller than you are-"

"Shut up," I chuckled and hugged her. She pat my back.

I listen to the sound of Todd's van pull up in front of my house. I sighed, thinking about how hard it must have been for him to say goodbye to Dalta. I kissed Angie's forehead then looked at her. "Keep running every morning, okay?"

"I will."

I rubbed her head and messed up her hair, then turned back. My heart tripled its beats. Dalta was getting out of the van. She hopped out of the van, then fixed her sweatshirt.

"Is that Dalta?" Angie grabbed my arm and yanked it.

"Owe." I leaned over, still staring at her.

Her hair was straightened. She had pulled it back into a ponytail. She looked...beautiful. But not like the Dalta I knew. She looked at my porch. My mother quickly waved at her with a broad smile. "Mom," I sighed from embarrassment, "stop." She most likely wouldn't have been that excited to see Dalta if she had known what went down between us.

Dalta giggled and waved back. Her eyes landed on me. She pursed her lips then turned away. I frowned as I watched her walk over to Penny's. After Dalta had hit me, she never looked at me the same way again. I was her reminder of the time she became abusive. I looked at my family again.

"Don't worry," my mom said as she smiled. "She'll forgive you one day."

I nodded, then kissed her one more time. I waved goodbye, then grabbed two of my bags. Todd rushed up the porch and grabbed the other two. "Good afternoon," he greeted at my family.

"Hi, Todd," Angie grinned and waved at him.

"Take care of him for us." My mom wiped her cheek again.

"We will." He rushed down the steps with the bags.

"We?" I followed him. "Who's we?"

He chuckled as he opened the back of the van.

My eyes grew as I stared at all of the bags...pink bags. "Is...Is Dalta coming to the airport with us?"

Todd smiled.

I gulped then reached for the door to close the trunk.

"Not yet." Todd pat my shoulder, then started heading towards Penny's house.

I furrowed my brows as I walked over to the front of the van. I looked at Dalta and Penny. Penny was wearing a "SBU college" sweatshirt. My college sweatshirt. Which meant only one thing; she and Dalta were going to my college.

I wasn't sure if I was excited or devastated. Dalta coming to my college meant I had a chance with her again...but I couldn't pursue that...not with Todd dating with her. Penny danced over to me with her bags. She looked me in the eyes. "Otis."

"Penny," I lifted my brows.

"Surprised?"

"That we're going to the same college?"

"No," she lowered her voice. "That Dalta is."

I gulped. "A little, yeah."

She grinned hauntedly, then walked away.

I looked at Dalta. She stood on the lawn, staring at me. She slowly walked towards me. "Hi," she flashed a weak smile.

"Hi." I said to her for the first time in months. I was shaking as if the temperature around us had plummeted to nothing. I could feel my heart beating in my skull.

She stared up at me with sadness in her eyes. "We're going to the same college."

"Yeah." I chuckled.

"Same dorm as Todd, right?"

I nodded.

Her face turned paler. She was fishing for a sign that I wasn't going to be near her. "Great."

I nodded again, feeling my thoughts begin to argue. I wanted to tell her that I was better; that what she did hurt me" but I knew she'd changed... that I had forgiven her and that I was still completely in love with her. But before I could say a word, she got into the van and shut the door.

Todd rushed past me with Penny's bags and threw them in the trunk. He shut the back. "Alright, everyone. Let's jump in."

I waved one last time at my family then got into the van. I sat beside Penny with sweaty hands on my lap. Todd got into the driver's. My eyes ran over to Dalta in the rear-view mirror. Her sunglasses on the top of her head, she was looking down at the book in front of her. Her eyes slowly lifted to mine. I wanted to look away. But I couldn't. And she couldn't either. We just stared at each other...until a smile spread across my face. She looked away...smiling.