Vacancy

23. Agony.

"Afternoon darling" Ainsley said cheerfully as I entered the kitchen, Arielle and Aliyah were outside at the patio table, and Dad in the porch swing. The back door was slid open, and the heat from the sun hit me as I walked into the beams of light. "morning" I yawned back at her as I shielded my eyes from the light. She handed me a glass of lumpy, green liquid, her hangover remedy. It was basically just Kale, cucumber, kiwi, and spinach blended, and her 'surprise ingredient' which was definitly ginger. "drink up hun, you'll feel as bright as everyone else, we've all done it" she laughed as I looked disapprovingly at the glass. She was making sandwiches, and packing them up into a bag, with fruit, bottles of water and some pretzel snacks. "your dad, Aliyah and I are off for a walk in the woods, nothing better to beat a heavy night. You and Arielle should come“ she said, as she zipped the bag closed, some part of me liked the idea, fresh air, not a single person to bug you, but in reality, my body could not handle an afternoon hike. "I'm going to pass this time, I don't think my body would make it" I rubbed my head and pulled open the medicine drawer, I needed something to block this headache. I took two painkillers, and washed them down with the hangover juice. "suit yourself, head outside and ill bring you some breakfast" she smiled and rubbed my arm gently. I thanked her, and handed her back an almost empty glass.

I stepped out Into the warm day, less that 10 hours earlier I'd been stark naked, freezing just a few metres down into the garden. I sat in the porch swing with my dad, he put his arm around me and hugged me "how you doin' champ?" he asked, all bright and bubbly. I leant my head on him and yawned, it felt good to cuddle up to my father sometimes. We'd been through so much together, and as cheesy as it sounded, he was my hero. However crap I felt, my dad would always make it better. "that bad huh? Did'ya drink your juice?" he pulled a face and the mention of the Juice and I laughed, nodding, and yawning again. "JASON LOVE?“ Ainsley called from inside. My father stood up, and excused himself, making his way into the house. I struggled to get my body out of the swing, but finally made my way down the steps and over to the table where Ari and Aliyah sat, playing some game on their phones. I hadn't even checked my phone this morning, I didn't even know where it was, maybe Brandon had text me. Maybe Jai had. My mind automatically switched to Brandon first, why was I more concerned about him than my own boyfriend?

"hey lazy" Aliyah giggled as I sat down next to her, Arielle panicked at something happening in the game and then dropped her phone down onto the table. Aliyah cheered and continued to laugh. "6-2!!" she exclaimed and Ari bowed her head.
"no more" she moaned, "I'm no good at this game" she continued and Aliyah giggled again, swinging back in her chair. Ainsley called Aliyah in, and she scurried away leaving me and Ari alone. "I love your family, like to death. I wish my family were this chill!" she said, looking back at the three of them in the kitchen. Ari was an only child, and her parents were both workaholics. Her mum was a ceo of a tech company, and her father owned his own law firm. They had money, a lot of it, but never any time." my family is your family" I smiled at her. She was wearing a pair of my pyjamas now, and my miss bunny slippers, and her hair in space buns, she looked extra cute, her bug eyes popping out of her head. "have you checked your phone?“ she asked as Aliyah appeared with a plate full of eggs on toast, my favourite. She placed it down in front of me, put down a bottle of sauce, and handed me a knife and fork." thanks monster" I stuck my tongue out at her, she did the same as she turned away, and skipped back into the house. "no, I dont even know where it is" I mumbled, piling my first mouthful of food in.

"well, I know where it is." she said sternly, I looked up from my plate, egg hanging from my mouth and she shook her head, "what the fuck happened last night?" she sounded angry, "Brandon text you apologising for what 'happened' and then the text goes on, but I don't know your passcode so I could only see the preview" she rolled her eyes and drank her coffee, "oh, and Jai called, a lot" she passed me my phone from her lap. I had 5 missed calls from Jai, and one text preview from Brandon that read 'hey Jess, it's Brandon, I'm so sorry for what happened last night, I hope you.....' and that was all I could see. Could I trust Arielle? "I'll explain later, I'm going to call Jai back" I shoved the last mouthful of toast into my mouth, and got up from the table. Ari smiled, happy that she would catch up on all the gossip and began tapping away on her phone. I brought Jai's number up on my phone and hovered my thumb over it in hesitation. What would I say to him? Would I say anything at all? I snapped out of my daze and tapped the call button, and climbed the steps, sitting back in the porch swing. It rang a few times before I heard his sweet voice, oh how I missed that voice. My insides turned to soup, ingredients included guilt, sadness, love and a seasoning of panic.

Jai: Jessy, you there?

Jessy: mhmm, it's so good to hear your voice. I miss you Jai

Jai: I miss you, I need to talk to you, I have to tell you something...

Jessy: what's up?

The seasoning of panic turned into a potful of panic, his voice was breaking, did he know? Had Brandon said something to taunt him? I breathed slowly, my stomach in knots.

Jai: Jess, please don't get mad, FUCK, I don't know how to say this, look...

Jessy: Jai, what the fuck is going on?

He wasn't making any sense, he stuttered a few words and made some sounds that weren't words at all, but he sounded pissed.

Jai: I love you Jessy, I love you so much...

Jessy: I love you too Jai, what's wrong? You're worrying me...

He took a deep breath, and so did I, but it didn't prepare me for what I heard next.

Jai: I slept with someone, in LA, I'm so sorry Jess, I never wanted to hurt you, I love you, I don't want to lose you...

Jessy: it was that night wasnt it? You fucking lied to me Jai, you told me nothing had happened, you begged for me back.

Silence. I began to sob, I felt sick, and i couldn't bring any words up.

Jai: J, I'm sorry. I fucked up, it didn't mean anything. I couldn't tell you..

Jessy: I slept with Brandon.

I admitted through tears, how could I be angry with him when I'd done the same thing. I wanted to be upset at him, but I was just as upset with myself. It was agony.

The line went dead.