Summer 010

Chapter 27: Iris

I stay for a few more minutes inside, forcing myself to swallow my feelings and act normal.

I plaster a smile on my face and join them in the room. During the entire time, I avoid looking at Noah. Besides, the police arrive at the hospital shortly.

The arrest isn't as dramatic as movies make it out to be. The officers were actually polite. They waited for Noah to get changed. During our ride there, they chat with each other as if we're not there.

Noah asks me if I'm okay several times, but I ignore him.

I try to preoccupy my mind with the jail part, although it's really not as wild as I thought it would be.

After we arrive, the police conduct our paperwork and take our pictures. Although Arthur follows us shortly to pay for bail, it seems that we still have to spend some time inside until they process the administrative protocol.

I'm still a little bit nervous, but I find myself slowly adjusting. The hardest part is being next to Noah in all of this, and I never thought I'd say that.

She's just somebody that I used to know who was at the wrong place and time and got fucked up because of me.

His words ring in my mind over and over again. The fact that we end up in neighboring cells doesn't really help.

The cell is small, dark, and there's something that is supposed to be a bed in there. It's more like a bench with a mattress on it. The bars are metallic and rusty. There's also a phone attached to the wall that we can use only once.

I sit as far away from Noah as possible.

Arthur promises us that he will try to get us out as soon as possible. But honestly, I'm too drained to even care. So what if I spend the night jail? As the great Rory Gilmore once said, so did Martin Luther!

My thoughts are interrupted by Noah, who leans on the bars of my cell.

Our eyes meet for a split second before I look away.

At this moment, I'm fourteen all over again. I realize that he doesn't care, but a part of me is praying that he answers my texts or returns my phone call.

Except that I'm not. I'm seventeen, and I know that he doesn't give two craps about me. Still, I wish he stayed in my room last night and asked me to be his date because he wanted to.

I lean my head on the wall, letting out a long exhale.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

No, no, I'm not okay. I'm trying to imagine my life without you, and it's a fucking black hole. I turn so that he's facing my back.

"I know that this is overwhelming, talk to me," He sighs.

I close my eyes, swallowing my tears. He's just doing this to clear his conscience.

"I'm seriously worried, Ames... You haven't spoken a word since we got inside the car."

I focus my gaze on the cells. People are coming in and out. Some people are crying, others are angry. 

"Are you mad at me? Is it the puke-thing? If you hadn't done that, your drug test would have come out as positive..."

He lets out a long exhale.

"So, you're just going to ignore me? Very mature, Amy-"

That's when my mind snaps. He doesn't get to call me Amy, not anymore. I've spent the past two years getting used to the sound of Amelia coming from his lips, and the moment I almost do- I almost forget, I almost move on- he comes back. He comes back and destroys every wall I've built.