The Girl With Five Watches

29: Great Return

"Sara texted me. She should be back in about an hour," Karla claimed while falling to a chair next to the couch. She signaled me to sit on the couch next to her. It seemed kind of weird to do that, but I did what she asked. "You know, you guys really are cute together. I don't know how she was so lucky to find you."

"I'm the one that's lucky," I claimed while laughing a little nervously. I wanted nothing more to leave the dorm, but if Sara was returning in an hour, it didn't make much sense to take off.

She laughed normally. "True, I guess you both are lucky," she smiled. "Have you read the story she's writing for that contest? She finished her first chapter."

Why hadn't Sara texted me about her return? "No, she hasn't shown it to me."

"I'm sure she'll show it to you." She stood up and sat right by my side leaving my head to get a little hot. Once she found herself next to me, she pulled out her phone and showed me a picture of a Mexican Restaurant that she visited over spring break. "This was such an amazing restaurant. The food was amazing. All four of us are going there on a double date this weekend. Sara is pretty excited."

Oh crap, a double date? Was she seriously not aware that Roger was cheating on her? All the evidence was on my phone, but Karla had evidence through Snapchat that her boyfriend was lonely and desperately missed her. The worst part was sitting with her and watching these Snapchats from Roger with her. She awed with a heavy smile. She had never been so happy before. There were a couple of times I reached into my pocket attempting to pull out my phone wanting to show her the evidence, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't take away her happiness. My heart didn't want to see her sad. And if she knew, Sara would likely also be devasted. There was no way I could let my own girlfriend fall to a low. With all this thinking, my head began sweating while continuing to watch Snapchat with her.

"Why aren't you with Roger now?" I asked wanting to ignore Snapchat.

"He was visiting a friend over spring break. He'll be back tonight."

Back tonight? He was here the entire week. How did she not know? This special friend was Kim. And with the hour passing slowly, Sara finally made her way back to the dorm. Once she saw me, I stood up and she ran to me giving me a tight hug followed by several kisses. Once she was done kissing me, she hugged Karla and they both screeched in joy for a good long minute. It was like they hadn't seen each other in several years. For the next hour, all three of us sat in that dorm room and discussed what each of us did during our spring break.

"I wanted to go home for the rest of my break, but I found myself returning to my dorm and laying in bed the rest of the break," was all I could carefully say without bringing up Roger.

...

Late Wednesday Night, I went to the library to have a weekly Skype Session with Dr. Parker. There was no way I was going to have this session in my dorm. Once at the library, I found a quiet and empty room even though the library was pretty empty as it was.

"Hello Jimmy," greeted Dr. Parker. "I trust your week has been treating you well? How is Sara doing?"

This was the first time I was using Skype which made it a little awkward not really knowing if I was looking at Dr. Parker or not. The quality of the call also wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.

"It's been an OK week so far. Sara is doing well. She's been working on her romance novel for the contest and is excited for a double date this Saturday."

"Well, that's all good to hear. I'm glad to hear that she is doing just fine." He licked his lips and scratched his chin. "But let's talk about you. Have you tried going swimming in the last few days?"

"Not since the camping trip." He had a disappointed look on his face and continued to listen. "After the camping trip, I tried to go home, but once I got there, I turned around and headed straight back to campus." 

His face went from disappointed to curious. "Any particular reason you decided to turn around? I take it you didn't inform your family that you would be arriving?"

"I don't know." I took a deep breath knowing he wouldn't take that for an answer. "I guess I just don't like being home. My relationship with my parents isn't the greatest and deep down I sometimes feel that they don't want me there. There's a family reunion coming up soon and I honestly don't think I'm going to go to that."

Dr. Parker tried to understand why I didn't want to go to the family reunion, but I kept going around in circles without any clear answer. He did notice that I brought up my grandma a lot and began to wonder if my relationship with her was the most damaged. And without saying it, I could tell he wanted me to go to the family reunion. Of course, there was another pressing matter that I needed to address and it had nothing to do with my family.

"Dr. Parker, let's say you know if a friend is doing something you know is wrong and it could impact others close to that friend and you. Would it be smart to tell these people?"

"Interesting question. What would happen if you kept this secret to yourself?"

"I guess life would go on, but the unaware friend might be living a lie that they didn't know they were living. They would be better off not knowing the truth because it would be devastation."

"You know Jimmy," his face began to grow a little more serious. "While that may be very well true, sometimes it's wise, to tell the truth regardless of how it could impact others. It may make you unpopular, but the great leaders in history were often unpopular and had to make difficult choices. And if I'm being honest, it sounds like you know what the right thing to do it. It's locked in your conscience and you wouldn't have brought it up if you didn't know the correct course of action. What choice are you going to make?"

That certainly was an interesting chapter! Jimmy has a lot to think about. Remember to comment, vote, and share!

Is going on a double date a good idea?

Do you think Jimmy will tell Karla? Should he?