Meet You There

Meet You There - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Josie's dad drove a luxury SUV, which didn't surprise me. He said hello as I hopped in beside Polly, but didn't say anything else the entire drive.

   The apartment building he pulled up to was a huge high rise down by the river. Josie didn't even thank her dad for the ride. That also didn't surprise me.

   "Let's go!" she said, pulling my arm.

   Polly hurried beside me. Josie buzzed up to Jack, who answered and told us to come on up. I was quiet, and nervous, on the elevator up.

   "Are you ready, Polly?" Josie asked her, laughing. Polly didn't look ready. "She's hooking up tonight. She needs to get over Alex."

   Polly forced a smile at me, nodding.

   "With who?" I asked.

   "Does it matter? Jack has hot friends," Josie laughed again.

   The apartment was huge and fancy. I felt under dressed. Josie found Jack, introduced me and then walked away. Polly stood there, looking around, obviously very unsure.

   "Let's get a drink," I suggested.

   And so we drank, more than one each, and talked, and laughed. I realized quickly that this was a college party, shortly after realizing that Jack - Josie's boyfriend - was a college freshman at U of V. I wasn't sure why Josie hadn't told me this.

   "So, do you want to hook up with someone tonight?" I asked Polly, an hour or so after we'd arrived.

   There were a lot of cute guys. They were all strangers, who were drinking and partying. I knew better than to even seem the slightest bit available.

  "I want to be over Alex and move on," Polly said.

  "That did not answer my question," I laughed.

  "Will it help? Will I magically stop caring that he dumped me for Kelly Drake, if I sleep with a random college guy?" she went on.

  "Pretty sure, no," I told her.

   "Josie thinks it's so easy. She's never been dumped. You probably haven't been, either." She looked so defeated.

   This stung, though, but I didn't let it show. "Not exactly dumped. More like cheated on, with my best friend."

   "Oh my god, what?" Polly was shocked.

   I nodded. I only said it because I wanted her to feel better. "Please don't tell anyone."

   "I won't. I'm so sorry," Polly said, hugging me.

   "Thanks."

   "Maybe we should both get back out there? Have fun, date, forget about the dicks who hurt us," Polly suggested, smiling at me.

   "I actually just want to focus on school this year. I want to go to college in New York," I answered, sighing.

   "Oh, that's amazing!" she finished.

   Suddenly her eyes were wandering. I noticed who she was looking at.

   "He is cute," I said quickly. "Go talk to him."

   "Really?" she asked, cautious.

   I nodded. "Yes, go!"

   An hour later, I was feeling tipsy, but bored. I hadn't seen either of the girls in awhile, and some of the college guys were flirting with me a bit more than I could handle. I decided to call it a night, thinking about how nice crawling into my bed was going to be.

   As if on cue, my phone buzzed.

   IM ON MY WAY HOME A GIG, LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED A RIDE. From Caleb.

   I DO, ACTUALLY. IM AT THE JACOB HIGH RISES ON CLEMENT ST, BY THE RIVER, I sent back.

   IM DOWNTOWN, BE THERE SOON.

   I climbed into Caleb's truck fifteen minutes later, smiling at him. He said nothing at first, but pulled back onto the road. I watched him as he focus on driving. I wanted to know what he was thinking.

   "Party out here?" he finally asked.

   "Uh, yeah. Josie's friend..." I said quickly.

   "You left your friends there?"

   "Yeah, they have a ride later. I was bored," I replied, looking out the side window. I didn't want him to know that I was sort of drunk.

   "You're a good kid, Iris," Caleb said, then laughed. "I don't know what your dad was saying."

   "What did he say?" I asked right away.

   The last time we talked about this, I pretended like I didn't care. Now, I wanted to know. I didn't want Caleb to think anything bad about me.

   "Uh, I don't think it's-"

   "Tell me. Please," I interrupted.

   "He told me... everything. He told me that you had lots of friends, one in particular, and a boyfriend."

   "And?" I was just staring at him, waiting to find out what he really knew.

   "He said that you liked to party, and drink, and stay out all night."

   My heart sank. Those things were true about me, then. It was so easy to party on the beach, crash at friends' houses, and sleep it off the next day. It was one of my ways of coping with how horribly painful the previous year had been.

   "That's it?" I finally asked, avoiding his eyes.

   We were almost back at his condo. I had a feeling there was more.

   "Iris..."

   I shook my head, angry. I knew it, now. I knew what he knew.

   "My dad told you that Sheldon, my boyfriend, fucked my best friend, in my bed, while I was at school, right?" I yelled, annoyed.

   "Iris."

   "What? I can't believe you knew this whole time," I snapped.

   "He wanted me to know, so I could try to make sure you're safe, here He thinks he failed you, Iris."

   "I don't care."

   Caleb pulled into the back parking lot and turned off the truck.

   "I'm really sorry that happened to you," he told me, turning towards me.

   "Are you really sorry that my mom cheated on my dad with a way younger, fitness trainer? Are you really sorry she then failed to give a shit about me for over a year? I'm really screwed up because of stuff that I did in Harriston. And then I thought that California was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was so, so wrong," I said, tears in my eyes.

   "You've had some really shitty things happen to you," Caleb said quickly. "But you're an amazing kid. I wish I could have helped, then. I wish I was in a better place, when I got back from New York. But when you called, in July, I was so glad to hear from you."

   I couldn't form words, so I just hugged him. And then we got out of the truck and walked together towards the back doors. I followed him into the elevator and up to the apartment. Now it was all out in the open, but I knew he was looking at me differently. Now he saw me as poor Iris, the girl who ran away because of a broken heart.

   "This is your year, Iris," Caleb said, just before I shut myself into my bedroom for the night. "I'm going to make sure of it."

   I just smiled and said goodnight, too exhausted to reply.