Every Other Weekend(117)

Jeremy:

I can’t believe I’m saying this but I agree with Shelly.

Jolene:

I just want to forget about it.

Jeremy:

Okay. But I’m here if you change your mind. Bizarrely it sounds like Shelly is, too.

Jolene:

I don’t know right now.

Jeremy:

Okay.

Jolene:

And you need to delete these texts from Jeremy’s phone.

Jeremy:

I will.

Jeremy:

I just want you to know I’m here.

Jeremy:

I’ll do anything for you.

Jolene:

I know.

Jolene:

Thanks.





   Jolene

I set my phone down, then curled my legs up, and rested my cheek on my knee. For once, I was glad that my bedroom at my mom’s felt like it belonged to someone else. As my gaze traveled around the room, there were few memories associated with the soulless space. Apart from Mrs. Cho coming in to clean, I was the only one who spent time there. I’d never wanted to have friends over, not even Cherry.

At the thought of her, I lowered one leg, then the other, and after a moment’s hesitation, I walked over to open my closet. Smashed in the corner of a shelf was the holographic gift bag I’d thrown up there over two months ago.

I gnawed on my lip and plucked it down. Crumpled white tissue paper floated to the floor as I revealed a hinged box at the bottom that was no bigger than my palm.

It creaked slightly when I opened it and inside was a necklace with a tiny film camera charm on the end. I lifted the charm in my fingers as a tear slid down my cheek.



* * *



Gabe and Cherry’s mom opened the door when I knocked twenty minutes later. “Hi, sweetie. We haven’t seen enough of you lately.” She reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze as I mumbled a vague excuse about homework. “You just missed Gabe. You want to text him and see if he can swing back for you? He and Grady and Dexter were going to grab something to eat.”

I shook my head. “Can you just give this to him for me?” I held out a flash drive. “It’s the finished music video for Venomous Squid.”

She smiled wide. “You’re such a good friend for helping them with this. Gabe says you’re a genius.”

I gave her a tight-lipped smile in return and my fingers trailed up to clutch the charm resting against my chest. “I was also hoping you might let me see Cherry. I know she’s grounded but—”

Their mom frowned and cut me off. “Cherry’s not grounded anymore. She didn’t tell you?”

The charm dug into my palm as I clutched it tighter. “We haven’t been talking, so...”

The frown smoothed and her eyes softened. “She’s in her room.” She backed up to open the door wider for me. “Go on.”

Upstairs, my footsteps halted a few feet from Cherry’s open door. I’d almost turned around and left when her mom told me Cherry was no longer grounded. That meant she could have tried to call me or at least text me to say she was sorry. But she hadn’t. Which meant maybe she wasn’t. My foot inched back from her door. Maybe all these weeks she’d been avoiding me as much as I’d been avoiding her.

But then I thought about Shelly and what I’d agreed to do the next day and realized that I’d never get through it if I backed away from this situation now.

Cherry’s eyes widened when she saw me. She clicked the TV off and swung her legs off the bed.

“Hey,” I said. “Your mom let me up.”

She nodded. “Gabe’s not here.”

“I know. I came by to see you. I mean, I did drop off the music video, too, but—”

“You finished it?”

I nodded. “A while ago. I just—”

“—didn’t want to come over.” I saw her swallow and her hands made fists in the comforter on either side of her. “Jo, I—”

“Wait, okay?” I took a step into her room, still clutching my necklace. There weren’t enough deep breaths in the world for what I had to say but I took one anyway. And when it wasn’t enough I took another. I was mad at her. More than mad, I was broken by her. But standing in her room with its hand-me-down furniture and the collection of stuffed animals nearly crowding her off the bed some of that fell away, not all, but a lot.

I took a few more steps and then lowered myself to sit on the opposite corner of the bed from her so I could pluck up a flamingo—her favorite animal—that I’d given her for her last birthday. I’d sewn a soccer ball to its hand and used markers to recreate our school’s mascot on its belly. It turned out awful, and I’d wanted to chuck it but Cherry had insisted it take a place of honor on her bed.

And it was still there.

My heart ached as I looked at the flamingo, and it ached more when I glanced at Cherry.

“I know you’re not grounded anymore. You could’ve tried to talk to me.”

Her head slumped further.

“I don’t get it. I thought eventually you’d come over and we’d fight it out and be okay again. But you didn’t.” My voice broke. “And I know you don’t want me to talk about Meneik—I don’t want to talk about Meneik, but I’m going to because I don’t care if you hate me for it. I don’t like him. I don’t like the way he treats you or the way he forces you to act to keep him happy. Whether you want me in your life or not, and whether I’m mad at you or not, I care about you. I don’t want you to look back in five years and regret your life.” My heart lodged itself in my throat when I remembered Shelly telling me that she’d lost everything because of my dad. “I’ve seen that, and I don’t want that for you.”