That Stupid Little L-Word:

Chapter Thirty Seven:

Five ignored calls from Miley, and a rough, sleepless night later, I roll over in my bed, dazed, and then the thick mattress vanishes from beneath me. The hard wooden floor boards replace it and pain splinters through my entire right side. I groan.

Then a godawful buzzing sound blares through the room, from my alarm clock, to wake me up. 

I climb to my feet and silence the alarm clock with a sharp thump to the snooze button. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I shuffle toward my bathroom and start my morning ritual. When I'm finished, I make my way downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. 

"Morning," I grumble as I walk into the room, only to pause in front of the kitchen table. 

"Take your pick," my mother's hand sweeps over the mound of open textbooks sprawled out upon the table. "Algebra, with a side of Trigonometry, is what I would suggest you start with. Don't want to over feed your brain." 

I chew on my lower lip and try not to retort with something that'll get me into even more trouble. I snatch my Algebra textbook from the table and shove it into my backpack. "Where did you even get all these books? I'm not supposed to take calculus until college, Mom." 

"Would you believe that the manager at Books-A-Million understands the troubles of a delinquent daughter?" 

Shooting her a glare, I grab a pop-tart from the fridge and rip it free of its packaging. "Ha ha, you're so funny." 

She responds with a confused expression, and asks, "Who said I was trying to be funny?" 

A horn blares from outside, and I swallow a mouthful of pop-tart. My mother grumbles something unintelligible under her breath. I ignore her insanity and slip out the door, my cell-phone in my hands. I glance at the screen again. "I called you last night," I announce as I climb into the car. The hurt and anger that had boiled inside of me all night came rushing out in one solid whoosh. "And you didn't answer." 

Shock crossed his expression and he opened his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. "You weren't there for me last night. Dammit, Seth, I told you that you shouldn't have taken me bowling." 

I almost broke down into a sobbing mess. My hands pressed and rubbed against my eyes --and a small part of my mind was thankful that I didn't put on makeup today. I'd almost put it on this morning, but then I remembered. Rough night equaled rough looking girlfriend. Had he actually called me back last night, I might have wrestled with the blue bags beneath my eyes and tried. 

The car slows to a stop. I freeze and look around, because we aren't surrounded by the constant flow of students or the wrought iron bars that decorate the outside of the school campus. Instead, we're in the deserted parking lot of the local strip mall. 

I open my mouth, but this time he beats me to it. 

"Alice," his hands grab mine and pull them away from my face, "Oh my gosh, babe, I'm so sorry. I didn't have my cellphone turned on last night; the battery was messing up. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. I'm so sorry." 

I respond with a broken, blubbery sob. 

He drags me toward him and my cheek finds the warm comfort of his chest. His arms wrap tightly around me and he buries his nose into my hair, lips pressing a gentle kiss here and there. I breathe in a shuddering breath, and his sweet, musky scent helps me calm down. When I can muster nothing but a few sniffles, he squeezes me tight. "I'm so sorry," he whispers and strokes my hair. 

"We're going to be late to school," I grumble into his chest. Then I push away from him. He frowns but the car begins to move forward anyways, and I stare out the window until I am composed enough to realize that we're in the student parking lot.