Last Summer Part 16 (P.2)

**So this is the second part of Part 16. Thanks for all of the comments on the first one! I loved them! Anyways, a couple of things get explained in this chapter, but it isn't the stuff you want to know. In this, you get a better look at Ava. You will find out in the NEXT CHAPTER why Caleb ditched her!! Don't forget to comment!**

Once I was outside, I got a good view of him. He was walking down the road, towards the beach. He went there when he had to think; just like me. It was just too bad he was going to have to deal with me first.
I took off my shoes and then darted after him. Seeing as how he wasn’t walking very fast, I caught up to him in a matter of minutes. I grabbed him by the arm and yelled, "Caleb! You know you’re not going to get away with that!"
He wheeled around to face me and he had a murderous glare in his eye. His mouth was pressed in a hard line and his nose was flared. I looked down at his hands and noticed that they were tightened into fists. It made me take a step backwards. I had never seen him so mad before. He growled at me, "He was fucking all over you."
"So?" I asked meekly, not wanting to upset him. He looked like he was at a breaking point.
"So!" he yelled, "I was trying to help you!"
"Maybe I wanted him to kiss me!" I yelled back at him, not caring that people were walking up and down the street, probably looking at us like we were crazy. Well, we sort of were. "Maybe you just made yourself look like an idiot!"
He flinched away from me; hurt starting to appear in his eyes. What was his deal? He obviously didn’t like me! He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. He said, "Please don’t tell me you wanted him to kiss you."
"Why the hell not, Caleb? We aren’t together! You made that pretty clear over the school year." Oops, I had let it spill. Now we were going to open up that big bag of worms and I really didn’t want to discuss it.
He tensed up and then looked around him. He yelled, "You don’t know anything!" What really sucked was that I didn’t get a chance to scream anything back because he was already running full speed down the road-away from me.
I stood there, completely dumbfounded, trying to convince myself that I was just dreaming. Caleb had never been a violent guy so why had he blown up so badly at Todd? He didn’t even know Todd!
Maybe he had feelings for me again…no! I wasn’t going to fool myself into believing that he liked me again. Why? Because I couldn’t stand him; he was unhealthy for me. I was the obese man and he was my bacon. It was as simple as that. He was definitely appealing but once I had him, I would regret him.
I ran my fingers through my hair in a stressed motion and then urged my feet forward towards the club. I needed to go back to check on Todd. As much as I didn’t want to explain what had just happened, Todd deserved to know the truth. I just couldn’t believe that our second date had ended up like this. How had such a fun afternoon turned into one so horrible?

Cars rushed by me on the street, some causing the entire street to vibrate from their loud rap music. My summer of peace had turned into one full of drama and it was all Caleb’s fault. How did one guy carry so much baggage with him? It seemed almost impossible.
I looked both ways down the street and once noting that they were pretty much empty, I raced across the street. To tell you the truth, I probably wouldn’t mind getting hit by a car right now. It would save me from so much stress.
As soon as I made it to the club door, it was being pushed open from the other side. With my luck being as it great as it was, Ava, the blonde girl, and Josh made their way out of the club. Pounding music flashed through my ears and then once the door was shut, it was gone.
Ava turned her head towards the other two and told them, "Go wait in the car; I’ll just be a moment."
They both silently nodded and then Josh slipped his arm around the girl’s waist as they made their way down the street. Ava watched them walk away and once she made sure that they couldn’t hear her, she turned towards me. She asked, "Is Caleb okay?"
I shrugged and told her, "I have no idea."
The air between us was so awkward. The ex-girlfriend talking to the current girlfriend; how wonderful! She looked at me and apologized, "I’m really sorry for what happened. If I would have known that you would have been here, I wouldn’t have suggested this place. We come here all the time and have never seen you, so…"
"He’s told you about me?" I asked, my voice squeaking towards the end of my question. Even though I hadn’t known many guys, I hadn’t thought that they discussed ex-girlfriends with their current ones. Shows how wrong I am.

She smiled and rolled her eyes at me. "Of course he has. Every time I see him, you’re brought up some way or another. And it’s always by him, too."
Wait, wait, wait. I was so confused. He talked about me all of the time? To his girlfriend? This was so weird. I asked, "That doesn’t bother you?"
She laughed and then crossed her arms over her chest. "Not really, no. I’m actually kind of glad that he’s still hung up on you. When I first met him, I was so scared he would like me as more than a friend, but he doesn’t so…"
I cut her off, completely bewildered. What the hell? She didn’t want her boyfriend to like her? Is that what she was saying? Because that was what I was getting out of the words she kept spewing. I asked, "You and Caleb are together, right?"
She laughed loudly, the pleasant sound echoing throughout the busy street. She shook her head and exclaimed, "Of course not! My boyfriend goes to college about three hours away from here, but we’ve been together four years now. Caleb and I are friends. Pearl, the blonde girl who I just sent to the car, met him at the beach in November. Caleb’s a good guy, but he’s not my type of guy."
Well, this changed everything. So, Caleb didn’t have a girlfriend. And he punched the guy he had seen me kissing. Did this mean that Caleb still liked me? But that confused me so much more. If Caleb did still like me-which I refused to believe for more than two seconds-then why had he completely blown me off during the school year?
Caleb didn’t like me; couldn’t like me. But what confused me was that I was happy that he wasn’t dating Ava. Did that mean I still liked him? No! I didn’t like Caleb anymore; I had made myself a promise.

And besides, I still had Todd. Cute, sweet, polite Todd who I could always picture smiling. I had him now, right? I mean, he hadn’t broken my heart. So why should I leave him for a guy who did break my heart?
She told me in a maternal tone, "Look, I know what you think Caleb did, but you have it all wrong. Don’t turn him down so quickly, alright? Let him explain himself."
"Why should I?" I asked, having the tone of a two-year-old who didn’t want to eat her vegetables.
"Because you don’t have all of the facts. As a matter of fact you don’t have any of the facts."
"I have the fact that he told me he loved me and then never talked to me again. That’s all I need to know," I replied coolly, crossing my arms over my chest. I couldn’t believe I was standing outside of a club, talking to this beautiful person about forgiving Caleb-something I never planned on doing.
Then Ava did something totally unexpected, she leaned in and gave me a hug. She told me quietly, "You aren’t the only one who got hurt." Once her mouth said the words, she pulled away, gave me a small smile, and then walked in the direction her friends had just gone.
Well, that had been odd. Caleb had gotten hurt? How? He had never told me. Had I done something to him? But, I didn’t do anything, not that I could remember off of the top of my head anyway. Why did Ava have to speak in riddles? Why did Ava have to make my life even more confusing?

I walked back into the club after Ava walked off and looked around for any sign of Tiffany and Todd. The room seemed to have gotten back to normal after Caleb’s punching binge. The band was now playing a soft rock song that had a subtle dance beat in it. I would have to make sure to look them on the internet. I really liked them.
But I didn’t come here for that. I walked further into the club and then saw them walking out of the one bathroom in the entire place. He was laughing at something Tiffany had said and she was smiling back at him. They seemed to be getting along and I was glad.
Tiffany saw me and that caused Todd to look in my direction also. His smile disappeared from his face, but I tried not to think too much about it. Tiffany ran over to me and demanded, "What’d Caleb say?"
"Nothing, he just walked away," I mumbled solemnly. I wanted to leave this place; I really did. Obviously no good came from the Swaying Palms. My almost new boyfriend had just gotten punched in the face by my ex-boyfriend for Christ’s sake!
Todd then decided to make his way over to the two of us. He looked at me and asked, "You ready to go? I think I’ve had a night’s worth of stuff to deal with."
I tried to smile at him and nodded my head. I told him, "I’m so sorry about the Caleb thing. Next time I see him; I’ll try and talk…"
He held his hands up in the air and laughed. "Hey, it’s not your fault. That guy just has some serious issues, alright? From what Tiffany told me, he needs to get locked up in some mental institution. Right, Tiff?" He then looked at her with an expectant smile on his face.
She took her index finger and made a circular motion around her ear and chirped, "That boy is nuts."

I looked at her with a stunned expression on my face. She knew how I got when she talked about Caleb; whether it was bad or not. She didn’t know him so she didn’t have the right to trash talk him. I was the only person allowed to do that. And where did Todd get off talking about him like that also? He didn’t even know who he was!
"He’s not nuts, he was just…upset," I said, trying to defend him without sounding like I liked him. Which I didn’t.
Tiffany pointed out, "That still doesn’t give him the right to hit Todd."
I gave her a look that was supposed to mean "shut up" but apparently she didn’t get it at all. She continued, "And why are you defending him, Nikki? He punched your date in the face!"
"Whatever," I mumbled. I then noticed that Tiffany rolled her eyes at me. God, what was her problem? It was seriously starting to irk me. I mean, really, did she think she was better than I was? I was standing up for a guy that they had said should go to a nut house! It was like I was being punished for being forgiving and understanding.
Tiffany sighed and then said, "Let’s go home. We’ve had enough here."
Todd and I both agreed and we all filed out of the club. It was so much easier to think when you got outside. The night air was beautiful and all of the stars were out. It would have been perfect if I had been on the beach. But I wasn’t. Instead, I was with my best friend and my date. How come I wasn’t exactly thrilled about that?
I decided not think about that for very long; I needed to be fun until we dropped off Todd. What if he didn’t think I was fun enough and he decided not to hang around me again? But for some reason, the thought really didn’t make me upset. It almost made me feel relieved.

When we got to the car, Todd hopped in the driver’s seat and Tiffany called shotgun. At least something good was happening. I really didn’t want to have to be forced to entertain Todd. I knew Tiffany would be able to.
So the entire ride home, I let myself drown in my thoughts. Of course they fell on Caleb. What Ava had told me changed everything. If he didn’t have a girlfriend, then what exactly did that mean?
And what about tonight? He had gotten so upset seeing me kiss Todd. Did that mean he still cared about me? I highly doubted it, but it was still nice to think about. What made me mad at myself was that I wanted him to still like me; I really did. That made me so furious at myself. I mean, look at what he had done to me last summer. I had been so devastated and I had had no idea why. I mean, truth be told, Caleb and I had only dated three months. But it had seemed like so much longer than that.
We had known each other for years, but he had always gotten on my nerves as a kid. He would always chase me around the beach, threatening to put a hermit crab in my swimsuit. But then last summer, our feelings for each other had changed so much. I had realized that I couldn’t see him without aching for something more than platonic. Apparently, he had felt the same way and we had gotten together. But everything was different now because Caleb had decided to become an ass.
Not two seconds later, we were pulling into our driveway. Todd cut the engine, but left the radio and air on. Tiffany and I both unbuckled our seatbelts and then I got out of the car. Tiffany decided to kiss him on the cheek and giggle, "Bye, Todd."
And I so didn’t even care that my best friend was flirting with the guy who had been my date for tonight. All I did was start up the walkway to the front door. But Todd calling out my name made me stop in my tracks. I turned around and then walked over to where he had rolled down his window.
I noticed that Tiffany was already out of the car. Where she was, I had no idea. "Yeah?" I asked him, noticing that he wasn’t smiling at me like usual. Something was so wrong with the idea that I took happiness in knowing he probably didn’t even like me anymore.
He asked me, "Can I come pick you up tomorrow around ten? We can go to the beach?"
Well, that hadn’t been what I expected. I had expected him to say, "I realized tonight you were dreadfully boring. I would much rather be doing Tiffany." But he didn’t say that and I was stunned. "Um…sure," I said, letting a small smile break across my face.
"Great," he said and then leaned out of the window to give me a soft peck on the lips. Well, I guess I wasn’t even worth him getting out of his car.
"Sorry about tonight," I apologized, feeling that it was my fault. Which it kind of was; I mean, I had apparently dated a guy with anger problems last year.

He laughed and said, "It’s not even your fault. Besides, it let me get to know Tiffany. She’s great."
Of course he was in love with her, I thought to myself. But whatever, I had gotten so used to it anyways. I nodded because Tiffany was great. I just had a feeling he meant he was using me to get to her. "See you tomorrow," I told him and then walked up to the house.
Tiffany had already used the spare key under the mat to get into the house. I followed suit into the house and then welcomed the familiar feeling of home. It felt so great to be back here because really, I couldn’t take any more clubs for a while.
I ran up the stairs and into my attic bedroom. I laughed when seeing all of the clothes strewn around the room; it had taken Tiffany forever to decide what I would wear. After taking a long, hot shower and slipping on some pajamas, I climbed onto my bed and then peered out of the small window.
The first window on the second floor’s-Caleb’s bedroom-light went off within five seconds and I noticed that his blinds were open. He must have been looking at the sky; he had done that so much last summer. Well, we both had really. I would have been sitting on his lap and he would have been running his hands through my hair while we watched the sky. Caleb had informed that he had had an obsession with my hair.
I smiled at the memories and then slipped underneath the quilt on my bed. Something in my body wouldn’t let me give Caleb up and I was kind of glad about that. What had happened last summer between Caleb and I was unforgettable.