I’d grown up knowing love was complicated. But I knew what it looked like. What it felt like. And I’d learned the hard way, through my own life and the lives of the people I loved, that there was a really thin line between love and hate. Telling someone you loved them didn’t mean you’d end up together. It was just afreakingword.
So I wasn’t going to worryaboutit.
With a lot more pep in my step than usual, I got off the bed and showered, feeling revived, feeling even stronger and better than I had before because I’d done what I’d never thought I would be capable of. I’d told someone I was crazy about, madly in love with, that I wasn’t sure we could be together because they weren’t holding up to the expectations I hadforthem.
Who the heck was I?A badass? Had I reached thatlevelyet?
I never, ever would have thought I would have been able to do that. Ever. Not even in my wildest dream, but if there was something I’d learned about myself quickly, it was that I deserved better. I needed it. I wasn’t about to settleforless.
And I’ddoneit.
Even Jasmine would have called me a badbitch.
With the sun seeming to shine straight out of me, feeling rejuvenated and awesome, I finished showering, got dressed and headed up the stairs feeling like I could take on anything. I really did. After grabbing my bottle of water, I went to the deck and took a big whiff of the salty air, simply thinking to myselfthis isamazing.
So, it was the sun and me feeling pretty indestructible in general that I could blame for how the next fewminuteswent.
Because it was at that second that the phone inside thehouserang.
And when I turned to look inside, Aaron wasn’t already in the kitchen like he’d been the other two mornings when he’dansweredit.
It was during the second ring, while I’d been too busy focusing on the fact that the phone was actually ringing, that this image of Aaron being angry and upset at these calls he’d been subjecting himself to, filled my brain. Then, it made me mad. That was when I practically stomped into the house, feeling like a different kind of Ruby than I thought I wascapableof.
And I answered the stupid phone sitting in the cupboard beside the fridge with a grumpy “Hello?” that I also didn’t know I hadinme.
There was silence on the other end of thereceiver.
“Hello?” I repeated myself, sounding just as aggressive as I had atfirst.
“Hello?” the female voice on the other end responded, soundinghesitant.
“Can Ihelpyou?”
There was a pause before the woman cleared her throat and said in a very stern, clear voice, “May I speak toAaron?”
“Can I ask who’s calling?” I already knew who it was, but I’d seen my family play enough games to know how to playthisone.
“This is his mother,” the woman replied with a certain amount of steel in hervoice.
“I see,” I said to her, thinking about the words he’d used last night. “He’s not availablerightnow.”
“Can I leave amessage?”
“I would rather you didn’t,” I told her, honestly andevenly.
She didn’t say anything again for a moment. “Excuseme?”
“I would rather you didn’t,” I repeatedmyself.
“Who am I speaking to?” the woman asked, her voice getting a hint of attitudeinit.
“His girlfriend,” I said before I could stop myself. “And if you’re going to keep calling him and upsetting him, I would rather youdidn’t.”
“Excuse you,” his mom snapped. “Who areyouto—”
“Look, I don’t know what your intentions are for calling him, but all I’m going to tell you is that you should really think twice about forcing him to talk to you when all you do is make him mad. If you’re really trying to get back into his life, maybe you should ease up and go about this another way. If you’re not… I don’t know. All I know is that I’m not letting you ruin his morning. Have a nice rest of your day,” I told her. Then Ihungup.
Not even two seconds later, the rushhitme.
