SUCH a long update! I hope you enjoy
Anita thought that over for a few minutes before typing back. “Sorry! That was for my friend Txian-Yi, who was visiting and couldn't make it today. How are you?”
He messaged back instantly. “Oh, lol. I'm good. Where is she from?”
“Txian-Yi is a guy,” Anita typed, smiling slightly. “He is from Seoul.”
There was silence for a while before he replied. Anita was into the full swing of conversation with Carolyn when he said, “Cool. Well, I have to go. Promo time. I'll talk to you later, okay?”
“Okay,” she said before exiting out of Skype. She frowned and pulled up Keith's profile on the fan fic site and typed angrily. “Did Colm not know you were coming here?”
The silence was suspicious but she decided to be generous, seeing as he was in promos. She messaged Emmet as well, with the same words. Frowning, she went back to Carolyn. “I have a story for you. Let me know what you think.”
“Wow,” Carolyn finally said when the story was over. “So what are you going to do?”
Anita thought for a moment before sighing. “I don't know.” She held her cell phone tighter against her face. “Did they lie? Or what happened?”
“I don't know,” Carolyn said, her voice thoughtful. “I mean, you could give them all the benefit of the doubt.”
“That's hard,” Anita whined jokingly.
“I know,” Carolyn laughed slightly. “I hate giving people that. They should just all be perfect, right?”
“Maybe,” Anita said. “Or they should all think exactly like me.”
“And what do you think?”
“Lying is absolutely wrong, and somebody lied here,” Anita said stoutly.
“Or somebody messed up,” Carolyn suggested gently. “I mean, Colm may not have necessarily known today was the day.”
“They only found out yesterday that they were coming today,” Anita interrupted.
“Or, maybe they all made some sort of secret vow to say that stuff about each other when they saw you again,” Carolyn continued without pausing. “I don't know. Something stupid that makes sense in their own minds. Besides...” She hesitated. “Didn't you lie to Colm?”
“What?” Anita asked in surprise.
“You told him that you messaged him incorrectly, and you meant to message Txian-Yi.”
Anita was silent for a moment before saying, “Yeah. You're right. I need to go.”
She heard Carolyn chuckle on the other end of the line. “Okay. Have fun apologizing. And I'm sure it will all be okay.”
They said their goodbyes and Anita hung up. Going back on Skype, she hovered over Colm's name before sighing and messaging him. “Hey, so earlier, what I said about Txian-Yi? It's true, but I didn't actually mean that message for him. It was meant for you. I'm sorry, I just freaked.”
She was surprised when he messaged back within two minutes. “Seriously? So what exactly did you mean by your message?”
“Emmet and Keith were here today,” Anita typed back. She bit her lip when she sent it and stood up. Grabbing her keys, she walked over to the river and waited for his response.
“What? What? I mean.. how?!”
“They are in my city,” she typed quickly. “And my mom contacted Sharon, I guess. So they came over. Only for about an hour and a half, but they were here. They also said you send your love, but obviously you didn't know about it.” She hit enter and watched the river flow by peacefully.
“No, I didn't know. Listen, Nita, I have to go but I will call you in about two hours. Okay?”
Anita typed back. “Okay.” She put her phone down, expecting that to be the last message, but it wasn't. Her phone beeped again.
“(Maybe okay will be our always)”
Anita laughed. “(Okay).” She shoved her phone in her pocket and stared at the river for a while.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the shadow behind her until someone tapped her on the shoulder. Jumping, she turned and smiled slightly. “Hey, Alex.”
Alex smiled at her. “May I sit with you?”
“Sure,” Anita nodded. “How's your summer going?”
“It's going well,” he said, sitting beside her, watching the river.
They sat in silence for a while, both lost in thought.
“Why did you leave high school?” Alex asked after a while, startling Anita away from her musings.
“Because it was crappy,” Anita laughed.
“I agree,” he said, smiling slightly. “But I mean... all sorts of rumors went around and I don't really know what to believe.” He frowned. “I always wanted to think it was just because you were smart.”
Anita hesitated. “What sort of rumors?”
Alex glanced at her sideways and shook his head. “Stupid things. Like you were pregnant, or a CIA agent, or you dropped out to start a business of your own. Like I said, stupid things.”
“I attempted suicide,” Anita blurted out.
The astonished look on Alex's face made her blanch. “Well, I mean... yeah. That's what happened. I was in a hospital and when I got out, didn't want to be a semester behind, so I got my GED and went to college.”
Alex nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Anita asked before smiling, remembering her conversation with Colm.
“Okay.” Alex shrugged. “I had no clue. Nobody does.”
“Danielle knew,” Anita whispered, tears springing suddenly into her eyes.
“Oh.” Alex ducked his head and sighed. “I'm sorry. I know you were with her, and... it's just... not...”
“I know,” Anita said softly.
They sat in silence for a bit before Anita stood up. “I should get home.”
Alex nodded before standing with her. “Actually, do you want to go somewhere?”
“And do what?” Anita asked, curious.
“I don't know.” Glancing around, Alex motioned with his hand. “My car is over there. We could, I don't know... Go to Yogurt Extreme or something.”
Anita thought before nodding slowly. “Sure. Why not. I've been inside too long, anyway.”
“What do you do all day, anyway?” Alex asked, leading the way to his car.
Anita laughed. “Write, read, and play the guitar. I have a very artistic life, I suppose.”
He smiled down at her. “Sounds much more relaxing than my life.”
“What do you do all day?” she asked.
“Work, play on the summer league basketball team, prepare for college now, juggle school stuff, social life, job, and family life all at the same time. My parents are splitting right now and it's a hassle.” He sighed before brightening. “Still. More Christmas presents for me.”
Anita gaped at him before she realized he was joking. “Okay,” she laughed. “I'm sorry, though.”
He shrugged. “You know, it's been coming for about eight years now.” Pointing, he said, “Here's my car.”
Anita climbed in and waited for him. When he sat down, she asked, “Where do you work?”
“Want the best pizza in town?” he asked in a bright, loud tone. “Come to Abby's Legendary Pizza!”
She laughed. “Okay. I'll keep that in mind.”
He smiled at her and they pulled out. “So do you have a lot of friends in college?”
“None.” Anita shrugged. “Unless you count a couple of professors.”
Alex frowned at her. “That's sad. Does that mean that Danielle was your only friend?”
Anita glanced at him and shook her head slowly. “I have a few more. A girl named Carolyn, who lives several states away, and a couple of guys who also live far away.” She bit her lip. “I saw them today, but they're only here for the day, so that's that.”
“How do you know them?” Alex asked curiously.
“Uh, I met them at a concert,” Anita said slowly. “They're singers.”
Alex glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. “Do tell.”
“They're part of a singing group called Celtic Thunder,” Anita said nervously. “I met one of them at a gig in a pub, and another one at the actual concert. They're nice. Came to my house just to see me, even though they had promotionals today.”
Alex looked impressed. “Well, that's pretty incredible and unheard of.”
Anita smiled. “Yeah.”
They drove on, chatting, mostly about Alex's life. Anita realized that she had missed so much, from school functions, to friendships, to even having a job... Alex had all that. She had her writing and her online friendships.
“...and so I think I'll just start at community college for the first two years, and then transfer over,” Alex was saying when Anita gasped and gripped her seatbelt. “What?” Alex demanded. “You okay?”
Anita stared with wide eyes at the corner approaching. “Go... slowly,” she managed to stammer out. “Please.”
He gave her an odd look but slowed down. “No problem,” he said, smoothly going around the corner.
Anita felt herself sweating and her heart rate going much too quickly. Using a technique she had learned from her health class, she forced down the panic by taking her own pulse. After she was convinced her heart rate was nowhere near having a heart attack, she sighed and glanced at Alex. “That's where we crashed.”
His eyes widened with recognition and he looked at her in concern. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I will,” she managed to say. “I just haven't even been in a car since, well, yeah.” Anita swallowed hard, but there was a lump in her throat. “I'm sorry.”
“No, it's okay.” Alex looked at her again before asking, “Do you want to go back?”
“No!” she exclaimed. “No, I'm determined to have some frozen yogurt and have some fun. Please. Let's just get there. Besides,” she smiled weakly, “I have to get back on the horse sometime, right?”
“Sure,” he agreed. “We're nearly there anyway.” He kept up a steady stream of chatter as they made it to Yogurt Extreme. “Let's go in,” he said, getting out of the car.
Anita opened her door and stepped out into the blinding sun. “Let's do this,” she said, smiling at him.
A ding from her phone caught her attention. Pulling it out, she was surprised to see her mom's picture. “Where are you?” the message read.
“Frozen yogurt. With Alex,” she texted back.
“How long will you be gone?”
“Why? Have any more surprises planned for me? Haha, not long. I promise. Maybe an hour more, at the most.”
“Okay. See you.”
Anita slid her phone back into her pocket and smiled apologetically at Alex. “My mom wanted to know where I was.”
“Oh, if Wendy needs you home—” he started to say.
“No, it's fine. I told her we wouldn't be more than an hour and she said it was fine.” Anita smiled. “Let's go inside.”
They built their own frozen yogurt and sat down at one of the tables, chattering on about old school friends Anita hadn't seen in a couple of years. They talked and ate, catching up for a long time, before Anita was startled by another ding.
“It hasn't been an hour, has it?” she asked out loud, pulling out her phone and glancing at it. It had only been thirty minutes, but she had a message from Colm.
“Can we talk?”
Anita frowned and glanced at Alex before messaging back. “Can we talk in like... half an hour?”
“I don't think so. We need to have a long-ish talk and I need to be done by four.”
“Who is that?” Alex asked, leaning over to see her screen.
Anita showed him her phone. “One of the singers. There was a mix-up today and he wants to talk about it.”
“Well, call him,” Alex encouraged her. “I'd like to meet him. Besides, your mom may need something when you get home, and you don't know when you can talk to him again.”
Anita was surprised but called Colm.
“Hi!” he exclaimed. “Whoa. Where are you? This is different.”
Anita smiled at him. “Can you hang on a second?”
“Sure,” he agreed.
Putting the call on hold, she asked Alex, “Can we go somewhere outside where we can talk freely?”
“Of course! Lead the way,” he said.
Anita walked outside and found a nearby bench. Sitting down, she took the call off hold. “Sorry, I was in a froyo place and didn't want to make other customers annoyed with our talking.”
“It's okay. Hi!” Colm said in surprise. “Who are you?”
“I'm Alex. Who are you?” Alex smiled easily.
“My name is Colm,” replied the other lad. “Nice to meet you.”
Alex nodded. “Likewise.”
“Can you explain what happened today?” Colm asked Anita.
Anita explained the whole visit to him, quickly and succinctly. “I really thought you knew about it. I mean, I know you're nowhere near here, since you're on the West Coast and all, but I thought for sure Emmet and Keith would tell you about it.”
“I think they would have, also,” Colm frowned. “I wonder what happened.”
Anita shrugged. “Anyway. I'm sorry I lied to you.” She dropped her eyes.
“It's okay.” Colm smiled. “Really. I'm glad you got to see the lads. Did they behave themselves?”
“They were perfect angels,” Anita said dryly.
“I'm sure,” Colm said, just as sarcastically. “Just like they always are.” He sighed suddenly. “I do miss them. It's hard to talk when they're three hours ahead, and we're all busy with promos at different times.”
“Who are you partnered with?” Anita asked.
“Ryan.” Colm smiled. “It's fun. Not crazy at all, but fun. He's pretty chill about everything.”
“Except, apparently, my writing,” Anita teased him.
“Well, he'll come around. He likes you a lot.” Colm laughed. “Actually, I think he liked your writing plenty. The subject matter was the only thing that really bothered him.”
Alex nudged Anita. “What do you write about?”
She jumped and glanced at him nervously. “Um...”
“She writes stories that are really deep and incredible, and people don't really see their value all that much because they don't want to think that hard,” Colm jumped in. “Because her stories can hurt sometimes. But they're beautiful.”
Anita flushed at the praise and turned to Alex, putting down her phone for a moment. “I write fanfiction.”
Alex looked interested, she noticed in surprise. “Huh. Is it good?”
“Did you not hear what I just said?” Colm asked from the phone.
Anita laughed and picked her phone up again. “Thanks.”
Alex suddenly jumped up. “Hey, Nita, it's almost been an hour and it takes, like, ten minutes to get to your house, so we should go.”
“Okay.” Anita smiled apologetically at Colm. “I'll talk to you later.”
He nodded and made a peace sign. “I'll talk to you later.”
Anita gave him an odd look and said goodbye. “Okay, let's head home,” she said to Alex, who nodded and led the way back to his car.
They drove home in silence, leaving Anita to think about her conversations with the lads that day. She mused about them for a while before shaking her head. “Whatever,” she muttered, before she began writing in her head—not a fan fiction, but her own creation, for the first time not under duress.
Alex pulled up to her house while she was still thinking. “Here we are.”
Anita thanked him. “Okay. I'll see you around.” She got out of the car but stopped when he turned the engine off.
“I just want to say hi to Wendy,” Alex said, getting out. “It's been too long.”
“Okay,” Anita said again, heading up the pathway to the stoop. She pulled the door open and yelled, “Mom!”
“Surprise!” came a loud chorus of voices, almost knocking Anita backwards with shock. There was general chaos for a moment as everyone shouted and whistles blew.
She stared at the crowd of people, all crammed into the front room, before looking back at Alex. He was grinning behind her. “You knew?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “I was in on the plot to get you out of the house. It wasn't easy.”
Anita had to laugh. “Wow, thank you all for coming,” she said. “But what is this for?”
Her mom appeared. “Your birthday, obviously!”
“My birthday isn't for a week and a half,” Anita argued.
“But they're only here for a day,” her mom said, laughing and pointing behind her.
Anita glanced over her mom's shoulder and rolled her eyes before laughing. “Hi, guys.”
Emmet and Keith grinned back at her. “What's the craic?” Keith asked, before coming to give her a hug. “Happy almost your birthday!”
Anita hugged him back and felt her eyes fill with tears. But to her surprise, they were happy tears, for the first time in several years. “Thank you,” she whispered.