“
That is not nice Holly Mae Applebee, I
don’t want you making fun of anyone.” Her mother said to her
crossly.
“
Oh she is nice Mrs. Applebee,” Abby
chimed in, “Carmen always does look like she smells something bad,
her face is all puckered up, I don’t smell it so I am not sure
exactly what it is.”
Mrs. Applebee tried to hide the smile on her
face and turned around as to muffle the soft laugh.
A few minutes later her older brother Cliff
came in, he was in the fourth grade at the same school but the
girls didn’t see him often at school because they were on different
schedules for lunch and recess.
“
Hi Sweetie.” His mom said as he walked
into the kitchen and gave him a hug.
“
I smell brownies,” he
stated.
“
They are for dessert” Holly told him
as he walked over to the table to give his sister a hug.
This Abby thought was unusual, she herself
was an only child but had been around enough other siblings to know
they most often hit each other not hugged.
“
Hey Squirt, who’s your friend?” he
asked as he sat down at the table.
Mrs. Applebee had brought over a plate of
fruit and cup of juice for the three of them.
“
This is Abby, she is my very best
friend and she will be coming over a lot” she emphasized
“
Hello Abby” Cliff said and stuck out
his hand to shake it.
Cliff acted well over the nine years of age
he was. Abby took his hand,
“
Hi” she replied softly.
“
So how was your day today?” Mrs.
Applebee asked Cliff.
“
It was fine. We were given an
assignment to write about a famous explorer and I don’t know if I
should chose, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sea captain who led
five Spanish ships and 251 men in the first voyage around the World
or Christopher Columbus who was an Italian explorer who sailed
across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, hoping to find a route to India
in order to trade for spices.”
“
Well it sounds like you have a lot to
think about, you can use the computer in your father’s office if
you want to look up some facts and make your decision.” His mom
offered.
Holly and Cliff’s father was Clifford
Applebee Sr. an Assistant District Attorney working for the state
of Maine.
“
He sometimes sits second chair” Holly
had told her once when they were up late talking at their weekly
sleepover. “I guess that’s a good thing, I’m not really sure what
it means I just know Daddy gets very busy when he does” she
whispered.
“
Yeah, I’ll Google them both later,"
Cliff said, "I’m going to go watch some Nickelodeon, you coming
Holly?”
“
Ok, come on Abby lets go watch some
Nick.” Abby followed them to the family room.
After that day either Abby was at Holly’s
house or Holly was at Abby’s house. They both felt the same comfort
at both places.
As Abby was looking around Cliff’s dorm room
she saw his High Honors sash he wore at his High School graduation
and a picture of the four of them after he received his diploma,
Mrs. Applebee on one side, Mr. Applebee on the other and Holly and
Cliff in the middle. A very happy family, not unlike her own
although Abby wondered how different her life would be if she had a
sibling. Would they be as close as Cliff and Holly or would they
constantly bicker and have issues with sibling rivalry? No matter
she thought, she did have a sister in Holly and it didn’t matter
that they weren’t blood related.
“
Hey Zombie Girl,” Cliff nudged her,
“Are you going to zone out on this couch all day or are we going to
go eat and listen to Burnt Chocolate?” He sang the name of the band
and made the fist of rock.
Both Holly and Abby laughed and got up from
the couch.
“
Ok King of the Campus, lead the way.”
Holly teased
“
After you, fair Maidens.” Cliff teased
back as he bowed and opened the door.
“
Oh shoot!” Abby cried “I forgot to
call my parents and tell them we were here.”
Abby looked for her cell phone in her pockets
and purse but couldn’t find it.
“
Did you leave it in the car?” asked
Holly
“
Probably” sighed Abby “I bet I have
about 100 missed calls from them.
They all walked to the Jeep to look for the
phone and found it sitting in the middle console in a cup holder
and just as she thought there were 15 missed calls.
“
Jeeze, impatient much there Mom and
Dad” Abby said as she flipped open the Motorola Razr to call them
back.
“
Ugh…great” she moaned as she saw there
were two from her parents and the rest were from Billy.
“
Really? What the Heck?” Abby said more
as a statement than as a question.
“
What?” Holly asked
Abby turned her phone so she could see all
the missed calls from Billy.
“
OMG” Holly said with annoyance “Do NOT
call him back, he broke up with you…you owe him
nothing.”
“
I know…but…” she trailed.
“
But nothing, call your parents to let
them know we are here but DO NOT call that Jerkface, let him squirm
a bit. Did you tell him we were going away this
weekend?”
“
No” Abby sighed again “I was hoping to
have one weekend drama free.”
“
And you will.” Holly said with
assurance, “Call your parents and let them know we’re ok and headed
out to the concert and you will call them before we leave
tomorrow”
“
O.k.” Abby said as she dialed her home
number.
“
Hello” answered her mom.
“
Hi Mom, sorry I forgot to call, we saw
Cliff as soon as we got here and we went right to touring the
campus and then to his dorm and…”
“
It’s ok Sweetie Cliff was talking to
his dad when you arrived and Clifford Sr. called us right after to
let us know you had made it safely.
“
Well thank Mr. Applebee for me, I hate
to make you worry.”
“
No problem Honey, oh by the way” she
said not sounding as enthused as she did before, “Billy called and
your dad didn’t know that Billy was not aware you were going to UMO
this weekend. Billy sounded pretty upset, have you talked to
him?”
“
No” Abby said rolling her eyes, “I
didn’t tell him, it would have just ended up in a
fight.”
“
I thought you two had broken
up…again.” Abby’s mom said more of a statement than a
question.
“
We did, that’s the problem, we break
up, or rather he breaks up with me and still thinks he can know
everything I am doing and control everything, he seriously needs to
get over it, I am not calling him and if he calls the house again
please just tell him I will call when I get home
tomorrow.”
“
I will Honey, have a good time, don’t
worry about what may or may not happen tomorrow just have fun while
you are there.” Her mother said in a comforting tone.
“
Alright, thanks Mom, Love you, talk to
you tomorrow and tell Dad I said I love him.”
“
I will, have fun Sweetie,
bye.”
“
Bye Mom.” Abby hung up the
phone.
Abby walked back over to Cliff and Holly.
“
Everything O.K.?” asked
Cliff.
“
Yeah, just great,” she replied a bit
too sharply. “Sorry no, no, it is fine” Abby said waving her hand
as if she were swooshing something away. “I am done thinking about
him tonight.”
“
Good let’s go get some Burnt
Chocolate” Cliff sang and again waiving the fist of
rock.
* * * * *
Chapter 3
After getting something to eat in the
school’s café The Bear’s Den and checking out the University gift
shop they walked over to the auditorium. Billy had called her phone
five times since she had spoken with her mom. Abby hadn’t answered
her phone and she hasn’t checked any of the messages he has left.
She just did not want to deal with it tonight. She wanted to have
fun and deal with the Billy issue tomorrow. She had thought of
turning off her phone but always worried she would miss a call from
her parents. Ever since the day of the accident when she was 14,
the only time she turned off her phone was if she was in the
company of her mom and dad. Again Abby shook off the memories of
that day and focused on having fun. Holly was looking at her with
concern,
��
You have been very quiet Chicky, you
O.K.?” Holly asked.
“
I’m good Girly Girl, thanks for asking
though.” She replied as she gave her a squeeze around her
shoulders.
“
You ready to rock out?” She said as if
she were a valley girl from the 80’s.
“
Totally” Abby mimicked the
accent.
It was a free concert for the students with
proper ID and $10.00 for any non student of the University. Abby
took another $20.00 from the money her mom had hid in her
pocket.
“
I got this Holls” Abby told
Holly.
“
Why thank you Doll, I owe you a Dunkin
or two.” Holly committed.
They had always paid for and repaid each
other. Neither one of them felt that they received the short end of
the stick. If Holly bought dinner, Abby paid for the movie. If Abby
paid for the concert, Holly would buy her coffee the next two or
three times they went to Dunkin Donuts. It was just a something
they started doing when they were younger and neither one of them
thought twice about it.
As they worked though the crowd to find three
seats together, Abby’s phone kept ringing, she had at least put it
on vibrate so she wouldn’t annoy everyone around her. She continued
to ignore the calls. They were about three quarters of the way down
front and about five seats in when they all sat down. The
auditorium went dark except for a few lights on the stage when all
of a sudden the band started playing and the light show started and
she saw the lead singer. Holly was not exaggerating when she said
he was super cute. The college girls must have seen or at least
heard him before because they were screaming as if Jon Bon Jovi
himself were up on that stage. Nevertheless, Abby admitted to
herself he was very good looking and motioned to Holly that Jimmy
Riley was one hot fella. Holly mouth back,
“
I told you,” as she continued to dance
in the aisle to the beat.
Jimmy Riley had semi short brown hair, kind
of messy looking but it worked for him. Average build but could
tell he had smokin’ biceps and was imagining abs to match. He
wasn’t wearing anything flashy, jeans a t-shirt and an oxford shirt
half unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up. He was maybe six feet
tall, hard to really tell from where she was standing. Not a bad
voice, sort of a mix between the raspy sound of Chad Kroeger from
Nickelback and the soothing sound of Michael Buble’. Abby found
herself enjoying the concert and half ignoring the vibrating coming
from her pocket but always checking to see if it were her parents.
After about 45 minutes into the concert Abby had had enough of the
constant calling walked out into the hallway off to the side of the
auditorium and answered her phone.
“
Hello” she said very
annoyed.
“
What the Hell Abby? It’s about time
you answered your flippin phone. Why didn’t you tell me you were
going to UMO this weekend? Why haven’t you called me back I’ve left
like 50 messages?!” He snapped at her.
“
I know you have left like 50 messages
I would have thought you would have taken the hint after I didn’t
call you back once you left message number 30.” She snapped
back.
“
Why didn’t you tell me where you were
going?” He pushed again.
“
I don’t need to tell you anything
anymore, YOU decided we weren’t going out any longer, so the right
to know all the details of my life is no longer yours.” She was
about to tell him good bye when he said to her,
“
Just because we aren’t officially
dating it doesn’t mean I don’t get to know what you’re up to.” He
said matter-of-factly.
“
That is EXCATLY what that means Billy,
you cannot have your cake and eat it too, either you want to be in
my life or you don’t and if you chose to break up with me you give
up all options.” She was getting angry.
“
Well if you want to get back together
you have to convince me that I love you and want to be your
boyfriend.” Billy said in a cocky tone.
“
Ok WHAT??!!” she screamed, thank
goodness the music was so loud and no one could hear her. “Are you
kidding me? No I do not want to convince you that you love me,
either you do or you don’t and you know what, at this point in my
life I do not love you and do not want to be with you, it’s over, I
am done, lose my number and forget where I live, do not call me
again!” She hung up the phone and was so frustrated she started to
cry, not because she was heartbroken but because she had never been
so mad in all her life and Billy wasn’t there so she could punch
him. She was looking out the window at the darkness and didn’t
realize the music had stopped when she noticed a person standing
behind her. Abby gasped and turned around.
“
Oh I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle
you.” Jimmy Riley said, “Are you O.K.?”