Page 66 of Crazy for this Girl

“Finish that sentence, Ryan Reese, and you and I are going to—” I push back my chair so quickly that it scrapes loudly against the hardwood floors and halts Mom’s next words. That, and it saves me from the TMI about Dad’s past.

“Can I be excused?”

Dad issues out a yes against Mom’s no, and I don’t listen to the latter. I remove myself from the table, patting Jonah’s head in a silent everything’s okay so he doesn’t worry about me.

All Mom and I do is fight these days. All she pines over are boys and me, me and boys, what am I doing with a boy. And Dad is tired of hearing about it too, hence their arguing.

Upstairs, I gently close my door and turn on my The Killers CD. Mr. Brightside doesn’t make me feel any better as I stare off into space about if anything Mom said was legit, and I don’t text Cal for the rest of the night.

He’ll know something’s wrong, and I don’t want Mom’s stupid words in my head all night.

That boy will destroy her.

Little did I know, months later, he’d demolish my entire life.

Year after year.

CAL: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, BABYYY!!!

I inwardly scoff in the middle of my fifth-hour English class, counting down the next four days until I’m out of high school.

Cal has been rubbing it in obnoxiously for weeks. Reminding me that he’ll be spending his time at the beach, sleeping in, and packing all his things to come to North Carolina.

Meanwhile, I’ll be stuck in purgatory with dozens of text messages from him. And what he should be doing is talking to his dad about leaving, which worries me a little bit. I don’t want to become a wedge or be the cause for him having a difficult relationship with his father because it was, at one point, just as strong as mine with my own.

However, Cal tells me that the closer he gets to graduating, the more his father wants him to start thinking about business school and running his company. It’s the last thing Cal wants to do. They’ve been fighting about it constantly.

CAL: Also, guess what?

LAYNEE: I’m not talking to you.

CAL: I bought my plane ticket.

LAYNEE: To Hell? Because that’s where you’re going for teasing me about how you’re out of school before me.

CAL: No, I’m already there. My dad’s Satan on Earth.

LAYNEE: Cal…

CAL: You pickin’ me up at the airport, woman, or what?

LAYNEE: Or what?

CAL: I will seriously kill you.

LAYNEE: Scary. You know if you do, this message will be on my phone.

CAL: Too bad I already know where I’ll go since you threatened me a million times with leaving me.

LAYNEE: Switzerland?

CAL: You suck at this.

CAL: Now I have to find another place to become a fugitive.

LAYNEE: It’ll be a lonely life without me.

CAL: Yeah, yeah…

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