Page 37 of Our Moon
Finally I punch out for my break and walk off to find a quiet place away from the center of the job site. Scrolling through my contacts, I find her name and hit send.
“Hello?” her voice has an echo.
“Ally,” I say. “Where are you? Why does it sound like you’re in a cave?”
She giggles, I love that sound. “I’m sorry, I’m in the bathroom.”
“Uh,” I start, kind of disturbed that she’s talking to me while in the bathroom. “Al, you’re a cool chick and all, but I think that’s crossing the line.”
She giggles again, “I’m not going to the bathroom, silly. I’m just hiding out in here.”
“Oh,” well that’s a relief. Sort of. Not sure I like that she’s hiding out in the bathroom at school. “So what’s going on?”
She sighs, “It’s spring break for the colleges.”
“Yeah?” I don’t see why she would be upset about that.
“Yeah,” she trails off and it all comes together.
“Blake?”
“Some girls in the locker room were talking about having seen him around town. I guess it kind of sounds stupid now that I’m saying it out loud. I don’t know.” She’s starting to sound like that girl I found outside her house in the dark all those months ago.
“No, Ally. It’s not stupid. He hurt you real bad, and he’s been gone so you haven’t really had to face it. You have a right to get upset that he’s back.” Not that I liked it very much. Not that I had a right to like it or not like it.
“I just worry that I might bump into him, you know? And last time I saw him, gosh. It was so embarrassing. I mean I caught him cheating, andhebroke up withme, Chase. Ibeggedhim not to. I offered myself to him like a freakin’ sacrifice.”
She what? “You what?” Shocked doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling.
Ally is completely quiet on the other end.
“Al?” I ask.
“I’m here.”
“What did you mean by that? Sacrifice?”
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.”
“It’s just when he broke up with me,” she pauses.
“Al?”
“Sorry. When he broke up with me, I told him I’d do it with him if it would change his mind.”
“What?!” I can’t even believe she had offered herself to him like that! She was right, itwasjust like a sacrifice.
“I know, pretty pathetic, huh?” She sniffs. Dammit to hell. Now I’ve made her upset.
“I’m sorry, baby girl.” Baby girl? What the hell is that about?
“Baby girl?” I could hear the small smile in her voice.
“Yeah,” I smile back. “I don’t know, it just seems to fit.”
“I like it,” she says quietly.
