I Chapter Fifty-One: "Oh, Sweet Chili Heat."
MY ALARM is like music to my ears when it goes off at exactly 2:15 a.m. Sure, it's early as hell, but I am also excited as hell, so the pros kinda outweigh the cons.
Except, you know, waking up at 2:15 a.m.
I yawn loudly, sitting up and outstretching my arms above my head. I scratch my arm, and step out of the bed. Thank God I won't be seeing this again for a while.
I walk to the bathroom, making myself look as presentable as possible without putting effort in it. Surely at three in the morning nobody will be paying attention to how I look.
Which is like a zombie.
I tame my hair by throwing it up in a messy bun, some strands sticking out of the sides. I throw on a lengthly sweater that goes about to my knees, and tights on underneath. I toss my pyjamas in my hamper, and grab my glasses, putting them on before double-checking that I have my identification and passport.
Lastly, I grab my phone and it's charger, putting them in my handbag, grabbing my suitcases, and heading downstairs quietly.
When I stumble down to the bottom after running into a couple things, I scribble a note onto a piece of paper and set it on the counter, and walk out the door.
[ME: heading to the airport now.]
The taxi I called last night pulls into the driveway just as I close and lock the door behind me, and I sigh looking back at the large house. "See you in January." I mutter, and turn back around, the cabbie stepping out and helping me place my bags in the trunk.
He smiles after I thank him, and I step into the backseat, resting my head against the window. "Where to, Miss?"
"The airport." I reply.
"Tired?"
I laugh. "Very." And not just physically. "Yourself?"
"I make up for it throughout the day," he replies.
"If only it were that easy." I grin.
"So how are you spending your winter break?" He asks politely. He's a younger man, maybe in his mid-twenties.
"With friends," I answer. "How about you?"
"Spending Christmas out west with family."
"Lovely." I smile softly.
For the rest of the ride, he and I make small conversation until we pull up to the airport and he helps me with my bags once again.
"Have a wonderful Christmas." He says with a smile.
"You too." I respond. "Thanks for the ride." I walk into the airport. It's around three in the morning, and there's still quite a bit of people here. It's quiet, though, thankfully.
No screaming babies yet, but Lord only knows what it'll be like on the plane. There's a lot of couples here, ages ranged between twenty and forty, looking tired and totally done with life like me.
Hopefully they'll be having a wonderful time wherever they are, as compared to me, where I have a feeling my trip is only going to get more complicated from here on out. Especially with Taylor being released.
Speaking of which, I really should read that article. Meh, I'll do it on the plane.
Going through security that brutally took a good twenty five minutes, my plane arrives early, leaving me an early board. As I walk through the terminal, I can't help but feel a little uneasy. Everything seems to be finally getting to me.
Landon is jealous and probably doesn't want to be with me anymore.
I'm actually going home, even if it's not permanent.
My ex-boyfriend is getting released. While I'm in town.
Feeling anxious, I snatch my phone out of my pocket and pull up the article:
16 year old Taylor Vulcano, a young adolescent who was imprisoned two years ago for running a drug ring and convicted of murder, is to be released from prison Sunday afternoon due to insufficient evidence against his murder trial.
"I didn't kill anyone." he had said at court. "Yeah I was there, but I didn't kill him, I just witnessed it."
Tim Crawford, Vulcano's attorney, claims that his client had no involvement in the murder of Christian Crozier. "There's no proof that my client committed this crime. There's no DNA, no fingerprints, no evidence at all showing that he's guilty. There's eye witnesses that were present proving that Mr. Vulcano didn't murder Crozier."
Vulcano was sentenced six years in prison with possibility of parole for murder after three, and two years under his drugs involvement.
Vulcano was proven innocent this morning, with his release being unknown, but is said to be sometime this week.
"It took them two years to finally catch the point we've proved that I wasn't there. I was framed, if anything, and I'm so damn happy that they see that now."
"Pending on your release, what is the first thing you're going to do?" E! News reporter Elizabeth Stalton asked him after his case was closed.
"Take a real shower without having to worry about any guys coming in." Taylor had laughed. "But after that, I owe a lot of people apologies. Especially a certain good person who was involved when they shouldn't have been. That's where I'm starting."
Oh sweet chili heat! My jaw drops, and I hit my head off the seat in front of me, groaning. "Hey! Knock it off!"
I lift my head up, mumbling a 'sorry' before leaning back. I can't believe this. This is actually happening, and Taylor is actually coming back. And he's going to apologize to those who he got involved with Riverton.
Most likely, me! I'll probably be first.
Oh, God. What will happen? Will he just apologize and move on like I hope, or will he apologize and try to win me over again? As much as I want the latter to happen more, the first one is my top priority. I've tried to move on, with Landon, and I'm not going to lose him yet.
If Landon wants me as bad as he makes it out to be, then he'll make things right between us. However, he's wrong for thinking that I'll make it a competition between them in case they both want my heart.
Of course Taylor had it first, but Landon hasn't broken my heart or ruined my life.
Yet.
Taylor was my first love, and I've lost, like, half my virginity to him. We went, like, second base and three quarters, but that's not important. He'll always have a spot in my heart, irregardless if I move on and love someone else.
There's always that one person you'll always love, and Taylor is exactly that for me.
Will I take him back? It's a possibility.
Do I want him currently? No.
I haven't seen him in two years since we both got arrested, and who knows, jail could have changed him like it changed me. He could no longer be that sweet, innocent guy I knew back in the summer of eighth grade, and if that's the case, then I don't want any involvement with him.
But. . .
If he's still Taylor, and Landon doesn't put an effort into us and stops worrying about Taylor stealing me away, then I'm going to have a problem.
This is one love triangle I definitely do not want to be in. Especially if I'm the one stuck in the middle having to make the decision by myself.
***
One very long and peaceful plane trip later, and the plane is finally coming to a halt at LAX.
I get off, entering the terminal. It's cool in the airport, but I know that the sun will be burning me in my clothes. I needed something that could keep me warm until I got to the airport, but also something tolerable for when I landed. I'm still getting used to the cold weather in Canada, however, now I can forget about freezing like an icicle and now focus on getting a great tan for when I arrive back.
The one thing I absolutely hated was losing a tan and becoming as white as Frosty the Dead Snowman.
Finally claiming my luggage at baggage claim, I walk further down the hall towards the escalators, where Lacey said she would be meeting me. Her parents are working, but she got permission to skip school to come and see me. Other than that, if it didn't work out, I'd be taking a taxi to her house and waiting until school was over.
The further I get down the rotating steps the more anxious I get. I haven't seen Lace in almost three months, and that's a long time. We talked almost every day, but it couldn't compare to when I was living here. It was easier to talk face-to-face than it was to text, and things just weren't the same. They were different, and I didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
I make it to the entranceway, and scan the large crowd for my best friend. There's a lot of people gathered around at LAX, that with my short height, makes it difficult to see the crowd in front of me.
However, I notice the golden hair that is so familiar to me.
Holding up a 'Welcome home Brookie!' banner, is my best friend.
She hasn't changed; her hair is the same, her dress attire. Everything is the same.
I rush over to her, bags swaying all over the place as I race to greet Lacey. She's still yet to notice me, but when a bulky man holding a L. Shilé sign moves after his client or whatever came to him, her eyes look over and meet mine. Eyes wide and a huge smile across her face, Lacey's hands fly to her mouth in shock and excitement and runs over to me.
The girl has gotten faster, let me tell you.
She engulfs me into a hug mere seconds later, and starts squealing to the point where I've probably gone deaf. "I missed you so much!"
I laugh, hugging her back after I dropped all my luggage. "I've missed you, too."
She pulls away a few minutes later and sighs. "You look. . . different."
I frown. "How different?"
"I don't know. Something about you just seems. . . different."
"Is it a good different?" I question.
"I don't know," she shrugs. "I'll find out, though." I smile at her, and she grabs a couple of my carry-ons. "Anyway, how was the flight?"
I shrug. "Peaceful. I still don't like flying, though."
She giggles, linking her arm through mine as we walk out of the airport into a taxi. Once we're on the road, she breaks the silence. "So! You and your boyfriend. Tell me."
"What's there to tell that you don't even know?"
"Well, you know, everything besides the fact that you two live together and he's the reason why you aren't on an immediate flight back here permanently." She says matter-of-factly with an eye roll.
Huh. I thought I had told her more about Landon.
Guess not.
I shrug. "Ugh, well, we're. . . kinda fighting right now, I guess?"
"What?" She gasps. "Why?"
"Well, he's upset I'm here until January. He thinks I'm never coming back."
"And you told him you legally can't, right?"
"Well I didn't tell him legally, but I did say that. Then he got all snappy about how I can't see a future in Canada and that even though we're together or whatever, I'm leaving eventually."
"And then what?"
"He ignored me, I got the talks from his brothers, and last night, I was so done with his drama that I slipped up that I couldn't move back even if I wanted to because of my probation. . ."
"You told him you were in prison?!" She exclaims silently, quiet enough where the cabbie couldn't hear but I'm pretty sure he did because he looks slightly nervous.
"It was an accident!" I hiss. "I was on a rant! One of the boys interfered before the topic could continue on more, anyway. He didn't have time to question it."
"How do you think he took it?"
"Not very well, I guess? I don't know. Everything this past couple weeks has been awful, and it's just so upsetting and stressful and sometimes I just want to pop sixty sleeping pills in my mouth and never wake up."
"Brooklynâ"
"I actually don't want to talk about Landon anymore, Lacey, so can we please drop him? I'm just happy to be home, and I don't want my drama following me."
She looks at me sadly and apologetically, and nods before squeezing my hand and dropping the subject by remaining silent.
I sigh and lean my head against the window, watching the palm trees as they fly past us in a blurry messâthat's exactly how my life feels to me right now:
A blurry mess.
How the hell am I going to fix this, fix everything that's happened? It feels like everything that has happened has been my fault. The random arrival at the McGibbon doorstep, the heavy arguing between Ella and Thomas that seems to be invisible to everyone else but me, telling off Annabelle and Mary, Atticus and I's fight, the death of that poor baby foal, and now the fight between Landon and I.
I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen due to everything that's gone on.
And the worst part is that that feeling increases drastically every time I wake up in the morning.