“Yeah… I think we need to spend some time together.” India replied. It’d been almost two weeks since they’d actually seen each other. They’d spoken a few times- sort of, but since she’d left him standing on her doorstep, they had yet to actually see each other.
“Bye.” His voice was low and soft, full of doubt . He hated this feeling.. not knowing what was going with her, with them… even barely with himself.
India hung up the phone, sighing. This was ridiculous. She’d been so busy the past few weeks… staying after school to help her students with a project she’d assigned them, trying to get the boys and girls basketball games… had barely left her with any time to even think about Nick. She knew she’d been really less than cordial to him, but without seeing him, it just sort of happened that way. When he wasn’t right there to smile at her, melt her defenses with those blue eyes, it wasn’t so hard to stay annoyed with him.
***
India arrived at Nick’s a few minutes earlier than they’d agreed upon, she’d left early in order to run a few errands and had over-estimated the amount of time she’d need. Since they’d gotten off the phone yesterday, she’d actually become anxious to see him… she didn’t really want to be upset with him anymore. She wanted to hug him, hear him laugh, just be with him… have everything be the way it was before.
She knocked on the door, watching a butterfly hover around a short, squat palm tree as she waited for him to answer. After a few moments, she began to wonder where he was, but dismissed it… she WAS early.. he may have needed to go somewhere before they saw each other.
She walked around to the swimming pool, dropping into one of the cushy lounge chairs and lay back, listening to the sound of the not-so-distant waves breaking just on the other side of the pool. She closed her eyes and relaxed, actually thankful Nick hadn’t opened the door just yet so she could have a few minutes to unwind and leave the stress of the week behind her.
She zoned out for a while, let herself enjoy the sunshine and the sounds around her. When the squawking of a loud bird interrupted her reverie, she sat up and glanced at her watch. It was well past the time she’d said she’d be over… surely Nick would have seen her car parked in the driveway and come to look for her.
She got up and went back to his house, knocking on the door and waiting… and still receiving no answer. A little concerned, she wandered over to his parents house, wanting to see if Jane may know where he was.
Jane answered the door after just one ring of the doorbell, “Hello, India! How are you today?”
“Good, thanks…and wondering where Nick is. Have you seen his this morning?”
“Yes.. he went out on the boat with Bob and Aaron to do some fishing. They left pretty early, but I don’t expect them back until later this afternoon or evening.” Jane told her.
India had to make a conscious effort not to react in front of Jane. “Oh, really? That’s interesting…”
“He probably took his phone with him if you want to give him a call…” Jane said, trying to interpret the look on India’s face.
“Nah… Thanks for the info…. I’ll see you later….” India tossed a forced smile at Jane and turned away from the door, seething. She stomped back over to Nick’s and paced around at his front door before heading out back by the pool again. The boat was missing from it’s slip… she wondered how she could have missed that earlier.
She took a few deep breaths, trying to decide just what she wanted to do with this situation. If she left now, she’d drive around for a while, be mad, but then she’d calm down some- she’d never been good at staying mad for long. She decided to stay… to wait it out… maybe he’d be back soon… but if he wasn’t… that would give her all the more time to be really, REALLY pissed off.
~~
When nearly two hours had gone by, India found herself mad to a point she couldn’t ever really remember being at before. He’d PROMISED he wouldn’t do it again, had asked repeatedly for her forgiveness… and what happened immediately thereafter? He fucking does it again!!! She slid off the hood of her car where she’d been sitting for a while and walked around to the back of the house again, scanning to see if Jane was anywhere around. After determining that she was alone, she slipped out of her clothes and waded into the pool… so what if Nick came back now and found her skinny-dipping in his pool… that was going to be the closest he’d come to getting her naked.
She swam for a while, doing laps alternately underwater, then breast-stroking the length of the pool. She’d figured the water would calm her down, take her mind off how angry she was, but it wasn’t. She got out of the pool, shaking herself dry in the sunlight, then walked back over to see if Jane was still home- get a drink, use the bathroom.
Jane was surprised to India again when she opened the door, “What’s going on, hon?”
“Nick and I need to have a few words… as soon as he gets back…” she said, not bothering to attempt to hide her animosity.
“Oh, okay…” Jane immediately picked up on the vibe India was giving out- Nick was about to get in some really big trouble. “Would you like something to drink?”
India said yes and thanked her, then sat out on the patio with her for a while, sipping lemonade and making small talk. India could tell that Jane was really curious what was important enough that she would wait around all day to talk to him about the second he stepped off the boat. She realized there were several things it could be, and felt like she should probably ease Jane’s mind about them, but then again, she was Nick’s mother and he could explain everything to her later- right after India verbally beat him down loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear.
Finally, after India and Jane had covered nearly every generic topic there was to talk about, Jane pointed out that she thought she saw the boat approaching. When it got close enough for them to hear Aaron shouting to his mother from the deck of the boat about the shark he’d caught, India stood up and began heading out towards the dock.
She saw Nick jump off the boat as soon as it was close enough to the dock, and begin tying it into it’s slip. Aaron took a flying leap from the deck and narrowly avoided skidding off the dock and ending up in the water on the other side. Finally Bob stepped off, carrying a string of fairly-impressively sized fish. Aaron and Nick followed Bob up the dock, walking towards the house, anxious to show Jane their catches off the day.
India was glad to see that Nick enjoyed his time with his dad and little brother so much… she knew how special family relationships were and really respected that… but still didn’t think it gave any excuse for his behavior.
Nick was surprised when he looked toward the house and saw India standing near the edge of the property where the dock connected. He could tell instantaneously by the look on her face that he was serious shit with her.
India watched as Bob and Aaron hurried past her and Nick, exchanging glances between the two of them and trying to figure out what was going on. She let them get almost to the house before turning her attention back to Nick, glaring at him.
“Hi…” he said, feeling her gaze burning straight through him. “I’m sor…”
“I don’t want to hear it!!” India said loudly. “I’m NOT clingy, I DON’T demand all of your time… I love that hanging out with your family and your friends is important to you, it is to me, too… and I MIGHT excuse being ditched once, but twice? HELL NO! If you don’t think enough of me to think that I’m worth a 30 second phone call to say “hey, I’m going out fishing with my dad and brother.. can we move things back a few hours?” or “I’m going out with the boys, I’m going to be a little late”.. I think we’ve got some SERIOUS problems. I’d think you could respect me enough to at least be a little considerate.”
Nick stared at her, unsure of how to respond to her. He hadn’t expected to be gone very long… he’d thought they’d be back in time for him to meet her…
“You know what? I’m going to consider this over for now. I really like you.. hell, I was thinking I was in love with you there for a while… but until you start taking me seriously… and learn how to tell time and use a phone, I don’t want to talk to you.” India said, turning away from him and walking quickly towards her car, not wanting him to see that despite her anger, she was nearly on the verge of tears. Mad or not… it still hurt her to tell him those things.
Nick began to feel a little defensive at this attack.. it wasn’t his fault! He hadn’t intentionally planned to be late. He hadn’t meant to stand her up, make her wait. As she walked away and got into her car, without thinking he yelled, “Fine! If you can’t deal with me and the way I do things, we shouldn’t be together!”
“FINE!” India yelled, as she started the car and threw it in reverse, backing quickly out of his driveway and speeding down the road.
Nick turned to go into his house, suddenly aware of his mom, dad, and brother peering in his direction from the back porch. “Don’t even start!!” he shouted in their direction, then stormed inside his house.
“This is fucking ridiculous, “ he mumbled to himself as he walked in the door. ‘She won’t even listen to what I have to say… all yelling at me for not calling…’ Suddenly he wondered why he hadn’t thought to call. His phone had been with him the entire time… he’d known what time it was and that he was going to end up being late… Fuck…what had he been thinking? Or not thinking.
He flopped down on his couch, realizing how right India had actually been… his behavior really had been pretty disrespectful. And he knew it was because she was hurt she’d lashed out at him like that… he didn’t want to hurt her… he was in love with her… and… His thoughts suddenly came together and stopped at one point… she’d basically just told him that she was in love with him. And he’d just told her they shouldn’t be together… for no real reason.
Shit.