When he finished talking to her, he hung up the phone and turned to the kitchen where he knew I was standing and sighed and I thought,well that can’t be a good sign.But then he held the phone out to me and said, “Okay.I think maybe it would be good for you to spend a summer with Steff and get away from all of the thingsand peoplethat have been distractions here.But once you get back, youhaveto focus on school completely.It’s your last year and you wouldn’t want to have to repeat twelfth grade, would you?”
“No way!”I screeched.“Okay, okay I promise, thank you, Dad, thank you thank you!”
Dad had somehow found out about Justin and threatened to file a report against him.I don’t even know how he knew but I told him it didn’t matter because Justin was moving away, and we wouldn’t be seeing each other anymore.This was why he didn’t really trust me recently and it put a strain on our relationship over the last month since Steff had been gone.I took the phone from Dad and hugged him excitedly.
The next thing that popped into my head was that I was going to get to see Lee this summer.Before thinking it through all the way, I looked down at the phone in my hand and dialed his number.Running up to my room, I closed the door and jumped on my bed.
“Hello?”his mom answered.
“Hi Mrs.Combs, it’s Ellie.Is Lee home?”I asked.
“Ellie!Wow, I haven’t heard your voice in a while, how are you?”
“I know, we haven’t really talked in a while, I’m good – how are you?”
“Oh I’m doing great, thanks for asking.”She said, knocking on a door.“Just a sec, hon, I think he was sleeping.”And then to him, “Lee, Ellie’s on the phone, she wants to know if –” she was cut off by the door swinging open and I could hear Lee grabbing the phone.
“Ellie?”he asked, sounding breathless.
“Hey!”I said excitedly.
“Are you okay, is everything okay?”he asked.
“Yeah, sorry, I know this is a random call.But oh my gosh, I just have to tell you something!”
“What?!”
“I’m coming out this summer and I’ll be staying with Steff.”I told him.
“Really?When?For how long?”he couldn’t get it all out fast enough.
“When school’s out, Dad’s booking my flight right now.I’m staying the whole summer.From June 4thto August 30th.”
“That’s awesome, Ellie!”
I paused.
“Do you think you’ll want to see me while I’m there?”I asked.
“What?Hell yes, I want to see you!”
“Will your girlfriend be upset if you hang out with me this summer?”
“I – um – well, it’s not – no, no.”He stumbled over his words.“What about your boyfriend?”he asked.
“We’re not really together anymore.Wait, how did you know about him?”
“Ellie, just because we don’t get to talk doesn’t mean I haven’t been asking Steff about you constantly since she’s been back.She told me you’ve been seeing this guy but didn’t tell me much else.”
“Oh, well he went off to college.So, you’ve been asking about me, hmm.What else did Steff tell you?”I smiled.
He breathed out a laugh but wouldn’t answer my question.“Do you still talk to him?”
“Rarely.And he said he wouldn’t be mad if I met someone else while he was gone.”I told him.
“Did he really say that, Ellie?It sounds like he’s hoping to come back to you.”He questioned.
“No, I don’t think so.And it doesn’t matter anyways, even if we were still a thing, I would leave him in a heartbeat for you.”
