Always Us (We Were Us Series Book 2) Read online

  I nodded in agreement. It was true. My mom was in jail, my dad’s new family hated me, and I’d just finished high school at a school I hated. I had no friends, no family, nothing. We’d found each other and bonded over our unspoken miseries.

  “Ten years ago my parents and I were in a car accident. My dad died, he was driving.” Andrew looked down at my knees. I covered his hands with mine. “My mom was thrown from the car, and I was trapped in the back seat.”

  Andrew hadn’t ever spoken about his parents or any member of his family. I don’t ever remember seeing them around school either. They never came to visit on parent’s day, nor did they help him move in at the beginning of the year or at the end. I assumed that they worked, or he told them not to come because he’d be too embarrassed by them. Or, selfishly I thought that he didn’t want them to meet me and assume things about us that weren’t true.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said shaking my head.

  “It’s fine, it was a long time ago. They had to take a chainsaw to the door to get me out and I spent a month in the hospital, not because I was terribly injured, but because my mother hadn’t woken up. She was alive, but in a coma. They just didn’t know what to do with me.”

  “Wow,” was all I could say. Andrew looked up at me. I expected his eyes to be red, and brimmed with tears, but they were dry and the normal honey brown.

  “The Hamilton’s, the family who owns this house, took me in. Mary is a friend of my mother’s from college.”

  “So what does this coma program have to do with your mom? Is she still in a coma?” I raised my voice in disbelief with the last question.

  “No, she’s not. She came out of it about a year after the accident.”

  “Oh good,” I interrupted.

  He looked up at me and smiled warmly, so I returned it.

  “She’s in a permanent vegetative state. She’s paralyzed, she can’t speak. She can see and hear, but we don’t think she can comprehend what’s happening. She can eat, but gets most of her nutrition through a g-tube.” he said.

  “Oh,” I leaned back and removed my hands from his.

  “Its fine,” he leaned back in his chair too. “She’s been gone a long time and I’ve made peace with the idea that she’ll never actually wake up.”

  “I’m so sorry.” I was in disbelief. Andrew had a mom that he wanted but couldn’t have, and I had a mom I didn’t want, but could have if I had wanted. All my problems with her seemed petty now. “Where is she now?”

  Andrew paused, choosing his next words carefully, but I knew what he was going to say before he said it.

  “She’s upstairs,” he said, averting his eyes.

  “Oh, wow.” Even though I knew that that was what he was going to say, I was still shocked.

  “Yeah.” He scooted back to the desk, but didn’t spin around back to the computer.

  “So why the coma program if she’s not in a coma anymore?” I asked.

  “I’m pre-med Jenna, I want to help future coma patients.” He said matter of factly.

  “I didn’t know that.” I suddenly felt like I didn’t know Andrew at all. All the times we spent together last year, we never got any deeper than what was happening at school.

  “You didn’t ask, and I wasn’t ready to tell you. No one really knows anyway.”

  “I’m not sure that makes me feel any better. I thought that we were friends, that I knew you.”

  “Yeah well, I didn’t know anything about you either,” he shot back.

  “Touché.”

  A knock at the door prevented us from talking about this any further.

  “Jenna!” It was Michelle.

  “Back here,” I called back. “You know Michelle was in a coma for a like a year,” I said to Andrew. His surprised look told me I hadn’t told him.

  “Hey you two. Did I interrupt something?” She winked at me.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “And yes.”

  “Sorry,” and she looked genuinely sorry. “I haven’t seen you for a while and I wanted to know what you were doing for Christmas. I was going to go home, obviously and I wanted you to come with me. Jenna, not Andrew. I mean, you can come too, but I was asking Jenna.”

  I walked out of Andrew’s grasp and sat back down on the bed. I still hadn’t told her about my mom. I guess now was as good a time as any.

  “I was thinking of just staying here. I have nothing to go back to in Riverview.”

  “What about your mom? You didn’t see her on Thanksgiving. And I know you have this weird relationship, but I just think that you should go see her.”

  Andrew and I exchanged glances, mine said I know, I know and his asked you haven’t told her yet?

  “Michelle, my mom died last week.”

  “What?” Michelle gaped. “She died? Last week? Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” She was pissed.

  “Because we were mad at each other, and Stefanie told me about the shampoo thing and I had to deal with all the stuff with my mom’s body because Dad couldn’t do it.” I pleaded silently for her to forgive me.

  “Oh my gosh, honey. Come here.” She rushed over to me on the bed and tackled me with a hug. “Don’t ever think that you can’t tell me stuff, okay?”

  I hugged her back and agreed. It was nice to be on speaking terms again.

  Michelle released me and sat next to me on Andrew’s bed.

  “So, you’re really just going to stay here for Christmas?” Michelle asked again.

  I looked to Andrew. He and I had kind of made plans.

  “I’m staying here,” he answered my silent question.

  “Well you both are more than welcome to stay at my house for the holiday. We have plenty of room,” she smiled weakly at each of us.

  “We’ll think about it,” I said flatly.

  I didn’t know why I was so rude to her, or why I answered for Andrew. Maybe it was the way he looked at Michelle after I’d told him of her condition. I was possessive of Andrew. He was mine and I was suddenly jealous of my best friend for being in a coma and having something in common with my boyfriend. If he wanted to go to Michelle’s for Christmas he was allowed to make the decision on his own. But I didn’t want him to go. I wanted him to stay here, with me.

  “Okay, that’s all I wanted, I guess,” Michelle exhaled and looked around aimlessly.

  “So you were in a coma?” Andrew blurted out.

  “Yeah, I was,” Michelle chimed a little too enthusiastically. She moved further into his room and closer to him. I was jealous for no reason. Andrew wasn’t even interested in Michelle. He and I were about to kiss or probably make out for goodness sake.

  “How long were you under?” He turned in his chair to face her.

  “About a year and a half,” Michelle answered.

  “That’s a long time.” Andrew was surprised. He leaned back in his chair and ran both of his hands through his hair.

  “Yeah,” Michelle said. She looked down and smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear.

  Was she flirting? Or was I being irrational?

  “I’d love to interview you some time about your experience,” Andrew asked her.

  “I’d be happy to,” Michelle returned with a shy smile.

  They both smiled at each other awkwardly as if he’d just asked her on a date.

  “Okay, well I have some homework to finish. Andrew, can you help me with History?” I walked over to him and slid my arm over his shoulders possessively. I was jealous and I hated that.

  “I’ll let you two get back to whatever you were doing.” She smiled again. “Oh, Jenna. Lauren got wine and Christmas decorations. We’re thinking girls night sometime this week. I think Lauren wanted it to be tonight, but if you’re here...” she trailed off.

  “Yeah. Maybe tomorrow?” I said still a little cold.

  She smiled weakly, waved, then, left.

  “You didn’t have to be like that,” Andrew said to me.

  “Like what?” I pretended like I
hadn’t just acted like a jealous girlfriend.

  “Like a jealous girlfriend.” He looked up at me with a half-smile.

  “Sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Michelle dated Josh after me and they had a better relationship. It just got defensive. I like you. A lot.”

  “I like you a lot too, Jenna Mitchell. That’s not going to change,” he hugged me.

  “It might someday.”

  “Perhaps,” he hugged me tighter.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Decorating wasn’t going so well. We each wanted to do something different. Michelle was thinking the traditional route with red and green everywhere, a tree in the corner with white lights and an angel on top. Lauren’s decorations were hot pink and turquoise. She’d gotten a white, pre-lit tree with hot pink lights and a hot pink star for the top. Stef and I didn’t really care and were up for cramming two trees in the tiny living room if it would make everyone happy.

  So off to the store we all went. We squeezed into my tiny Honda civic. I wasn’t entirely sure how we were going to fit a Christmas tree and more decorations in the car with all of us.

  I wandered through the store with Stef while Michelle and Lauren roamed the aisles looking for the perfect traditional Christmas ornaments. They’d decided on a mini, green tree. Michelle had pointed out the issue with space in the car so she relinquished her earlier need for a second full sized tree.

  “So, how have you been, since your mom, you know, passing?” Stefanie asked while Lauren and Michelle were discussing whether a star or an angel would be more traditional.

  “I’m good,” I said, shrugging.

  “Really? Even though my parents have been horrid lately, I’d still be sad if either of them died.”

  There was a difference between parents being horrid for a time or for a reason, and the way my mother treated me. I was an inconvenience to her. An accident. She was stuck with me and made it known that I wasn’t wanted. I’d learned at a young age to take care of myself. Her being in jail had been freeing. I wasn’t tied to her anymore. I didn’t have to answer to her when she’d decided she did want to attempt being a mom.

  And now that she was gone for good, it was more of a relief than anything. At least that’s what I’ve been telling myself.

  “Yeah. Maybe I’m a little sad, but at least she’s not sucking up taxpayer dollars sitting in that jail cell.”

  Stef scoffed uncomfortably. I would have too if I’d heard that from a friend about her mother. It was an insensitive statement, but a true one.

  “Jenna, what is more traditional, a star, or an angel?” Michelle asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

  “Let’s get the angel since the pink and white tree has a star.”

  “Perfect,” Laruen and Michelle said in unison.

  Our basket was full of hunter green and deep red bows, ribbons, bulbs, and other random Christmasy things Michelle and Lauren found.

  At the checkout, as the total for our haul climbed higher, Stefanie shifted and eyed me. I knew what she was thinking. She didn’t have the money to cover any part of the purchase if we decided to split it. I still hadn’t talked to Michelle about Stef’s money issues because of her parents.

  “Your total is one hundred and thirty dollars and seventy six cents,” the cashier said after she bagged the last item.

  “I got it,” I announced before anyone else could start digging in their wallets. Stefanie gave me a thankful smile.

  We grabbed the bags and stuffed them into the trunk of the car. It barely closed.

  When we got home, Lauren pulled out three bottles of wine she’d had her boyfriend buy her.

  “Lauren!” I exclaimed.

  “What? We deserve some fun. We’re practically saints.” She pops the cork and pours the wine into plastic cups, one for each of us.

  “Okay, let’s get to it girls!”

  Lauren and Michelle ripped into the bags, giggling while they set up the two Christmas trees. Stefanie and I grabbed the garland and twisted Lauren’s hot pink strand with Michelle’s dark red strand to make one big one and hung it above the window. We laughed as the traditionally colored decorations mixed with the funky ones that made a truly unique combinations. Despite the fact that Lauren and Michelle had planned to decorate each tree separately, the miss matched trees seemed to work somehow.

  Hours and many glasses of wine later, we were all squished together on the ugly couch. The brown cover had been failing miserably and hiding the hideousness of it.

  “This couch is awful,” Stef slurred. She for sure had had more wine than any of us. Maybe even more than Lauren had.

  “It was free, get over it,” I retorted.

  “Josh gave it to her,” Michelle said in a sing song voice, then burst out laughing.

  “A boy just gave you a couch? That’s like asking him to marry you,” Stef said.

  “It is not. He was just being nice.”

  “Did you have sex with him on the couch?” Lauren asked.

  “No!”

  “You totally did,” Michelle stated.

  “We didn’t. I promise,” I added when I saw her leering at the couch.

  “Why not? It’s a good couch for it,” Lauren said as she bounced on the cushion.

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “It just never happened.”

  “Did you have sex with Andrew on it?” Stef asked. She’d walked in as Andrew had left one day so I knew she had to be suspicious.

  “I have not had sex with anyone on this couch. Geez, you guys.” I stood up and dumped my cup in the sink and returned to the living room. “It’s like three in the morning, so I’m going to bed.” I left without waiting for a response. Their questions about my sex life were annoying and hit a nerve. I’d been asking myself why it had been so easy for me to sleep with Josh, but I’d balked when Andrew and I had had the opportunities. I didn’t have the answers. And I wasn’t going to find them tonight. Especially with wine buzzing through my brain.

  ***

  “Miss Mitchell?”

  I knew I shouldn’t have answered my phone. Nothing good comes after ‘Miss Mitchell.

  “This is she,” I replied sleepily. I rolled over and sat up for good measure. My head spun a little, but I definitely wasn’t hung over.

  “This is Stacy from Meade and Sons,” She was way too chipper for eight in the morning.

  “Who?” Or maybe I was hung over. Her words were muddled like she was speaking underwater.

  “Meade and Sons. We’re representing you and Mayor Banks,” she repeated louder, like was half deaf.

  That got my attention.

  “Oh, hi, yes. Hello,” I stumbled over my words and out of bed.

  “Miss Mitchell, we need you to come to our office and speak with the lawyers about your experience with Mayor Banks.”

  I fumbled around in the semi-darkness for my pants. I felt weird talking to a lawyer’s office in my underwear.

  “Oh. Okay, when?” I tripped into my desk and opened my calendar. Not that I was super busy or anything. I basically just had school. Man, my life was kind of lame.

  “As soon as possible. We’d like to move forward with this case as quickly as possible.”

  “Oh, is he going to jail?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

  “I’m not at liberty to discuss this case with you.”

  “Even though I’m part of it?”

  “Yes ma’am,” she was very official sounding. I didn’t press the matter further.

  “I see. Well I’m done with school next week, I can drive down like, on Wednesday?”

  “That’s Christmas Eve.”

  “Oh yeah, I guess it is. The Monday before Christmas then?”

  “We’ll see you at ten.”

  “Okay then.”

  I hung up and wrote it down. I didn’t think I’d forget, seeing as I had no other engagements.

  I guess in the back of my mind I knew this was coming. I couldn’t escape him forever. I knew I’d have to fa
ce the mayor at some point whether it was in a court room or something settled outside of court. I wanted him to be locked away for life for what he did, but maybe that was unrealistic.

  I finished getting dressed and walked out into the living room. Michelle was still passed out on the couch, clutching a string of gold garland. I should let her sleep, but she has class and I wouldn’t want her to miss it.

  “Michelle,” I whispered and shook her shoulders.

  “What?” she whined back.

  “You have class in an hour.”

  “No,”

  “Yes, sweetie.”

  She groaned and threw the garland on the floor.

  “Never let me drink that much again.”

  “But it was so much fun! Drunk Michelle is awesome.”

  “Hung-over Michelle is not quite as awesome.”

  “Go shower and I’ll make some coffee.”

  “Fine.”

  I made the coffee then left for class myself. It was Friday, thank God. I just had my History class and I was going to get my project back.

  It was unseasonably warm for December so I decided to walk to class. If it got cold later, I’d just call Andrew for a ride. Not that I expected it to

  ***

  Despite never paying attention in World History, my project about Hitler scored me an A. I skipped out of class with a smile on my face. Andrew followed me out onto the quad where I told him that I needed to go to Riverview to meet with lawyers

  “Should I go with you?” Andrew asked. He seemed mildly concerned.

  “No, it should be a fast trip. They just want to ask me a few questions about the mayor. Maybe my mom. I don’t know.”

  We sat on a picnic table across from each other. I plopped my shoulder bag down on the table and rested my chin on it with my arms folded under it.

  “Are you ready to talk about her?” he asked.

  “What is there to talk about?”

  “Well, she was your mom, and she died, and you don’t seem to even care.”

  Why was everyone so determined to get me to talk about my mom? First Stef, now Andrew. Even Michelle had told me that if I needed to talk about it, that she was available. I didn’t need to talk about my mom.