The tree house on the Long Way was occupied tonight.
With one more kiss, Dustin laid down. He looked at Janie with a smile that expressed how much he really liked being here with her. He brought his hand and laid it on her shoulder, gently rubbing it.
In turn, she continued to look at him, her eyes reflected in his. The smile she had on was just like his. She sighed. “I don’t want to go home…”
“You think I want to, too?”
“But, my house is much worse than yours…”
He chuckled. “No, I think mine is worse…” For a second, he looked out the window, but went back to looking at her. “We should find our own house…You know, that one across from this tree house is up for sale…”
She giggled. “You make it sound like we have the money to buy a house.”
“Well, I can buy it. Yeah, I’ll get a job and everything. We wouldn’t have to depend on our families, you know. I can support you…” He sounded serious.
But, she wasn’t as serious as him. “And, how would you do that?”
“I can get a job.”
“Teenager part-time job…that doesn’t sound too supporting to me.”
“Th-then, I’d get a really good job.”
She giggled. “That’s kind of hard to believe…you getting a good job as a teen.”
“So, you don’t believe me.”
“…Well…well, I kind of don’t.”
“And why?”
“Well, you don’t even know what you’re going to be majoring in, and everything. It looks like you’ve got no motivation in life, so it’s kind of hard to think of what you’re going to be doing in a few years.”
“…And, even if I don’t get a good job? Will you be there for me?”
She blushed. “I-I don’t know about that. Maybe by then, I’d found another doctor to love.”
He smiled, trying to back down a sense of sadness. Doctor…She was going to be a doctor, no matter what; she had promised everyone that she would become one. Now, as he thought about it, she was right—the society she would be going in as a doctor would give her all the good things in life. And, where would he be standing in that new life of hers?
“Janie, then I’ll be a doctor.”
She stared at him, her expression unreadable.
“I-I’m serious.”
“Dustin, do you know how hard it is to be a doctor?” she whispered.
“I-I have a feeling.”
“Do you know what you’ve got to go through? The classes you were supposed to take?”
He sadly nodded. “Yeah, I know. B-but, if it means that I get to be with you, I’m willing to go through hell.”
And, even though Janie still doubted that this was anything but serious, his sudden change of attitude and even motivation stirred the strings of her heart. It really made her believe that he was willing to change for her. “Dustin…”
“I’m serious. I don’t think I’ve been this serious about any girl…even though it sounds so clichéd.”
“…But, you’ve been accepted into PSC, haven’t you?”
“And, what about that?”
“…Well, I guess I must’ve not told you, but I’m going to VSC.”
So, the possibility of a long term relationship. “…Oh…”
“So…” She dropped her gaze. “I don’t know what to tell you about that.”
He bit his lip. “No, it’s okay. We’ll make it okay, you know.”
She looked up at him.
“I swear that I won’t have anyone but you, even if you’re far away.”
“…Dustin, do you know how long it is to become a doctor?”
He shook his head.
“It’s almost ten years.”
“T-ten years?”
She nodded. “…And, will you still be able to wait for ten years?”
“…Janie, ten years, twenty years, a hundred years, until the day I die…I promise that you’re going to be the only one.”
It was painful…painful to resist the seriousness and the intended truth behind those words.
It had been about two weeks since Dustin had asked to break up with Angela. It had been about three weeks since he last called her. It had been almost a month since he had confessed to Janie—or, since he had kissed her.
It had been about three weeks since the Halloween party…three weeks since…since—
“Dustin.” Brandi knocked her son’s door.
“Yeah? Come in.”
When Brandi came in, she wasn’t half expecting what she saw: Dustin not on his computer, but rather at his desk, writing what she assumed was homework. “I haven’t seen Angela in awhile.”
He hadn’t told his mother about the break up. “She’s busy.”
“…I hope you two are still together.”
“Yeah…you don’t have to worry about anything,” Dustin lied. “We’ll be together forever.”
Brandi didn’t like his tone of voice, but his face begged to differ. She couldn’t know if he was lying or not, but she had a feeling that there was something deeper in there…Something that he didn’t want to tell her. But, she had to trust him. “Okay. So, dinner’ll be in a few.”
“Okay.”
Before Brandi left, she came over to him. “…Dustin, about your brother…”
Dustin knew that this talk was about to come. Yeah, he had heard the rumors; had seen the evidence. He just couldn’t tell his mom…he waited until someone told. And, someone did. It was none other than his own brother.
“…Dustin, I don’t know if I’m disappointed or not…should I be?” she whispered. “Am I sad? Not really…I kind of understand that he’s going through a change in hormones and everything, but…but, I can’t help but wonder if he’ll stay like that…” She was going to regret what she had to say next. “Sometimes…just, sometimes, I wish your father was here to talk it out with Beau…I honestly don’t know what to say to him.”
An awkward silence passed by. Dustin really didn’t like talking about his brother. It was most likely due to the fact that Dustin remembered his father—not like Beau, who had been three, and Ricky who was only four months old. He remembered the panic that spread like wildfire when they were rushed to the hospital; the confusion and sadness that fell like a curtain upon his family.
“…Dustin…I hope then when you have children, you stay with them forever. Because, think how hard your wife’ll have to work and how hard it’ll be for her to raise your kids. So, if you can, don’t leave her.”
“…Yeah, I understand.”
Dinner was silent. Calvin was reading the paper—even though he had read it earlier at breakfast and during his lunch-break. Lisa was busily looking through taxes while shoveling some Indian curry into her mouth.
And, Janie…Janie wasn’t into dinner. No, if possible—since she was a very avid fan of Indian curry—she actually didn’t like tonight’s dinner, even though it was her favorite curry. If anything…it actually made her kind of—
“Hey, you haven’t touched your food, yet,” Calvin said as he set down his newspaper. “Something wrong?”
“…Not really that hungry.” Janie sipped some more water. She took one more bite, realizing how bad it smelled in her mouth. Resisting the urge to throw it up, she gulped it down and took another sip of water. “I’m getting tired. Excuse me.”
Calvin nodded. He watched his daughter go upstairs to her room. “Hm…even though I went through all that trouble to get her curry.”
Lisa nodded, not looking up from her work. “Maybe she had a huge lunch.”
Calvin shrugged. “I suppose.”
Janie was around the corner when her parents began to talk about her. Right, she did have a big lunch—an indulgence on salty things, which wasn’t usually her thing, but she felt like eating peanuts in the morning...and, what had began as a pack of peanuts ended up with overly salted chips, pretzels, and instant ramen.
She had never really been one to eat those things, and she couldn’t understand why she was still eating them. And, even her usual fix—sugar—wasn’t appealing anymore. Kind of like her curry—a sweet, yellow curry with sweet peas and sweet carrots.
She dragged her feet to the bathroom, where she ran her bath. As the tub filled, she crossed the threshold into her own room and brought out her clothes.
Inside the tub, she wondered what was going on. Was it a hormonal change? Were her taste buds whacked because she hadn’t smoked pot for a few weeks? No, that last option was highly improbable—she had gone months—once, even a year—without pot, and she was fine except for the usual withdrawal symptoms, which she was an expert of hiding.
Sometime later, she got out of the tub and was gathering her dirty clothes to wash. But, when she looked through some of her underwear, she noticed something that wasn’t on her panties about a week ago: blood—little specks of blood.
Was she on her period? No, she wasn’t—her last period was the week before Halloween…but, maybe it was, since this would almost be a month since her period. But usually, the start of her period was heavy—and, she would have migraines with it. She wasn’t having migraines at all.
Maybe it was a hormonal change, even if she was convinced that she had stopped growing. With a shrug, Janie threw her clothes into the hamper and carried the hamper to the laundry room.
The instant Janie woke up, she realized something: Why the hell was it so damned bright in this room? Honestly, though, the curtains weren’t drawn, either…but, it was so bright.
She sat up, a glare already in her eyes. She felt sluggish—just the thought of even moving out of the bed seemed torturous to her.
Luckily, it was a Saturday. No point of even getting out of bed. She fell back onto her back, still cursing at why the sun was so bright this morning.
Suddenly, her alarm went off. The groan she made was loud enough to be a scream. She pounded the alarm clock and dug into the depths of her covers.
If nasty fate had it, her cell phone rang. She angrily threw her blankets off of her and yanked her cellphone off of the charge line. “Hello?”
“Why are you screaming?” It was Ginger.
“Screaming? I’m not.”
“…Okay…” Her skeptical tone irritated Janie. “So, are you coming today?”
“Coming? Coming where?”
“We talked about this on Friday! We’ve got to go to the mall! You said you were going to help me with an outfit.”
“God, for what?” The thought of shopping sounded terrible, today.
“For what? For what?! Janie Savannah Alders, I have an effing date with Damon, remember?”
“Get Lilith to go with you.”
“Are you shitting me? Lilith is busy with Dreamer.”
That was highly improbable…Janie had seen the way Darren looked at Susie Punyawong and she suspected there was much more going on there. “Did you even call her?”
“I already know she’s busy.” With a sigh, Ginger added, “You’ve got to come. Even if Lilith came, she doesn’t know what to wear to a date.”
“What makes you think I know?”
“Hey, don’t get snappy with me.”
“Snappy? I’m not snappy?”
“Uh, yeah, you are totally snappy right now.”
“Whatever. So, why do I have to go with you?”
“Because, Damon likes your fashion sense—or at least, he told me that he likes girls that dress like you…kind of like an indie style, and we all know that I’m not too good with indie.”
Suddenly, the thought of Ginger changing for a guy suddenly made Janie sad. She didn’t see her friends changing for anyone—that was really like going against who you really were. “Ginger…you shouldn’t change for a guy. If he liked you, then he’d like you for you.”
“I didn’t need your input, Mom.”
Her witty comment made Janie feel angry again. “Fine, go ahead and change! See if he’d really like you for that!”
“Jeez, calm down. Why are you so temperamental, today?”
“I’m not temperamental.”
“Janie, you just went through three moods with me. Is something wrong? Are you on your period?”
With a sigh, Janie rolled onto her side. “Ginger, it feels like I’m on my period. God, I think I’m even starting to cramp.”
“Is your blood regularly flowing?”
“No, I’m spotting.”
“So, you’re about to have it.”
“I guess. Maybe I’ll see a doctor if my blood isn’t regular, since I haven’t been spotting since eighth grade.”
“You think it’s another hormonal change?”
“I hope it is.”
When Janie had called, Dustin didn’t expect her to be so irritated. She really sounded like she didn’t want to talk to him, which was highly unthinkable.
He wanted to see her, but when he suggested going to the tree house on the Long Way, she immediately rejected the idea, using the logic that they had already went there yesterday.
He then suggested that they should grab breakfast together, but she said that she was very likely to not eat it.
When he hung up, he wondered what her problem was. Yesterday, at lunch, she ate so much, and now, she wasn’t even eating—or, he suspected that she wasn’t eating.
Dustin passed Beau by. He didn’t even notice that his brother was there, until Beau said something.
“You broke up with Angela?”
Dustin looked at his brother. Instead of denying it in order to keep up his lie, he asked, “Who told you that?”
“Lawrence.”
Now that Dustin thought about it, Beau’s boyfriend was Alexander Goth’s nephew—and, Alexander Goth was Lilith’s best friend. So, somehow, Lilith must’ve heard it from Angela, and it turn must’ve slipped it to Alex, who thus slipped it to Lawrence.
“Is it true?”
Dustin came over and sat next to his brother. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
“…I love someone else.”
“And, you’re sure of that?”
“Of course.”
“How much do you love her?”
“…I honestly can’t think of another day without her. I’ve got to hear her voice, see her face, or even think of her in order to live.”
“You sure it isn’t puppy love?”
“Of course not.”
“…Because, you used to say that a lot about Angela…and, look where you two are at.”
“Bu-but, with Angela, I was going through a phase--.”
“What makes you think that this isn’t a phase? Do you really think this will be ‘together forever’?”
“…I want it to be.”
“And, didn’t you want that to be with Angela, too?”
“W-well…”
“You know, it’s hard to make promises when you don’t know the future of them.” Beau sighed. “I’ll admit that I know it won’t be ‘together forever’ with Lawrence. I know that very well…”
“…How? How do you know?”
His brother gave a sad look. “Society is pushing us. Mom won’t talk to me. Everyone looks at us…Raven looks at us…And…and, it’s starting to take its effect. I mean, Lawrence doesn’t even want to talk to me, and I can’t help but think it’s because we’re dating each other.”
“Then, why’d you do it?”
Beau licked his lips. “I did it because I think I loved him…”
Dustin put a hand around his brother’s shoulder. “I think I understand…because, I’m kind of like you.”
Beau looked at him.
“…I loved Janie even while I was seeing Angela. But, I cheated on Angela because I was certain—absolutely very certain—that I was totally in love with Janie…And, I knew that everyone doesn’t approve of it; I knew Mom had a feeling; I knew that Angela knew—the whole school knew, for Christ’s sakes…But, I still did it.”
“…Why do we have to be so un-normal?” The way Beau said it made it sound very sarcastic. “I mean, why can’t we be normal? Why can’t I date a girl and why can’t you stick with the same person?”
Dustin looked up at the ceiling, as if it would hold the answers. Then, his gaze slowly dropped to the floor, perhaps still looking for his answer. “Well…I think I’d like to be against the norm, every now and then. Don’t you?”
Beau smile slowly appeared. “Guess you’re right.”
“Gosh, Janie, maybe you should slow down on your pretzels.” Jeremy noted the unhealthy amount of salt she was pouring into her body.
“It’s good. Leave me alone.”
“Guys, what about this one?” Ginger pulled out a spring green crop top that was striped with a clashing olive green. “Do you think he would like it?”
Jeremy looked at the shirt, then at Ginger, and finally around the Forever 21. “…You never come into this store, Gin.”
“Okay, and?” Ginger put the shirt back onto the rack. “I thought that Damon would like something like this, you know.”
“Did he say he liked it?” Jeremy shot back. “Because, it isn’t your style at all.”
“See? I told her that!” Salt pieces lined her lips.
“Janie, you’ve got some salt on your mouth.”
Janie quickly licked them off. “You know, I don’t even come into this store to often, even if I’m indie. I’d rather go to that Hot Topic or something.”
“Damon doesn’t like it.”
“I don’t understand you, you know.” Janie bit into her pretzel and answered Ginger while she chewed. “If the guy were to like you, he wouldn’t like you for the way you dressed, right?”
Ginger bit her lip. “Oh, whatever!”
Just the slight rise of Ginger’s voice made Janie’s hairs stand on end…that, and the ridiculously loud techno music. “I’m out.” Without waiting for a response, she made towards the exit, ignoring Ginger calling to her.
On her way out, she noticed something red near one of the mannequins. It was none other than Angela Pleasant. And, Angela had seen Janie too. She smiled and pleasantly came over. “Hello, Janie. Um, no eating in here, please.”
Janie shoved the pretzel into her bag. “Sorry.”
“How are you today? Did you need any help?” So, apparently, Angela was a salesperson. “Were you looking for a…a specific style? The way she said it sounded sarcastic. She even dared to look at Janie’s outfit.
Today, Janie felt a little bo-ho, and the numerous bangles on her arms clashed every time she made a movement. It kind of looked out of place from this place, and that was probably why Angela was looking for her. “No, I was about to leave.”
“Oh…Well, then, visit us again, soon. Thank you for shopping…or-or browsing.”
Janie nodded and began for the exit.
Then, Angela grabbed her wrist. “I need to talk to you.”
Janie shot a nasty glare at her. “What do you want to talk about?” With a roll of her eyes, she knew what Angela wanted to talk about. “Dustin and I?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“…I just want to talk…I don’t have any ill intentions, honestly. Um, then, can we talk? I’m about to go on break, anyways.”
It was the desperateness in Angela’s voice that had convinced Janie that maybe there wasn’t really anything ill-intended for her. So, the devil compelled her—and, she said yes.
In a few moment, Angela led her to the food court where she got a slice of pizza. Janie bought another pretzel.
Angela must’ve noticed it. “…You’re craving?”
Janie cocked her head. “I guess so.”
“Same here. It’s mushrooms.” Her pizza was a mushroom pizza. “And, I can’t stand the smell of olives or onions.”
“Well, no one can really…”
“No, actually, I love onion rings and I can’t usually have sandwiches or pizzas without olives…”
“Okay…” Janie didn’t really understand what was going on.
“When I smell it, I want to throw up…and, I usually do…”
Fearing for her life, Janie’s eyes widened. “You-you’re not going to throw up are you?”
Angela’s head-shake was a sad one. “…I-I know what’s wrong with me…” She looked up at Janie, as if to entrust a really deep secret to her. “You-you’re going to be the only one who knows this…”
“…Why me? Shouldn’t it be one of your friends, or something?”
“No, because you have Dustin.”
“What does Dustin have to do with it?”
Angela took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “…I-I think I’m pregnant.”
“P-pregnant?!” Janie nearly yelled. The others turned to look at her, and she instantly regretted yelling. “H-how?”
Angela’s laugh was ironic. “Only one way how.”
“…Wh-who…?”
“…That’s why I want to tell you, Janie…I-I’m basically about a month pregnant, I figure, and a month ago…well…”
Janie’s face was unreadable. A month ago, you were still dating Dustin.
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