Twenty-Six
Ivy
It didn’t take long before news spread I left town and the reasons why. I sent a quick text to Jayde when I stopped at the gas station, apologizing, and explained something came up and I had to leave. I felt terrible leaving the way I did, but I couldn’t face staying there any longer. She seemed to know the news before I told her.
Brix blew up my phone with calls and texts the next day, to the point I turned off my phone. I knew he wasn’t taking it well, but honestly, I had nothing more left to say to him. He kept trying to reach out to me for the first couple of days, but I wasn’t ready to talk to him, wasn’t sure if I ever would be.
The calls and texts stopped, and sooner or later, it seemed like it was all a dream. Except, it wasn’t, the memories were still there holding me captive.
It made it hard to focus. Everywhere I went, it seemed like something was popping up, reminding me of him. Thankfully, school kept me busy and my mind occupied.
When I wasn’t busy with school, I was making plans with Kyla to come down to visit or hitting up the clubs with my roommate, Hensley. Those nights were the hardest, and I’d prefer to stay home, watching Netflix.
Every band we’d go out to see play ended up reminding me of Brix in one way or another. I’d stand there, lost in a daze thinking about him. Which brings me to tonight...
“Did she say when she’d be here?” Hensley questions, huddled up against the side of the brick wall outside of Vibrate.
The temperatures have dropped with the cooler weather. We’re both dressed for dancing, which isn’t doing us any favors right now.
“Yeah, she just texted me a few minutes ago saying she was pulling into the parkade. She should be here any second.”
“Okay, good!” she huffs. “‘Cause it’s frickin’ cold out here.”
We’ve been counting down the days to this show for a month when Kyla scored us tickets to see High Octane. They are hands down one of my favorite bands, and I’ve been dying to see them live.
We don’t normally make a habit of hitting up Vibrate. She’s convinced you’ll see the type of guys you’d find on Wall Street down here. Although, we both know High Octane is bringing in more of my type of men.
Hensley wants to find herself an investment banker who has his shit together and can take care of her in more ways than one.
As for me, I’m still struggling to get Brix out of my mind.
I’ve heard him play High Octane on several occasions. In fact, the night he was bangin’ blondie in the room next to me, one of the songs playing was theirs.
Every time I thought of coming here tonight, my mind kept circling back to him. To the conversation I had with Kyla when I came back to school; how he was losing his mind over me leaving.
Whenever I think about why he was upset, I’ve come up with several different reasons. I’ve analyzed and dissected every scenario, but I always find myself back to the very first night I returned to Carolina Beach.
The night I first went to Whiskey Barrel and watched them playing, the night he hit on me and asked me out. Knowing him like I do now, I know he was pissed when I turned him down.
When has Brix Ward ever been told no?
The only conclusion I can come up with as to why he was so upset was because, for once, he was treated like what was going on between us meant nothing to me.
He let me be the fool, leading me to believe he wanted to be with me.
Joke’s on him.
“Hey, girl, heyy,” Kyla sings as she runs toward us. She’s dressed in a sexy, short red dress and high heels. So high I’m staring at her with wide eyes, begging her to stop before she breaks her ankle.
“Dude, Ivy, you look sexy as hell.”
She stops, eyeing me in my little black dress before zoning in on my new ivy tattoo through my sheer tights, starting on my calf wrapped up around my thigh. It’s chilly tonight, so I opted for my favorite pair with bows on the back of my legs, pairing them with my black heels.
Snaking my arm around her neck, I pull her in for a hug.
“I missed you,” I whisper in her ear, her arms tightening around my lower back.
“I missed you more.”