CHAPTER 34
“People always talk about that moment when they fell for their best friend. There never was a moment for me and mine. I've always loved him.” Michelle Burns
Elizabeth ran her fingers through her damp hair. Convinced she needed a new look, she had gone to the salon the previous day and had seven inches cut and Carmel highlights put in. Her once pale skin had been replaced with a golden tan achieved by lying out at Angela’s pool when the sun allowed. She stood in front of the mirror and admired herself. The tips of her new hair barely brushed her shoulders. Elizabeth was still thin, but no longer frail. She vowed to work-out to gain strength and no longer be physically weak. Slowly, Elizabeth was proving to herself that she could survive without Jack Bennett.
She turned on the fan on her dresser to combat the heat from her hair dryer. More than anything, Elizabeth hated being hot when she was fresh out of the shower. She watched her hair fly in the wind tunnel she created until her hair was half dry. Then she began using a round brush to style the new do while she finished drying it.
Once her hair was completely dry she traded in her towel for a pair of white button down shorts and a canary yellow ruffled cotton tank top. Just after graduation, she had rearranged her bedroom so most of her bed was no longer visible through her window. Her vanity now sat in front of the window blocking most of the view if anyone tried to look from Jack’s window.
Olivia had finally come home for the summer since moving to New Haven. Elizabeth enjoyed having her sister back in her life, even if it was only for a few months. Olivia spent hours giving her younger sister make-up lessons. Now, every time Elizabeth stepped out of the house, she glided like a model and turned heads like Alicia Rodriguez and Jamie Johnson. School was over. Cutting was behind her. Smoking was an old habit. She spent every day with her best friends when they weren’t with Nick and Liam.
Sitting at her vanity, Elizabeth applied her CHANEL Black Shimmer waterproof eyeliner with precision, followed by her DIOR Blackout mascara. She tapped her finger in her Lip Spackle primer, lightly wiped it over her lips and coated them with clear lip-gloss. Between her tan, her make-up and her hair, her green eyes sparkled like emeralds.
The corner of her room was exploding with items to take to school. There was a new twin size down comforter, a Lacoste polka-dot duvet cover with matching sheets, new pillows, toiletries, school supplies and plastic storage bins to transport the materials. Elizabeth picked up the Krupps single-cup coffee maker her mom had purchased for her room. “Caffeine will help you stay up late studying,” her mom said. She yawned, tried to remember why she didn’t drink coffee and set the box back in the blue bin.
Since giving up smoking, the porch was still Elizabeth’s favorite spot at her house. She brushed off the fleece blanket and sat in the corner against the side, turning on the fan she brought outside to stay cool. From the porch, she always had a clear sight to Jack’s activities. Elizabeth assumed he had a girlfriend for much of his time wasn’t spent in or around his house. She wasn’t sure why seeing him was comforting to her. Most of the time she was at peace with the broken friendship but once a day, during her morning shower; she would break down and cry. The reason Jack had turned on her was still uncertain. Her friends had helped her theorize what had happened a hundred times but it just raised more questions than answers.
Nick told Kate on many occasions that Jack never talked about Elizabeth and although the friendship ended as quickly as it began, Jack didn’t hate his former friend. Liam said he didn’t know Jack enough to begin to know why he did anything and thought his future football career at Penn State was enough to make him withdraw from his former life. “But he still hangs out with his other friends,” Angela stated.
Elizabeth watched intently, not even trying to hide her interest as Jack made his way from his Jeep to the front door of his house. He stared at her as he walked, two strangers that used to know everything about one another. Jack looked unusually sad today and Elizabeth instinctively smiled at the thought that he wasn’t his happy self. She opened the magazine she purchased the previous day and began reading the article about Britney Spear’s comeback. If Britney could get her life back on track, so could Elizabeth.
The sky was overcast, the air hot and humid. The wind from the fan whipped around her that she barely noticed the trees swaying around her. She noticed Jack walk from the garage to his car to retrieve a bag and then back again. Although, she couldn’t hear voices in his garage, she was sure he wasn’t the only one in there as the light flickered on and off several times. Elizabeth tried not to pay attention. She didn’t care what Jack Bennett was doing.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure approaching from the Bennett’s garage. Her heart skipped a beat, but to her dismay it was only Latasha. Since her friendship with Jack abruptly ended, so had her friendship with Latasha. Elizabeth no longer saw her smoking outside. In fact, she no longer saw her at all. “Hello, Elizabeth,” she said kindly.
Elizabeth smiled. “Hey,” she replied. It felt awkward to be speaking to her, like somehow she was betraying herself.
“Is Leighton home?”
“No,” she answered. “She’s at Colby’s swim lesson.”
Latasha smiled. “I made Jack take swim lessons when he was younger. I told him he was going to be the only African American to swim well.”
“I know,” admitted Elizabeth. “We were in the same group lessons ever summer till third grade.” It was just another example of how many times their lives crossed paths all this time.
Latasha handed Elizabeth a key. “Your mom said she’d bring our mail in and water the plants and flowers while we’re gone.” She reluctantly accepted the metal key. Jack was leaving. The end was here. Elizabeth swallowed hard. “When’s your orientation at Duke?”
Jack had Latasha’s brown eyes. He was a taller, muscular version of his mother. Elizabeth hadn’t noticed that before. “I…,” she took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly trying to regain her composure, “it was last weekend.”
“Well, I’m sure I’ll see you again before you head off to school. Right now, we need to get my baby to Pennsylvania. Take care of yourself, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth’s eyes immediately filled with tears. She turned her head following Latasha walk across the front lawn, over the driveway and disappear into their garage. Through the posts on the porch she saw Jack Bennett leaning against his dad’s BMW, staring at her. Elizabeth reached for the railing. The magazine slid off her lap as she pulled herself up. The wind had picked up, the sky much darker now. She wanted to run, throw her arms around him and apologize.
The thunder cracked in the black sky above. Elizabeth looked up at the porch protecting her as large drops of rain fell from the sky in a sudden down pour. Jack had disappeared from sight once again. Elizabeth paced back and forth on the porch deliberating her next step. Today was the day he was leaving to start the rest of his life. He was going to change the world. It was something she still felt, still believed. How could she not be part of his life when he did that? She had to apologize, tell him she was sorry, that she just wanted him in her life again, in any way, in any capacity. She still loved him. She still needed him. The decision was clear, she had to tell Jack how she felt.
Elizabeth leapt over the stairs and landed on the lawn. She bolted across the grass with the water and mud splashing against her legs as she ran. It wasn’t until she reached his driveway that she realized the garage door was closed. She turned for the front door when she saw Latasha’s white Cadillac Escalade heading down the neighborhood street. Her hair stuck to her face like glue. Rivers of mascara ran down her cheeks, yet she remained motionless until minutes after the car vanished out of her view.
Elizabeth sprinted to her bedroom and dug through her drawers until she recovered the sweat pants and sweat shirt that Jack Bennett had given her a half a
year earlier when she spent her first night with him. She quickly wrapped her quivering body in the dry clothes and dove into her bed. Elizabeth wailed, so loud she almost scared herself. The pain was crippling. Jack Bennett was gone. The unimaginable reality was real.