NEVER SAY NEVER
By Sarah Wartman
PART SIXTEEN
“I can’t believe this,” I mumbled as I pushed past Nicki and into my room to change and then into the living room to watch TV. She had done stuff like this to me before, so I just sat and waited for her to finish humiliating me.
“Don’t sit there sulking, you’re gonna thank me,” she said, walking into the room, throwing the phone at me.
“What did you do?” I asked her.
“Nothing. He wants to talk to you.”
“You’re so dead,” I told her. I looked at the phone and slowly brought it to my ear. “Hello?”
“You’re roommate is something else,” Drew said.
“Tell me about it.”
“So, what are you doing?” he asked me.
“Just watching TV, probably gonna go to bed soon if Nicki will allow it.” I looked up and was surprised Nicki wasn’t standing there listening.
“No you can’t,” he blurted out quickly.
“And why not?”
“Because I’m coming over, didn’t Nicki tell you?”
“Tell me what?” I asked, my blood running cold.
“She said you wanted me to come over and hang out,” he told me.
“She did, did she?” I got up and walked back into Nicki’s room. ‘I hate you’ I mouthed at her and moved back towards my room before she could say anything.
“Yeah, she did. But if you don’t want me to, I can always just go back home.”
“No, since you’re already on your way over,” I told him, smiling at the thought of seeing him again.
“Okay, well, I’ll be there in a bit then.”
“Okay, bye.” I said and walked back into Nicki’s room. She looked up as I threw the phone at her.
“Back to thank me?” she asked.
“Not hardly, I should kick your ass. How could you tell him I said I wanted him to come over.”
“Oh, I know you do. Hello, look at you, you can’t hide the smile on your face.”
“So?” I screamed, knowing she was right.
“You are the most stubborn person I know,” she told me.
“No, that would be you,” I snapped back.
“Well, you know what they say, great minds think alike. Now get out of here you stupid bitch,” she said and I laughed.
I went out to the living room and just watched some TV for a while. But, before I knew it, I was drifting off to sleep. My dream was so real. Nicki was standing in the doorway, laughing at me about something. I stood up and threw a pillow at her. But before it could hit her, she disappeared and Drew appeared. He slowly walked up to me and kissed me lightly on the lips. But when he pulled away, it wasn't Drew. It was Joey.
“Sarah?” he asked.
“What?” I responded.
“Sarah?” I heard and felt someone’s hand on my shoulder, shaking me lightly. I looked up and Joey was lightly fading away from me.
“Joey?” I asked. Suddenly my eyes popped open and I was starring right into Drew’s gorgeous eyes.
“Joey?” he asked me, a hurt look on his face.
PART SEVENTEEN
“Oh, sorry,” I mumbled and sat up quickly. “I was just dreaming.”
“Yeah, I kind of picked up on that,” he answered.
We sat there for a couple of seconds in awkward silence. Suddenly Nicki appeared.
“Well, hello there Drew,” she said, extending her hand to him.
“Hi Nicki.”
“So, how are you?” she asked, throwing herself into a nearby chair.
“Good, I guess,” he said, looking at me.
“Well, what are you two kiddies up to tonight?” she asked.
I shrugged and looked at Drew. Why was he here anyway?
“I always come prepared,” he told us, producing a movie from behind him.
“Ohh…sounds good,” Nicki commented.
I threw her a nasty look and said, “don’t you have more unpacking you need to do?”
“That can wait til tomorrow,” she said, getting comfortable in her chair as Drew got up and put the movie in the VCR. The girl just couldn’t take a hint.
“No, I don’t think it can,” I grunted through clenched teeth. Nicki looked at me and rolled her eyes.
“Okay, fine, I can take a hint. But you two aren’t allowed to do anything on that sofa, I don’t want to have to wash out any stains. My mother bought it for me,” she told us and I felt myself grow red.
Nicki grinned mischievously and left the room. I looked over at Drew and said, “I can’t believe she said that.”
“She’s quite…. blunt, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, just a little. But it makes life a bit more exciting having her around.”
“Yeah, I bet,” he said.
The movie started and I got comfortable next to Drew. I prayed this night would never end, I loved the way his arms felt around me. I struggled to keep my eyes open and rested my head on Drew’s shoulder. I felt his soft lips on top of my head and I closed my eyes. And before I knew it, I had returned to Dreamland.
~*~*~*~
I awoke with a jolt and for a second, I wasn’t sure where I was. The bright sun shone into the room and I squinted until my eyes adjusted to the brightness. I was laying down on the sofa with a blanket on top of me. Drew must have snuck out sometime during the night, because he wasn’t here now. I suddenly heard loud voices in the entryway and struggled to sit up.
“Sarah?” Nicki sung at the top of her lungs.
I groaned and layed back down onto the sofa and brought the blanket up over my head.
“There you are!” I heard her exclaim and closed my eyes tightly as she took the blanket and pulled it away from me.
“You bitch!” I screamed and reached back for the blanket with my eyes still closed.
“Sarah, your language! We have company my dear,” she said sarcastically and I struggled to open my eyes.
“Oh shit,” I mumbled, seeing who was staring at me from the doorway. I turned over and planted my head into the pillow.
PART EIGHTEEN
“Nice to see you too sweetheart,” I heard Joey say.
“Go away, I’m sleeping.”
“Not anymore you’re not,” Joey said and suddenly sat on top of me.
“Oh, I know you did not just do that!” I screamed. I looked over to see Josh and Nicki smiling. “Some help please?” I begged them.
Nicki and Josh just laughed and I succeeded in pushing Joey off of me. “Go away,” I told him.
“Nope,” he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me off the sofa. I landed hard on the floor and scowled at him.
“You suck,” I said, struggling to stand up.
“I love you too,” he said, grinning widely at me.
Nicki led Josh off to give him a tour of the apartment and I looked at Joey. “What are you two doing here?”
“I was bored and decided to come see you. Besides, I thought Josh and Nicki should meet each other, if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I do, but why the hell did you have to come so early?”
“Early? It’s nine o’clock.”
“My point exactly!” I screamed at him.
“Boy, you’re not a morning person, are you?”
“Wow, you pick up on things quickly,” I told him, making my way to my room.
~*~*~*~
An hour later I appeared in the living room dressed and ready to go on this torturous event. Deep down, I was still asleep. ‘Drew would have let me sleep. He did last night,’ I thought and smiled to myself.
“What are you so happy about?” Joey asked me.
“Nothing you need to worry about. Where are the other two?”
“On the balcony,” Joey answered, not taking his eyes away from the television. As I walked by, I switched it off and smiled.
“Hey!” I heard him yell as I walked out onto the balcony.
“Hey there sleeping beauty,” Josh said, smiling at me.
“Oh, shut up. What are you doing here anyway?”
“Oh, well, we figured you two would like to walk around and stuff, since you don’t know the city very well. Plus, the others are doing the “girlfriend thing” so we were left all alone.”
“Oh, you poor things,” I said sarcastically, taking a seat next to them.
“Be nice SJ,” Nicki told me.
“Yeah, the day you’re nice”
“So, are we going or not?” Joey asked, walking out onto the balcony and standing behind me. I felt his hands on my shoulders and I immediately stood up.
“I guess so….have I told you guys lately how mad I am at you? Waking up at nine on a Saturday should be against the law or something.”
“Oh, chill out girl,” Joey said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
I looked down at his arm and back at him. “You’re touching me,” I told him as I carefully removed his arm.
“We’re going to have so much fun,” Josh said, looking at me. “I can just feel it.”
“Shit….” I mumbled under my breath.
PART NINETEEN
“I think it’s cool you guys are still real good friends after breaking up and all,” Nicki said at the table. We had stopped at a little restaurant to eat some lunch. Josh and Nicki had been talking for hours, literally making me sick to my stomach. I was busy playing with the white paper place mat while Joey scoped all the girls that walked by.
“Yeah, we are. Justin and I relocated here to work on our solo careers with Joey. He’s still working on his thing,” Josh added.
“Hey, I got an audition in a couple of days,” Joey piped in.
“Yeah, we’ve heard that one before.”
I looked over to see Joey scowl at Josh and look away. I almost felt sorry for him. But then I remembered he sat on me this morning.
Josh and Nicki went back to talking and I went back to being bored. I couldn’t believe I was here. I’d rather be almost anywhere else.
“Hey, look!” I heard Joey yell and I looked up.
“Hey you guys,” Justin said, approaching our table with Beth, Lance and Ginger. Ginger smiled at me and quickly ran over to my side of the table.
“Hey, how’s it going?” I asked her.
“It’s so good. And did you know Lance lives in Orlando? He was just down here to go to the charity thing. I’m so excited.”
“That’s so cool,” I told her. “So, what are you guys doing?”
“Looks like we’re eating with you,” she said and I looked up to see Josh and Justin pulling a table up next to ours.
~*~*~*~
Three hours later and we were still at the same table. I don’t know why I was so bored being there, but I was. I took my knife and started spinning it around on the table. I was so absorbed in my own little world I didn’t even hear Nicki and Josh call my name. Three times.
“Hello space cadet,” Nicki said, slapping me on the arm.
“Huh?” I asked, looking up at them.
“Thinking about last night with Drew again?” Nicki asked.
“Drew?” Joey, Justin and Beth all asked at the same time.
“Oh God,” I mumbled, putting my face in my hands.
“Last night with Drew?” Joey asked.
“Oh, get your head out of the clouds gorilla boy. We just watched a movie,” I told him.
Before Joey could respond, I heard a loud pitch scream and looked up to see a gorgeous blonde throw herself on top of Joey.
“Joey!” she screamed, holding on to him as if her life depended on it.
“Hey Jen,” Joey said, hugging her back. “What are you doing here?”
“Just shopping and hanging around. What are you doing here Joey Bear?” she asked, playing with the buttons on his shirt. I looked over at Beth and Justin to see them rolling their eyes.
I leaned over to Beth and whispered, “Who’s that?”
“Jen,” Beth answered.
“I gathered that much, but who’s Jen?”
“Joey’s…..thing.”
“Does Joey have a lot of ‘things’?”
“Uh, you could say that, yeah.”
I laughed loudly at the thought and Jen grew silent. I looked over at her and forced a smile.
“Who is this?” Jen asked Joey with a disgusted look on her face.
PART TWENTY
I was prepared to shout out an answer but Joey beat me to it.
“Oh, this is just Sarah.”
My heart fell and I don’t know why. I swallowed my jealousy and smiled weakly at the two. “Yeah, just Sarah,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Well, anyways babe, when are you going to call me?” Jen asked, turning back to Joey.
I sat back against my chair, numb. I couldn’t figure out why his comment hurt so. ‘Just Sarah’. What a way with words he had.
But my thoughts were interrupted as my cell phone started ringing. I dug for it quickly and found it.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Hey SJ, how are things?”
“Oh, hey Spence,” I said.
“Who is that?” Nicki asked loudly from the other side of the table.
“My brother,” I answered and excused myself from the table. I walked a little down the street and stopped on an empty bench.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing, wanted to see how you were doing.”
“I’m doing pretty good, actually. Made some friends and started my job last week. It’s awesome here Spence, you should come visit.”
“Well, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon,” my brother mumbled and my heart jumped into my throat. I knew that voice.
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“It’s mom.”
My heart stopped. I looked over to see I had the interest of everyone at the table. Nicki was leaning so far back on her chair I was waiting for it to tumble from underneath her.
“What about mom?”
“Don’t get too worried Sarah, she just doesn’t feel well. You know how she works so much and is running around all the time. I think she’s just worn down. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“Make sure she takes care of herself Spence,” I told him.
“You know I will. But I have to go, my roommate needs the phone.”
“Okay, talk to you later,” I said and clicked my phone closed. Mom never got sick. I had one of those feelings down in the pit of my stomach, the one you can’t shake. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the bench, thinking back to when my mom and I were inseparable and I felt a tear fall down my cheek. I hated being so damn emotional all the time.
“You okay Sarah?”
I opened my eyes to see Joey hovering over me. I quickly wiped my eyes and stood up.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I mumbled, making my way back towards the table.
“You sure?” he asked, grabbing my arm and spinning me around.
I shook his grip from me and glared at him. “Yes, I’m fine. Where’s Jen? Oh wait, guess that’s none of my business, I’m ‘just Sarah’ afterall.”
Before he could respond, I walked quickly over towards the table. “The nerve,” I mumbled quietly to myself.
“Sarah, what’s wrong?” they asked.
“Nothing,” I told him, scooping up my purse. I quickly found a couple dollars and threw it on the table for my tea.
“Sarah?” Nicki asked, standing up and moving towards me. “Talk to me.”
“I’m going to Drew’s,” I said and quickly walked away.
TO BE CONTINUED