This one is another hurt / comfort one. Last time I tried this (back in chapter 4), I didn't do all that well, but I'm pretty happy with this one. Anyway, enough rambling, get onto reading the chapter!
Joel ran for home. He didn't know why. His parents were mad at him – why would he go home? He supposed he didn't have anywhere else to go. He didn't look around to see if Mabel was following him.
Mabel.
Why would she do that? He barely knew her! Sure, they were good friends and had bonded quickly, but he had known her for less than two weeks! His parents had lectured him about how you shouldn't date a girl right from the word go – because 99% of the time, it wouldn't work out. There would be differences and clashes and arguments and the relationship would be over before you knew it. He ran harder.
OK, maybe Mabel was just a little boy crazy. But isn't it generally a good idea to know whether or not someone already has a boyfriend or girlfriend before you go and make a move on them? Joel had had a girlfriend back in Tacoma – and before he left they made sure to keep in touch, and they had. He didn't know if a long distance relationship would work, and he was worried that they would split up eventually, but somehow, they had managed to talk to each other at least once a week in one form or another.
He found the house that they were renting, a sagging construction of bricks and timber with a small garden. He knocked on the door and heard his mother shuffling towards the door.
'Took your time! Finally came back to say sor …' she said as she opened the door, trailing off as she noticed the tears in her son's eyes.
'May I come in?' Joel whimpered. She looked anxiously at him and let him pass. Joel trudged into the living room and curled up on the couch. His mother called out to her husband.
'Honey, could you c'mere a minute?'
'Why? I've got work to do, you know that.'
'It's Joel, he's come home.'
'That little shit son of ours has come back to apologize, has he?'
Joel let out a little moan. He had never liked his father that much. He was relentless, that man. Joel started to wonder why he had come back here. His parent's wouldn't understand his situation, they hated him right now. His mother looked over at him awkwardly and walked down the hall to get his father. Joel took this opportunity to sneak upstairs to his room. He locked the door behind him and lay on his bed.
Joel had many coping mechanisms for when he wasn't feeling at his best, but the one he resorted to the most was screaming into his pillow. He buried his head into the pillowcase and yelled as loud as he could. He yelled at his father, his mother, his stupid decision at coming home and his stupid decision at running away in the first place. He yelled at Mabel – no, wait, he couldn't yell at Mabel. It wasn't her fault, she had no idea. He shouldn't vent his anger at her.
This isn't her fault, this isn't her fault, this isn't her fault… he echoed over and over in his head. He was finally starting to calm down when he heard a knock at the door.
'Go away!' Joel screamed at his parents. Another knock. Joel growled and stood up, still holding his pillow under his arm. He marched over to the door and put his mouth up to the edge of the doorframe.
'I SAID GO AWAY!' he repeated even louder. He sat down on the floor and started to cry again.
'Joel?' he heard from outside. It wasn't his mother's voice, but Joel could tell it was friendly. He staggered to his feet, unlocked the door and opened it.
It was Mabel. She looked horrible – her hair was roughed up and her face and eyes were red – evidently she had been crying too.
Joel broke down again and, dropping the pillow, he fell into her arms. He hoped that she wouldn't interpret it the wrong way. She didn't. She put her arms around him and patted his back to calm him down.
'I'm sorry,' she said, sniffing a little. Joel swallowed and wiped his eyes.
'I'm sorry too,' he replied. He pulled away and backed up to sit on his bed. Mabel leaned up against the doorframe and looked down at her shoes.
'I shouldn't have been hasty,' she said, kicking the ground. Joel shook his head and reached out for his pillow, throwing it back behind him onto his bed.
'It's not your fault, Mabel,' he said, 'I shouldn't have reacted like that. I just didn't know what to do because I already have a girlfriend back in Tacoma.'
Mabel raised her hand to her forehead and slapped herself. Of course! No wonder Joel ran away; he already had a girlfriend! Why didn't she make sure to check before she tried to make out with him? Ugh, she was such an idiot.
'I'm so sorry,' she said again, sitting down on the floor and fiddling with her socks, still dirty from earlier.
'I said already Mabel, it's not your fault,' he explained, laying back on his bed.
'Tell me about her,' she replied. Mabel didn't know if this was going to work, but she hoped that if Joel talked about his girlfriend, he might calm down a little.
'Oh, um…'
'What's her name?' she asked.
'Georgia,' he said.
'What does she look like?'
'She's shortish, has long strawberry blonde hair, a huge smile and these eyes that you could get lost it for hours…' he explained.
'Ooh, tell me more!' said Mabel, 'How did you guys meet?' Joel let out a little giggle and continued with his explanation.
'Through my bowling league actually, she joined the same day as me. We got to be friends pretty quickly, and we were pretty competitive. She'd beat me most of the time, but when I win I'd really rub it in.'
This was going well – Joel was calming down. Mabel continued to press harder.
'How'd you ask her out?'
'Oh, that's a good story too,' he laughed, 'it was during the semi-finals, about a year after we first met, and my team just needed one more win to get ourselves into the grand-final against the Seattle team. I decided that if we won, I would ask her out. I'd planned everything and I'd got really hyped for the game.'
Joel paused for a second, looking up at the ceiling.
'And? What happened?' asked Mabel.
'We lost. The Olympia team annihilated us. We were so humiliated, we'd thought we were going to win for sure. Anyway, we headed off to a park afterwards to celebrate how far we'd gotten, and after a few hours I was talking to her and it just kinda, slipped out. She said yes and within a few weeks we were fairly well cemented as a couple.'
Silence. Mabel let that sink in. A whole year! How could you wait that long to tell someone that you liked them, it would've been agony! But, listening to Joel gave her new perspective. He was in love with this girl, and now she felt bad about trying her luck on him. At least now she knew how he felt and why he was so cut up about her kissing him. Neither of them spoke for a little while.
'Mabel, can we still be friends?' asked Joel, sitting up on his bed.
'Of course, Joel, we can still be friends,' she replied, smiling at him and standing up. She turned around and started to leave.
'Thanks for talking to me, Mabel,' Joel called out after her. Mabel turned her head and nodded at him as she descended the stairs. As he heard the front door slam shut, he pulled out his phone and dialled Georgia's number.
Thanks for reading people! Remember to leave a review if you enjoyed the chapter, and please consider giving this story a favorite or a follow, it really encourages me to write more! Peace xo