Sundown Colors

Manny's unborn baby leads her to a lonely life

But still being the crush of JT, might change that

Contains; Romance, Drama

Main Characters; Manny, Emma, J.T., Craig

Chapter Six; You're My Missing Happiness

+ - + - +

I open my front door and come into the familiar smell of vanilla nutmeg. I sit down my bags and stand there for a moment.

"Mom," I call. I begin into the living room. I look over. There she is asleep on the couch. I sigh. I walk over to the leather chair alongside her and sit. After a second, she wakes up. I gaze at her. "Mom," I reiterate. She looks at me and sits up. She wipes her eyes and then they strain to see me. She smiles.

"Hey, baby, how was your time," she croaks. I swallow and nod. I can't tell her me and Craig had a huge fight, I would be so dead. I look at the floor then at her still nodding.

"It went good, totally fine," I tell her. She smiles wider.

"Good, that's good," she nods. I nod too. "Emma called," she tells me. I look at her again. "Just a little while ago. She seemed surprised that you were gone," she explains. Of course she was, I never told her about going with Craig. I should be prepared. I walk over to the base that the phone sits up on but before I can grab it there's a knock on the door. I look over at it. I clear my throat.

"I'll get it," I say before running over to the door. I open it to find Emma standing there. I look over at mom before closing the door behind me. Emma steps back.

"What's up," I say. Her face has no expression.

"Nothing much," she says flatly. "You didn't tell me you were going on a trip," she tilts her head. I find a little anger in her voice.

"Yeah, um, it was just a last minute thing," I say letting my head hang before looking back up at her.

"Oh," she says sounding a little unconvinced. "So did you and Paige have fun?" she asks still sounding a little mad.

"Yeah, Paige, um, we had – we had fun," I nod.

"I'm not dumb, Manny," she says with a little attitude. I stare into her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" I ask. She groans.

"You think I would believe that you and Paige, alone, would go on a camping trip," she truthfully points out. I bite my lip. That does sound weird. "Paige wouldn't go anywhere without Hazel or Spinner and Hazel won't go with Paige and Spinner without having Jimmy. Paige and Spinner, Jimmy and Hazel," her voice trails off.

"Okay, so I went with Craig, so what?" I confess slapping my hands to my side.

"Manny, when are you," she pauses. I let her know through my eyes that it's not a good idea to get into that. "Never mind, it's your choice," she finishes by crossing her arms.

"Exactly," I tell her harshly. "You were right, okay," I admit after an awkward silence. "Craig and I," I pause. "We're over," I say.

"Really? I mean are you really over?" she asks for assurance. I think to myself. Even deep down inside I can feel I still want a relationship with him, although I'm not sure why. But if I go back, would it be different? Would I be happy?

"Yeah," I say. "We are"

+ - + - +

"All right, mom! I'm going to bed," I shout down the stairs. I roll my eyes and shut my door. I walk over sleepily towards my bed and collapse backwards onto it. I sigh and look up at the ceiling sitting my hands on my stomach. Tomorrow. Monday morning. I'm not so worried. I'm not talking to Craig, that's for sure. I don't know, I've felt something weird around him. Like I'm deceiving someone else. I tap my fingers. I'm not even tired. Suddenly the phone beside me rings and I look over at it. It rings loudly. I reach over and grab it.

"Hello," I say quietly. I wipe something off my sweater.

"Um, hey," JT says at the other end. I smirk.

"Hey, JT, what are you doing up?" I say looking over at my clock. 9:32pm. Okay, so it's not that late, but usually he doesn't call at this time. He usually doesn't call at all.

"I wanted to ask you something," he tells me. I put my hand to my forehead.

"Yeah, sure, JT," I say.

"Did you go with Craig when you went camping on Fr-riday?" he quietly asks. My eyes shift. Why do I feel weird telling JT I went somewhere with Craig?

"Um, yeah, yeah I did, why?" I ask. He clears his throat.

"I wanted to know if it was true," JT says.

"Wanted to know if what was true?" I ask suspiciously and a little scared of the answer.

"That you and Craig," he pauses sounding a little worried. "That you two hooked up, a-again," he states. I rise and sit at the edge of my bed.

"Where did you hear that from?" I ask quickly.

"So you did?" he asks. I can almost feel anger in his voice.

"No, I mean, yeah," I didn't know what to say. "Sort of," I settle.

"Sort of?" he asks for clarification.

"Well, remember when he asked to talk to me?" I try to remind him.

"Yeah"

"Well, he asked me out camping. I said yes and we went, on Friday," I say remembering our fight. I bite my lip. "Which was a big mistake," I say to myself.

"Oh," is all he can say.

"Yeah. We got into this big argument and now I just, ugh, I just wish the situation was different," I slouch putting my hand to my forehead again.

"Manny," he says.

"Yeah?"

"You are so much more than Craig can imagine, no one could ever, ever come close to being so special," he says in a mere whisper. "Don't let him make you feel less, Manny, because you aren't," I know I must be blushing. That was so sweet of him to say, he the most sweetest guy. I chuckle.

"Really?" I ask speechless.

"Yeah," he says simply. "Um," he says a little embarrassed. I grin. "Yeah, I better, I better get going," he clears his throat again. I chuckle.

"Bye, JT," I smile. "Thanks," I say.

"No problem, bye," I sit the phone down on the dresser and grin at it as if he can see me. I fall back onto the bed. I don't need Craig; I don't need anyone's opinion. But there is something, and I'm not sure what. There's something inside me missing, something inside my happiness. I wish I didn't say good-bye to JT.