Chapter Two: Missing You

Three days later Brittany arrived at Celia's. She was very tired and hadn't gotten much sleep. She didn't want to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was Alvin. She missed him already, and she had just arrived. Celia came out of the house when she heard that Brittany had just driven up. She greeted her friend with a warm embrace.

"Oh, Brittany," she said, looking at her. "It's great to see you."

"Great to see you, too," Brittany said.

Celia's dad came out and approached the girls. "Can I take your bags?"

"Thanks, Mister Parks," Brittany said, and then continued to chattered on with Celia.

"Wow! Brittany, I love your car," Celia said. "It's just you're color. Pink." Celia laughed at that and so did Brittany.

"I guess so. It's my first car, so I guess it's kind of special."

"Well, you must be hungry after your long trip. Let's see what Rosey's making for dinner."

"I am starved," Brittany said, touching her grumbling stomach. "I barely eat anything since I left home."

Celia led her into the house and into the kitchen. "Hi, Rosey," Celia said. "Look who's here."

"Another mouth for me to feed," Rosey said, but she was smiling as she said it. "Dinner's in ten minutes. Now, you girls go wash up."

"Alright, Rosey." Celia walked over to the refrigerator and took out two sodas and handed one to Brittany. The girls left the kitchen and climbed the stairs to Celia's room. She noticed how sullen Brittany looked. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Brittany said. "I guess I'm just tired."

"That's not it," Celia said. "Something's bothering you."

"Well, there is something," Brittany said.

"Let me guess," Celia said. "Alvin." Celia sat down on her bed. Brittany sat down next to her. "What did he do now?"

"Two words," Brittany said. "Miss Gainer." Brittany looked more depressed than ever. "I can't believe he did this to me."

"Maybe he didn't," Celia said. Brittany looked surprised at her. "I know Missy. She's a total whore. She goes after anything in pants. So tell me exactly what happened."

"Well, Alvin and I had a date, so we planned to meet at the diner. I was running late. When I got there, Missy had her lips all over him, so I just walked out. Then Alvin came after me, but I was so angry I just couldn't deal with it. So when you called I jumped at the chance to get away."

"You mean you ran away," Celia said. She reached for the land line and said, "Call him."

"No, I can't," Brittany said. "I'm not ready."

"Okay," Celia said and put the cordless back down on its base. She then got up off the bed. "Let's hurry and wash up. Rosey hates it when dinner's late."

"Alright," Brittany said and got up off the bed and followed Celia into the bathroom.

Back at the Seville house Alvin paced around his room. He dialed Brittany's number three times, but all he got was her voice mail. He hung up the phone after leaving her another message. He dialed Eleanor's number. He waited for her to pick up.

"Hello," he heard her voice through the phone.

"Yesh, Eleanor," he said in a sullen tone.

"Oh, hi, Alvin," Eleanor said. "What can I do for you?"

"Do you know where Brittany is?" he asked. He was hopeful, waiting patiently for an answer. "Please, Eleanor. I really need to talk to her."

"Okay, I know but... I promised I wouldn't tell. She's really upset. If you just give her time..."

"Eleanor, please, I didn't cheat on her. That girl kissed me, and she only did it to hurt Brittany."

"I believe you, Alvin, but..." Eleanor hesitated. "You really care about her, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," he said. "I just need to talk to her."

"Okay, I'll give you the number," Eleanor said.

"Thanks," he said. There was a certain amount of relief in his voice.

"Don't make me regret this," she said and gave him the number.

He hung up and dialed the number. A girl answered the phone. "Hey, Celia," Alvin said. "Is Brittany there?"

"Wait just a minute," Celia said. He could hear her walk away. He heard voices but couldn't make out anything. His patience was waning as he waited, until he heard someone finally pick up again.

"Brittany?" he questioned excitedly.

"Sorry, Alvin," Celia said. "She's not here right now. Can I take a message?"

"Just tell her I called," he said and ended the call.

At Celia's Brittany was more than upset. She came to Texas to forget about him, but that the only thing she couldn't do. She stomped out of the bathroom, screaming almost to the top of her lungs.

"How did he get this number?" She paced back and forth, wanting to throw something, but she kept her composure as much as she could. "Doesn't he understand that I don't want to talk to him? It's over."

"I don't think that true," Celia said calmly. "Just call him. If it's really over then it might make you feel better."

"I can't," she said and walked out of the room and down the stairs. She went outside, drinking in the warm air. She was determined not to think of Alvin or all that drama back home.

"Hey, pretty girl," one of the ranch hands said. "Aren't you Celia's friend?"

"Yeah, I'm Brittany," she said. "And you are?"

"I'm Hank," he said, offering his hand. He was young. She could tell that much, about eighteen or nineteen. He had blond hair, and he was quite muscular. "So are you staying long?"

"I don't know," Brittany said. "I haven't decided yet."

"Hey, you look sad," he said. "A pretty girl like you shouldn't be so sad. Let me guess. It's a guy."

Brittany laughed a little. "How could you tell?" Brittany asked him.

"Well, maybe he doesn't know what he has," he came close to her, which made her uncomfortable.

Celia came out at that moment. She looked on in shock. "Hank, what are you doing?" He stepped away from Brittany. "Stay clear of him, Brittany. He flirts with all my friends."

"Oh, really," Brittany said. "Then I guess it's true."

"And what's that?" Hank asked.

"That all men are alike," she said and stomped back into the house.

"Good going, Hank," Celia said, and ran after her friend. "Brittany!" Celia called after her. Brittany sank down in the sofa and took out her phone. She checked her text messages. There was at least a dozen, and most of them were from Alvin.

Celia came and sat down next to her. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said at first, but then she thought about it. "No... I don't know. I just can't stop thinking about him."

"Then just call him," Celia said. "I know he misses you as much as you miss him."

"How can you tell?" Brittany asked.

"Something in his voice," Celia said. "I wish I had guy that loved me that much."

"Love? Did you say love?" Brittany shot at her. "If he does he's never said it. Not once."

"Maybe he's afraid." Celia said.

"Of what? Me?" Brittany thought for a minute. It suddenly made sense. He was just as afraid as she was. "Oh, Celia, what am I going to do?"

"Call him," she said, pointing to her phone.

Brittany just groaned and put her phone on the coffee table and walked off. Celia decided to leave her alone for a while. Brittany could be stubborn, and when she didn't want to do something there was nothing anyone could say to convince her otherwise.

Brittany went back up to Celia's room and dialed home. She let it ring, waiting for an answer. "Hello, Miller residence."

"Hey, Jen!" Brittany shouted in the phone.

"Brittany, what's wrong?" Jeanette asked in concern.

"Did you give Alvin Celia's number?" Brittany demanded to know.

"No, of course not," Jeanette said. "Why would I do that?"

"Somebody gave him the number, because he keeps calling."

"Besides Miss Miller the only other person who knows is... Ellie."

"I'm going to kill her," Brittany said, pacing back and forth across the room.

"Brittany, don't be angry," Jeanette said. "She was just trying to help. Now, are you really angry?"

"No," Brittany said, lying down on the bed. "I'm just confused."

"I wish you would come home," Jeanette said. "I miss you."

"I miss you," Brittany said. "I miss Alvin, too. I guess I just can't help myself."

"Brittany," Jeanette said. "How can you say that? You caught him with another girl."

"I'm not so sure that's true anymore," Brittany said. "I think I might have misjudged him."

"Brittany, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Maybe, I don't know. I'm just so confused."

"Well, whatever you do I'm behind you."

"Thanks, Jen," she said and hung up the phone.

At the Miller house Eleanor had just came through the door. She looked up at her sister with a smile on her face. She had two bags of groceries, and carried them into the kitchen.

"Ellie, we need to talk," Jen said.

"Make it fast," Eleanor said. "Theodore's coming over for dinner, so I have to get everything ready."

"Okay," Jeanette said, leaning over the counter as Eleanor unloaded her groceries. "I need to discuss something with you."

"Go ahead, Jen," Eleanor said, preoccupied with her task.

"Did you give Alvin the number where Brittany's staying?"

"What?" Eleanor questioned, not really listening to her. She was more interested in organizing her ingredients.

"You know what I'm talking about?" Jeanette said, taking Eleanor's arm to get her full attention.

"Okay, I did," Eleanor said. "Those two are in love, and they deserve to be together. You know that's true. Brittany's miserable without Alvin. If she would just talk to him, I know they can work things out. You know that, so I just gave her a little push."

"But, Ellie, she was furious," Jeanette said.

Eleanor didn't look too worried. "She can be mad at me all she wants, but in the end she'll thank me."

"I'm not so sure about that," Jeanette said, sitting down at the table.

Eleanor walked over to her. "I am," she said, and sat next to her. "Stop worrying." She got up, looking back at the cluttered counter. "Now, I really got to get busy."

"Okay," Jeanette said and left the kitchen. She just hoped Eleanor was right.

At the Seville house Alvin remained in his room. He tried to call Brittany again, but yet again she was unavailable. He threw his phone across the room in frustration. He had no idea what to do, so he took out the box he had under his bed. He shuffled through it looking for his notebook. He opened it up and began to write. It was another letter to Brittany.

After he had written a page and a half, Simon had come into the room. "Hey, you busy?" Simon asked.

"Not really," Alvin said. He closed his notebook and set down on his nightstand.

Simon saw the box sitting on the bed. He noticed all the closed envelopes that were stamped and addressed. "Are you going to mail these?"

Alvin picked up the box and stuck it back under his bed. "No, I'm not," he said.

"Then why did you stamp them?" Simon asked, confused by the whole thing.

Alvin closed his notebook and stared off into space. "I don't know," he said. He put his head on his hands in frustration.

"Those letters are for Brittany, aren't they?" Simon asked. "Alvin, you just need to give Brittany some space, and you should give yourself a break too."

"I can't," Alvin said. "I just have to find a way to make her understand."

"I know," Simon said and left Alvin's room.

He sat back down on his bed and stared at the picture on his nightstand. It was a picture of them at their junior prom. Brittany's eyes were beaming. She looked so beautiful that night. He longed to have that night back. He wanted to tell her that night how he felt, but he just couldn't. Maybe if he had told her, things would have been different. She would have trusted him more. She would have believed him about Missy, and maybe she wouldn't have left.

He opened his notebook back up and started to write again. When he was done, he tore the pages out and folded up the letter and sealed it in an envelope. He put it with the rest of the letters. He then heard Dave calling them for dinner.

"Alvin!" he heard Dave's voice. "Are you hungry?"

He really wasn't hungry, but he called back, "I'll be right down." He left his room and walked down the stairs and into the dining room. Brittany was never far from his thoughts.

Back at the ranch Brittany took to horseback riding very quickly. One day Hank spotted her as she was returning to the stables. He ran up to her as she turned the horse over to one of the stable hands.

"Hey, Brittany," Hank said, walking towards her.

"Hank, right?" Brittany said, feeling a little awkward. "Celia warned me about you."

"I know," he said, standing right next to her. "But I'm harmless."

She could almost feel his breath on her. "I don't think so," she said and walked away from him.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"No, you did, it's just..."

"You keep thinking about that guy, right?" Hank said. "He must really be something."

"Yeah," Brittany said. "He is, and what about you and Celia?"

"What about her?" Hank asked, confused by her question. She walked out of the stables and was making her way back up to the house. Hank followed her.

"Are you following me?" Brittany asked, walking faster.

"I want to know what you meant," he demanded.

She stopped and looked him dead in the eye. "Why do you think you always flirt with all her friends?"

"Well, not all," Hank said. "Just the pretty ones."

"Yeah, to make her jealous," Brittany said and walked on, leaving Hank there to wonder.

When entering the house Brittany felt her phone vibrate. She opened it to see another text message. It was from Alvin again.

It simply said: Missing you.

That was it. She couldn't take it anymore. She wanted nothing more than to see him again. Celia entered the room, seeing Brittany clutching her phone.

"Hey, you okay?" Celia asked.

"Yeah," Brittany said, putting on a fake smile. "But I made a decision. I'm going home."

"Are you sure?" Celia asked.

"Never been more sure," Brittany said and went upstairs to pack.

That's the end of Chapter Two. I hope you liked it. Next up. The Phone Call. No spoilers. You'll just have to wait. Remember to review.