Chapter 4

"What are your plans?" Peter asked after we stopped dancing.

We were outside the house at the backyard where it was a bit quiet.

"For what?" I asked as I took another sip of my margarita in a cup.

"Life."

I frowned. I didn't want to think about life.

"Um, not sure. I still want to be a midwife, though."

"I remember you told us that..." His voice trailed off as if he knew the memories he was bringing back.

It was bringing back the memory when I 'pretended' to be his girlfriend and Mary--Nathan's Aunt--didn't like me one bit. I wonder what happened to them.

"I still want to be a chef." Peter said bringing me from my thoughts. I laughed at what he said.

"I thought that was just to drift attention at a dinner." I smirked remembering how Peter stopped Nathan and I kissing by saying he wanted to be a chef.

He chuckles. "I actually do." He said. "Do you--uh--plan to date again?"

I looked at him.

"Not right, no." I admitted. I wasn't anywhere near over Nathan. Not all the drinking and hanging out with him can make me forget Nathan.

"Oh." He said and it fell silent. "So... what kind of pie do you like?"

That was just like Peter to switch the subject to something so random. I spent the rest of the party with him. It was good to pretend to be normal for once.

On Sunday I spend the day cleaning the house and unlocking every room in the house. With the help of the guys and girls I was able to finish by three.

"Hey, we still have the jumpers for another two hours!" I squealed as I went to the backyard and took off my shoes.

"Yay!" Rodrigo said taking his off.

"You'd think they're be mature, but no." Linda said.

"Oh, come on, Linda. We're just having fun. Race you to the jumper, Rodrigo?"

"You're on."

He was taking off his other shoe. I pushed him to the ground and he fell. He had shoes with laces so it was easy to trip him over.

"Cheater!" He yelled behind me as I got to the jumper first.

Half of my body was inside when I felt Rodrigo's hands pull me back out. I yelped and kicked my feet. I felt as the back of my foot hit his stomach. His grip loosens.

"HA! You can't beat me!" I exclaimed as I went all the way inside... the jumper. I started to jump up and down. Rodrigo went inside and tackled me. I screamed and laughed at the same time. He started to tickle me. "S-stop." I said while laughing.

"No! That really hurt, now apologize."

"Never!" I said as I pushed him off of me with my feet.

The others joined in as well, even Linda.

Linda loosened up. Maya attacked Brian. They've been flirting with each other for the last five months and it's been getting annoying. Soon I had Rodrigo in a headlock.

"Say uncle!" I yelled.

"NO!" He choked out.

He poked my stomach, my weakness. I hated being poked. The aftermath is horrible. I let go of Rodrigo and hold my stomach.

"Cheater." I muttered.

"Says the cheater." Rodrigo smirked.

"Revenge!" I yelled.

On Monday morning I woke up with the same numb feeling inside of me. It was impossible to get rid of. It was like someone had taken a huge chunk of me.

I looked at my cell phone. I picked it up and scrolled down to the numbers.

John Fullerton.

I pressed the green button and waited patiently for the ringing. When it began to ring my heart started to accelerate.

"Hello?" John's deep voice answered.

I didn't say anything. My voice froze.

"I know it's you Melinda, I have your number."

I chuckled nervously. "Hello, John... um... I just wanted to say... hello and... how have you been?" My voice was a little higher than usual.

He chuckled a little. "I know why you called... nothing has changed, I'm sorry."

"Oh, well... could you tell him happy late birthday for me?" I know it was on Friday, the day before mine. I didn't have the courage then but I do now to call.

"Of course, I was just on my way to see him." John said.

"And tell him I miss him... a lot." Here comes the fireworks... damn it! I let out a small sob. "And that... I love him."

"I'll be sure to let him know." John said.

"Okay, bye. I-uh-have to go to school."

"You're going to college?" He asked.

"Yes. To be a midwife."

"Like you always wanted to be." He chuckled.

"Yes. Okay, I'll let you go."

"Happy late birthday, Melinda."

"Thanks so much, John."

We hung up. I wiped away my tears and jumped out of bed to the bathroom. It felt good to call John.

I showered and took off to school. All through the rest of the week, I was able to concentrate on my school work. I don't know why, but I did.

Many weeks went by like that. On Monday mornings I called John to check on Nathan. Nothing ever occurred but I still wanted to check. That summer I spent it on doing community service hours to get into the nursery program at the college.

The second year of college was a blur and all too soon my birthday came again and this time on a Sunday which happened also to be Mother's Day. On Saturday I called John and told him to tell Nathan happy twenty-second birthday.

On Mother's day I woke up and made breakfast with Laura. The twins helped, but burned the toast somehow. We wished her a happy mother's day. She cried.

She had a present for me too. She gave me a necklace with the Virgen de Guadalupe, which is the I guess the 'Mexican' version of the Virgin Mary. I truly believed in her and prayed every night to help him wake up.

Peter still stayed with me. He quickly become one of my best friends. Also on my twentieth birthday I announced to my parents that I was moving out and moving in with Linda and Maya. We found an apartment closer to school and since I still worked, I now worked at Anchorblue in the mall. It was an improvement from Panda Express so I'm happy with it.

"Are you sure?" My mom asked.

"Yes, I want to be independent." I smiled at them.

"But you have everything here." My dad said.

"Dad, I need to have my own life. I'm just moving closer to school, that's all. I'm not moving to another country." I chuckled.

My dad sighed. "All right, but if you ever have financial problems... don't hesitate to come to us."

I smiled at them. "I know I can count on you guys if I need you." I said.

"When are you leaving?" My mom asked.

"Well, I'm packing all this week so next weekend." I said.

"What are you doing for your birthday?" Victor--my little brother asked.

"Well, I'm spending the afternoon with the guys, we're going to Universal Studios and Peter and Charles are taking me out to dinner at night." I said.

"Sounds like a fun day." My dad said.

"Yeah, okay I have to get ready they'll be here any minute." I said. I went over to my mom and gave a her a kiss on the cheek. "Happy mother's day, mami."

"Happy birthday, Melinda." She kissed my cheek.