Red Flags (28 page)

The lights, fire, and optical illusions were
exciting, and exhilarating, but I was faced with the reality that
after a two hour show, Jason still hadn’t called, or texted me. On
the way out of the theater, my mom threw her arm around me and
whispered into my ear. “I know it’s something about Jason. I won’t
pry, but work it out.” She winked at me and took my dad’s hand as
we all strolled to the car.

I slugged along to my room in the hotel, not
wanting to share an ounce of space with Mila at the moment.
Luckily, she went to Ryan’s room, so I had our room to myself.
Chelsea was still away with her parents, and I wasn’t sure where
Kate was, but at this point, I didn’t really care. I was torn,
Should I call him or not? The good angel sitting on my shoulder
told me to do the adult thing and call, while the devil on the
other side was saying “fuck him.” I decided the angel was a better
choice and I pressed call on his name, expecting him not to answer.
He picked up on the second ring.

“Hey gorgeous.” He said, without a slice of
anxiety in his voice. I was a bit shocked by his greeting.

“Hi. Why haven’t I heard from you?” I really
didn’t mean to come off so accusatory, but at this point, it was
pretty hard to hide it.

He sighed heavily before speaking, and I
couldn’t help but wonder if he was trying to formulate a lie. “You
were so pissed last night, unlike any way that I’ve ever seen you,
so I had to back up, and give you some space.”

“But it’s okay to contact Mila. Seriously
Jason, you have to be smarter than that.” My tone shifted to
angry.

“Cara. You have never been like that with me,
not even when I left, so I just didn’t know how to handle that.
And, I only told Mila because I thought someone should know, and I
damn sure wasn’t contacting Chelsea.”

“Okay, what about Hunter, right there in the
damn room with you?” The line went silent, but I could hear him
breathing. I heard what sounded like a faint female voice in the
background, and I blew my top. “Who is that Jason?” I was
practically grinding my teeth and I felt like the veins in my neck
were ready to burst.

“What are you talking about?”

“I heard a female voice, who was it?”

“Cara, I’m going to let you go so you can
calm down. I’m still here, I still want to see you, but you need
some space.”

“Jason, don’t you dare hang up on me…” and
before I would finish my thought, the line went dead. I threw my
cell phone on the bed and rushed out of the room to go upstairs to
Jason’s room. I was not going crazy, and I was near certain that I
heard a female voice.

I hurried onto the elevator, with a million
scenarios running through my head, and as the doors opened, Jason
was standing right in front of them. He froze, shocked to see me,
and I poked my head out, looking around trying to find the source
of the voice I heard on the phone. He looked at me completely
bewildered. “What are you looking for?” I stared at him, half
embarrassed that I had allowed myself to become that girl.

“Who was that in the room with you?” I forgot
about the embarrassment and focused back on my original reason for
going up to his room.

“No one was in my room Cara. Hunter is gone,
and he is the only person I am sharing a room with. You can be mad
at me, but please don’t make shit up.” He stepped onto the elevator
and pressed the 10th floor, the floor that I was staying on. I
stood with my arms crossed over my chest, upset at myself for
giving in to my jealousy, but also perturbed at the fact that Jason
still wouldn’t be straight with me. I moved to the far right corner
of the elevator. We rode down to my floor in complete silence. With
the exception of a few glances at one another, there was little to
no acknowledgement that we were alone in the elevator. The tension
was high, the ride was unusually long, and I wanted more than
anything to burst through the doors and get off. We stopped on the
10th floor, and the doors opened to Mila standing and waiting.
Jason was the first person she saw and she threw her arms around
him saying, “I was just coming to see you.” Jason gave me a nervous
glance and Mila immediately removed her arms from his body. I got
off the elevator in a huff, and stomped down to my room.

When I got back to the room Kate was the only
one there. Chelsea and her family were still out having a grand
time. I asked her if anyone had come by the room and she said no.
She left to go and take a shower so I called Ryan. He picked up on
the second ring.

“Hey Cars, what’s up?” He was very
upbeat.

“Sorry to call you with such nonsense Ryan,
but do you know where Mila is?”

“Noooo,” he dragged the word out slowly,
“text her, she has her phone with her.”

“Um, when was the last time you saw her?”

“About an hour ago… why Cars, what’s going
on?” His voice lowering.

Just then, Chelsea came bursting through the
door. “Cara, oh my fucking God.”

“What Chels?” My heart was racing, my
breathing erratic.

“Who are you on the phone with?” She asked,
her eyes looking like a deer in headlights.

I covered the mouth piece of the phone,
“Ryan. Why? What’s wrong?” She grabbed my phone and politely let
Ryan off the line.

“Hunter and I were walking back into the
hotel when we saw the Raptor leaving.”

“Okay. I just saw Jason, I know he was
leaving.” I didn’t understand what had her in such a fit.

“Okay, but Mila was in there with him.
Alone!” My eyes darted to hers, wide and full of suspicion. “You
don’t think that, they…”

“I don’t know what to think anymore. I spoke
to him and he said he was wakeboarding all day, but of course, Mila
already knew that. He said he…” Chelsea threw her hand up to stop
me from speaking.

“Mila already knew? When you hadn’t even
spoken to him yet?”

“Yup. He said he needed to let someone know
he was still here.”

Chelsea shook her head and rolled her eyes,
“I don’t like this shit Cara. You need to do something about this,
and if you want, I will set Mila straight.” I put my finger over my
mouth, signaling for Chelsea to keep quiet since Kate is in the
bathroom.

“I will speak to her.”

“I’m serious Cara, this is beyond
ridiculous.”

“I know. Trust me; the way she threw herself
on Jason in the elevator was too much.”

“Threw herself on him?” Her shock level
skyrocketed.

“Yes. We were coming down from his room and
when we got to our floor, Mila was standing there and she threw her
arms around him and said something about coming to see him. Trust
me, I was shocked and pissed about it.”

“And now, you do something about it.” I could
see the wheels turning in her head and I knew that whatever she was
thinking couldn’t possibly be good.

<>

We left the room and quickly made our way
down to the lobby. Chelsea said to wait for them to come back
together so that there was no denying that they were together.
After waiting for almost an hour, the roar of the Raptor came
thundering back into the parking lot. My heart began to race as I
prepared myself for something that I didn’t want to face. Chelsea
looked like a hungry animal ready to attack her prey.

Mila and Jason came strolling in, laughing
wildly, until they saw the two of us, and it was as if the world
stopped, and everyone around us disappeared. Jason’s eyes locked
with mine, and I could feel the hurt and wrath building inside of
me. Chelsea grabbed me by the arm and marched me over to the two of
them.

“You are such a bitch Mila,” she said, and I
swore I felt fire coming from her breath. Mila shook her head but
didn’t say a word. I turned to look at her, but she wouldn’t look
me in the eye. “And you, what kind of shit stain are you? You have
a wonderful, beautiful girl and you just can’t get your shit
together Bradley.” I stopped her because the way she was feeling,
she could go on for days.

Jason took my arm and pulled me outside to
his truck. I looked back to see Mila and Chelsea involved in a
heated exchange but I couldn’t hear any of the words being spoken.
Jason let me into the truck and I could no longer contain myself, I
slapped him hard across the face. He didn’t react to it; he just
closed his eyes, and leaned his head back against the headrest.
Tears began to prick my eyes, and I did nothing to try and stop
them. “I can’t stand this,” I said through the tears, “I can’t
stand what I’ve become since being with you.” His looked to me,
with an exhausted expression on his face, but didn’t say anything.
I went on, “was that Mila in your room when I was on the phone with
you?”

“No Cara. No one was in my room.” His voice
was eerily low. “Besides, you saw her at the elevator, how would
she get there that quickly?”

“She could have taken the stairs.” He bit his
bottom lip, trying to contain his mounting frustrations, but I just
couldn’t muster up the energy to care. “The way she threw herself
on you, then you two leaving together, you aren’t even trying to
hide it Jason, that’s the worst part. And my brother, Ryan – he has
no clue about any of this.” I had to stop talking because I was
beginning to hyperventilate. Jason rolled down the windows and
turned back to me.

“You have no idea what you are talking about,
there is nothing going on with Mila.”

“Sure doesn’t look that way,” I angrily
replied back to him.

“Fucking Chelsea is a shit starter. She put
you up to this didn’t she?”

“Jason, don’t throw the blame to Chelsea when
you and Mila are so sloppy. She, unlike Mila, is a good friend, who
is looking out for me. I should have known, now my poor brother is
going to get his heart broken. And the funny thing is we will have
our hearts broken together, because of mutual betrayal.” I couldn’t
stop the tears from streaming down my face. Jason leaned over and
took me in his arms. Trying to warm and comfort me; he kissed the
top of my head.

“No one is being betrayed. I hate being apart
from you. I’m afraid of the life I would have to live without you.
You are so much to me.” His words caressed my ears; this is what I
had needed from him. “I can’t stand to even picture a life without
you. Strike me down here and now God if I have ever done anything
to betray this gorgeous creature of yours,” he said while looking
up towards the roof of his truck.

We sat in silence for what felt like hours,
but after looking at the clock, it had only been 15 minutes. I knew
we had to go back inside and as much as I wanted everything to be
right in our world, it just wasn’t. I had to go back to same hotel
room with Mila and face her -- the awkwardness between us sent my
stomach rumbling. Luckily, Chelsea would be with me, and may have
already destroyed the problem for me.

Jason came around to my side and helped me
out of the truck. We walked back into the hotel, not saying a word.
All of the people, who I swore had disappeared when Jason and Mila
strolled into the lobby, were now painfully staring at Jason and
me. I guess my fantasy about us being the only people in the world
at that moment, was nothing more than an obvious jealous rage put
on display for all of Las Vegas to see. Jason didn’t seem to mind
the attention and kissed my hand as we walked to the elevators. The
ride up to the 10th floor was quiet, but serene. The earlier
tension and rage has dissipated but the unease that I felt the
closer we got to my floor began to rise. Jason led me out of the
elevator and down the hall towards my room. I took a deep breath,
and we opened the door to find a rather peaceful scene. Chelsea was
lying back on the pillow playing on her IPad, Kate was on the
phone, and Mila was in the shower. Jason kissed me softly then
backed up and turned to walk down the hallway.

I walked lightly into the room and threw
myself on the bed next to Chelsea. Kate looked my way and shot me
an apologetic grin, to which I smiled back. Chelsea gathered me in
her lap and just hugged me. I sat and pondered how my life had
become so complicated and how I’d lost one of my really good
friends in the process. Mila and I may not have had the strong bond
that Chelsea and I had, but she was very close to my heart, and at
this very moment, I couldn’t even stand the look at her face. I had
never been that drama filled girl, who seemed to have Oscar worthy
breakdowns following her every step; yet, I was now being thrown
into more nonsense than I ever cared to witness. Jason had me so
topsy turvy that I couldn’t figure out which way was up and which
way was down. I didn’t know if I wanted my relationship with him or
not, and I couldn’t even think about carrying on a friendship with
Mila. I had become the girl that I swore I would never be.

Chelsea’s phone buzzed and she silenced it.
She was gently massaging my head and I was so grateful that through
all of this, she has been my steady, constant rock. She had been
there to pump me up, and act as a comforter when I needed her. She
wanted what was best for me, and wasn’t afraid to make me see when
I wasn’t getting it.

The commotion in the bathroom ceased. The
door opened, and my eyes locked with Mila’s. She stopped, standing
in the doorway with her pajamas on, and a towel wrapped around her
head. She didn’t say anything to me, her expression impassive. I
didn’t return any sort of emotion her way. She walked past the bed,
over the where Kate was sitting, talking on the phone, and began
applying lotion. I sighed, and shifted my body so as not to look at
her any longer. I lay on Chelsea until I fell asleep, with her
massaging my head, and the room laced with awkward silence.

Chapter 14

The next morning we woke up with all
seriousness. It was playoff day, and it seemed that we all had
woken up with the same mentality. The ordeal that took place the
night before had been washed out of my head, or better yet, pushed
to the back burner. We got dressed and went down to the team
breakfast room where only the team was allowed. Our coach wanted us
focused and relaxed for the game. I took my seat next to Kate and
had a big bowl of oatmeal, fresh fruit, scrambled egg whites, and a
large glass of orange juice. We ate with light chatter about the
room; Coach threw in his inspirational speech to make sure we were
pumped and ready to go. I had never been so ready in my life. I was
being called on to lead my team and I knew that they were relying
on me to win this game for them.