Chapter 8

Tana heard a deep voice speaking over a slow intro:

Baby, I know you’re hurting
Right now you feel like you could never love again
Now all I ask is for a chance
To prove that I love you

From the first day
That I saw your smiling fave
Honey, I knew that we would be
Together forever

When I asked you out
You said no, but I found out
Darlin’ that you’d been hurt
You felt that you’d never love again
I deserve a try, honey, just once
Give it a chance and I’ll prove it all wrong
You walked in, you were so quick to judge
But honey, he’s nothing like me

The next morning, daylight flooded the room as Tana shook the hold of her heavy sleep. As she rose, the events of the previous night flooded her consciousness. I’ve gotta talk to him, she thought. I’ve gotta tell him how I feel.

Realizing it was only a quarter past 8, Tana decided to listen to the rest of the CD Alex had bought her.

Right around “Hey Mr. DJ…” (track 7), the phone rang. Tana reached for the receiver and answered it. “Hello?”

“Um… Tan? It’s me.” Jake.

“Um… hold on, let me turn down my CD.” It didn’t seem right to Tana to listen to Alex’s band while talking to Jake.
“Tana, we gotta meet up and switch some stuff back. I’ve got some of your stuff. Plus, there’s somethin’ I gotta tell you.”

“Oh.” Tana hesitated before answering, “I guess I could do that. When & where?”

“Can we meet at the little park by my house?”

Tana really didn’t want to meet at that park; it had too much meaning for her. But she knew that a refusal would be met with questions she didn’t want to answer. So instead, she said, “Sure. I’ll be there is 45 minutes.

Tana hung up the phone and looked at the clock- 8:34. She grabbed her cordless and dialed Alex’s home number while digging around for some of Jake’s stuff.

The phone rang 3 times before it clicked to the answering machine. “Yo, this is Alex. You know that drill.”

“Hey Alex,” Tana said, while grabbing a sweater of Jake’s, “This is Tana. Remember that park we met at? Will you meet me there at 9:45?”

She hung up, looked at the clock and realized she had to leave. On her way out, she grabbed her new CD to listen to in the car.

“Uh, Tan…” Jake started once they had switched their stuff, “I gotta tell ya something.”

“Yeah?” she asked, reading the sadness on his face and therefore expecting the worst.

“My mom… She’s sick. My plane back to Seattle leaves at one.” His lower lip began to quiver.

Before she knew what was happening, she was sitting next to him on the bench, her arm around him.

“They don’t know what it is,” he continued. “It… it might be cancer.”

“Ohm Jake,” she soothed, holding him close. “You know I’m always here. I promise.”

She heard a rustling behind Jake, and when she looked up, she saw Alex watching them. As soon as their eyes met, Alex turned and walked away. Tana got goosebumps just seeing the hurt in his eyes, but she knew that she would have to deal with him later, so she turned back to Jake.

To her surprise, Jake spoke. “Follow him.”

“What?”

“He obviously cares about you, and any idiot can see that you feel something, too. Follow him.”

“Jake, it’s not-“

He silenced her with a finger to her lips. “Tan, I’ll never know why, but something drove us apart. Something took apart our love. Now it’s time for this guy to take care of you. It’s his turn to love you. Mine time’s up.” He pulled her close, knowing it would be the last time. He let his lips lightly brush her cheek and then he let go.

With one last glance back at her past, Tana ran towards her future. “Alex!” she cried. “Alex, wait!”