Page 12 of Our Moon (JACT #1)

I’m eventually able to locate Lucy with Alex’s help.

With social media being as popular as it is, it shouldn’t have been as difficult as it was, but considering I didn’t have any accounts, and Alex had to delete his personal pages after their band reached stardom, we had to reach out to some of our old classmates the old-fashioned way to see who was still connected with her.

And selecting which people we could contact who wouldn’t go all fangirl or fanboy on him was not easy.

Unfortunately, Lucy is in California. I do have her phone number, but I was hoping for a face to face conversation.

It’s too easy to tell half-truths and flat-out lie when you’re not looking into a person’s eyes.

I hate that I don’t know who I can trust. And the fact that Lucy disappeared while I was in the hospital rubs me the wrong way.

I pick up the picture of Lucy and me that I had pulled from my bulletin board earlier today.

We have our arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders and big cheesy grins facing the camera.

We’re in our bathing suits, and it looks like we’re at a beach.

I remember Trevor saying something about our parents renting out a lake house occasionally, so maybe that’s where we were.

At quick glance, Lucy and I could almost pass as sisters.

We have the same sandy blonde hair and almost identical blue eyes.

My tan is a little deeper than hers, at least in the picture.

She’s probably tanner than me now considering she’s been in California the past year.

It looks like she’s a little bit taller than me, but we’re both hunched over, so it’s hard to tell.

I suck it up and dial her number. The line rings three times before someone picks up.

“Hello?”

“Is this Lucy?” I ask.

“A-Ally?” she answers back, sounding stunned.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I respond lamely, twirling the phone cord around my finger as I lean back in my father’s old leather desk chair. I commandeered his office for this reconnaissance mission. Well, it wasn’t really all that theatrical, I just wanted some privacy.

“Wow. I sure didn’t expect to hear your voice.” She doesn’t sound displeased, just honestly surprised.

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” I ask, stalling.

“No, not at all. I just got in from a run a few minutes ago.” I vaguely remember Alex pointing her out on the track team when we were looking at our yearbook a few days ago.

“I’m sorry to call out of the blue like this,” I start.

“It’s okay, Ally. It’s really good to hear your voice. I heard you were out of the coma, but also I heard you had amnesia, so I didn’t really know what to do.”

“Yeah,” I say. “I don’t remember anything. My brothers told me about you, though. I know we were best friends, before the accident I guess.”

“We were,” she confirms, but doesn’t say anything else. This is about as awkward as I thought it would be.

“I’m just trying to piece together some things,” I continue, cutting to the chase. “I’m hoping you can help fill in some of the gaps.”

“Sure, I’ll try to do anything to help,” she offers .

“Thanks,” I say. “I’m not really sure where to start, but I guess I should ask, how are you? Are you doing okay?”

She sighs. “Yeah, I’m okay. College is good. I’m in California now, Stanford, which I guess you know since you’re calling me and all. I stay in the dorms, but I live with my aunt in San Francisco on breaks and stuff.”

“That’s good,” I say.

“Yeah, I like it here. Just started dating a guy; he’s real sweet.”

“That’s great,” I say, and mean it.

“So what can I help you out with?” she asks. “I bet you just have tons of questions if you can’t remember anything.”

“I do,” I nod, even though she can’t see me. “I was wondering if you can tell me anything about my relationship with Blake.”

“Blake? Why?” she spits out. I guess I’m not all that surprised that this question has stunned her, considering what everyone has been telling me about our breakup.

“My brothers couldn’t tell me much about our breakup. Only that it was bad. And I’m not sure I should call him and ask. I’m just trying to piece things together, and I’m kind of curious about other things, too.”

“What other things?” she asked skeptically .

“Like if we ever slept together,” I say quietly.

“You didn’t sleep with Blake,” she says quickly.

“Okay,” it comes out like a question.

“Your brothers are right. Your breakup with Blake was bad. He really hurt you, Ally. I don’t know all the details because you never wanted to talk about it. But I know he screwed around on you because you wouldn’t sleep with him.”

That is pretty bad. I can only imagine how much it must have hurt to have my boyfriend of two years cheat on me. “I didn’t tell you anything else?”

“No,” she says simply.

“Weren’t we close?” I question.

“Honestly?”

“Please,” I beg. “I need the truth. I feel like my brothers sugarcoat some of the things that they tell me to protect me, but I need to know the truth.”

“We kind of grew apart junior year. It wasn’t really intentional or either of our faults. Or maybe it was both of our faults, I don’t know. I mean, we still talked and all, but we didn’t hang out as much. You were always with Blake or the band, and I was focused on school. ”

“Is that why you didn’t stay at the hospital?” I ask. “Alex said you were there for a couple days and then disappeared.” Now is as good a time as any to get clarification on the doubts I have about Lucy’s loyalty to me back then.

“I bet he did. Alex is so dramatic. Some things obviously never change,” she huffs out, not even bothering to hide her frustration with my brother.

Interesting . “I stayed at the hospital as long as I could. I was so worried about you and upset about your parents; I didn’t want to leave.

No amount of distance between you and me could have changed that, Ally. I promise you that.”

“So what happened?” By now I’ve completely wrapped my hand in the long phone cord and begin the process of untangling it since my fingertips have turned purple.

“My parents,” she grounds out. It’s been a long time, but you can tell she’s still bitter about it.

“You know how they are. Well, I guess you don’t know how they are, but you did.

They were ridiculous. I swear they didn’t even want a kid.

They just wanted to keep up with appearances.

Successful doctor? Check! Trophy wife? Check!

Smart daughter? Check! Right after graduation, I was shipped off to live with my aunt in California.

They chased me down at the hospital to get me on the plane.

I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to leave you. But I had no choice. ”

If she’s telling the truth, it makes sense. I see no reason why she would lie about that. Plus, she seems to have the perfect amount of bitterness towards her parents in her voice. “I’m sorry they did that to you.”

“Well, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you,” she says, and again I believe her. There’s just something about Lucy that’s comforting. Kind of like Chase. I guess inside I can tell that these people were close to me in my previous life.

“It’s okay, it’s not like I would have noticed, I guess.”

She laughs lightly, “I guess.”

“Um,” I begin. “Was I seeing anyone? I mean, after Blake and before the accident?”

“I don’t know,” she says sadly. “Like I said, we weren’t too close at the time. There were a few times when we talked on the phone, and it seemed like you were hushing someone in the background, but when I’d ask you about it, you’d just say it was nothing or there was no one there.”

“Do you think I was sneaking around with someone?” I sit up straight in my chair. Now we’re getting somewhere.

“I can’t see how that would’ve been possible.” I instantly deflate. “I mean, you spent practically every waking moment with your brothers and the band. When you weren’t at school, you were in the garage with them while they practiced, or at their shows.”

This sounds remarkably like my current relationship with Chase. If it’s even a relationship. I sure hope it is, but it’s kind of hard to define something that’s a secret. Is this not my first secret relationship? What type of person would that make me?

“But my behavior was suspicious enough for you to point it out,” I state.

“Yeah, I guess. We didn’t talk much senior year, but a few of the times we did, it really did seem like you were holding something back. I just didn’t know what it was and was so consumed with my own stuff that I didn’t think to ask.”

“Well, I guess if it was a guy, it’s not really worth figuring it out,” I decide, leaning back in the chair again.

“Why do you say that?” she asks, genuinely curious.

“If I was in a relationship with a guy before the accident, where is he now? Obviously it couldn’t have been all sunshine and rainbows if he’s not around anymore.

What kind of guy abandons his girl when she’s in a coma?

And doesn’t even come to see me after?” I silently wonder if this is something I can just let go of.

“Well, I’m sure your brothers have kept a pretty close watch on you.

If you were hiding a relationship back then, maybe he hasn’t had an opening to say something without your brothers around.

Maybe he doesn’t know how to approach you, or he doesn’t think you’d believe him since you don’t remember. Or maybe he’s away at school.”

I get what she’s saying, and it’s totally valid, but I still don’t know what to think about all this. “I guess there’s a lot to consider.”

“If it’s any consolation, you were really happy, Al.”

This gets my attention. “What do you mean?”