Fractured Promises by Lauren Ruiz (ap literature book list txt) 📕

the road, he drove faster.
His stomach was growling. He hadn’t eaten anything since the night before. He was starving, and was abnormally dehydrated.
“Ari, hold up.” Clark said as he pulled up into the drive-through.
“Welcome to McDonalds. May I take your order?” was all that Arianna heard. She smiled. She could picture him sitting in the driver’s seat with his hand under his chin as his blue eyes scanned the menu.
“Yeah, can I have a two Hot’N’Spicy’s with extra mayo, one large fry, and a large sweet tea?”
“Two Hot’N’Spicy’s with extra mayonnaise, one large fry, and a large sweet tea?” the lady said through the speaker.
“Yes.”
The lady gave him his price, and ordered him to drive up to the window.
“Wow, really Clark? You are such a pig.” Arianna said with a laugh.
“I know.” Clark said with a laugh. He was still smiling when he drove up to the window to pay, and when the girl at the window saw him, she stopped.
Whoa, she said, almost in a moan.
Arianna heard her and began to laugh. She was used to girl’s reactions being that way towards her best friend.
“You already have a fan.” Arianna said with a grin.
“I suppose so.” Clark said with another laugh as the girl handed him his food and drink with shaky hands.
“Have a nice day.” She said shyly.
“You have a nice day too beautiful.” Clark said with his charming smile as he drove off.
Arianna knew what kind of affect that would have on that innocent girl, because he had done the same thing to her plenty of times without even knowing it.
He would give a compliment, and wonder why the girl’s faces turned red after he said it. He seriously thought that his compliments angered them, when it had the exact opposite affect on them.
“Should I tell your family that you’re coming home?” Arianna asked as she sat down on the couch in front of the open space that was supposed to be the window in the loft. She was staring out at the sky again.
Clark hesitated before he answered and said, “If you want to.”
“I want to know whether you want to surprise them Clark. But I think it would be best that I tell them. We have all been thinking that you died somewhere and that’s why you were not answering your phone to any of us. Has anyone from school called?”
He knew who she meant without saying her name. She didn’t mean just anyone. She meant Zoe. He sighed heavily and muttered, “No.”
“Well I guess I’ll tell them. They deserve to know. When do you think you will be back?”
“I’m not sure. I just hope that I won’t have to go through traffic, but I doubt that I wouldn’t. So, I really don’t know. I guess I’ll call you when I’m back in town.”
“Ok. That’s fair. See you soon Clark.”
Before either of them hung up, Arianna said,
“Clark?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.” And with that, she hung up.
Clark kept the phone to his ear. Had he heard her right, or was he imagining the desire in her words?
“Don’t be a fool Clark. You’re just best friends.” Clark reminded himself.
While Clark put his phone in his glove compartment, a piece of paper fell to the ground.
When he had finally stopped at a red light, he quickly pulled it off the ground and unfolded it.
It was Caden’s number.
He had forgotten all about her.
How did he forget such a beautiful face?
He had forgotten that he had told her that he would call her and maybe stop by to see her on his way to Ohio, but after talking to Arianna, he knew that his visit to the beautiful red haired girl would have to wait.
His best friend and his family had to come first this time.
He had to get back to them before they fully learned to despise him.
Back at the Queen Farm, Arianna walked into the living room and sat on the black leather couch.
The room was so cozy with its beautiful natured paintings, and its dimmed lights.
Peyton was in the corner in the room lying on her stomach while she flipped through pages of her paperwork, and her books.
She was so deep in thought that she hadn’t noticed that she had her pencil clenched tightly between her teeth.
“I called Clark,” Arianna announced as she stared down at her hands. She looked up quickly to find all three pair of eyes fixed on her.
“He answered,” she said.
“What did he say?” Julie Anne asked while getting up and stood next to her husband who had been eating a sandwich but stopped when he heard Arianna’s declaration of talking to his son.
Julie Anne squeezed her husband’s hand and smiled at him with tears in her eyes.
“He said that he was about twelve hours away. It could be more since traffic and everything.”
“Did he tell you where he’s been?” Peyton asked, looking up from her notes. The pencil had fell from her mouth when she spoke, and she lifted it back up and bit on it as she looked up at Arianna.
“No. He just said that he’s not too far from Ohio.”
“I swear he has got to make up his mind. Either he wants to stay, or he wants to stay gone. He’s really getting on my nerves.” Peyton said as she looked back down at her journal and began to write roughly.
Everyone but her father had gotten quiet from her words.
“If he didn’t love us, he wouldn’t bother coming back.”
“Yeah, but if he really did love us, he wouldn’t keep leaving the way he does. He would just stay his ass here with his family and his best friend and not hurt us the way he does.”
“He’s hurting Peyton. He has a memory with Zoe in every corner of this town. I wouldn’t blame him for not wanting to be here.” Arianna said, sticking up for her best friend.
“I honestly don’t care. Every one gets their heart broken. He needs to be able to deal with it and move on.”
“He got his heart stomped on in a terrible way darling. I hate what that girl has done to him. He loved her so much, and she turned her back on him. How would you feel if Wesley cheated on you?” Julie Anne asked her daughter.
Peyton was standing up now, “Wesley is not like that! He’s a good person!” she shouted.
“Clark thought the same thing about Zoe, but he was wrong.” Terrance said as he stood up next to his wife.
“It’s funny how wrong you can be about a person…” Arianna said in a sad and low murmur.
“Every one just needs to calm down. We don’t want to run Clark off when he gets home.” Julie Anne said.
She couldn’t endure his departing any longer. She only had three months left with her son until he graduated, and she was absolutely sure that he would leave Ohio for sure.
Just the thought of Clark no longer sleeping under the same roof as her broke Julie Anne’s heart. The Queens had so many good memories together that the way Clark was acting was still strange to her.
She understood that her son was heartbroken, she truly did, but the way he was going about it was unacceptable.
Deep down, she knew that she agreed with her daughter. Every one did get their heart broken. It was bound to happen in everyone’s lives. It had happened to her, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit it to herself.
But Clark did have to step up and take control of his life. Just because a girl had broken his heart did not give him the right to keep leaving, especially out of town on school days.
He had a long way to go before he truly matured. And as she thought more and more about it, Clark was acting very immature for an eighteen year old.
He had to realize that he wasn’t alone. He had family and friends that were always there for him. And he also had a girl that was clearly in love with him, but they were both too blind to see it.
Arianna didn’t even understand her feelings for Clark.
“Who cares if he leaves? Let him go! He’s going to do it anyway. Can’t you understand that? He’s always going to run away.” Peyton was getting so furious with the conversation that her face was getting beet red. She looked like a time bomb set to explode.
“He’s still your brother Peyton! Don’t talk about him like that.” Terrance shouted. Terrance barely ever lost his temper with his children, but Peyton was pushing him and he was getting very close to the edge.
“You’re kidding me right? Why do you keep defending him? Yeah, he’s your son and you love him. But seriously dad, how could you stand there and think that he’s never going to leave again? Don’t be surprised that he will be out of here right after he graduates. And no one’s going to be able to stop him.”
“But what if he sticks around? What if he changes his mind?” Arianna already knew the answer to that, and now hearing her own words, they sounded ridiculous.
They all knew that he would never change his mind about leaving Ohio.
He was going to leave his friends behind.
He was going to leave his home behind.
He was going to leave his family behind.
And even though she didn’t want to believe it, he was going to leave her behind with everything and everyone else.
“No, that won’t happen. You know what? I’m through with this talk about Clark. When you all realize that he only cares for himself, come find me and I will personally tell you that I told you so.” Peyton said harshly as she ran upstairs, leaving every one else to their thoughts.
Julie Anne held her head in her hands as she cried, and Terrance wrapped his arms around his sobbing wife. The sound of her tears ruptured his heart and soul.
She wanted to walk over to them and give them comfort, but she knew that it would be ineffective.
They were riding an emotional rollercoaster together, while she was riding one of her own.
She walked out of the living room, to the door, and closed it gently behind her.
She walked to the barn, and into the loft. When she got there, she remained standing for an instant. So much was running through her mind that she found it to be extremely excruciating.
Arianna went through some of Clark’s shirts that he left on the shelf, and put it on.
Afterwards, she lied down on the couch and shut her eyes for a few seconds. And before she knew it, her world was hurled into the profundity of obscurity.