“Shit, I'm sorry, I have to go!” she said, and once again my world crumbled. “Look, it was good seeing you, are you free for a drink later? It'd be good to catch up with someone from my old life.”
“Uh, yeah, that'd be great.”
“Cool, there's a bar just down the street from here,” she said, and pulled out a pen to give me directions to the place. “I'll be there from nine, come and say hi,” Ivy said, then flashed a smile at me that made me want to melt.
For the rest of the day I was floating although I was nervous as well. I had led a sheltered life and was still unsure in these matters so I didn't know whether it was a date or not. Besides all that I didn't really have many good clothes to wear, and I didn't want to overdress so I decided on something casual. I perched myself on the end of my bed and waited for time to tick over to nine. It seemed to take an eternity and the longer I waited the more nervous I became until my toes were tapping on the floor and beads of sweat were pulsing against my temples. I didn't want to seem to eager but it was torture waiting, so I needed to do something. I left a little earlier than I expected and ended up getting to the bar on the stroke of nine. Ivy wasn't there yet, so I ordered myself a drink and then took a seat at a nearby table. It wasn't long before Ivy came in and I felt a swell of relief. She looked around and I took delight in just watching her exist. From the moment she came into the room it was like she owned it, and she had a magnetic pull that drew everything towards her. From years of not thinking about her, I was suddenly thrust back into that adolescent haze, a dream that seized me and would not relinquish its grip on me. She walked to the bar and leaned forward, so much so that her top rose against the sides of her body, providing me with a teasing glimpse of her pale skin, and another tattoo that stretched around the small of her back. Once the drink was ordered she turned around to have a better look, and waved at me when she saw me.
“You're an eager beaver,” she said.
“I was just sitting at home so I figured I'd come down.”
“That's cool. So...how is the old town?”
“Oh, you know, same as ever. Nothing ever really changes there.”
“No, that's because those with any sense decide to leave.”
“Did you ever think about going back?”
Ivy took a long sip from her glass and shook her head. “No, never.”
“Don't you miss your parents at all, or your friends?”
“It took me a long time to realize it but I never had any friends there,” she said in a hollow voice. I sensed that there was a dark story to that and part of me wanted to press her for more information but she continued talking before I could say anything.
“Anyway, the best thing I ever did was leave home. Just wish more people would realize that the place is dying.”
“What do you mean?”
“You must see it, they're so stuck in their ways that there's no new blood going into the place. Do you not see that nobody ever moves there? The only new people are the ones who are born and they're going to keep bleeding out once they realize the horror of living there, and at some point there are just going to be a load of old people sitting around complaining that there's nobody to take care of the town, and they'll blame everyone apart from themselves while the rest of us will have actually left to live life.”
I can't say that I wholly disagreed with her sentiment but I did feel bad for the people who still lived there because unlike Ivy I still had friends and family there that I cared about.
“I might go back one day and try to see if anything's changed. I just wanted some time away from that place to find myself. I didn't think that I could be the person I always wanted to be while I lived there.”
“I hear that. They want to crush anything they don't understand.”
“Is that why you left?” I asked. The question had been burning inside me ever since I found out that she ran away.
She smirked. “Why do you think I left?”
“Everyone had a story. Some said you were thrown out, others said you had a huge row with your parents, that they told you you could either get married to Pete or leave, and you chose to leave. I even heard some of them say that you were pregnant.”
“People and their imaginations...they do love to spin tales don't they?” She said, and took another long gulp of her drink. Her glass was almost empty while I had barely touched mine. I took another sip to try and catch up. She set the glass back down on the table and I watched the drops of condensation settle on her hand.
“The truth is far more mundane,” she said, “although Pete did have something to do with it. He was very...aggressive in some ways and he knew what he wanted. He wanted me. I was happy to have him around for entertainment but then he got harsher and nasty and I didn't want to be around him anymore. When I told him that he threatened to tell everyone about me, he wanted to bring me down and make my life misery and I was just done with it. Didn't want to put up with all the games and didn't want to have to pretend anymore. Everyone back there thought they were so important but none of them matter. Look at how many people are in this city that don't give a crap about us? All they wanted to do was control us and I was done. I tried to stick around because I wanted to try and change things for the better, to show people that there was a better way to live but I knew that they would just fight me and every turn and try to change me and that was never going to happen, and the only way it was going to end was with some big blowout and I was only one person so I'd be the one that lost. Better just to avoid all that and come here. It's a much more peaceful way of living.”