�And I am not neurotic!� I scream slamming my front door shut. I�ve just had one horrible blow out with an ex-ex. No, not my past ex, but the one before the last guy I said goodbye to. James Gutierrez.
�You are too!� He shouts out at the closed door I�m still leaning up against. To which this makes me jump in surprise and conk my head by the peephole.
�Damn you! Leave already!� I shriek. My gosh, seriously is it that hard to realize when it�s over? I mean it had been over for the past two years but for the past two weeks I�ve been stupid enough to let him back into my life. Personally? I thought we were just friends, I mean yea we did have that little slip on the couch last week but that was an accident. I blame the 12-pack of Coronas.
�I�m gone!� He yaps out once again.
�Well go than!� I belt out for what I think is the final time.
�I�m gone!�
�So go than!�
�I am!�
�You are not!� I swing the door back open to see his astonishing handsome face. It�s a complete wonder how someone so attractive can be so annoying!
He grins back at me with a knowing face, I roll my eyes. �Got you to open the door though.� He dares to reach a hand inside the door but pulls back as I ready to slam it in his face. �C�mon Syn, don�t be like that.�
I raise one brow and bang the door closed. Than, so he knows I�m serious, I make a very loud habit of locking the locks and sliding in the chain. �Goodbye James.� I sing. Forever. I say to myself.
And that was the last time anyone ever saw James.

I wake in the middle of the night to what I thought was the sound of a train heading straight for me. It was actually my cell phone choo-chooing for me to hurry up and answer. I flip it open and bark, �What,� into the receiver.
What sounds like a dying rabbit is actually a person and not a prank call. I realize this after hanging up my phone only to have it ring again.
�Syn!� My best friend Monica cries.
I glance at the clock and groan, �Mon, it�s freaking 3 in the morning!�
�Syn!� She screams again.
�We�ve clarified that it is Synthia on the phone already! What do you want?!�
�Oh my god, Syn!�
That�s it. I flip the cell shut and roll over in bed. But it�s too late now because there is no way I�m going back to sleep. So I hit speed dial and wait for the inevitable yet instead I get her voicemail.
I leave no message and hang up, yawning really wide my eyes water and my skin tingles. So I flop down on my bed and the next thing I know, I�m being shaken awake by a screaming banshee.
�Synthia Helena Ramirez! Wake your lazy ass up now!� Monica raises a hand to strike my face.
�Whoa!� My own hands dart out to intercept the blow, �Are you crazy? Have you finally lost your mind?�
�Syn, James is missing!� Monica cries out in her most dramatic performance yet. Those acting classes must really be paying off finally, too bad I was her only audience.
I rub my eyes and stretch my arms up above my head, �Huh?�
�His mom says he never came home last night! She�s worried sick!�
�And I care because�?� I scratch my head, �Mon look, James was here earlier today and we had a fight, he probably went out to get some ass to get back at me. There, problem solved.�
But Monica is shaking her head sadly, �No Syn, I mean he is missing. He called Chad right after leaving your house; he was supposed to come over. He never came.� She hugs herself.
I roll my eyes at her, �Alert the media.� I stumble out of bed, �Make me a pot of coffee?�

So James is missing. It was made official after 72 hours with no contact. I was not convinced but everyone else was. I sat across his mother�s table with a grimace that was not because of his disappearance. In front of me was a plate full of apple pie that I had no intention of touching.
�This is ridiculous.� I finally belt out. Only to be silenced by the dozens of gasps heard around the table. My mother who is sitting beside me pinches my thigh and gives Mrs. Gutierrez a sympathetic look. Having been best friends since childhood I guess it was appropriate that my own mother take her side over mine.
�Antonia, poratsita. How is Ben?� My mother pats James� mom�s hand and asks of her husband.
�He�s still in shock I think.� She nods her head, �James and he were so close.�
I take a peek over her shoulder to see Mr. Gutierrez, Ben, sitting in his favorite Lazy Boy chair with a beer in one hand and the remote in the other. Yes, it must be shock.

You know when they say, �you have a face that only a mother could love�? Well, that doesn�t apply to me. My mother would rather chew her arm off than compliment me in any way, shape or form.