Three Months

Chapter Seven

*Song on the side is the song that Jude's listening to toward the end of the chapter. The screaming one that Paisley doesn't like. (: I like it, by the way, lol.

“The park?” I wonder out loud.

            After Jude and I left the café, he began driving rather recklessly and insisted on it being a surprise, which translates to he didn’t say anything the entire ride despite the fact I asked him about a thousand times where we were going. Naturally, he got irritated of my talking and so to efficiently shut me up, he turned on the radio. Surprisingly, he listened to the same type of music that I did, so music tastes weren’t really an issue.

            Besides, even if they were an issue, Jude wouldn’t care.

            Other than the fact that he ignored me the entire drive, it wasn’t too bad. For the majority of the drive, I just stared out the window, thinking about my dad’s proposition. Do I honestly need him in my life—for the remaining three months of my life anyway—or could I just continue on the way I am? I’ve been parentless for a year; I’m pretty used to it.

            I was going to get Linda’s opinion earlier, but obviously, I couldn’t because she ditched me. To be truthful, I’m pretty annoyed with her. If I were her, I wouldn’t want to ditch a dying girl. I wouldn’t ditch any girl.

            “Yep,” Jude says, popping the ‘p’. “The duck pond to be more precise.”

            Raising my eyebrows, I shrug and get out of the car. Whatever suits his needs. “Alright.”

            Once we’re both out of the car, he mutters a ‘stay here’ and opens the back door of his car. He pulls out a bag with something in it and continues on to walk toward the pond filled with ducks without even bothering to tell me to follow him.

            Nevertheless, I follow him to the park bench near the pond where Jude sits down. I look around and notice that there are only a few people scattered among the area. It isn’t exactly the warmest day out, and that’s probably why the park isn’t flooded with families and couples like it usually is.

            Off in the distance is a flock of ducks, waddling around in the water and ducking their heads down below the surface every now and then to eat whatever it is that ducks eat. Most of them are a bland color, and none really have any distinguishable characteristics except one.

            There’s this one duck that stands out among the others. It looks like he—or she?—has a Mohawk. Bunches of its hair on the top of its head stick up in multiple directions.

            “Hey,” I say to Jude, a smile forming on my face, “look at that duck.” I nudge him with my hand and point toward the odd duck with a Mohawk.

            “What?” Jude asks, turning to look at the duck. Even after he sees the duck, he still remains unsmiling. “Yeah, okay, there’s a duck with weird hair. What about it?”

            “It’s cute,” I mumble defensively. “Or at least I think it is.”

            Jude rolls his eyes and puts the bag in between us. He opens it up, and I realize that it’s cracked corn. Sticking his hand into the bag, he pulls out a handful of corn. A typical Jude move, he shoves it in my face. “Here,” he says. “Go feed the ducks.”

             “But they’re all the way over there!” I exclaim, pointing over to the ducks all the way on the other side of the pond. “I can’t like, throw the food into the middle of the pond!”