I Can't Get Up

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Pizza

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Pizza

After Carter's funeral, you could say I was in a depression period, but I wasn't. Not at all.

I still managed to live my life, even pull up my grades, knowing that Carter would always be watching me from above. Now, I don't want to disappoint him.

"Celeste, let's go," Drew tugs at my arm.

I've been buried in the pile of catch-up work for the past week and I really can't a doors to go wherever Drew is insinuating.

"Go where?" I ask politely.

He laughs lightly, "I want to take you out to dinner. To a fancy restaurant or something."

"I can't," I motion to my work.

Drew walks behind me and pecks me on the top of the head before playing with my hair. He tugs on it, with force that makes it pain slightly, but not enough. This happens for five minutes when I realize that my hair is done perfectly. It's in a high ponytail that falls perfectly where I want it to fall, caressing my neck.

"Your hair is done. Let's go before someone takes our reserved table," he puts an arm around me slowly.

After a little bickering, Drew succeeds in convincing me to go out to a restaurant with him. I am careless by throwing on a random outfit and skipping out the door, not looking or caring how bad I looked.

"The Campbell Place. I went here once when I was really young for a wedding. They have delicious food and really great entertainment," he leads me inside the dim restaurant.

The first thing that I see is a million people out on the dance floor. The girls are wearing long dresses and the guys are wearing freshly ironed suits, like Drew is. The ladies all look at me with repulsed expressions probably because I'm wearing sweatpants and one of Drew's sweatshirts.

"Ma'am, you cannot come in wearing that," a posh accent scolds at me. The owner of the accent is a young man, probably not much older than Drew and I.

He looks past us to a man who must be his father and gives him a thumbs up, before returning to us with much softer eyes and a vanished accent, "Look, my dad would've been much harsher. Sorry, but we can't have people dressed like you in here. Apparently, it'll ruin our reputation."

We both nod sympathetically before rushing out of the restaurant, not wanting to attract any more attention. I look at Drew worriedly because he might be mad. He's not, of course. Just like me, he's thinking. Who knows of what?

He grabs my hand, locking our fingers together and the two of us walk down the sidewalk on this starry night.

It's rare to see the stars in a big city like this one, but tonight they seem to be putting on a twinkling show just for Drew and I. They are truly beautiful as they light up the dark sky. Only if Carter were here too...

No. No, Celeste!

Carter's dead, stop thinking about him! He'll never be here again, no one will ever be able to see him again, no one.

"Earth to Celeste," Drew waves the other one of his hands in front of my face, "I just asked you a question." He can tell by the look of bewilderment on my face that I wasn't listening, "The question was does that place sound good?" He points to a pizza place across from the street. It looks ragged and dirty, but my empty stomach gets the best of me.

The inside of the pizza place looks no better than the out. I can already see the filth, including bugs and potentially rats. It's quite a large place too, probably not meant to be a pizza parlour, more like a clothing shop I'm guessing. There are metal tables set, waiting for people to use them, but the place is abandoned.