How Long is Forever?

How Long Do Angry Words Linger?

Katherine:

I jammed his keys in the ignition and sped away. I was not naive. And I didn't need protecting. Why was Chris being such an over-protective idiot? Now I was really pissed. The person I always went to when I was this angry was Chris. But given this particular situation, I didn't want to hear another word from Chris' mouth.

Dumbass.

The car came to halt at a red light, and I couldn't decide whether I wanted to cry or punch someone.

Don't get me wrong, Chris and I fought, just like all people did. His dad said we bickered like an old married couple. I know, really cliché, but you get the point. Once, we'd spent 3 hours at the hardware store arguing over what color paint to buy for Chris' room. We left the store with a few gallons of white paint.

Arguments with Chris were usually over things like where to go for lunch, whose fault it was that we were late for school, whether or not I stole Chris' jacket; pointless things like that. This was big.

To quote Taylor Swift, Chris was "the only one who's got enough of me to break my heart." And he knew it. So we always tried to avoid serious fights, because we knew we could do a lot of damage.

My phone rang in my pocket, and I debated not bothering to check who it was. I grumbled and precariously pulled my phone out of my pocket, still trying to drive safely. "Hello?" I grumbled. "Sweetie? Hi! I hope this isn't a bad time," my mom's voice filled my ear and I winced. "Lovely," I sighed, only egging my mom on. "What was that? Don't be sarcastic with me, missy. The neighbors let me know that you didn't come home last night. Are you alrigt?" She inquired. Well, now she's got the neighbors keeping tabs on me, great. "I'm fine," I snapped, a little too aggressively, but whatever, I was in a bad mood.

"Katherine, this is the fourth time this month. Katherine, are you even listening to me?" Mother's tone became warning and a little aggravated. "Alright, mother dearest," I gritted my teeth. "If you intend to keep up this attitude, you may as well make yourself scarce again tonight," mother said, sounding final. "Bye, love you," I sighed in defeat and hung up.

Well, I wasn't going to be sleeping in my house. That left me with slim options. "Stupid mom," I growled under my breath and pulled into a local park. I slammed the door on Chris' car and trudged down the path.

I needed a place to sleep. Maybe I could find a comfortable park bench, I'd be all set for the night. "Damnit," I mumbled and kicked a pebble at my feet. Frustrated, I jammed my hands in my jacket pockets. Then I remembered it was Chris' hoodie and dramatically whipped my hands out of there. Like it actually made a difference. I kicked another rock and started my quest for a place to sleep.

Well, all the good park benches had already been claimed by some not-so-friendly looking homeless people, so that narrowed my options. "Ugghhhhh," I grumbled. This sucked.

I pulled out my phone and went through my contact list, looking for someone who'd have a decent place for me to sleep. It was a desperate move, I know. Needless to say, I wasn't in the mood to deal with my Barbie friends. The alcohol, cheap perfume, and high- pitched squeals that I know they would provide sounded like a death sentence. And that left only one person. Shit.

I'd known the moment I got off the phone with my mom that I'd end up at Chris' house. The park was just a cowardly way to stall. Hell, I was still stalling. Just showing up at Chris' door after our little argument felt clingy, and somehow desperate.

"Hey, I kind of got kicked out of my house for the night. Long story, actually it's a pretty short story...but yea, I don't like hobos very much, and I don't even really like the dark, so...uhhh," I couldn't show up unprepared, so I tried to practice what I'd say to Chris.

Talking to an imaginary friend, alone in a car that wasn't even mine, the scent of vomit still lingering on me, refusing to speak to my best friend, but still finding it ok to show up and beg him for a place to stay. Yep, I was doing a great job. I'd had a successful day.

And it was only going to get better.