He's a Wildcard

Chapter 2 - Air Horns and Coffee Stains

“Dad had one in the garage,” Brody grinned, as if he had just won the lottery.

“I haven’t forgiven you, you know,” I warned. “You better watch out. There’s nothing I do better than revenge.”

“Be nice to your brother,” Mom warned.

“Says the woman behind it all! How would you feel if I woke you up like that?”

“If I thought you could actually be up before me, I might be worried, but that isn’t really realistic,” Mom retorted and I couldn’t help but agree.

I downed my coffee and took another scone with me upstairs. When I looked in my closet I was confronted with the fact how incredibly low stock I was on everything. I eyed the dirty pile of clothing in the corner of my room with defeat and took some of it and threw it in the washer before settling for a pair of denim shorts and a white tshirt with a blue smurf on it.

“It’ll have to do,” I sighed in defeat and slipped on a pair of white converse before spending a few minutes in the bathroom, making myself presentable.

I double-checked that I had everything I needed with me before bounding down the stairs.

“That’s cute,” mom complimented and snickered slightly at my shirt.

“Don’t start. I already put some clothes in the washer. Where’s dad’s phone?”

She handed the black cased iPhone over to me and I pocketed it.

“Anything else?” I inquired.

She held up the keys in front of me, put pulled them out of my reach when I tried to grab them. “Drive safely,” she instructed.

“Yeah yeah, I promise,” I said and she reluctantly handed me the keys to the BMW.

I think it might have been because this would be the last summer I’d be home that made her cut me some slack, or maybe I somehow had climbed higher on the affection list this past year. Whatever the reason I wasn’t going to question it and get my newly found privileges revoked.

I walked into the garage where the shiny black BMW stood waiting for me, the top already down. I squealed slightly with joy before unlocking it and getting inside. I backed up into the driveway and stopped for a moment only to hook my iPhone up to the stereo and put on my playlist before driving off towards UCLA Medical Center.

I left my hair loose and let it flow freely in the wind while singing along to the music. It was moments like this that I could pretend to be carefree and happy, although I could rarely fool myself for long.

The last two months had been uneventful and hard, my sole goal being to be done with high school so that I could escape Gabriel altogether. He might have been a douche, but I still loved him. Last summer we had gone together on a vacation to Miami, this year I had nothing planned and it was the first time that the prospect of a summer holiday had looked so glum.

I parked in the area reserved for the people who worked in the hospital and put the roof up before locking the car before behind me.

I went to the front desk where a girl I hadn’t seen before was working. She looked young, early twenties maybe and she was wearing a badge that said, “temp”.

“Hey,” I smiled when she looked up. “Do you know where I can find Dr. Reynolds?”

“Do you have an appointment?” She inquired.

“I’m his daughter. He left something at home,” I explained.

“You can leave it here if you like and I can have someone deliver it to him,” she offered.