Trusting You (Editing)

Chapter 2

The sunlight woke me up. I blinked my eyes and checked the clock, 7:13. I seriously did not want to get up. I frowned and thought for a moment. What did Joey have to do again? Oh, yeah! The supervisor or somebody was coming to check on their work performance.

"Joey. Joey, you've got to get up," I mumbled, trying to force myself to wake up. I blindly reached my arm out, slapping whatever part of his body it came in contact with while my eyes were still sealed shut. He shifted slowly, rolling onto his side and yawning. I continued blinking my eyes against the sunlight coming in. I couldn't seem to get used to this much light and considered shutting the blinds. No, Joey needed to wake up for work. I yawned and stood up. Stretching, I walked over to the dresser. We shared a small apartment but it was only us two, so we didn't need much room. 

I grabbed my work clothes and threw them on. I tossed a pair of dark-wash jeans and a shirt over to Joey. 

"Joe, c'mon. You don't want to be late for work." I said. He moaned in reply. 

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Once we were both up and ready, Joey and I walked to the corner of our street where we split up and walked to our respective jobs.  

I still worked at Perkins, and we lived rather close too, so the walk was pretty easy. Once I got there,  I got started taking orders and delivering food to the lucky people who made enough money to eat out often. My shift seemed to drag on and on and on. Today wasn't a great day for tips, unfortunately. I knew I was great at my job, but people were stingy. 

As soon as my shift ended, I walked home. I was kind of known around town, people recognized me as a safe person to be around, so I didn't get into much trouble. Occasionally I would notice someone who seemed like they might be following me, so I'd stop off at a friend's house and just walk in. That was usually enough to deter anyone from trying to follow me. This was the good side of town, after all.

I pulled out my house key and fiddled with it in the lock until my door swung open. I threw the keys on the table and kicked the door shut. My work shirt was covered in something that I'd spilled on myself, but I didn't remember what so I simply changed into a T-shirt and sweat pants. The phone started ringing so I went over and picked it up.

"Hello?" I knew not to say who I was when there's a phone call because it's dangerous around my town.

"Baby, Teresa, you have to listen to me. Go to the bank. Withdraw $200,000 and meet me by the train. We have to leave." 

"Joey? Joey, is that you? What are you doing?" I asked, confused. I tried to sit down but the cord on the phone yanked back, reminding me that the chair was too far for my tired back.

"Yes, Terry, it's me. We need to leave, now." Joey responded.

"Baby, what's going on? You know that we don't have that kind of money. Last you checked, we had like thirty dollars in the bank."

"Terry, just trust me on this. We have the money. I'll explain everything as soon as you get here. The train leaves in forty minutes. Get the money and get down here as soon as possible. Please, Teresa, please just trust me." Joey pleaded. He sounded so rushed. I wondered vaguely where he was calling from. Honestly, Joey had done almost all of the banking since we got together and I had just trusted what he said and watched what I spent, buying only the necessities. 

"Joey, what did you need me to do again?" I asked, trying to gather myself up and go along with it. This had to be Joey's idea of a practical joke, right?

"Go to the bank. Withdraw $200,000. Meet me at the train station, I'll find you there. You need to hurry, the train leaves in thirty-seven minutes. I love you," he said, right before the click sounded and the dial tone filled the empty space.

I might as well do this, I honestly have no idea what's going on though, I thought to myself. I picked up my purse and keys and locked the door behind me as I walked out of the apartment. Baffled, I continued walking down the streets until I found myself at the bank. What did he mean? Even if there was magically two hundred thousand dollars in my bank account, why would we have to leave? This was ridiculous.

"Hello, my name is Teresa Burrns. I need to withdraw $200,000 from my bank account." I said to the attendant at the desk, doubting we had that kind of money. This woman would think I was playing a practical joke the same way I though Joey was.

"One moment," she said as she eyed me suspiciously and checked the account. She was a bigger woman, not fat but not skinny with wide shoulders. Her skin was a soft caramel color and she had large, curly black hair that seemed so wild and beautiful. "The funds you need are available. Honey, let me tell you something. Not many folks around here are fortunate enough to have that much available money. Don't waste it just because you have it and be safe out there with this kind of money on you. You're sure to get yourself hurt if someone wants it." She walked away, gathering the money into a large manila envelope and having me fill out a withdrawl slip. The bank manager walked out and studied my I.D. and then nodded curtly to the woman. She smiled at me and had me sign for the money before I left, tucking as much of the envelope into my purse as I could.

After a while, I arrived at the train station. I was nervous and anxious because I had no idea how I was supposed to find Joey. I was carrying around a large sum of money, more then I'd ever held in my life before, more than I'd probably spent or had been spent on me over my entire life. Better yet, I was in a very large place with many, many people. What would I do if someone stole the envelope? 

Interrupting my thoughts, Joey called out, "Terry! Come here!" I turned to his familiar, comforting voice and ran to him.

"Joey. What's going on?! What if someone had taken the envelope? We would have been screwed. Baby, what are we doing here? Why are we at the train station?" I was practically interrogating him. The idea, for some reason, made me feel like I knew even less about our current situation. I desperately pleaded him with my eyes to answer my questions as I started to become frantic.

"I love you. I have to keep you safe. Trust me, I'll explain everything once we've lost them. C'mon," he said, leading the way onto the train. I squeezed my eyes shut and nodded, grasping his hand tighly and walking with him.

I must have fallen asleep while we were on the train because I woke up with my head resting on Joey's shoulder. He looked worried and tired, his eyes sunken into their sockets with deep bags under them. He looked completely and utterly worn out, far from his usual content demeanor. 

"Joey, you can go to sleep you know. I can tell you when it's our stop if you let me know where we should get off at." I said, giving him a sincere smile. "You need sleep." I still didn't understand anything, but I knew without a doubt that I loved Joey.

"Fine." He said after a minute of debating it in his head. "We need to get off in California. Anywhere's fine." With that, he leaned his head against the window and fell asleep.

The next thing I knew, I was up and running to the bathroom, vomiting the contents of my stomach into the shiny toilet bowl.