I'll Wait For You - NaNoWrimo 2016 [DISCONTINUED]

The Golden Question and First Kisses

“Peter? What do you mean?” I ask, turning towards him.

“Oh, we’re here. I’m starving.” He says, climbing out of the back of the truck and following Jared, Sam, and Ricky inside of a fast food restaurant I’ve never been to before. Trina’s staring at me with a what just happened face, and I honestly have no idea.

I jump out of the truck and she follows me, biting her lip and looking off into the parking lot. Peter has once more put the jacket on to cover his face – it is really horrible to look at, and my stomach deflates every time I see it. I just know that they were only in there because of me.

Jared pulls me over to a booth table, and Ricky hands me a Oreo milkshake. “How’d you know?” I ask, looking up at him. I’m also wondering how the milkshakes are done so quickly, considering the fact that they’ve only been in here for two minutes at most.

“You have really loud thoughts, Charlie.” He says, smiling and continuing to pass out the milkshakes to the rest of the group. Jared gets vanilla, Ricky gets Oreo, Sam gets chocolate, Trina gets strawberry, and Peter gets an Oreo one as well. I take a sip, and all it reminds me of is how I drugged my dad just a couple hours ago.

“How long do those sleeping pills last?” I say, turning to Ricky as he slides in.

“A really long time. Those are some high dosage stuff. I bought them from a guy named…” I tune out as he goes into an elaborate story, and I can see Trina’s done that too. Jared’s listening intently though, and it seems Peter is too. But who can tell what’s really going on under that hood.

I have no energy now. There’s nothing left in me now that everything is back to the way it should be. No wolves in jail, and the only thing that’s changed is that Christy’s dead and I have a new family.

But there’s still one thing bothering me.

What did Peter mean? He has to know, and I’m too tired to question him on it, but I can tell Trina is bursting at the seams with questions galore, and the milkshake is slowly melting as I zone out, thinking about the tumultuous day of January 7th. I stand, and being on the end, don’t have to push anyone out as I run for the bathroom, lock myself in a stall, and put my feet up on the door.

“Come on. What is it?” Trina asks. I don’t respond. I just need some space right now. Trina growls, maybe in reply to someone talking to her in her head, and she stomps out of the bathroom. I can see her boot tread marked in the dirt on the floor. I stare at it for a second before the door opens and a pair of red sneakers shows up outside the door.

“Charlie, come out of the bathroom.” Peter says.

“Why are you in the girl’s bathroom?” I sniffle.

“Because I want to be, alright? Okay. I understand, you’re having a hard day, but you can’t just hide in the bathroom. It’s really dirty in here, anyways. I think it’s dirtier than the men’s, and I’ve been coming here my whole life, so I would know.” He sighs. “I don’t know why you aren’t blaming me for killing Christy, because I can’t not blame myself. I was the one who told Trina to stand in the middle of the road. I dragged Christy out of the car, and I ripped her to pieces. I am at fault here. If you would just blame me, I would feel a lot better about this.”

“There. I blame you. Fine. Now leave.” Peter sighs and taps his shoe against the floor. “What do you want me to do? Pour out my darkest secrets? Tell you that I’m not really sad that Christy’s dead? I don’t owe you anything, Peter. I would feel a lot better if we didn’t have to see each other ever again, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to work out that way.” Peter inhales, a ragged breath, and it takes me a second to realize he’s crying. “Why are you crying?”

“You wouldn’t like it if I told you. I can’t tell you or you’ll hate me.”

“I already hate you, so go ahead and tell me.”

“I can’t.” He says, now leaning against the stall door. “This isn’t fair. I wish I didn’t have to do this.” I open the stall door and he backs up, drying his eyes quickly.

“Do what?” I ask softly.

“You know what? Forget it. We should get you home.”

“Why are you like this? You came in here, trying to make me feel better, and now you’re crying and angry at the same time, and I don’t understand.”

“I hope you never have to.” He says, smiles sadly, and then walks out of the bathroom, expecting me to follow. I walk back to the table, looking down. Everyone else is standing, holding their milkshakes.

“We need to go see Sabrina.” I say.

“Yeah.” Peter voices. “I need to see her.”

“I think we should drop Charlie off at home. She’s already helped enough.” Jared says. I nod.

“Tell Sabrina I’m sorry, okay? It was my stupid plan that got her hurt, and both of our connections severed.”

“I’ll drive you home.” Jared says.

“I’ll come too.” Trina says. Now that I look out the window, I can see that Jared’s black Jeep, the one they used to drive Sabrina back to the warehouse in, is sitting in the parking lot.

Trina grabs my arm and leads me out to the car. She slides into the passenger seat, Jared’s driving, and I’m riding in the backseat. Surprisingly, compared to his father’s van, and truck, it’s very clean. Too clean in fact. I look behind the row of seats I’m sitting in and I realize the backseat is full on empty canvases and bags of flour. Jared catches me looking and smiles.

“Someone was selling a bunch of flour on EBay.” He says, laughing. Trina stands up and looks.

“Jared, just imagine how many cakes you could make out of that!” She laughs and rights herself in her seat.

All of a sudden, he leans over and kisses her. With no warning at all. I look away, fighting to keep the giggles in. “So long has that been going on?” I laugh once they separate.

“About ten seconds.” Jared says, looking over at Trina. I can see from the rearview mirror that she has a look of utmost shock on her face, and Jared launches into a fit of laughter, and my giggles spill over the barrier as well, and a second later, Trina is laughing with us. “So what do you say, Trina? Me and you? Dating?”

“How long have you…”

“Forever.” He says, while I echo it back.

“Yeah.” She says, answering his question.

“That just made my day so much better. Now I don’t have to watch Jared be so helpless anymore.”

“You knew?”

“Everyone but you knew.” I say, smiling.

She smiles back in a way that makes me think that she knew too. I keep my lips in a thin line, trying not to smile, and Jared backs out of the driveway. As we drive past Ricky’s truck, I can see Peter’s emerald green eyes locked on mine in a piercing glare.