Thanks to everyone who is reading and supporting this story! Enjoy a picture of little Duff and a new chapter as a token of my gratitude!
___________________
Six months later
I was sitting in a public school cafeteria for the last time. It was finally graduation day.
I was sitting across from Rosco and Melissa, talking about our post graduation plans. We decided that we were going downtown to see the Green River show tonight, then we'd find the biggest party and get so wasted that we couldn't remember our own names.
Sounds good to me. I was so busy lately that I never had any time to party or let loose.
Oh yeah, after Duff left, my parents had completely dropped off the radar. I looked around for awhile and after calling all the local hospitals every day for two months straight I had made a conscious decision to move on and accept that they were better off without me. But I needed to support myself because cash had diluted fast and my part time job wasn't cutting it. I came up with a pretty crazy plan, but I needed fast money.
I had gotten into selling drugs by getting close with my parents old dealer, Mac. After coming to the house to see where his 'favorite buyers' had run off to, Mac and I had kinda started something, a sort of symbiotic relationship, so to speak. He hooked me up with a job dealing drugs and I kept him from getting lonely.
So essentially, I was a drug dealer all the while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. I also decided that I'd be attending UCLA this upcoming fall.
We do what we have to do.
I went home after school to change into my graduation dress and maybe try to make myself look presentable. I walked inside as Kelly and Anne sat at the kitchen table chatting away. They had moved in a few months ago because they needed a new place and I needed help with the bills. I liked living with them, it was like having the older sisters I had always hoped for.
"Hey, graduation girl is home! Are you excited for tonight, Livvy!" Anne yelled as I walked inside.
"I'm more excited for the after party! You guys are coming to the show, right?"
"Well, actually, we were hoping to go to your graduation too. I mean, look at her, Anne!Our little girl is growing up so fast! It seems like only yesterday she was crawling around in diapers." Kelly nudged Anne's arm, pulling a chuckle from Anne's bright pink grin.
"That would mean a lot to me. It'll be nice to have someone there, as corny as it sounds."
"Definitely not corny, we love you Liv. What time is this thing anyway?" Anne replied.
"It starts at 6 so y'all should probably get your shit together." I screamed as I ran up the stairs to my room.
The walls of my childhood bedroom were a light lavender color, plastered with sketches and letters and random shit hung up with thumbtacks. There was a few scattered boxes on the floor, I had already started to pack for LA.
Kinda funny, Duff only needed to wait 6 more months until we could have left together. He hadn't even bothered to write or call, just as I expected.
I always wondered what he was up to these days. Did he find a band? Did he have a girlfriend? Did he still think about me?
Honestly, with all the craziness in my life lately, I haven't had much time to mope over him. I thought about him time after time and I would get sad, dreaming of what would have been if I had left with him or if he had stayed.
I didn't know where he was and I would probably never see him again.
I slipped on the deep red dress that I had decided to wear to graduation. It was hotter than hell outside so I pinned my hair up into a half up look and added some darker eyeshadow to the makeup I already had on. I looked pretty damn good, not to toot my own horn or anything.
I slipped my favorite pair of combat boots on, seeing as how we would be out late partying, and went downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat to hold me over through the malaise of listening to every jerk in my graduating class get called up for their diplomas.
About 15 minutes later, Kelly came downstairs and joined me at the kitchen table.
Ever since my parents had taken off, Kelly had kinda made it her personal duty to help me keep my feet on the ground and for that I was grateful. We had gotten super close in the past 6 months.
"Aww, I really can't stand to see you getting closer to leaving me! I'm gonna miss my Livvy." She put on a dramatic frown.
"I would tell you to just come with me, but someone's gotta take care of the house. It's okay, I'll take the bus up for every break and I'll call you all the time and you and Anne can come and visit. It'll give you an excuse to come to LA!"
We giggled and I got up to give her a hug. She wasn't much older than me but she had an old soul and an aura of wisdom only matched by her sincerity. She gave off a sense of comfort and security that I'd only found in one other person.
Five thirty rolled around and we hopped in Anne's dingy car to head to the graduation. After all that boring shit was over and we met up with Rosco and Melissa, we all crammed back into Anne's car to head downtown.
Green River was amazing and since I didn't have much to worry about for the first time in forever, I could finally let go and enjoy the show. Mac showed up about five minutes into the show and he came over to where we were around the outside of the pit.
Mac was pretty cool. He knew we didn't have a really serious relationship but the time we spent together was fun. We pretty much just screwed around and smoked a bunch of pot.
He reminded me of how much my life had changed since Duff had left. Duff had always treated me like I was fragile and needed guidance and I had always tried to make him take me seriously or even notice me as anything other than a liability. To him I was his responsibility, it was almost like taking care of a dog.
I was always trying to impress him. Now it was if the pressure had been taken off. Everyone I cared about knew that I could hold my own because of all the shit I'd been through. I was able to hold myself together without anyone's help. Mac saw me as an equal, not as a child. That's why we worked.
We all got lost in the music and alcohol and before we knew it, we were heading back to the suburbs to crash a big house party from some college douche nobody really knew.
When we got there everyone kinda split up so I decided to hang around with Mac. We went over to where the kegs were and grabbed a cup of the piss warm beer. Delicious.
Before I knew it, the mixture of alcohol and drugs took over and I was floating on cloud nine, totally unaware of what was going on around me.
I last remember dancing on a table with Melissa as a crowd gathered around us handing us shot after shot, both of us completely lost in the music blasting through the stereo.
I woke up the next morning with a blasting headache that was only being worsened by the fact that I was cramped in the passenger's seat of a car. What happened last night? I looked next to me to find Mac in the drivers seat and Kelly in the back. This car was definitely not Kelly's car. It wasn't just any old clunker, though, it was a Mercedes that was worth more than all of what the three of us owned combined! I looked around and came to the realization that I recognized nothing outside of the car. I freaked out, figuring that something was up and after getting everyone else up and awake we tried to put the pieces together.
"I've never seen this car before in my life!" Kelly was beginning to panic.
"I really hope we didn't steal this car cause I really can't afford to get arrested again. Oh shit, we've gotta think of how we're getting out of this." Mac muttered.
They were both starting to freak out, so I had to try to keep my shit together to get all of us out of this mess.
"Did you guys get all of your stuff out of the car?" I asked.
"Yeah, why?" Mac responded.
"RUN!"
I immediately set off running behind the alley of the strip mall we were parked in front of. They caught on and followed along as we ran to the nearest bus stop to find our way back home. After twenty minutes, we were dropped off close to home, and moped down the street like scared dogs. We entered the small house and made a silent pact to never speak of this. Nobody knew what the real story behind the car situation was, but at that point, I think we were all a bit afraid of knowing who the car belonged to.