My phone startled me awake at eight o’clock the next morning and I probably would have rolled off the bed if it weren’t for the arm that was curled around my side. Temporarily disoriented, I froze and took in my surroundings, hoping something in the unfamiliar room would give me a hint as to where the hell I was.
I slowly rolled over to see who the arm belonged to and suddenly it all came back. Brad’s overdose, Sam’s predictable blow up, and Brian’s offer for me to spend the night. He mumbled unintelligibly in his sleep as I inched my way out from under his hold. I didn’t have it in me to be angry because he was fully clothed and face down on the bed with his head half covered by his pillow.
With a sigh I snuck out of his bedroom, slipped my shoes back on and quietly let myself out, making sure to leave his spare on the kitchen counter before I left. My phone began to buzz again and I automatically answered it.
“Where the hell are you?”
“A friend’s house,” I replied as I began walking to the nearest gas station which was a five, maybe ten, minute walk from Brian’s apartment.
“What friend?” she continued to ask impatiently, “Derik, Kristy and I have been worried sick! We’ve called your phone like 20 times since yesterday and when I spoke to Kristy this morning after her shift she said the kids told her you never came home last night.”
“It doesn’t matter where I was, but where I am now. I’m at the gas station over on Heber. Once I get some caffeine, I’m going to call a cab to take me to the hospital.”
“Don’t bother. We’ll be there in five.”
Trishka didn’t even bother to say good bye before she hung up on me. Despite my foul mood, I couldn’t help but smile at her attitude, though I doubted I would still be smiling later when she came to pick me up.
Naturally my assumption was correct, because she looked pretty murderous as she approached me with Derik ambling behind her.
“You lied to me!”
“I’m sorry,” I sighed, “It’s just that he made me promise not to say anything.”
“I know.”
“And it really-” I stopped midsentence as her lack of temper sunk in, “You’re not mad at me.”
“Oh, I was pretty livid when I first found out, but your best friend here wouldn’t have it. He had the nerve to come up with logical explanations for your dishonesty and took the angry wind right out of my sails.”
She gave me a small smile that managed to reach her hazel eyes as she shook her bangs out of her line of sight. Upon hearing the understanding humor in her voice, my eyes flickered to my best friend who stood quietly behind his fiancé.
“C’mere short stuff,” he said quietly as he opened his arms to me for a hug.
I willingly embraced him and tried my hardest to absorb the reassurance he seemed to emanate.
“I’m sorry D. It was wrong of me to lie to you even if it wasn’t to your face. I just freaked out and didn’t know what to say, so I lied.”
“It’s alright,” he told me as he rubbed my back comfortingly. His hand stilled on my back when he asked, “So where were you last night?”
Ducking out of his hold, I avoided his eyes and conducted an in depth study of the scuff marks on my shoes. “Promise not to be mad at me?”
“Trini, you straight up lied to my fiancé knowing she would tell me. Did I come guns blazin’ demanding an explanation?”
“No,” I admitted bashfully.
“Then?”
“Brian’s?” I squeaked out, sounding more like I was asking than telling.
“I’m sorry; come again?”
“I was at Brian’s apartment.”
On a sigh, Derik let out a string of choice words, but when he was done, he surprised me yet again with his resigned tone of voice.
“You didn’t let that bastard scratch any itches did you?”
“Not this time,” I smirked.
“Alright then,” he smirked back, “there’s hope for you yet. I thought I was gonna have to take you out back and shoot you. Are you ready to go and visit Brad?”
Dread settled like lead in my stomach and nervous bile rose in my throat so I nodded the affirmative rather than responding aloud.
And just like that, without a word of condemnation, Derik turned around and walked back to the truck, no doubt fully expecting Trishka and I to follow. The ride to the hospital was a silent one, most likely because none of us knew what to expect for the impending visit. It gave me time to reflect on many things, the main subject being my gratitude for having Derik as a friend.
We rarely ever talked about how we met, because our friendship was forged in the blood of our siblings. Danae, Derik’s little sister was the friendliest, loudest sophomore at Granite Falls with a smile that could light up a room. People listened when she spoke, and not just because the star quarterback was her older brother. She had an air about her that just made you want to listen and a personality that made sure you didn’t regret it. Sadly she was driver number three in the pile up and died at the scene.
Our ability to relate to one another for how it felt to lose a little sister was the foundation of our friendship and everything else that comprised our friendship after the funerals was the glue. He was the only one, other than Ashley and Brian that knew everything that happened following the accident. Trishka knew quite a bit about what happened that day, but Derik knew it all.
“So my prickly little porcupine, am I carrying you in, or are you planning to sit in the truck until he’s discharged?”
My head shot up at the sound of his voice in the silence and laughed belatedly when I realized he had called me a porcupine again.
“I’ll walk,” I assured him as I jumped out of the lifted truck.
The walk to room 241 seemed endless and it was with caution that I poked my head into the room. Sam, to my happiness and disappointment, was nowhere to be seen, and Jami was snoring softly in a chair next to his bed.
I tiptoed into the room, hoping to reassure myself that Brad was alive, but I didn’t expect him to be awake already.
“Thank you,” he croaked quietly, causing me to jump a few feet into the air.
He chuckled and then coughed, before he reached for his water and took a sip.
“Are you sure that you’re thankful just yet?” I whispered so as not to wake his mother.
“Well, I’m not exactly thankful just yet that you announced it to everyone since I really would have preferred that my mother and Sam never find out, but I understand why you did. I’m thankful that you told the doc though, Trinity. He told me that if my heart had continued to work at that pace for much longer, it might have given out altogether. I’m too hot to be six feet under just yet,” he joked.
He chuckled and coughed again, but unlike last time, his mother didn’t sleep through it. Her eyes fluttered open and immediately landed on me.
“I, uh, better get going Brad. I just wanted to check in on you and make sure that you were recovering alright. Call me if you need anything,” I leaned over and placed a kiss on his forehead before I went to make my escape.
A voice that I hadn’t expected to hear caused me to pause at the door long enough for her to rush over and give me a hug. “I forgive you,” she said as I inhaled a perfume that reminded me of my mother’s. Those three words in combination with her scent were a trigger for me and despite my best efforts to reign in my emotions a few tears managed to escape. It was like she had given me absolution for more than just withholding important information about her son; it was like she had become my mother for a split second and had told me that she forgave me for not stopping Zach from driving off that evening all those years ago. The relief I felt was both immediate and indescribable.
My phone chose that moment to ring and a number that I knew all too well lit up the screen.
“Are you dead or dying?”
“Obviously not dead,” I laughed, “and no, I’m not dying.”
“Then why the hell haven’t you picked up your phone? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you since I got home from my shift!” Kristy scolded.
I mouthed for Jami to call me if she needed anything and gave her one last grateful hug, before I walked out in the hall to take my call. Just like the most cliché of romances, I literally walked right into Sam. But unlike the cliché romances we didn’t lock gazes or kiss and make up. He just averted his eyes and circumvented me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled to Kristy realizing her motherly tangent was still in progress. That was another thing about today. It felt like I had apologized a ridiculous amount of times in the past 24 hours and not because I was saint or a people pleaser, but because I seemed to be screwing up a lot lately.
While I finished getting in trouble for worrying Kristy, Derik and Trish went into visit Brad. They came out five minutes later and drove me back to Serenity for my evening shift at the diner. All the usual patrons were abnormally somber, but that was to be expected. Every time something happened to one of our own, it really hit us all hard.
When I arrived home later that night, the house was in an uproar. For starters, Kristy had the night off and was cooking. For the record, Kristy hardly ever cooks and when she does, it’s a big to-do.
“I just figured tonight we should all eat together at the table as a family,” she shrugged.
With the exception of Sam who had not arrived back at the house yet, we all exchanged wary, but speculative glances behind her back. When Kristy cooked, there was always a reason. Always.
I figured out her angle about a half hour later when Sam came home and we all sat down at the table. She made us sit from oldest to youngest. Since I was a few months younger than Sam, that meant I was supposed to sit between him and Andy. I tried arguing that technically I wasn’t a part of the family, but all the younger Evans’ wouldn’t hear of it. The mischievous smirk that appeared on Kristy’s face, told me she had expected as much and that this was part of her plan to try and fix things between Sam and I.
Again, how she found out that Sam and I were not exactly on speaking terms before she even had the opportunity to see it for herself, was beyond me. I knew word travelled fast; it was inevitable in a small town like Serenity, but she was working in town for the past 12 hours. One would think that would have delayed the relay, but clearly it had no effect.
“So,” she began, attempting to breach the loaded silence that hung heavy in the room.
“I’m moving out,” I blurted without thinking. It would not be an exaggeration to say that every living thing in the kitchen-dining room stopped moving. Every one literally froze and under alternate circumstances, it would have been almost comical. Forks were stopped halfway towards their destinations, jaws were immobilized mid-chew, and all eyes were unmoving and on me. To be honest, the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind before or even as I said it, but as I contemplated the silence that hung between me and Sam and how it would affect my relationship with his family, I knew it was time. When a good sixty seconds elapsed without a muscle being moved on anyone’s part, I barreled on, “With Sam back in the picture, you all don’t need me to cook, give you rides or just be home in general.” A few forks were set down, but beside that everyone still seemed a little shocked.
“Not that I’m putting this on Sam or anything!” I exclaimed, “It’s just all of you are old enough to care for yourselves and me being here seems kind of silly, now that I think about it. You know, I’m not hungry anymore… thanks for dinner Kristy. It was really good.”
I shot out of my chair and the room came alive with protests and excuses for why I shouldn’t leave.
“Where will you stay? Why all of a sudden? When will you be leaving? How come you didn’t tell us sooner?” These were the questions that came all at once as they realized I was dead serious.
“I’ll be moving into my parent’s old house. The renters bailed on me two weeks ago, so it’s sitting there pretty much vacant. People don’t exactly move to Serenity every day, so it will probably be a while before I can get another renter or better yet a buyer. I’ll stay here through the end of the week since it will be Thanksgiving, but after that I’ll make it official. I would’ve told you sooner, but there just never seemed to be a right time to leave.”
“Until now,” Sam said flatly finally speaking up. There was almost the slightest hint of a question in his statement.
Looking into his ever changing eyes, I reminded myself of the look of betrayal and anger in his eyes when he found out I knew about Brad’s drug problem. I relived his cold demeanor when we collided in the hospital walkway and how he had not only avoided making eye contact with me, but had avoided talking to me altogether. The physical pain I felt just remembering was almost unbearable and I couldn’t imagine living it every day under the same roof.
It was with renewed resolve that I was able to give him his answer.
“Until now,” I confirmed.
\\ I just realized that I have 30 days to finish this story if I want to enter it in the Watty Awards. Ahhhh. So I'm writing my butt off so I can GIT-R-DONE. lol
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thanks for all the votes and comments you all gave me last chapter. You all are amazing!
BTW, props to me, because the next chapter is already written and waiting to be posted. ;D