“oh no that’s awful” Nick said sadly. “um, should we call a cab
or…”
“no I’ll take my brothers car” I said “he went with his friend
today so he wont care” I grabbed his keys and slipped on my sandals. We went
out to his car and got in. “excuse the mess, hes 17 and…yeah”
“got ya” he said I pulled out and drove down the road looking
for a resturant with my black jetta parked anywhere in the lot. A few minutes
later I started crying and pulled over to the side of the road. “are you ok?”
he asked quietly.
“yeah…well no. I mean her mom just died. Shes gonna be crushed
and I have to tell her”
“I know” he said leaning over and giving me a hug. “but atleast
her mom doesn’t have to suffer anymore”
“but Eliese does. I could tell that her dad is already falling
apart, you have no idea how close her and her mom were. She always said that
she was going to be there to tell her she loved her before she died. Its just
not fair”
“aw, I know. Eliese is a strong girl. She’ll be ok, I promise
you she’ll be fine. You just have to give her time and let her have space. But
you have to be there for her too”
I nodded and wiped my eyes. “thank you”
He just smiled as I pulled the car back out onto the road. A few
minutes later I spotted my car parked in a McDonalds parking lot.
“figures, I should have known” Nick said I parked and we got
out. He started to walk in but I leaned on the car with my head in my hands.
Nick walked back over and stood infront of me. “whats wrong?”
“what am I going to say to her. Just be like, ‘oh yeah, Eliese
your mom died’?” I asked him
“well…” he thought for a minute. “no don’t say it like that.
Just say it gently but not too gently…you know?” he sorta stumbled over his
words
“Nick just come on” I said walking in.
Eliese laughed
when AJ dribbled orange juice on his shirt. He wiped it up with a napkin and
smiled at her.
“it wasn’t that funny” he said with a laugh.
“I know, you just make me laugh” she smiled
I turned to Nick and asked “do I look like I’ve been crying?”
“hmmm…” he looked at me for a sec. “nope”
“ok” I said we walked over to their table.
“oh hey guys” Eliese smiled
“good morning Brianna” AJ said with a half smile.
“hi” I said with a soft smile. “umm, are you guys finished?”
“yeah why?” Eliese asked
“well come with me for a sec, I wanna talk to you”
“about what?” she asked
“just come on” I said grabbing her hand. “give us a minute ok?”
I said to Nick and AJ. Nick nodded and AJ just looked confused. I walked with
her out to the parking lot.
“whats going on?” AJ asked Nick when he said where Eliese had
been.
“oh, um, Elieses mother died this morning” Nick said quietly as
he looked out the window at Brianna and Eliese.
“oh my god” AJ said “she is going to flip out. She was just
telling me that she thought her mother was getting better and that she was
going to live for a while”
Nick just looked down at his hands “yeah…its really not fair”
I stood there
with Eliese I couldn’t find the right words to tell her. I wanted to just crawl
back in bed and go to sleep but I knew that she needed me and that I needed to
be there for her.
“you know im still here right?” she laughed “your so quiet”
“I know” I said “I kinda have to tell you something…”
“ok…what is it?”
“well um…its about your mother…”
“my mother? What about her?” she could tell something was wrong
and her eyes began to water.
Tears ran down my cheeks and she knew what I was going to say.
“im so sorry Eliese” I went over and gave her a hug.
AJ and Nick walked out and over to the girls. Eliese ran into
AJs arms and cried on his shoulder.
I leaned against the car and tried to get myself together. Nick
walked over and stood next to me.
“are you ok?” he asked
“sorta” I answered sitting down on the ground and putting my
head in my hands. He leaned down and put a hand on my shoulder.
“you wanna go for a walk or anything?” he asked
“naw” I stood up and wiped my eyes. “I’m gonna take her to the
hospital. Why don’t you and AJ either go back to my house or go to the mall or
whatever. Take my car, I’ll take this one”
“ok, if you need anything,you have my cell number”
“yeah, thank you” I said with a small smile. “Eliese, um, you
want me to take you to the hospital?”
she pulled away from AJ and walked over to me.
“yeah”
“ok lets go, see you guys later” I said leading her over to the
passesngers side and shutting the door after she got in. They waved as I got in
the drivers seat and drove off.
Nick and AJ stood there for a second watching the car drive down
the road.
“sooo, what should we do?” Nick asked turning to AJ.
“I don’t know man” he said “I feel like we should go to the
hospital or something, but that’s probably not a good idea, since we don’t know
her mom or anything”
“right…so should we just go drive around and see whats here?”
“yeah sounds good” AJ agreed tossing Nick the keys so he could
drive. They got in the car and Nick pulled out of the McDonalds parking lot.
Later on that day after driving around and finding out that the
city only had a mall and a movie theater Nick and AJ drove back to Briannas
house.
When they parked and started to walk up to the door they heard
some laughing and screaming from inside.
“should we knock?” AJ asked Nick
“um, probably” Nick said knocking on the door a few times.
I got up and walked over to the door. I opened it and saw Nick
and AJ.
“oh heyyy guys” I smiled holding open the door. They walked in
and into the living room where Eliese was.
“hi, whats going on?” Nick asked
“oh nothin” I said “we’re just hanging out”
“man we’ve been waiting for you guys forever, where the hell
have you been?” Eliese asked
“well we didn’t think you would be back so soon so we just hung
out at the mall” AJ said
“the mall? We don’t have a mall, its more like a hallway with
stores, it sucks bad” I said
“well whatever you call it that’s where we were”
“anyone want a breezer?” I asked holding the bottles out to Nick
and AJ. They both took one and then sat down.
“so what are you girls doing here just sitting and drinking?”
Nick asked
“well we were talking aout stuff until you guys got here” Eliese
said “but its no big deal I guess we can talk about something else”
“ok, so how are you doing?” AJ asked
“me?” she said “im doing great, I’ve never been better”
Nick and AJ were a little confused. Maybe she didn’t remember
that her mom had died earlier that morning. But they werent going to bring it
up.
“so anyways, what do you guys wanna do tonight?” Brianna asked
“well what is there to do?” Nick asked
“hey I have the best idea” Eliese spoke up loudly. “lets go to
the beach house”
“YES!!” I screamed jumping up and slapping her a five. “go get
your stuff guys, we leave in 10 minutes”
“where are we going?” AJ asked
“the beach house duh!” Eliese said slapping him upside the head.
“and will you explain please?”
“Briannas parents own a house on the beach about an hour away.
We always spend weeks there in the summer, but we havent been yet this year”
“and its so damn hot, now is the perfect time to go” I said
“ok” they said Eliese and I ran up the stairs to pack our
things.
“this is one weird day” Nick sighed as they headed up the stairs
to get their things.
After getting packed we all went out to the driveway and loaded
my car with our stuff.
“Eliese we gotta stop at the store were outta breezers” I said
closing the trunk.
“can I ask something?” AJ asked
“yes??” Eliese and I both said
“how can you buy alcoholic drinks, your 16?”
“hello?” I said with a look that asked ‘how do you think im
going to get them’
“never underestimate the powers of a blonde” Eliese laughed
“Nick, how about if you get shotgun again”
“sure…” he said “but are you sure you can drive, you’ve been
drinking”
“im fine now don’t question me and lets go” I got in the drivers
seat and started the car.
Halfway there AJ and Nick were starting to have second thoughts
about letting Brianna drive, she had a pack of breezers at her feet and it was
already half gone. They were worried that she was going to get picked up for
DWI, seeing how she was driving 75 in a 60 zone.
“Brianna, you’ve got to slow down” Nick said “your gonna get
stopped”
“Nick shut up I am not” I snapped
“yah shes not” Eliese said in my defense, she had been hanging
all over AJ since we started driving. He didn’t mind although she was drunk, or
atleast a little.
“im fine, really. Not like if never drunk before” I said trying
to be nice. Truthfully they were bugging me.
“Brianna” Eliese yelled scaring my half to death.
“what???” I asked
“we have to get Amanda!”
“oh shit!” I said quickly swirving into a store to turn around.
“that’s right I forgot”
“I see that, good thing I reminded you”
“right thanks” I laughed going back the other way.
“whos Amanda?” AJ asked
“our friend, shes a cool girl you’ll like her” I said looking in
the rear view mirror at him.
“Brianna look out” Nick yelled reaching over and jerking the
wheel to the right before I started to go into the lane of on coming traffic.
“wow thanks Nick” I laughed “that would have sucked if I smashed
my car”
he sighed and kept his eyes on the road for everyone elses sake.
I pulled up to Amandas house and honked the horn, she came out
carrying a bag and threw it in the trunk.
“hey Amanda” I smiled out the window.
“drinking again?” she asked with a smirk.
“ummm maybe” I laughed as she got in the back with Eliese and
AJ.
“Amanda that’s AJ and that’s Nick” Eliese explained “they’re
here to visit. Cause they love us”
“oh I bet they do” she laughed as I pulled back out onto the road.
“so Amanda” AJ started, “do you go to school with them?”
“yeah, I have for a few years, when I moved here Brianna was in
all my classes so we got along well”
“oh that’s cool” he said
“Brianna you really should slow down” Amanda said looking up at
the speedometer that read 76 and climbing.
“shut up” she said taking another sip of her drink. Just then
they heard some sirens from behind them. Everyone turned around and looked at
the cop car following them with its blue lights flashing.
“oh shit”