Broken Glass, Broken Hearts part 97

One week. Seven days, 168 hours, 10,080 minutes, however you wanted to put it. That was the amount of time until the day. That one day I was dreading so much, more than any other day in my life. More than my first day of kindergarden, more than the day I had to do my first oral report in third grade, more than the day of Dustin's funeral. My birthday. My seventeenth, that birthday Dustin had been looking forward to for years. That legendary birthday. I wished I could just have a little more time.

Something was up. Angela was antsy, she kept spacing out, whenever I looked over at her after talking to someone else, she was staring out into space, her eyebrows furrowed, deep in thought. "Angela," I said, "Something's wrong." She smiled at me and shook her head, "No, no, I'm fine." I bit my lip slightly on the inside, so she couldn't see. "Angela," I said, and I caught her eye, not letting her look away, "Honesty." She shook her head, "It's nothing important," she said, looking away, "I've just been... thinking about Dustin a lot lately. It's alright. I'm fine." But she wasn't fine. And she wasn't being honest. I could see that as clear as I could see the color of her eyes.

“I have no idea what I’m gonna get Ang for her birthday,” Jake complained one day as we sat in his room, listening to music. Milly was in Angela’s room. I sat up on his bed as he adjusted the volume on his speakers and then dropped back to the floor, where he was tying and untying his shoes. “What?” I said, almost not sure I’d heard him right. He looked up at me, “Angela’s birthday,” he said again, “I have no idea what I’m gonna get her.” He sighed, “Her seventeenth, you know? Sixteen’s a huge deal or whatever, for girls. But seventeenth, I mean...” He shook his head, “I don’t know what to get her. I mean, I’m the little brother, right? What is a little brother supposed to get his big sister for her seventeenth birthday?” I blinked at him. “Angela’s birthday?” He rose an eyebrow at me, “Yea?”

“When?!” Jake’s eyebrow went up higher, “A week from now?” My mouth fell open, and I slammed my head back onto his headboard, (immediately regretting the action,) “She didn’t tell me! That’s what she wasn’t telling me!” Jake grinned, “Well, she’s never been one to like being celebrated.” I narrowed my eyes, “I’ve noticed.”

“So,” Tyler said, running his finger along the cereal boxes as I leaned over our grocery cart, moving slowly down the breakfast food aisle, “I was thinking we could go on some sort of road trip next week.” I rose an eyebrow, “A road trip?”

“Mhm,” he said, calmly, grinning slightly, “I think it’d be fun. You, me, Ed, Selena. Milly and Jake, too, if we can fit them.” I narrowed my eyes, “Why?” He grinned and shrugged, “Why not?” I bit my lip and shrugged, turning back to the pop tarts I had been examining. He was right, I guess. Why not? It wasn’t like I much wanted to be home next week anyway. “Where to?” I asked, pulling out a box of smore’s pop tarts. Tyler narrowed his eyes a tiny bit at me and asked, "Where would you like to go?" I narrowed my eyes right back at him, "Why is it my decision?" Tyler shrugged, "I'm driving. Everyone's under my rules. And my rules are your rules." I smiled slightly at this, shaking my head, and replied, "How are you going to drive all six of us?" Tyler furrowed his eyebrows, "Mom never did get over her big car fetish." I spun around to face him, "She has a van still? A VW?" He laughed at my expression, "No, no. Just a big car, not a van. But it fits eight people, if you count the driver's and passenger's seats. And the middle seats, which are really uncomfortable." He grinned, "But since we only have six attending, no one has to endure those seats." I turned around, continuing down the aisle and slowly continued, "So I get to choose where we go?"

"Yup." I bit my cheek, "I'll have to think about it."

"Take all the time you need. Just come up with something by Saturday."

"That might not be all the time I need."

"To come up with a road trip destination, I believe it is." I grinned and stole the cart from him, turning back towards the front of the store.

© 2010