Meet You There

Meet You There - Chapter 37

Chapter 37

It was snowing the morning of the visiting day. I got up early and took a shower, got dressed and then brushed my teeth and put my hair up into a bun. After eating a yogurt, I texted Kelly.

   SEE YOU THERE? MY UNCLE IS DRIVING ME.

   OK, COOL. SEE YOU IN A BIT.

   I put my phone down and pulled my Geography textbook from my bag. I had a test on Monday and I figured I'd do some reading while I was waiting for the time to pass.

   We let just after 9A.M. The roads were snowy, and we knew it would take more than the three hours it would usually take to drive there. I put my headphones in and listened to my music for awhile, in the back seat of Caleb's truck. The drive seemed to take forever and when we pulled into a parking lot where there was a large brown building, it was already ten minutes to 1P.M. There was a huge sign on the front of the building that said Sunbeam Rehab Centre for Teens. Caleb turned off the truck and turned around to face me.

   "You okay?" he asked, right away. 

   I nodded. "Yeah, I'm just excited."

   "How long will you be?"

   "Well, I think it's two hours," I answered, suddenly realizing I didn't know how long I would actually be staying.

   "Okay. We will go for lunch. Text when you are ready, then we will head to your mom's?" Caleb looked slightly unsure, but I nodded again.

   "Enjoy the time with him," Fox said to me, smiling. "It'll be great."

   "Yeah," I said, then opened the door to get out. "Thank you."

   As I crossed the parking lot to the front door of the building, I texted Kelly.

   IM HERE.

   My hand was shaking as I waited for her to answer.

   WE JUST PULLED IN, she sent back.

   I looked over to see Caleb's truck pulled out of the parking lot. Kelly was getting out of a fancy looking SUV a few minutes later. She saw me and smiled, then waved. As she walked over, her parents following behind her, she grabbed my hand.

   "Ready?" she asked me.

   "Yeah," I nodded.

   We walked in, still holding hands, now behind her parents. I was scared of how exactly this would go, as it was all new to me.

   Mrs. Drake walked right up to the desk where a plump lady with black hair was sitting.

   "Shannon Drake. We are here to see Bennett Drake," she said, loudly.

   "Oh, of course! Welcome to Sunbeam! We are so happy that you're here!" the lady stood up, practically cheering. "We have been preparing for today for awhile, but we don't usually have a lot of families that show up for the kids... Most of the young adults here have some addiction problems and their families don't usually come to these things..."

   Mr. Drake cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable.

   "Bennett is not a drug addict," Kelly spoke up.

   The woman blinked a few times, then smiled big again. "Right, of course not. He sure isn't. So, let's get you down to the lounge."

   Kelly and I fell behind, following the woman and her parents. There was a long hallway and a left turn, then she pushed open the doors and lead us into a large, bright room. There were lots of tables and chairs, huge windows and a few long tables off to the side with food and drinks, coffee, water bottles. When we approached an empty table, I noticed that there was only one other older couple there, occupying another table. They both looked as nervous as I felt.