Manic

Chapter 19.

The day finally came when I would be leaving for New York with Rivers. I woke up early, unpacked my entire suitcase, carefully making sure that I had everything I needed, and then repacked it for the third time. I could hardly conceal my excitement. To be able to spend an entire week with Rivers was an opportunity that so rarely happened to people like me. People with my luck.

You see dad, good things don't very often come by for me. This was such a rarity in my life that I didn't even have to work hard to convince mom to let me go. I was going to have the best week of my entire life.

Oh how fast good luck runs out.

It's 8 am, mom comes into my room presumably to wake me up, only to find I was already wide awake.

"You excited, sweetheart?" She asks me.

I eagerly nod my head, "Very." I respond.

She comes over to me and wraps me in her loving embrace, "You are going to have so much fun." She tells me as if I didn't already know. "I will miss you a lot though."

I wrap my arms around her, "I will miss you too, momma." I say.

She looks at her watch, "Well Rivers should be here any minute to pick you up." She says.

I know this already, of course. I had been counting down the seconds until it reached 8:30. The plane leaves at 10, but being white, we like to arrive at the airport extra early. Just in case.

8:30 on the dot, my phone chimes. It's Rivers telling me that he was here. I jump up from my bed and grab my suitcase, leaving mom behind me.

"Hey now." She says. "You're going to leave without saying goodbye?" She asks, looking offended.

"Sorry," I go back and hug her.

"I'm gonna walk you out and say hello to Rivers." Mom says.

Once outside, Rivers hops out of his car to greet mom and I. "Hello Ms. Jude." Rivers says politely.

"Rivers!" Mom says and embraces him in one of her hugs. "It's so good to see you again!"

Rivers smiles with his god gorgeous smile, "You too, Ms. Jude."

Mom says a few more things, exchanging small talk with Rivers, but I wasn't paying attention to a word they were saying. I was so excited and I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He was so perfect. I mean seriously, how was I so lucky?

Rivers takes my suitcase from me and loads it in the bed of his truck. I get in the passenger seat, kiss mom on the cheek, and we're off.

"I still can't believe my mom is letting me go with you." I say.

Rivers smiles, "This is so crazy." He agrees.

Little did I know just how crazy it would all get.