Often ~ a Kian Lawley Fanfiction

Chapter 48

"What are we doing? I thought we were going to Benson's Creek." I asked, as Tiffany pulled her car into an unfamiliar parking lot.

"We are... just wait here a second." She said, Opening up the car door. I watched as she hopped out of the car and quickly made her way over to a store entrance. Man, for a pregnant woman she sure was keen on her feet.

I tugged at the seatbelt around my chest and looked up to a huge sign outside the store that read "Elegant Liquor."

So, that's where we were, a liquor store. What the hell were we doing at a liquor store? Beth and Kian were surely waiting for us down at the creek by now and we were at a damn liquor store.

The sky above was beginning to change from the orangish pink color of sunset, to the dark grey's of early night. I began to feel anxious about seeing kian and Beth for the first time in a while. I mean sure I saw Beth in the halls at school, but our conversations usually only lasted about a minute or so.

After a few moments, I saw Tiffany scoot out of the store, with a skinny brown paper bag in her grip. She scurried up to the car and pulled the door open. She offered me a smile as she stuck the key back into the car ignition and carelessly threw the bag into the back seat onto a pile of soft looking blanket.

We drove the rest of the way to the creek without a word, and both of us just staring ahead. When we arrived at
the creek, I could see two figures sitting in the long green grass in front of rushing stream water.

"You ready?" Tiffany questioned, looking over at me.

"Uh yeah." I said, still unsure of what we were even doing here.

She got out the car and I followed as we trudged over to where kian and Beth were chilling. The soft grass tickles my legs as we walked through it, making me want to just flop down and lounge in the lushness.

A twig snapped as we were walking, and it caused Kian and Beth to glance over in our direction. They both offered the same sympathy/Pity smile that I had come so accustomed to seeing over the past month.

"Tiffany? You got uh..." Beth began to say as Tiffany approached them ahead of me.

"Pregnant, yeah so I've heard." She laughed slightly. She walked past them and stared out at the creek for a moment.

"Hey sam." Kian said, tilting his head at me. I grinned a halfhearted grin and plopped myself down between Kian and Beth. For some reason being between two of my favorite people made me feel safe. It also made me realize how ridiculous I was for ignoring them for a while.

I took a look around at the creek, my eyes slowly scanning the surrounding area. It was one of those places that you can't be near without a smile spreading across your face. It held so many memories from my childhood. Like when my step dad taught Bradley and I how to catch a toad. Or when Beth and I used to chase each other around the water until one of us lost our balance and fell in.

"Uhm so what exactly are we doing here?" Beth asked, pulling her hair up into a pony tail.

"As you guys know, none of us really got to say good bye to Bradley. So I figured tonight would be a good day to send off his spirit and set him free. " Tiffany said, standing in front the semi circle that Beth, Kian and me were sitting in.

"And we are gonna do that, using this." She continued, holding up the brown bag from the car. Her hand reached inside carefully and she pulled out a green bottle of expensive looking whisky. We all stared at her with blank expressions for a moment.

"So, we are going to drink it?" I asked with bewilderment in my voice.

"Nope." Tiffany replied, cracking the bottle open and tossing the cap away

"Some things in life are just to precious to waste." She bit her lip, looking at the bottle.

"Alcohol is not one of them." She said, tilting the bottle sideways as the clear liquor began to pour out.

"Things like time, love, memories, and people like Bradley Green, those are things we take for granted." She muttered, whiskey still flowing from the bottle slowly.

"People like all of us. Strong people like me, Kind people like Beth, Smart people like Kian, and passionate people like Sam." She nodded at each of us as she said our names.

"But Bradley Green was something special, he was one us. Just too damn precious to even be in a place like this hell of a world. This hell of a world where people suffer every day." Tiffany stuttered out, silent tears falling down her cheeks.

"We live in a place where assholes who drive drunk get to keep living, and they get to go home to their families and loved ones. They go home without even looking back at the God damn path of destruction they caused, or the other people who they hurt. We live in a world where innocent people like Bradley Green, die. " She said as the liquid began to stop flowing from the bottle.

"So this one is to Bradley Green." Tiffany finished as the final drops of whiskey fell out of the bottle. She had such a mix of emotions on her face, but mostly anger and sadness.

We all silently watched as Tiffany placed the now empty bottle back into the paper bag, and pulled something new out of her pocket. I could see the reflection of the moon glistening off the shiny surface of whatever it was.

"So, Bradley gave this to me on our second year anniversary. It was supposed to be a promise that our relationship would last forever..." She chuckled lightly for a moment staring down at the object.

"I guess forever wasn't as long as we thought it would be. But, I want you to have it, because the bond of two siblings is the strongest bond there is." She smiled, fluttering her eyelashes and tossing the object to me. I reached up and caught it in my hand, bringing it down to my eyesight.

The object was a shiny silver necklace, with a golden compass charm attached to it.

"I can't take this Tiffany..." I told her, staring down at it.

"Non-sense." She shook her head. I slowly brought the chain around my neck and clipped it together. I noticed Kian was staring down at it, memorized by the shining compass.

For the firs time in a while, I actually felt at peace