clocks

11

George

When Dream returns to the car, he's leading along a very drunk Nelly who he's practically having to lift along beside him. Her eyes are shut, and she almost looks like she's asleep. There's a young blonde girl trailing behind the two of them, who looks to be in tears.

The back door of the car opens. "Do you want help getting her in?" I call, turning in my seat to watch him get Nelly in the car. He tells me he thinks he has it, grunting as he tries to sit her upright.

"Is she gonna be okay?" the blonde girl asks, her voice loud and high and full of stress. "I didn't realize she had so much, I never would of let her keep going if I kne-"

Dream pulls the seatbelt around Nelly, and then let's out a long sigh of relief as he stands back out of the car. "She'll be fine, Sheila, don't worry about her. Are you alright? Do you need a ride home?"

Sheila shakes her head, and it's now that I can see the redness in her eyes, and the smudge of mascara dried down her cheeks. She looks to be in a much worse state then Nelly is.

"I'm okay, my dad should be here in a half hour, and I have some people I have to go say goodnight to," she answers, wiping at her eyes again. "I'm really sorry, Dream."

"It's okay, nobody's hurt, that's all that matters. It's okay," he repeats, and it's even starting to sound repetitive in my head now. He pulls open his car door, and sits, still looking a little unsure about the upset fifteen year old girl stood beside the car. "Are you sure you don't need a ride?"

She smiles a little, but still looks like a wreck. "I'm sure, thank you," she answers quietly. "I might stop by tomorrow, to see if Nells will talk to me," she tells him, talking through the open car window.

Her gaze shifts from Dream, to me. She waves in, and flashes me a brief smile. I wave back. "Stop by tomorrow," he nods, smiling at the girl. "She'll have come around by then."

I find it funny that they're talking like Nelly isn't sat right behind us, when I peak behind at her, she doesn't even seem to know what world she's in. Her eyes are blinking, slowly, but she just sits still, like a statue.

"I'll let you go," Dream says, pulling his seatbelt around himself. I never took mine off.

"Yeah, okay," the girl nods, stepping back from the car. "I'll see you tomorrow," she calls, as she walks somewhat shamefully back through the parking lot and down to where they had just walked up from.

Dream pulls the car around, and then we're back on the road we'd been driving down just a few minutes ago. He looks a little funny, his face looks like it's about to break down in either laughter, or tears.

"Are you okay?" I ask him, trying to figure out what the expression on his face means. He looks like he's drawing a blank, like he can't understand something.

"I'm not mad, if that's what you're asking," he sighs, pulling out onto the main road. "I remember doing things like that, it's all a part of growing up, I guess. But is it bad that I still feel a little disappointed?"

I shake my head, even though he's looking at the road. "I think you're allowed to feel disappointed," I answer slowly. But then again, what do I know? I don't have kids. "She's your kid, so there's probably a good reason to explain whatever happened tonight."

He gnaws on the inside of his lip, looking like something of a cross between unsureness and a strange type of upset. "Maybe," is all he manages to answer, as he keeps his eyes focused on the road in front of him. "I mean, I just hope it wasn't anything to do with me, you know? Like..."

In the time he takes to start talking, which builds up into a ramble, I take a glance in the rearview mirror at Nelly, and her face brings back so many visions of my own. It's gone much too pale, I know that face.