The List

Chapter Two

In my purse had everything I needed to get my license. I just needed to take the driving part of the test. I lived a good five blocks from there, but I jogged there, adrenaline washing over me like a tide. I pursed my lips together, everything was already set in stone, as I found out. I was actually two minutes early, which was super weird. I shrugged it off, maybe she really did know me better than I knew myself. As I was sitting by myself in the lobby, I grinned ear-to-ear at the sight of a familiar face.

Johnny, a friend of mine throughout many years, had plopped down three seats away from me. He was wearing his contacts today, and his sandy brown hair was cut to make him look like an actual guy. I slid over to him, stopping in the blue metal chair next to his. "It's good to see a familiar face,"I proudly stated.

"Yeah," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. He didn't look at me, but kind of just stared out into the openness of one lane being open out of seven.

I felt a bit offended. Only girls have really acted like this towards me, like hatred or sarcasm was dripping from their voice. I shifted in my chair, spitting back,"What's your problem?"

He turned towards me, anger burning from his eyes into my sweating skin. "You want to know want my problem is? You treat me like garbage and act as if I barely exist until now? Now that-"

I scooted back over to my seat before he could continue that sentence, so Johnny couldn't see me cry- I hated crying, epically in front of people. He followed me anyways, which was a wrong move on his behalf. "Look, JJ, I sent you flirty texts, invited you to parties, even signed your yearbook. I've been in mourning for two weeks, wallowing in hope that this whole thing has been a nightmare, but it hasn't! Do you don't get to lash out at me. You don't get to et your facts wrong then bring up Linds. You didn't know her, you have no right to even think about her in a hateful way. We weren't like Ali, who treated people like crap- I was trying to make the most of her ending life, and that's what I've done. So f-"

"Ms. Sloane, it's your time," the old man driving instructor had cut me off before I could cuss the guy I had a crush on until this moment. He was really skinny, like one of the old men in remission that I used to visit in the hospital.

"Hi, Mr. Conyeski, how are you doing today?"

"Better than the day before, I guess,"he managed out between seemingly dry coughs, though there was blood splattered on his coughing rag. I don't exactly know what kind of illness he had, but I heard no one ever came to visit him and a couple years ago his wife died of old age, and his kids lived pretty far away with their kids, so he basically had become family with the nurses.

He wasn't growing his gray hair back though and he was almost eighty-one. He was really thin, worse than anorexics but I knew from Lindsay that was because it hurts to eat sometimes.

One day, I decided that while Linds was sleeping in her hospital bed, waiting to come out of her state of whatever they called it after surgery, that the old man needed a friend. He was a sweet man too, which made it just worse. All the older women had families there, and the men without them were grumps.

"I heard you're birthday's coming up."

Today though, he was in a bad mood from a weird mix of pills. "So what?"

"I have a special surprise for you." I had gotten a hold of his eldest daughter, Cameron, and she wanted to bring her kids down to see their grandfather for the first time. They were out waiting in the lobby. He grunted but I knew he was actually excited. I wheeled him out to the lobby with his nurses's approval and this gigantic sense of happiness wash over his face, into tears. He actually cried tears of joy and engulfed me in a hug, his tears splashing onto my bared back.

His lower lip quivered, his voice hoarsely echoed in my ears,"Thank you, Sloane. Thank you." I was later informed while I was hanging out with Lindsay in her hospital bed, doing her nails as we watched Pretty Little Liars on her infamous laptop, that he died while his family was eating the hospital food, which sucks just so you know, but I was first to know.

Before his family left, they thanked me for giving their last day with the man and even invited me to the funeral using my cell number. They weren't even mad at me for stealing their information from the nurses' station.

"Ms. Sloane Sloane, can we get on with the show," he tapped his foot, fuming.

I followed him to the car where I froze in the front seat. "I, um, I, uh-" I stammered, gripping the wheel so tight that my knuckles turned white. I squeaked out,"I-I kinda had-have a fear of this sort of thing."

He sighed,"Take a breath. Then tell yourself you can do this."

I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes.

Boy, was he in for a ride.
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I know, I hate me for this stupid line too, but love you all.