YOU & ME | JENLISA

Chapter 71

Jennie

I should've whooped her ass for the way she made me feel just now. No human has ever make me feel belittled and humiliated. But Lisa gets a hall pass, for now. She's going through some shit. It seems like she's been going through it her whole life, so it's really no wonder she's snappy all the time.

I kicked a pinecone, watching it bump along the pavement as I walked, then I kicked it again. Little by little this wooden piece of nature broke apart.

There's so much I don't know about her, her mom proved that. In all honesty, I was expecting an alcoholic or someone just as reliant on drugs as she was. I did not expected a sweet woman on her last few weeks or months of life. It made me want to go home and give my dad the biggest hug because I was so eternally grateful for having him in my life.

When I got home, he was curved over the kitchen counter writing me a note. His reading glasses were slipping down his nose and I stood on my tip-toes to lean over his shoulder and read whatever he was writing.

"Oh, you're going to the store. I'll come."

My father's car smelt like new leather, it even over shadowed the pine-scented air freshener hanging on his rear view mirror. He concentrated on the road ahead, waving to the children who all got excited at the sight of a cop car.

"Dad?" I asked, circling my finger over the bumpy texture of my door.

"What's up, chicken legs?"

"You have friends in the ambulance department, right?"

He took his eyes off the road to look at me, his bestial grey brows furrowed. "I have friends everywhere Jen, why? You're not in trouble, are you?" There was an amorphous look in his eyes, he was worried about me.

"No, but my friend's mom is sick and she's not getting any better. I wanted to do something for her, take her out somewhere but she's pretty much bound to her bed and she's on oxygen support."

His eyes anchored back on the road ahead, his lips thinned and the wrinkles on his face tightened into a frown. We stopped at two different red lights before anything was spoken between us.

"Your friend, huh?" He commented.

I sighed. "Dad, she's nothing like the picture her rap sheet paints of her. She didn't do the crimes that she's accused of, I know she didn't."

"I don't want you around her Jen, it's not safe."

I pivoted myself in my seat to face him. He parked up, not too far from the shopping precinct. "Okay, fine. I won't be near her but her mom is dying, she deserves one last happy memory, do you not think so?"

He folded his muscular arms across his chest and nodded once, willing to hear me out. "What are you asking for Jen?"

"I don't know, exactly. She has these oxygen tanks by her bed, they're small and portable but we'll definitely need a wheelchair and I'd like the EMT close by, just in case. I can't feel responsible if something goes wrong."

"I can ask Mikey, see what he can do but I'm not making any promises."

I leaned over and gave him a hug. "Thank you dad, I love you!"

Together we shopped at a collection of small stores. We picked up a few groceries and the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about Lisa's mom. I decided to make her a little care package, things to maybe make her feel a little more human.

I mean, Lisa probably takes very good care of her. She provides the important stuff, the basic care, the money, and the medication. But she's got so much going on that she doesn't pay attention to the little stuff, like how the oxygen inhaler must dry her lips out, they're cracked and sore. Lip balm and some deep moisturiser would do a world of good for them.

She doesn't notice her mother's matted hair either, she probably never thinks to brush it for her mom. I picked up a couple of deep conditioning hair masks and a soft toothed hairbrush. Then I moved onto magazines and just bought a couple that seemed interesting because it must get boring when you're stuck in bed all day, every day.

I could've gone on and on just buying small comfort bits for her. I was trying fill a void inside of me, I just felt bad. I felt bad that there was nothing I could do, to better this situation for this family. I felt bad for everything that Lisa was going through alone and yet she still wasn't really accepting my comfort or support. I think she's been alone shouldering this for so long now that she doesn't know how to lean on someone else. She gets up every day and continues to fight with the battle of her emotions and that must be taking a toll on her.