I Will Wait

Chapter 1-Part 1

"We'll be late, Selah."

I ran down the stairs, away from the comfort of my own room. How I missed it. Laying across those soft, silky sheets and cuddling up in the squishy pillows. Little had I known seconds from now I would have wanted to stay and hide away within the sheets and never come out again if only to snatch a churro, or twenty.

"Where are we going again?" I questioned, pulling my purse over my shoulder while my big brother grabbed the keys to his truck.

"Birthday party for a friend. Chris asked me to come."

The house was completely vacant when we left, nobody to walk us out or snatch us in a big hug before we could make it past the door like our parents usually did. We went straight out the door without having to say a peep to anyone. Our parents were out of town on a little special vacation, somewhere in Hawaii if my brain retained the information correctly. They always did something huge once a year for their anniversary and this year they left my brother and I for beautiful tropics and a big wide, blue ocean. Joel and I had devised a plan to sneak into their suitcases but like many of our sibling-made plots, it failed.

"Why did Chris ask you to come? His birthday isn't until December."

"True. But he doesn't hang out much with anyone else that's going so I promised him I'd go."

We hopped into Joel's truck. He twisted the keys in the little keyhole and the engine revved to life like an angry bull. He turned the music on full blast, 80s rock. Why he had to listen to this and bob his head up and down like he was a part of the group, jamming on the stage at that moment I had no idea, but he did. I was more of a present day music kind of girl. Like Madde Poppe.

I pinched the dial between my forefinger and thumb to turn it down so I could talk to Joel without yelling. "So you're dragging me to a party where you're going just so you can be your buddy's wingman. That's great."

"Not wingman," Joel replied matter of factly. He pulled out of the driveway and down the street, and then proceeded to turn the music back up. I guessed we were yelling over the music. "Support buddy. It's Caleb's birthday."

"WHAT!" I shrieked. The palm of my hand, unnecessarily, slammed into the radio button and shut the music off completely.

The truck swiveled a miniscule little swerve, a van on the other side of the road honked their horn loud and long at us. We hardly even swerved out of the right lane. If anything their honk was more detrimental to my ears than our car was to theirs.

"EL! You can't scream!" Joel gasped in a sharp breath. "I almost ran into that car!"

"Sorry." That was hardly a concern right then, "Joel, I can't go to this party." I stated, desperate for him to stop the vehicle or turn around or something.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't go!" I panicked.

Every inch of my body seemed to jitter and shake like a tiny earthquake was erupting inside of me. My heart squeezed in my chest, and while I despised having panic attacks on the regular, this was more than a valid situation to be panicking about.

"Why not? Because Caleb will be there?" His voice deepened and the smallest of smiles pried at the corner of his mouth. Did he not know this was not a laughing matter? This was serious!

"Yes, because Caleb will be there." The exasperation in my voice was almost as evident as the rosiness of my cheeks reflected back at me in the side view mirror out the trucks' window.

"Oh come on, El. He probably doesn't even remember. He probably has a girlfriend by now." He huffed. Clearly, this was not a big deal to him, but it was to me! How could he not see that this was a huge deal?

The feeling of my head shaking so hard my brain began to jiggle followed my loud and pointless protests. "Nope. No. I will not go to this party."

"Why not?"

"Joel, don't quiz me please! I just can't go!"

"We are already heading there, I am not turning around." Joel peeked over at me and then back at the road, his expression serious, which if you knew Joel was hard for him to manage. That was it, there was no way I was going to get away from this party. It was going to be the disaster of all disasters.

"Just tell me, El." That was his understanding big brother's voice. Ugh. I could not argue with that. "Why exactly can't you go?"

My whole body sank deep down into the chair, arms limp at my sides. I was doomed. What would I even say to Caleb? I blew out a puff of air, blowing a few rogue strands of hair away from my face, my lips bubbling like that goofy sound little kids like to make.

"I broke my promise." 

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Thank you so much for reading! Leave your thoughts in the comments! Every vote and share means the world to me! Next Chapter will be up next Wednesday! 

✨ AVA ✨