13 (evans wild ride to turning 16)

Chapter 3 (Evan)

The fluorescent lighting of the McDonalds play place only made the awkward silence 10 times louder. Usually Patrice would be talking our ears off but she only seemed interested in messaging whoever it was on her phone.

Archie was one of the loudest if not the loudest most disgusting chewer to ever touch planet Earth. It must've been a talent really, sitting there with his mouth open, wiping his hands on his jeans, and having ketchup all over his face. Disgusting.

"Can you stop!" When I said it I sounded far more angry than I actually was. Patrice looked shocked and immediately put her phone down. Archie did the same but with his Big Mac.

"Sorry." Patrice said it even though I'd meant it for Archie.

I'd been looking straight ahead when I'd yelled so it looked like I yelled at her. She was probably upset, she looked upset, I knew she was upset. She would probably tell me who she was texting now if I asked.

"Who are you texting?" I asked leaning back in my chair. "Because I know it's not your mom." She looked me dead in the eyes then brought her knee to her chest. Archie looked between us like he was caught in an argument. I didn't expect her to respond though, she never responded to me when we fought.

"Gosh dont you just hate it when Mommy and Daddy fight, kids!" Archie tried to lighten the mood, which I hated.

"Shut up Archie." I said closing my eyes. What could she have going on that was so important she couldn't tell Archie and I. Even if I complained about it, it was nice to hear her nonsensical talking to fill the air.

"Can we go home?" Patrice asked. "It's cold in here." Her phone was still sitting on the table. It buzzed. It buzzed again. Then it buzzed a third time. No one moved their eyes off of it. We all sat there staring at it, then it started ringing. It said unknown number.

I snatched the phone from the middle of the table to turned it off. Then I slid the phone into my pocket and stood up.

"Okay, let's go." They both stared at me dumbfounded. I'd probably crossed the line with that, but if either of them wanted a ride home I was that solution.

"What the hell man." Archie had a confused look on his face. He grabbed his crutches and hobbled to his feet. Patrice was looking up from her seat, she looked angry. "Why are you acting like this." Archie continued.

I started to walk away because I knew they would both follow anyway. I had the car, and besides I still had that stupid phone.  I could feel it buzz in my pocket, I didn't care. I didn't know why I took the phone, it was out of character for me. It wasn't like I would keep it, I would apologize and give it back once we got in the car.

They did follow me back to the car, like I knew they would. Archie got into the front seat and Patrice got in the back.

It was dark out and there were only 3 other cars in the parking lot. I knew I should've initiated an apology for getting upset over nothing, but instead I started the car and started to drive out. I would give the phone back once we dropped Archie off.

I looked in the rear view mirror to see her looking out the back window. Her phone in my pocket had stopped buzzing. This was stupid. I drove into Archies neighborhood, none of us had said anything still. It was awkward. As we neared Archies house there was something I should've said but I couldn't think of anything.

  The car pulled into his driveway and Archie opened the door. "You still have to drive me to school tomorrow." He got out of the car and made his way to the door. I sat and watched to make sure he got inside like I always did before pulling out.

Patrice lived right across the street from me. It  was easiest for her to drive to and from school with me. We both preferred it that way honestly. She use to sleep on our couch when fights with her mom got bad, but she hadn't done that in the last 4 four months. We were tight. We rarely fought, and when we did it was always my fault. She was never one to start something with anyone.

I pulled up to my house instead of hers.

"If things are bad with your mom right now you should probably stay here tonight." I wanted to believe it was what she had told me, just an argument with her mom. Patrice didn't lie, she would probably suck at it.

"Yeah." Patrice said still looking out the window even though there was nothing there. "I probably should."

We both got out of the car and walked into the house. All the lights were off but there was noise from the TV in my mom's room. Patrice flipped on a lamp and unzipped her jacket. I walked to the kitchen while she walked to my room. I needed to give her the phone back still. I was curious, but I respected her to much to feel the need to open the phone.

Instead I walked over to the linen closet and grabbed some blankets to put on the couch. I knew we would be fine in the morning, we just needed to sleep it off.

She walked out of my room in a pair of my old pajama pants, then walked over to the couch and laid down without a word.

I watched her for a moment, she wasn't going to fall asleep. She would probably just sit there for an hour then turn on the TV, or if we were on good terms bring a pillow and blanket then lay down on the floor next to my bed. She had basically lived here during December and January of freshman year I knew her well enough.

I didn't give the phone back though. I sat down on my bed and pulled it out of my pocket to examine the thing. It was a small phone, since she didn't use it that much she didn't need a big one. Her big brother had bought it for her in 8th grade. She was careful with it though, there wasn't a single scratch on the whole phone. Impressive.

I put it down on my dresser by the door. Making sure the door was open I turned the lights off and went to bed.