Lost in the Lights

Chapter 12

Two days go by after the Titans' big win over Crawford County Day and Becky is starting to wonder how soon is soon for Freen. She spends Thanksgiving with her family at her grandparents' house watching football and stuffing her face with all kinds of good food and for awhile it's enough to distract her from constantly checking her phone.

It's a quiet day filled with random moments of sadness because her dad isn't there to drag her and Ritchie outside for a quick game during halftime like he usually would. He's not there to carve the turkey or start up with the Christmas music despite their mom's protest, but they all set a place for him at the head of the table as if he were just running a little late.

It's the weirdest feeling ever to know that he's not coming.

Black Friday comes and goes in the same way. Rawee breaks out all the Christmas decorations in anticipation for the holidays which have snuck up on all of them. Ritchie's as excited as always and Becky would be too if it weren't for the melancholy.

It'll be their first Christmas without him, just like it was their first Thanksgiving, and Becky's not sure how she's going to cope with that just yet. She's strong and she usually speaks up when she's ready to talk about how she hurts, but she has a hard time when it comes to her dad. Everyone in the family hurts, it's only a matter of it getting easier to cope with as time goes on.

It's hard to pretend sometimes that she's over the denial of it all. Sometimes she thinks she doesn't have any more tears left to cry when it comes to her dad, but she always surprises herself in the end. It's true what they say about grief, it does come in waves and Becky longs for the day they only feel like ripples.

***

On top of the holiday blues starting to settle in, there's also everything going on between her and Freen. In the two days that have passed since the game on Wednesday, she hasn't heard from Freen at all.

At first, Becky figured it was because she was busy. With Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping madness, things can get hectic so she was understanding like always. However, now that it's going on Day 3 and her texts and calls have still gone unanswered, her patience has started to run thin – now she's just annoyed.

Her head is coming up with all kinds of reasons for Freen's silence. Did she get scared off after their talk after the game? Was she really needing all this time to work out what she wants? Maybe she got kidnapped and is being held for ransom?

That last one is a little ridiculous, but what else is Becky meant to think? Everything that they talked about that night wouldn't have led to a cold shoulder, not after Freen said all of those things about dates and flowers.

She likes Becky, she said it herself, so why would she be giving her the silent treatment?

If Freen isn't going to answer her phone or return a text, Becky will just have to take matters into her own hands and find out herself!

***

When Becky arrives on Freen's door step later that afternoon, all that bravado from earlier starts to dwindle. She's been here once before with Ritchie, but now that she's alone and doesn't have her cute little brother to lean on it's kind of scary.

Becky has heard the rumors about Freen's family and it makes her nervous – like she's coming in from the wrong side of the tracks. Becky definitely didn't grow up in a similar fashion as Freen so she isn't sure what to expect. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time rumors have been wrong about a Chankimha.

Still, Becky didn't want to take any chances in case she was wrong and Freen's parents actually are the worst. Who knows if Freen's parents would be around, but if they were Becky wanted to make sure she made a good first impression. Her dad always said the first one was the most important so she spent extra time trying to look presentable.