Then There Was You

2.

Blakely

I was sprawled out on the couch to the tv blaring some true crime show. Sitting up and groaning I rubbed my eyes of the sleep boogers that had formed sometime during my slumber.

A loud bang comes from the kitchen making me jump up with urgency in fear for my life from the sudden commotion.

"Dad?" I call out making my way towards the doorway

Was I being robbed? Dad most definitely is never up this early after leaving late at night.

Especially messing with what sounded like pots and pans.

This is it, this is how I die.

"Ley! Finally you are awake" a male voice who was, like I expected, not my father exclaimed

"Jackson?" I squealed running to him embracing him in a bear hug. The fear of death leaving immediately.

Although we have drifted apart because of the different paths we were on, Jackson is the best big brother any girl could ever ask for. He always looked out for me and my best interests growing up.

It may have been annoying at times because he felt as if he knew me better than I did but he always did it out of love.

We attempted to keep up with one another right after he left for school but it became difficult with our conflicting schedules. Then with moms passing we got closer with the loss of our parent only at that point I wasn't the same quiet girl he thought I was.

I started going out and getting in trouble more often and skipping classes here and there. I was hoping the change of scenery from this small depressing town would lift me back up from this slump I felt I am in.

Jackson was majoring in business and minoring in mechanics. He wanted to own his own workshop and fix cars for a living so his schedule always was busy with work or school.

So for him to call and offered to come all the way up here this weekend to help me move down to Florida and get situated at University meant the absolute world to me.

"I was gonna make some breakfast" the smile on his face turns into a frown looking around "but there is nothing really here other than chips and beer" he scanned through the cabinets

It was dad's turn to go grocery shopping this week but his definition of shopping is getting chips, salsa, and more alcohol.

I'm actually pretty shocked we haven't run out of chips seeing it's the end of the week.

"We could go out to daisy's diner ?" I beamed turning to grab my coat before he could protest.

When Jackson lived here we would go to Daisys almost every Friday night after his and Matteo's football games.

At first it was just an us thing, the three of us, we would stay and chat forever, well mostly Jack and Teo I would just chime in occasionally, but soon word got around that the two most popular boys in High school are going to the diner, then it blew up and became a hot spot for all of the student body at Smokey Mountain High.

Which sucked but it wasn't surprising. What was surprising was it took it that long for the others to weasel their way in.

I stopped going there on Friday nights after while because both boys were too preoccupied with whatever girl was throwing themselves at them and I hated seeing Matteo with anyone but I did miss it, it was tradition for me to get fries and a milkshake and spend time with the boys.

"Fine but we have to hit the road around 12" he stated walking to the door.

We headed out, getting into his grey Nissan Titan truck making our way towards the small familiar diner tucked away in the woods.