The Summer That Changed Me

Chapter 25

About 10 minutes later, I hear footsteps coming towards me, but I choose to ignore whoever they belong to.

"Olivia?"

I look up and see Braden staring down at me. Great. I was supposed to go to the fireworks with him tonight, I totally fucking forgot about that. He must notice my tear filled eyes, because he sits down next to me and wraps me into a hug. I lean into his shoulder and just end up crying more.

"Jesus Christ Olivia, what happened? I heard you scream over my music blasting through my headphones."

"I don't wanna talk about it."

Braden puts an arm under my legs and loops one around my back and picks me up. He walks over to the hammock and lies down as he sets me on his lap. I look up at him and he weakly smiles.

"I'm here whenever you wanna talk."

"It's gonna be awhile."

"Then I'll wait right here with you until you're ready."

"They took him away from me."

"Who took who away from you?"

"Natasha took Cory."

"Who's Natasha?"

"His stupid bitchy foster care advisor or some shit like that."

I've stopped hyperventilating so I can actually speak to Braden, but I'm still crying a little bit.

"Cory's in foster care?"

"Yeah. She took him away and brought him to some place where people take the kids in. He might get adopted."

"Where is it?"

"I don't even know. Like 5 hours away from here, though."

"I'm so sorry Olivia."

Braden wraps his arms around my waist and rests them on my stomach, just like Cory did earlier. I push his arms away and sit up.

"That's all everyone's gonna tell me, isn't it? 'I'm so sorry Olivia,' it sucks though because no one actually knows how it feels."

I jump up from Braden's lap and get in my car. He gets up to go after me but before he gets to my car, I speed away. When I say speed, I don't say it lightly. I pull out of Sandy's driveway and speed down the residential roads going about 70mph. I start banging my fists off of things in my car and blast my radio as loud as I can stand. My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I just ignore it. I already know that it's Braden.

I finally reach the destination that I've been speeding to get to. I pull into the liquor store parking lot and find a spot then get out of my car and tap on the first persons shoulder that I see. It's a man in his late 30's or so and he's wearing a plaid button up shirt and a casual pair of jeans.

"How can I help you?"

"I'll give you $50 if you go buy me some vodka."

"Vodka doesn't cost $50."

"I know, just buy me two cheap bottles and keep the change and shut your mouth about it. No one has to ever know."

"I uh, don't think you're in the proper state to be drinking right now and how old are you? 16?"

"I'll give you $55."

"$60 and I'll buy you three bottles and never mention it to a soul."

I hand the guy 3 twenty dollar bills and he goes in the store, then a few minutes later he comes out and hands me a brown paper bag.

"Thank you so much."

"No problem...please be careful."

I check in the bag to make sure the stranger bought me what I wanted, and he did. I jump back into my car and set the bag in the passenger seat, then I drive to a place where I know nobody will be. The old abandoned gas station down a few towns. I reach my destination and try to park in the most hidden place possible. I turn my car off and plug in my earbuds that I always keep in my glovebox. I go into my playlist on my phone titled 'pissed off' and press play. The beauty about this playlist is that is has hard rock and slow songs. The first song that comes on is Skinny Love by Birdy. I blast my headphones, open up the brown paper bag, and open the first bottle of vodka.

I down the first one in about 30 minutes and then step out of the car to get some fresh air. I throw the empty vodka bottle on the ground and grab another full one out of my car. Just as I'm opening it, Be My Forever comes on and I lose it. That's the song I showed to Cory awhile ago and I was gonna ask him if it could be our song, but never got the guts to. I start bawling my eyes out and smash my head against my car door. I chug down the second bottle of vodka in about 45 minutes. I'm a really light weight, so even after the first bottle, I'm wasted. I throw the empty bottle across the parking lot and it smashes to a million pieces. It resembles my life in some ways, as it is also shattering into a million little pieces.

I get back in my car and start it, deciding to save the last bottle for another time. I know you think I might seem irrational, acting the way I am to this situation but I always think up the worst scenarios in my head and overthink them. Ever since Cory left, that's what I've been doing. The alcohol pretty much makes me forget for the time being. I shift my car into drive and pull out of the parking lot. I turn left and start heading back to Sandy's house, but I can't even drive. I'm swerving all over the place and I can barely see the road. I know some people would just ignore it and keep driving, but it's really bad.

I pull into the next driveway, which just so happens to be a dentist office and I pull my phone out. I dial the one persons number that will come get me and try to be understanding. Braden. He picks up after one ring.

"Jesus Christ Olivia. Where the fuck are you? you scared the shit out of me when you sped off like that. You've been gone for almost 2 hours."

"H--h--e--e--y."

"I can barely understand you. Are you crying or something?"

Yeah there's that, and there's the fact that I'm totally wasted beyond the point that anyone should be.

"I--I--'--m a--a-t t--t-h--he d--de--n--ti--st."

"Why in the hell are you at the dentist?! Never mind. Stay there, I'm coming to pick you up. Stay where you are. I'll be there in 15 minutes."

I hang my phone up and bang my head off the steering wheel a few times. I let my head rest a little too long and I pass out. After what feels like 2 minutes later, but in reality it was more like 15, I hear incessant banging on my window. I wake up and look out my window and see Braden. I unlock my door and open it.

"Oliv---Oh Jesus it wreaks in here. What the fu----have you been drinking? Fucking damn it!"

I look up at Braden and furrow my eyebrows at him, then smile.

"Why are you fucking smiling?! You're fucking hammered Olivia. Sandy is going to kill you."

I look Braden in the eyes and giggle.

"You're pretty!"

"Olivia. Just keep quiet okay?"

Braden scoops me up in his arms and carries me over to his truck, then gently sets me in the back seat. I lay lengthwise across it and pass out again. The next time I wake up, it's really bright out and I have a pounding headache. I sit up and notice I'm in Braden's truck and it looks like it's morning out. I reach into my pocket and thankfully my phone is there. I have 2 new texts from Cory and I look at the time and see that it's 10:30 am.

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