Relapse / / h.s.

Chapter Thirteen.

    "You know," Elena spoke over the sound of rain hammering against my windshield. She'd stared out of the window most of the drive, telling me once how good I was doing with all of this. Apparently she'd expected me for my first mental break down some time after the first question. "I think you're the only person I know that doesn't listen to the radio when they drive."

I swiped my hand along the stubble that was growing in on my chin. I hadn't even had the energy for music lately. People say music heals the soul or whatever but whenever I heard any song it took me back to Lily. Every single time.

"Music reminds me of her," I said. It probably sounded ridiculous, but it was the truth. "I just can't."

She stared at me, her brown eyes perfectly visible even in the mostly set sunlight. "All right. I'm sorry," she sighed, picking at her fingernails. "Can I ask where you're taking me?"

I cranes forward to look out of the windshield. Through the rain I could see the building, old and dilapidated to the point where the siding was nearly falling off. Dirt from the lot crunched under my tires as I pulled in and parked.

"Here," I smiled, killing the engine and unbuckling my seatbelt.

Elena looked up through the windshield, squinting her her eyes to see through the rain. "And where exactly are we?"

"Smith's," I smiled. This was it, really. This is where it all began. "It's a record store."

"Oh," she puffed out her cheeks and unbuckled her seatbelt. "It looks kind of... sad."

  "I know." It was a miracle Matty had even been able to keep this place open this long. I'd expected it to shut down years ago.

  "All right," she turned in her seat so that she was leaning against her door and facing me. "Tell me about it. Why's this little shop so important?"

"Well," I started. I watched two raindrops chase each other down my windshield. "This is part of what I meant when I told you music reminds me of Lily. We, uh, we came here together. She wanted to know about the kind of music I listened to, I don't know. It was the first time we ever really got along."

"What kind of music do you listen to?" Elena tugged her still-wet ponytail tighter. "Well, what kind of music did you listen to? What did you show her?"

I shrugged. "It's mostly punk rock, you know, stuff with drums and guitars."

"Like Green Day?" She asked as she picked at the bottom of her sandals.

"Yeah," I nodded, impressed. Elena didn't seem like the type to know anything about Green Day. She was too soft around the edges. "Like Green Day. You listen to them?"

"My brother is into them," she shrugged. "After awhile I kind of picked up on the lyrics. Couldn't really help it."

"I didn't know you had a brother." She talked about her mom, but never a brother.

"Oh, yeah. His name's Declan. He's two years older than I am." She smiled warmly. I knew that smile. It was the same one I got whenever I talked about Gemma. Maybe everyone had the same appreciation of their older siblings as I did.

"I have a big sister," I admitted and she raised an eyebrow. "Her name's Gemma. Lives back at home still."

"And you're from London?"

   "Right," I nodded. I'd shared that with her at some point, after she'd got bored with talking about herself and decided to ask me questions instead.

  "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "We're getting off subject. What did Lily say when you brought her here?"

  "Pretty much the same thing you did," I chuckled to myself. "We ended up leaving with bags, though, and she came back a few days later absolutely loving what I'd shown her."