Senior Stories: Gillian Lombart

15. Note to Self

“Get up butt face!”

“No,” Gillian mumbled into her pillow.

“Uncle Billy said if you don’t get up in the next ten minutes his is going to drop the baby’s dirty diaper on your head,” Andie screamed as she hovered over her sister with her hands on her hips.

“He wouldn’t do that,” Gillian yawned turning her head up to face the preteen beast.

“Oh, yeah try him. He was really pissed you stayed out so late last night. And there is no coffee in the house, so you are super screwed.”

“Crap!” Gillian shot up out of bed, knocking her sister aside.

“He’s not here, stupid! He stormed off to get a coffee at Peet’s, but boy was he pissed.”

She had forgotten her phone and didn’t think to call her uncle to check in. She ran into the kitchen and began opening cabinets to find the emergency stash of instant coffee that her father kept stocked in the kitchen. She doubted her uncle was picking up coffee for the both of them, and seeing him mad was not something she wanted to witness without caffeine in her system.

Andie sauntered into the kitchen and pulled out a bowl and began pouring cereal. “He took the baby in case you were wondering.”

“Oh,” Gillian had never had this problem with checking in or having someone worry about her. Her father was in such a fog she could come and go and she pleased. And when her mom was home she was always with one of three people; Matthew, Jorge, or Mattie. There was never a question of what she was doing, her parents just trusted her like that. Gillian got up to make the coffee, dreading the moment her uncle came back.

The front door clicked.

“Oh, you are gonna get it now,” Andie said as she dropped her dish in the sink and grabbed her backpack. “Bye! I hope you get grounded for life.”

Gillian heard her sister say goodbye to her uncle and slam the front door behind her.

Uncle Billy walked into the kitchen with two cups of coffee in his hand.

“I see you’re up. I brought you some coffee, you don’t have to drink that crap if you don’t want to.”

“Thanks. I was okay with it, but the real stuff is always better.” Gillian couldn’t look up at him. She was nervous.

“Listen Gilly,” Billy said as he pulled a chair from the kitchen table. “We need to talk. I know you have to be at school in an hour, but we really need to get something straight.”

Gillian launched into panic mode. “I know I should have checked in. I am really sorry, it’s just that I needed to get out of the house and I didn’t bring my phone and… I was with Matthew, you’ve met him before, and we just went to get some ice cream, and .”

“Slow down. It’s just that I was worried that’s all. I called Leslie and she said you could only be at two places, but Jorge hadn’t seen you and Maddie’s parents said you weren’t there.”

“I am so sorry.”

“Your mom seemed to think that there was no way you would be hanging out with that boy, what’s his name, Matt?”

“We kinda broke up.”

“Oh.”

“But we are still, sorta, you know, hanging out.”

“Oh,” Billy raised his eyebrow.

“No! Not like that. He is just someone I can talk to. That therapy session got me a little freaked out.”

Billy reached across the table and patted Gillian’s arm.

“I get it, just text me and tell me where you are next time.” Billy squeezed her arm. “Okay, kiddo? And I dropped off your brother to buy you more time to get ready since you slept late.”

“Sure. And thanks.”

Billy got up and headed to the living room leaving Gillian alone in the kitchen. She let out a long breath, which dropped her shoulders down from the scrunched position the found themselves in when her uncle walked through the front door. She took a sip of the coffee; it was sweet and creamy. Her uncle remembered just how she liked it. She looked at the clock, she had five minutes before she had to be in the shower and run out the door. Five minutes of time to think about how much things have changed, but how some things were the same.

“Note to self,” Gillian thought. “Some people do care.”