Better Than This

Chapter 36

They pulled into the hotel parking lot and went up to Hunter's room. They sat on the bed together, watching TV. Hunter put his arm around her, still thinking about what Allie said in the car. He looked at her. He felt so bad for her. "Listen, if you want to tell me about your sister, you can." He was interested.

Allie looked back at him, then turned away so she could rest her head on him. "Well, she was 17 when it happened. Her name was Nicole. She was the oldest. I was 8 when she died and Milly was 11. Nicole was my best friend, the best sister you could ever ask for. She was the one that kept me going through everything. I was more affected by it than Milly. Nicole loved us and you knew she did. Whenever I had fights with friends, she could always patch them up." Allie started getting tears in her eyes as Hunter rubbed her shoulder. "She was on her way to prom with her boyfriend, Josiah. My parents knew that they were going to get married. It was fate. Nicole went to a public school, so Lucy and Gabby don't know."

"You never told them?" Hunter asked, surprised. "Aren't they your best friends?"

"Yes, but I don't want to tell them that something else is wrong with me."

"Allie, nothing, absolutely nothing, is wrong with you! It was an accident. They deserve to know."

"When the time is right. Anyways," she continued, "Nicole and Josiah left our house after pictures and that's when it happened. Josiah was driving and they were listening to the radio. It was up so loud that he couldn't hear Nicole yelling at him that a semi was coming," she stopped, fighting back tears. "Josiah looked up and saw it, then made a quick turn the right. That didn't work The car was totaled. Josiah lived, but Nicole didn't." Allie got up and went to get a drink of water then sat back down.