Living Or Dying

Chapter Four

Turns out Byern had planned to take Sherry to his house. After he had run down the street far enough away from Sherry's house he put her down. Sherry clutched her bag. What just happened? She asked herself several times. Byern just walked normally, with his thumbs in his pockets. As if he hadn't just carried someone out of their house. Sherry clutched her bag of items to her chest.

"You know, I will have to go back eventually. Not permanently though. Just to grab some stuff."

Byern nodded. "I grabbed enough clothes for three days. By then your alcoholic father will have drunk himself into forgetting this ever happened. You'll walk in the house like a good girl then leave with a full suitcase."

Sherry was amazed at how much Byern could plan out it a few minutes. He pulled out his phone. Sherry snuck a peek at the background. It was Byern kissing another guy. Sherry assumed this was the ex-boyfriend of two years Byern had mentioned at the support meeting. Why he still had the photo she didn't know. Byern put the phone up to his ear.

"Yeah, hello Ebony. Put mother on the phone please. Hi mother. Can I have a friend stay over for a while? Family problems. Yeah, hmm. Uh-uh. She was at the cafe today. Yeah. That was her. Dunno. But a while. K? Thanks. Ask Ebony. She knows. Bye." Byern hung up.

He noticed Sherry looking at the background. He smiled widely. Sherry quickly looked away. Byern laughed quietly. "I guess you can call me a hopeless romantic. A year apart and I still have his picture in my phone."

Sherry stayed quiet. She knew she still had Robbie as her computer desktop. But they had only been separate a few hours, not a year.

"Hey, wanna help me take a new picture?" Byern asked, smiling widely.

Sherry nodded. He pulled up the camera on his phone. He hugged her shoulders and looked at the camera. "Smile!"

A perfect picture. Sherry was smiling and blushing a lot. Byern just had his big goofy smile on.

Byern set the picture as his background. "You want it too?"

"Yeah. It's a nice picture." Sherry nodded.

He immediately sent it to her Facebook account. Sherry pulled out her phone to save it. She set it as her background as well. Sherry laughed when she noticed something: it was exactly something a couple would do. Sherry didn't say that to Byern though.

They walked towards the cafe. When they got there, there was a woman waiting for them at the front door. She had white hair, but very little wrinkles. It looked more like the white hair was dyed that way. The woman wore the same waitress outfit as Ebony did. Long skirt, apron, and white blouse. Hers wasn't stained with food stains however. She has the same wide smile as Byern.

"Welcome! You must be Sherry!"

Yep, exactly like Byern, thought Sherry. She waved and smiled back. "Thanks for having me over in such short notice."

"It's alright. Anyone who needs something is always welcome in our home. Byern said you were his friend too, so we welcome you even more!" The lady said.

"Mother, I think Sherry is a little hungry."

It was true. Sherry's stomach had grumbled loudly in the middle of Byern's mother's speech. She laughed and led Sherry and Byern inside.

"Oh Sherry, you choose a wonderful night to come stay over! It's Ebony's birthday celebration tonight. You can join the party!" The lady sounded very enthusiastic.

"Oh, I didn't mean to intrude on you, ma'am. If you want I can leave." Sherry offered.

"Oh no." This time it was Byern who spoke up. "You don't have anywhere to go. Plus, the more the merrier!" Byern and his mother said the last sentence in unison.

"Thank you so much." Sherry squirmed nervously. "Um, but what may I call you ma'am? Mrs.?"

"Oh, none of that! Call me Trisha! It's the name of the cafe too. 'Trisha's Cafe'. Nice ring to it, to right?"

Sherry nodded. It would take some getting used to being at the cafe with this boisterous family. Sherry just hoped they wouldn't mind her being an introvert.

"Um, where will I be sleeping?" Sherry asked.

"You can sleep with Byern in his room. I won't trust Ebony with a pretty young girl like you." Trisha walked away into the kitchen.

"With... Byern?" Sherry worried.

Byern slapped his arm around her shoulders. Sherry jumped in surprise. She looked over to see his face. He wore his usual big grin. Sherry smiled nervously.

"Don't worry!" Byern laughed. "I don't snore."

Ting, the bell on the door went off. Sherry and Byern turned to look. Byern took his arm off Sherry. Her shoulder suddenly felt very cold. The person who came in was very tall. He had to duck to enter the cafe. His red hair was spiked up in a wave at the front. He wore a flannel shirt that was open at the front.
Underneath he wore a black tee. He had on very dirty dark blue jeans. Finally work boots were on his massive feet.

"Adam!" Byern cried "Sherry, meet Adam. He is Ebony's boyfriend."

Sherry stuck out her hand to shake. Adam slapped her hand away with a laugh. "I don't do shakes. Here, fist bump."

Sherry stuck out her fist, shaking. Adam bumped it, hard. Sherry pulled back her fist. The knuckles were already turning red.

Byern laughed. "Careful, Adam! Sherry here is a fragile thing! She's not like Ebony."

Adam roared in laughter. He went off to find Ebony, leaving Byern and Sherry alone in the front.

"Um, Byern? Can we get something for my heel? It's bleeding through my sock." Sherry said.

"Right!" Byern looked worried. "Come with me."

He led her into the kitchen. Trish and a stocky man Sherry assumed was Byern's dad were in the kitchen baking a cake. Ebony and Adam were visible through a glass door on a back patio. In one corner of the kitchen was a small, circular staircase. Byern went up and Sherry followed. Byern went straight into his room. Sherry hesitated. This was a guy's room. Whether or not he was a gay guy didn't matter. Sherry felt uncomfortable. Byern sat on a swivel chair and motioned for Sherry to sit on the bed.

Gently Sherry sat on the bed. Byern swiveled and grabbed a first aid kit. He had Sherry pull of her shoe and sock. Gently he dabbed at the wound. Sherry winced in pain.

"I know it hurts. But it'll be healing well." Byern bit his lower lip as he cleaned the wound.

Shouts of laughter came from downstairs. Byern stood up the shut the door. Sherry snuck a look out the door before he closed it. There was a family picture on the wall. Sherry saw Trisha, the dad, Ebony, Byern, and one little boy she couldn't recognize. He was way smaller that Byern, but looked exactly like him.

"Sounds like the party has started." Byern finished with the gauze and packed up the kit. "Shall we join them?"