100 Things To Do Before I Die

F I V E: The Road To Paradise..and an Argument

      I finally got to leave about a week later, on Sunday. Carlos acted like nothing ever happened, but I saw him differently now. I'm not even sure he's told Becca. Only two would accompany me on this trip: Will and Eli.
     Connor was busy, mom and dad wouldn't come if they could, Becca still wouldn't talk to me, and Carlos did whatever the hell Becca did. We would be making who knows how many stops over the week and be back by Sunday. After we got back, we'd do another trip during spring break.
We stood in front of Eli's F-150, waiting for Will. "What time did you tell him to come?" asked Eli.
    "Now at 8:00," I said, checking my watch. "He'll be here any minute."
Eli turned at looked at with the that expression that said, Oh, really? Are you so sure about that?
"He'll come!"
Will arrived ten minutes after I said that. His father dropped him off, told me to be super careful, gave me a few meds, and left. "Sorry I'm late," Will apologized.
"It's okay," I shrugged, "At least we can go now."
Eli and I said bye to our family, and as we got into the truck, Carlos came up to my window. "Hey," he said, "be careful, okay?"
    I nodded. "I will."
   Carlos smiles, then, "Very well. Have fun."
   Eli started to drive, and speaking of Carlos, we were barely almost out of the parking lot when Becca ran out in front of the car. "STOP THAT FUCKING TRUCK!"
  Eli almost ran her over and had to step on the brakes, throwing me forward. "Damn it, Eli!"
  Eli got out of the truck and rushed over to Becca as I slowly climbed out. "What the hell is wrong with you! I seriously could have killed you! Why the hell would you do that?!" As Eli said this, he was up in Becca's face, face red hot with anger, and grabbing her shoulders.
  Carlos ran over and pulled Becca his way, telling Eli, "Calm down, dude! No need to yell like that."
"She's my sister! I can tell if I want!"
"What makes you think you can?"
"What makes you think I can't?"
"Just shut up, Eli!" Becca interrupted.
"Just tell me, Becca, what made you think you could run in front of the truck like that! I could have killed you!" Eli yelled. "Are you insane?!"
"Am I insane? I'm not the one taking my sister out and away from the hospital!"
"We already talked about this, damn it! Besides, she wants this! We can't hold her back."
"But we can help her-"
"Shut up, all of you!" I finally yelled. I was tired of Becca being so pushy about me staying, I was tired of Carlos trying to play peacemaker, and I was tired of Eli fighting with Becca. Once I intervened, everyone got so quiet you could hear the ringing in your ears. "Becca, you need to accept the fact that I'm leaving whether you like it or not. Nothing you say is going to make me choose to stay here! And Carlos, you don't always have to intervene. Sometimes people argue and yell. It can't be all smiles all the time. There's eventually going to be disagreement and I'm sure Becca and Eli could figure it out. Eli, please stop losing your temper with Becca. It could get out of hand.
"I'm leaving. Nothing and no one will change my mind. If I die, I die. If I live, I live. But if I die, I want to die having a good ass time. I love all of you. You know that. I want this."
No one said a word after that, except for Eli. "I'm sorry, Core. And, Becca, I'm sorry I yelled at you. Both today and at the meeting."
"Whatever, Eli," Becca said. "Cora, I know you want this. But I don't think it's a good idea. You should really stay. Please, for me."
"Becca!" I finally sighed. "Did you even hear me? Do you even understand where I'm coming from?"
"I forbid you leaving. I don't want you to get hurt." I was already getting frustrated with her for still not understanding, but then she brought Will into it. "I don't really know if I want you going with him either."
Will sat up from the backseat and peered through the open window. "What's this now?"
"Becca, you don't even know this kid," Carlos actually said. I was surprised that he didn't take Becca's side for once.
"Carlos is right," Eli and I agreed.
"Why would I want you going with him when he, one, decided to go "wheel-chair surfing" and crashed into you, knocking you over. You could've gotten hurt. Then, he puts this leaving idea into your head! He's the reason for all of this!"
"Becca, you talk about this like it's a bad thing! It's not! It's a great thing that I should be thanking him for! Don't talk about him like that, you've never even spoken to him." I was pretty pissed at this point. Becca had no right to talk about someone she's never even spoken too. "Eli, let's go."
"Cora, don't get in that truck."
Eli climbed into the drivers seat, and as I climbed into the passenger seat, Becca said, "Don't you do this. Please. I don't want you to go, I don't. Something bad will happen."
"Becca, you're making s mountain out of a molehill. It's not a big deal."
"I don't want you to go, and I don't want it to be with him!"
I glanced at my sister. "Well, we don't always get what we want." Then I slammed the door and we left.

We had been on the road to the West coast for ten minutes in silence. No one had said a word since we left. "She'll get over it," Eli finally said.
"Yeah, maybe," I mumbled.
"Don't worry about it, just have fun."
"I will." I turned around to Will. "Sorry about all of that, by the way."
Will shrugged and smiled. "Don't worry about it. It's not the first time."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Nothing! Nothing, nothing," he quickly said, as if he shouldn't have told me that.
  I let it go, but we were almost out of the city when I gasped and said, "BRIAN!"
   Eli slammed on the brakes. "Cora, don't scare me like that! I already almost rammed into Becca!"
   "Eli, I'm sorry, but we can't leave yet."
   Eli rolls his eyes. "Don't tell me you just decided you agree with Becca. I will murder you."
  "No, it's not that. I promised Brian, the man who made this possible, that is visit him. We can't go until I've seen him. Can we go visit him? I promised."
  Eli sighed and put his hand on my shoulder. "Of course you can, Core. Anything you need or want, just ask." So Will turned around and drove over to Brian's house. Luckily, he had left his address on the back of the sticker sheet, which I had conveniently brought, which also reminded me of him.
  When we arrived, I ran up to the front door right away and rung the doorbell. Please answer, please be home, I thought. He answered as soon as I rung.
  "Cora! William!" he smiled. "I'm so happy to see you too!" Brian looked up at Eli. "And you are?"
  "Mr. Martin-"
  "Please, call me Brian."
  "Brian, this is my older brother, Eli. Eli, this is Brian Martin."
  "Pleasure to meet you, sir," Eli said, shaking Brian's hand. Brian invited us in; he was so excited and happy to see us.
  "Honestly, Cora, when I told you to come visit me, I wasn't so sure you actually would. I thought you forgot about me. This really means a lot," he beamed.
"We're happy to be here, sir," Will said.
"Would you guys like something to drink? I also made some biscochitos, if you'd like some of those."
"We're okay, sir," all of us said at the same time. Brian's smile faded a little, and then I smelt that the biscochitos were fresh; he most likely finished them before we got here.
"Actually," I said, "I'd like some of those biscochitos, if you don't mind."
Brian smiled again and went to the counter to get the cookies. He set them in the middle of the table and sat down. "I had nothing to do today, so I decided to make these."
We had small talk for about 15 minutes, then we started telling Brian about our trip. We told him about the plans for this week and how we'd be resuming the trip in another month or so for spring break. He smiled the entire time. I kind of wished that he could come along with us.
"How exciting," he said. "You're going to have so much fun."
We talked for another 45 minutes, and as we were about to leave, he went to his bedroom to get something. "For good luck," he said, handing each of us a sticker sheet. I had animals, Will got stars, and Eli was given super heroes. "Thank you so much for visiting me. Again, it really means a lot to me. I hope you come visit me again soon."
"We will, I promise," I said, grinning.
"Very well. Well, you guys better get to it. Have fun!" Brian announced.
As we got into the truck, he smiled and I told him, "See you soon!"
  "I'll remember you said that!"
  "We'll bring you a souvenir."
Eli, Will, and I hopped into the truck, and Eli sped us off on the road to paradise at 60 miles per hour.