Wild Ride - The Alternative Version (Book 2)

Chapter 77~There's A Reason We're Here

I was relaxing in my room, watching TV, not really doing much of anything. It'd been almost a week now since Danika passed away, and I was doing better than I had been by quite a bit. It was now July, the second to be exact. My family was going to go down onto the beach for the fourth to watch fireworks, and Mom and Dad said it was ok for me to bring Dustin along too. Maybe if she were alive, Danika would've come with us too, her and Todd. She would've liked that a lot.

Obviously, I was still having kind of a hard time with the whole thing. It was hard to accept that your best friend was dead, that you'd never see her again. But I did what Mom said she had done, and just kept going. Every day, I got up and got ready to face the day, reminding myself to be strong. I know Danika would want for me to keep going, so if that's what she wants, that's what I'll do. I promised myself I wouldn't disappoint her. 

I found myself thinking about the accident itself less, I didn't really blame myself for it anymore. It happened, and it's over with. No matter who's fault it may or may not be, there'll never be a way to change it because that's fate. Nobody can bring Danika or Travis back, as unfortunate as that is. The only thing we can do is to keep their spirit alive with memories, to honor them, because that's how it's supposed to be. 

I was never left all alone, the others were here often to visit me and keep me smiling. My uncles would come in and do lots of silly things just to get me to laugh, and it's never usually very hard to laugh with them. They're just so goofy you can't really help it, even the saddest person in the world would laugh at them.

The kids came too, bouncing around and keeping the energy flowing so I never got bored. Kaylee still kept good company, though she stopped staying with me at night. But she drew me a picture of us after she went back to sleeping in her room so that if I woke up in the middle of the night or I couldn't sleep, I'd have that to look at to make me feel better. Adorable is not the right word to describe her, it honestly isn't. Someone should make up a new word combined with all the old, affectionate words just for her because she exceeds all the old words.

Mom and Dad also did their part in keeping me on track. Dad would tickle me and make me laugh a lot in the way that my uncles would make me laugh whenever he thought I was particularly sad looking. At night, recently he'd come and sing me to sleep which always made me feel better. During the day, sometimes we'd go down into the basement and jam together, connecting and releasing emotion through the music. Other times, I went with Mom to the label and helped with the recording, which was actually a lot of fun and it kept me occupied. 

Of course, let's not forget Dustin, who'd been texting me and talking to me over the phone a lot. I liked it better sometimes when he called, specifically when I was dying to hear his warm, soft voice. He was so comforting to listen to, and he never failed to make me feel happy inside. Other times, he'd come over to the house and hang out with me for a few hours, and we'd just snuggle up to each other and not say much of anything.

Then there were times like this one, right now, where I would be left on my own for a while to relax and just take everything in, but they were all waiting as if they were first responders on call, ready to jump into action should I need somebody. I'd actually been sitting here watching TV like this for a couple hours, so when Dustin appeared in my doorway, my heart soared with joy.

"Hey, beautiful." He flashed his adorable crooked grin at me. 

Teasing him, I looked around, as if looking for another person. "It's only me here, who are you talking to?" 

He smirked. "You. Who else would I call beautiful?" 

"Yourself, when you're looking in the mirror."

Dustin chuckled. "But I'm not looking in a mirror. I'm looking at you." He said as he came into my room further. He sat down on the bed beside me as I felt myself blushing, watching him. Dustin situated himself next to me, looking over at me.