The Brother

5

Today I was supposed to go to Virginia Tech with Ray. We were going to a campus visit. Instead, I lugged along Kristen. She already went to her campus visit at UVA. She agreed reluctantly because of the boiling heat, but I convinced her eventually.

It was the end of July and the sun was scorching hot. I packed along a pack of water bottles in a cooler and little kid juice boxes. I wore high-waist ripped shorts and a baby blue crop top that showed a tiny part of my midsection.

The drive was an hour away. Kristen and I kept quiet most of the time in the car. I think she was still hesitant about what happened several days ago when Seth insulted me. That led to a heavy slap and a lot of crying. She called an hour later asking how I was. I said it was nothing, but she knew it was something.

“So what happened yesterday?” she broke the thick awkward tension away.

I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and straightened up. I was trying to act confident. “Not much,” I said, “Seth just apologized and we went our separate ways.” I shrugged.

“Sure, I bet that was it,” she scoffed.

“It was!” I lied. She was going to read right through me.

“No, no it wasn’t. Just tell me. You know I’ll understand.” She sang. “Did he kiss you?” She nudged me.

“God no! No! Kristen! I’m not a skank, kissing my dead boyfriend’s brother.” I sighed and pushed her with the hand that was not on the steering wheel.

“Ex-boyfriend,” she corrected obnoxiously.

“Don’t remind me.” I slammed my head on the wheel at a red light.

“Aud, we are going have to talk about it eventually. I’ve been putting it off for a while because I thought you weren’t ready. The problem is I don’t know when you are going to get over it.” She said.

The abundant tension came back. I pressed my lips together and I slammed on the pedal hard to speed away from the light, thinking I could drive away fast from my problems. She was right. We were going to have to talk about it. But talking about it lead to me cry. Crying led me to a car crash. A car crash will lead me to death. Like Ray’s.

“Audrey,” she shot her eyes towards me. “Talk.”

I inhaled deeply and let out a frustrated groaned. “Fine,” I said. “I just don’t know. It’s so weird with him gone. The world doesn’t feel the same.” I look outside to the heavily forested Virginia.

“I know how you feel, when my favorite cousin died, I felt like my life was not complete anymore. It gets better though.” She encouraged.

“That’s what my dad said.” I murmured. “I’d rather not talk about this in the car. I don’t want to cry.”

“It’s a great place to practice! You will feel more focused.” She put her foot under her leg and faced me in her seat. “Wasn’t Ray just so sexy.” She purred like a cat.

“Kristen!” I sighed. I couldn’t do this right now. No.

“He was so kind and sweet. He treated you like a goddess. He did anything you wanted. You were the luckiest girl in the world.” She said with a malicious smile on her face.

I was on the verge of tears. I pushed them back, but she continued. “He was such a romantic. Remember when he asked you to prom? Let’s reminiscence, he gave you a scavenger hunt. You first had to follow what the book read. Then you had to follow the rose petals. Then! He was there like there, with billions of white and red roses reading prom. He sang to you!” she said awed.

My eyes were flooded with tears. “Okay that’s enough.” I sniffled. “Please no more, I don’t think I can take anymore.” I pushed back most of my tears surprisingly.

“Hey! You improved!” she hugged me. “At least you didn’t burst in tears.”

“Yeah, at least.”

When we got to the university, almost the whole entire parking lot was full. Kristen and I had to walk in the unbelievable heat for fifteen minutes just to get to the campus. The air in the parking lot was musty and it smelled like oil and gas.

“You so owe me.” She groaned. The air outside was boiling and crispy. We were almost there. I saw the heavily crowded area with a bunch of colorful stands. I wonder what they would have. I was so excited. I grabbed Kristen’s wrist and squeezed it. “Yes, yes, this is so freaking exciting.” She said tediously.

“Hello! Welcome to Virginia Tech University!” a perky blonde girl with braces greeted us. “I’m Katie, who are you?”

“I’m Audrey, this is Kristen.” I gestured towards Kristen. She gave Katie a tight smile and an uncomfortable wave. “I’m the one attending the school.”

“Oo! What are you going to major in? Art? Music? Zoology?” she listed all of the easy ones. I had a pretty good idea why.

“No, actually I’ll major in biology and minor in chemistry.” I smiled.

She looked startled. Just because I had good looks, didn’t mean I was stupid. “Huh, okay then!” she said uneasily. “Well here’s a sticker.” She slapped one on Kristen and me. “You can look around for clubs and just people to talk to! Enjoy!”

We left Katie to look around. There were hundreds of stands with almost all topics. There were theatre groups, chemistry clubs, signing clubs, culinary clubs, etc. One caught my eye especially, pre-med club.

I dragged Kristen away while she tasted samples at the culinary table. “Audrey! They had cherry cobbler!” when she saw the pre-med table she lightened up. “Ray would love that.” She smiled.

I pushed away the thoughts of us going to medical school together. Most of people behind the table were nerds except for one. “Dr. Dreamy,” she muttered in my ear.

“Hello, I’m Jared,” he held out a hand. “And you are?”

“I- I’m Audrey,” I stuttered out. He was the definition of a hot doctor. His hair was a chocolate brown brushed to the side right over his eyebrow. His eyes were a bright blue against his tanned olive skin complexion.

“And I’m Kristen.” She popped out from behind me. She may have had a boyfriend, but that never stopped her from flirting with other guys.

“So are you girls interested in becoming a doctor?” he asked.

“I think I’m going to become a dermatologist.” I said nodding my head.

“Well! I am going to become a brain surgeon.” Kristen interrupted.

“Kristen, I think they are serving mini-burgers at the culinary stand.”  I said.

Her mouth became a pool of water. “Oh yes,” she followed the meaty smell of burgers.

“Sorry about that,” I told Jared.

“It’s fine, I’m used to it.” He laughed. “Anyways, dermatology is a great field to study in. I’m thinking of becoming Neurologist. I just love helping people you know.” He smiled wide showing off his pearly whites.

Ray wanted to be a Neurologist for that same exact reason. He was going to make me cry. “That’s nice, I’ll probably see you in Times magazine in ten years.”

“Oh yes you will,” he said then pointed to a clipboard in the front. “Put your name, email, and number so we can contact you about the club.”

I started filling it out, and then I realized something. “There’s no number slot.” Then it hit me. He wanted my number. He was flirting with me.

“I know,” he smirked.

I wrote my number there anyways. Was I ready to start dating? Jared was a hunky medical student. I couldn’t pass this down. But Ray just died. Would Seth be right? I’m making a move on other guys and Ray just died. I chose to ignore Seth talking in the back of my head. He was not the boss of me.

“Nice meeting you, Audrey.” Jared waved a friendly goodbye.