Seven Days

Day Zero

I'm home!" I called to my empty house. I sighed, wondering why he even bothered. My father was on yet another business trip and my mother seemed to be working later and later these days. I kicked off my shoes and placed them neatly on the shoe rack by the door.

"School was good. There's a new girl. She's in my history and drama class. I got an A on my physics test." I said to no one as I headed upstairs to my room to start my homework. Despite my parents being more than absent from my daily life, they still expected him to do well in school.  Drama and physics homework was finished quickly but calculus took a little longer. As I was finishing his last problem, the doorbell rang. I ran down the stairs and swung the door open, expecting the mailman or Ella, my "nanny" for when his parents were really busy even though I'm nearly 18. Instead, a petite girl was leaned against his door frame. She wore black leggings and a cut up t-shirt that read ɪ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ɪɴᴛᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜɪs ᴍᴀᴅɴᴇss. There was an odd, round grinning skeleton skull on the front. The girl's hair was bright blue and pulled back in a messy bun.

"Hi. Caden, right? From my drama class? I'm Selene, the new girl." she smiled.

I stared stupidly for a second. "Uh, hi." I waited for her to tell me why she was at my door. Instead, her eyebrow lifted. "Are you going invite me in?"

I felt my cheeks flush and I stepped back. "Yeah, my bad. Come in."

Selene stepped into my living room and looked around. Suddenly I realized how plain most of my house was. My parents never bothered to make it seem homey so my living room consisted of two black couches and a white rug.

"So, uh, what brings you here?" I asked.

"Well, we have two classes together so I figured friendship was possible. Besides, you don't look like you have much fun and I love having fun so I thought I'd take on the burden of explaining what fun was to you." Selena winked at him.

I shrugged, trying to play it off like I didn't care. "I don't have much time for fun. You know, school and stuff."

Selene's eyes widened. "You're kidding. We have to fix that. Let's play a game."

The smile on her face had me stepping back and rethinking inviting her in. She sighed. "Oh come on, Cade. A little fun won't hurt. Let's go." Before I could protest, she had grabbed my hand and pulled me out the house.

***

We ended up walking to a thrift shop. Selene walked in and waved hello to the boy at the register. His eyes traced up and down her body but she didn't seem to notice. She led me to the back of the men's section and started browsing. Earlier we had stopped at her house to grab a huge purse. Now, she held a gray shirt up to me and tilted her head. "Looks good," she mumbled then shoved the shirt into her purse. "Whoa whoa, what are you doing? That's stealing, Selene."

She smiled. "It's only stealing if you get caught, Cade. Loosen up. It'll look good on you."

She turned and walked down another aisle, leaving me to follow. Reluctantly I did and found her shoving another t-shirt into her purse. I rolled my eyes and went to girl's section, deciding that if she was gonna shop for me then I might as well try to find something with color for her. Unfortunately, most of the clothes had flowers and really girly stuff on it. Finally, I found a skintight red dress that looked about her size.

I headed over to where Selene was trying on hats and showed her. "Thoughts?" he asked. She turned and a smile broke out across her face.

"You surprisingly have good taste Cade! I'm proud." She checked the tag and walked over to the checkout counter. The guy at the counter rung up her dress and looked at me, obviously expecting me to pay. I pulled out my wallet and handed the guy a five dollar bill. With a smile, Selene snatched the bag off the counter and took my hand as we walked out. She pulled me along the sidewalk to a 7-Eleven and we bought slushies. When we had gotten settled on the curb outside, she turned to me. "I want to propose something to you."

"As long as you have a ring for me, I'm down." I smiled.

She laughed, shaking her head. "Wow Cade made a funny. Anyway, let's go on a road trip. Just you and me. Only for about 7 days. Maybe 8 but I promise it'll be fun. Even if you say no, I'm going and you wouldn't let a little girl go across the country by herself, would you?" she made a puppy face at me. Her intense blue-gray eyes held me for a moment before I dragged my gaze away.

"I can't miss school." It was a feeble excuse but I had just met this girl and she wants me to go on a 7-day joyride to god knows where. No way, my parents would kill me. "Cade. Caden, baby, this is your chance! Break free from your parents. They haven't called or texted since we've been out. Clearly, they're not home often. So what will they notice if we take a little vacation." She smiled "You need it, hun."

This girl is going to get me killed. I barely know her, I reminded myself. But I couldn't ignore the truth in her words. My parents would never notice. "Where?"

She instantly perked up, her puppy face fading into a huge grin. "There will be many stops on this adventure but our destination is in Las Vegas, Nevada!"

I turned towards her fully. "What's in Las Vegas?"

Selene shook her head. "Not a what, but who. And by who I mean only one of the best musically talented grouped on this Earth. Maroon 5! I won a bet and scored 2 tickets to their concert but I need a butt to fill the seat next to me at the concert."

I bit my thumb and watched the sunset, thinking. "Give me some time."

Selene stood and held out her hand to help me up. "The concert is in eight days. You have until midnight tonight." She turned and started down the sidewalk.

***

My cell rang at 12:01 am. Somehow Selene had gotten her number into my phone. I answered. "I'm in your driveway." Were her words before she hung up. I looked at the living room behind me with its bare walls and plain colors. All my life has been black and white. I needed color. I fixed the strap of the duffle bag that was on my shoulder and made my way out the house. Selene sat in the front seat of a 2017 black Jeep Wrangler. I opened the passenger door and shoved my duffle into the back. When I had got situated in the car, Selene turned to me. "Ready?" She asked.

"Ready."