Destined

21

It had been too late.

Right after Amber's last words, she had began to drift asleep. It almost looked like she wouldn't get up again, but now it was too late for me to find out more information about her and Derek's night.

Maybe he was the one that raped her. Or maybe he knew the person that did. I didn't want to jump and blame him for something he didn't do, especially when that night he'd embarrassed Amber, he said he would have never touched a girl while she was under the influence. Somehow, his name left mixed signals in the front of my brain, and it shocked me to know that Amber had remembered what happened to her, even with being as medicated as she was.

"Whose Derek?" Adrian had asked me silently in the back of the their car. Me, him, and Amber's Father had all left the hospital despondent. Her Mother wanted to stay to be there with her whenever she woke back up, and even though I actually wanted and insisted to stay, both of her parents suggested that I go home and get some rest. Mr.Kole had no problem taking me home.

I should have sat in the front though, Adrian wouldn't have been able to question me on anything.

"He's a boy," I tell him.

"What about him? Why would she tell you you needed to find him?" He gets louder.

I roll my window down to fill the cold air brush against my fingers to ignore him, but he rolls it back up, getting irritated with me.

"If you don't tell me, I'll tell my dad what she said before she went to sleep, he'll really wanna know who this Derek is," Adrian threatens.

I turn to him quickly. "Are you black mailing me?" I ask him.

"Maybe," he shrugs.

I sigh before opening my mouth again. "He's a guy she met at this party we went too recently,"

"Oh," Adrian leans back in his seat. "Are they together?"

"I hope not," I truthfully answer.

"Why do you hope not?" He asks.

"Cause he's a bitch," I say covering my mouth immediately. I rarely cursed, especially around Adrian.

"Does he have something to do with why Amber ended up at that park?" He looks at me.

"Maybe. That's why I'm going to look for him,"

"Well I want to help," he says confidently.

"No," I shake my hand. This is something I need to do on my own,"

"She's my sister, not yours," Adrian rudely remarks, looking out of the window.

"She's like my sister," I tell him.

"Yeah, well that's not good enough,"

I clench my jaw at Adrian's sudden bluntness. I understood that he wanted to help but him being disrespectful about it wasn't gonna change my mind. He knew how close me and Amber were, and he also knew he was too young to be following me around everywhere.

"You guys alright?" Carl asks us, making a sharp turn off of the busy freeway. Even at 2 something in the morning, Las Vegas traffic still managed to exist.

"Yeah," I answer. Adrian doesn't say a word.

"Adrian?" His Dad calls. "You okay?"

Adrian let's out a loud sigh before speaking.

"No Dad. I'm not okay. My sister is practically in a fucking coma and Mom has to keep taking your shit in the process of this," he says. I make eye contact with him quickly, praying to God he wouldn't throw a tantrum while I was in the car. When he got angry, it was no avoiding him. I tried to grab his hand quickly to ease his nerves because that helped calm him down before, but he pulled away this time, moving further away from me.

"Excuse me? I am your god damn Father and I will not sit here and let you disrespect me from the back seat of this car. As soon as we get home you're grounded. Just because your sister is going through a hard time right now does not give you the right to talk to me however. I maintain this family with all the hard work I put in, and your Mother is just hard-headed," he says, glancing in the mirror repeatedly at Adrian.

I want to butt in..but I don't. This was none of my business, but I also knew that they shouldn't have been fighting while he was driving. A car wreck could have been almost sure to occur under these circumstances.

"Bull shit!" Adrian nearly screams. He was becoming more angrier than usual.

"Adrian please calm down," I tell him lowly. "Please,"

"No Dj, don't tell me what the hell to do," he says, glancing at me irritably.

"Do I have to pull this car over? Cause you're asking for it," his Father threatens.

Adrian unbuckles his seatbelt as the car makes its way towards the sidewalk. The moment we stop, he hops out of it, slamming the door and kicking the tire with all of his strength. Now I knew he was throwing a tantrum. His Father had also jumped out of the car, charging towards Adrian with his arms out getting ready to grab him.

"What are you gonna do Dad? Hit me?" I heard Adrian question. My window had been rolled down, but despite their feud I chose to stay in the car. Me interfering with it would have put me in a bad position and I knew I wouldn't be able to control either one of them, but then I started thinking about who would be able to control them.

Jayon.

He could have been helping me—but meanwhile here I was sitting in this truck crying over a situation that had nothing to do with me. I needed to gain some type of courage to call him. I didn't want too, only because of the way he treated me earlier, but there was no one else I could call at this time of night, or day that would be willing to help me.

I find myself searching for the nearest phone, because my screen had still been broken and it was too difficult to see anything on it. I forced my hand push through the seats, feeling Adrian's instantly. Thank God he had left it in the car.

I dialed Jayon's number and called out. I almost found myself hanging up right before I heard the ringing stop. It had been going for a while, and Adrian and his Dad had still been yelling and screaming at each other.

"Hello?" I hear Jayon's voice and I let out a sigh of relief. He sounded tired, but I knew he was in his car just from the loudness of the background music he was playing.

"Jayon?" I sniff, wiping my nose.

"Dj? What's wrong baby? Why didn't you text me earlier?" He asks. The loudness of his music decreases.

"I was mad, I'm sorry," I tell him, ignoring the fact that he called me baby.

"At me?" He questions.

"Get in the damn car NOW!" Carl's yell had now been taken to the next level, and Adrian just kept egging him on. My anxiety was getting worse by the second. I look out of the window to locate the streets we were on, glancing slowly to the front of us. Cars had been honking and swerving on the road because Carl hadn't put his hazards on when he stopped near the sidewalk.

"What the fuck is all that noise? Where are you?" Jayon asks, raising his voice.

"Jayon I need your help. I'm near North Vista hospital. You'll see a truck with 2 people arguing outside of it. It's parked near a sidewalk and the hazards aren't on. I can't see the street names but I'll be standing where you can see me," I tell him, holding back a cough.

"Imma find you, stop crying okay?" He says. It didn't surprise me that he knew I was crying even when I was trying so hard not to make it obvious. He knew I was overly emotional.

"Okay," I say, wiping my eyes. The phone disconnects within seconds and I find myself watching Adrian and Carl once more while the streetlights beamed on them.