Trinity

Three: The Friend

My phone had blown up. I hadn't gone so long without being in touch with Laurie. She had decidedly lost her shit.

Laurie: Hey! Call me when your dinner is done :)

Laurie: How's it going so far?

Laurie: Damn, must be serious...

Laurie: I hope you're not DEAD

Laurie: If you don't respond in 30, I'm seriously calling the police

Laurie: TRINITYYYYY I'm dying. Call me!!!!

She could be a tad dramatic and a bit vain, but she was the only constant in my life. Oh, boy. What was I going to tell her?

Nothing. I couldn't tell her or anyone anything about tonight. High school was going to suck.

My phone dinged.

Laurie: Are you alive?? I see you online! Why aren't you answering me??

Fuck Facebook.

I bit the bullet and decided to call her, hoping the sound of her voice would fill me with some sense of normalcy.

"Trinity! Thank god! I was sooo worried. I-"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Yeah, sorry. It was some dinner with my parent's bosses and I wasn't allowed to use my phone. It was so booooring," the lies just rolled off my tongue. It felt too easy to slide into the persona of average teenage girl.

"Oh my god, that sounds awful! Next time, I'm coming. I don't care what your parents say. I can't be disconnected from my main girl for this long." Oh, Laurie. There was never going to be a next time. But I couldn't tell her that.

"For sure! I missed you." And I'll miss you even more when I leave.

I could hear Laurie's smile through the phone, "I missed you, too, silly. But soon, we're going to be in college! Living together and seeing each other all the time."

Crap! College... what was I going to do about college? Was I supposed to just be the quiet bride? No. If they were going to force me into this life, I was not going to make it easy for them. For anyone. I will kick and scream and struggle until they all regret the deals they made.

I ended the call with Laurie, and she promised she'd be here bright and early in the morning to pick me up.

________________

I didn't recognize myself. Either the mirror was lying or I had really changed all in the span of one night. Laurie messaged me that she was five minutes away.

I hadn't left my room since last night. And my parents hadn't bothered to check in on me either. A small part of me wondered how my father was doing. Would he complete this transition that he sold me out for? Another small part hoped he didn't, and then I felt guilty for having such dark thoughts.

My phone dinged again, alerting me that it was time to face the music. I poked my head out from behind my door, listening. Nothing.

I crept out and down the stairs. I really didn't want to run into either parent. I had nothing nice to say to them.

The coast seemed clear and I made it out of the house with ease. The sight of Laurie's bright blue sedan looked heavenly for once.

"Hey," I smiled while hopping into the driver's seat. Laurie detested driving, but she was the only one with a car. I'm sure I could have asked my parents for one prior to last night, but I never liked asking them for anything. Anytime I tried talking to them, they acted as if I was some sort of fly that just wouldn't leave.