Final Destination: If I Die Young

Chapter 5 (Edited)

Dennis Lapman arrived to the funeral in his typical brown sweats, and orange zip up sweatshirt.

He knew that none of his coworkers below him liked him. Candice was mad at him for trying to get her fired. three times. The rest, he assumed had their reasons, and he just didnt bother trying to figure out why.

Olivia was second to arrive, followed by Sam and Molly, then Nathan, then Peter. Candice was almost late, and she ran out of her car, out of breath.

Olivia smiled. "Are you doing okay?" She asked Candice.

Candice grimaced. "The only good thing about today is that Billy bought me Panda Express."

A boy leaned out of the passenger side window of her car, and grinned. "I saved up for WEEKS to afford this. You SO owe me, Hooper!"

Sam whispered something to Olivia, and she laughed.

Candice spun around, her hair whipping Nathan in the face by accident. "Get out here, Hitchcock!" She screamed.

The boy climbed out of the car, grinning from ear to ear. He wore a black tee shirt, with black shorts. Dennis looked him up and down (He was taught that if he noticed EVERYTHING about their appearance, it tells you about who they are on the inside), and did what he did best: profile analyzing.

The black tee shirt meant he wasn't planning on joining Candice at the memorial, and probably intended to stay in the car, which hinted at him being antisocial. His shorts revealed he was more casual than his anxious demeanor displayed, which meant that he had no expectations. Looking at his hat, it was worn down, but new.. ish. which meant that he had either got it used, or he wears it a lot for comfort.

When he said hello, he bit his lip, which confirmed that he didn't have a lot of friends. He tapped his foot when he talked, which signified that he wasn't impulsive, though he was impatient. His knees were skinned, so he was a klutz, and his legs were shaved....

That's it, Dennis thought. He's gay. This didn't bother Dennis in the least, though it put him at ease of Candice's casual homophobia, which might have actually been playful banter.

"So, Billy," Olivia said, and Dennis focused on the conversation at hand, "Got any girlfriend back at home?"

Billy looked at the floor, biting his lip again. "Nope, no girlfriend, sorry."

Molly gave him a curious look, while saying, "Nathan, why dont you go save my seat for me?"

Nathan bowed, taking her jacket, and walking over to save Molly's seat.

Dennis was bored, and he left them to go up to the podium, to make his speech..

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Olivia watched Dennis leave, and she gave Sam the thumbs up.

Sam nodded, and stepped forward, resting his hands on Billy's waist, the younger boy turning red.

"How about... a boyfriend?" Sam asked coyly. All Billy could manage a shake of his head.

Olivia got Sam to confess he was bisexual in the tenth grade, when they met. She found it endearing. She also knew that after a girl broke up with Sam, he always moved onto a guy, and vice versa. She liked Billy's innocence, it meant that Sam wouldn't be hurt, and Sam never tried to hurt a person.

Sam Lawton's dating life was simple: He dated a girl named Katherine Bowley in the ninth grade, then moved on to a guy named Frederick Halden, with Olivia's help. Then it was Maria Stayper, then Peter Friedkin, who took his virginity as well. After Peter decided to date Candice, Sam started with Molly, but she broke up with him for... reasons unknown. All she would tell Olivia is that Sam did nothing wrong.

A microphone feedback rang through the area, and Olivia turned around to see Dennis trying to figure out how to use the microphone on the podium. She yelled, "Keep your face away from it, and just talk!"

Everyone laughed, even Dennis, and he said, "Thank you, miss Castle. Can everyone settle into their seats, please, we will begin shortly."

Billy tried to back out of Sam's hold, but when Sam put his finger under Billy's chin, and purred, "You're sitting with me," he gave in.

"Is Billy feeling pressured?" Olivia asked Candice quietly.

Candice shook her head. "Just embarrassed. If he was pressured, he'd retaliate. Billy's not one for bullying of any kind. He only allows the Christensen sisters to pick on him, but that's a whole other story."

"What's he done?" Olivia questioned.

"I remember when I met him, Hunt Wynorski, one of my classmates, was bullying him, and when Hunt called him a fag, Billy kicked his groin, and put him in a choke hold. it was funny because Billy was about as tall as I am right now, not to mention he was as skinny as a twig! And Hunt's this big guy that was on the rugby team!" Candice laughed, and Olivia did too.

"You think he likes Sam?"

"Think? I showed him a picture of Sam once, and Billy practically drooled. Dude's got the hots for the hottie. Think the hottie likes him?"

Olivia shrugged. "When Sam saw him, he may have muttered that Billy was officially off limits to us, so..."

The two girls chuckled, then watched Sam sit Billy in his lap. Billy mouthed 'Help me', but Candice stuck her thumbs up, signaling Sam to hold him tighter.

That being said, the girls went to find their seats.

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Dennis was so bad at public speaking, Candice noticed, that he was literally reading his memorial speech off of index cards. "I look out at the faces today and I see family members," Flip. "Friends. But the people that left us on the bridge that day, they were..." Flip. "More than that. People like..." He frowned, and Candice actually thought it was sad that he had to read a book to remember his dead co-workers. I mean, how fucking pathetic is that? Candice thought. Seriously? What the hell?

He finally continued. "People like.... Jennifer Alcott, Chris Boylan, David Buckler." Yet another flip. "Maybe you worked next to them. Maybe you worked for them. But we all worked with them, huh?" He finally put the index cards down. "Who can forget Trevor Winn's smile? Or Isaac Palmer..."

Isaac had to do a double take. "Did he just say my name?" he asked, confused, and Olivia laughed at that. "That's not funny."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just get weird with tragedies. I'm sorry."

Nathan leaned over to Olivia and whispered, "I see dead people." Olivia laughed even harder.

Isaac shook his head. "Guys..."

Candice actually stood up and yelled, pointing to Isaac, "Isaac is still alive, dipshit!" And with that, she went up to the podium, shoved him aside, and tossed the index cards.

"None of us consciously made the decision to get off the bus. We thought one of us was having a panic attack, and we rushed to help. But I'm glad we did. Dennis had a friend who just went into town that needed a place to stay. My," She air quoted. "'Brother' had never been home alone, and i was so scared of leaving him like that for the first time. Sam had to figure out a job situation, Molly had to pay off a debt, you name it. We could have died that day, but we lived, and we thank our lucky stars that we have these extra seconds to say, 'I'm hungry', or 'I love you', or 'which movie do you prefer', because we don't know when we'll die." She looked at Billy, who Sam was cuddling on his seat. "Because in the end, it's all about the journey...."

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"Because in the end, it's all about the journey...." Candice said, and Billy looked Sam in the eyes, and kissed him.

Billy hitchcock's first kiss. He thought he would be drunk, or he would be lying about his sexuality, and faking it with a girl.

But here he was, kissing Sam Lawton, lord knows why, and enjoying how Sam's hands rested on his waist, or how soft Sam's hair felt.

When Billy broke apart, it was to finish the quote.

".... Not the destination," He and Candice said at the same time.