I woke up about an hour later after going to sleep. The whole edge breaking thing was just too much to sleep on. I tip-toed out of my room trying not to awake Benny and over to Erik's to check on him. He was still asleep. I closed his door and walked into the kitchen. Aunt Beth was already up and preparing breakfast for us kids.
"Good morning, Abigail," she said, pouring me a cup of coffee and directing me to a seat at the table.
"Good morning, Auntie," I replied, "How did you sleep?"
She shrugged and answered, "Well, I slept alright, but Milo wouldn't stop waking me up." Milo was her 7 year old Scottish Terrier. He was salt and pepper colored and had one droopy ear. He was a cutie.
"How did you sleep, darling?" she asked.
"If I slept, I would tell you," I joked, "I was up all night. I--", I caught myself before ratting out Erik, "I uh, had a headache. I think it's just from trying to adjust to this new weather."
That was a close one.
Aunt Beth woke up the boys and recruited them downstairs for breakfast.
"Ugh, Erik, you smell like puke," she said as they entered the kitchen.
"I was up sick all night," he replied. Benny had a stern look on his face as if he knew what happened. I guessed Erik probably told him in the time that I was downstairs with my aunt.
They sat down next to me at the table, and Benny said our prayers.
"Amen," everyone said in unison. Saying grace before a meal was always a must in Aunt Beth's house, no matter what the occasion. Sunday church was always first on the schedule as well. She never forced us to go with her, but we did anyway because we eventually felt bad for her having to go alone.
"What are you kids going to do today?" Aunt Beth asked.
"I have to go home," Benny said with an angry look directed at Erik.
"I think I'm gonna sleep. I still feel kinda sick," Erik replied.
"I think I'll just stay here, or walk around the neighborhood and explore a little," I said, taking a bite out of my pancakes.
We soon finished eating breakfast. Benny went home, Erik went up to his room, and I stayed in the kitchen and did the dishes. Once I finished, I exited the house through the back door and went around to the front yard. I sat on the porch steps and gazed over at the house where the party was. There were still some cars, and a few people passed out on the front lawn. I eventually walked past there to get the the park around the corner. As I walked by, a guy stopped me. He was about my age, maybe a few years older, quite tall, he had a few facial piercings and some tattoos. He had choppy black hair and his style was amazing. He was actually quite cute.
"Why, hello there," he said with a harmless smile plastered across his face.
"Hello," I replied.
"You're new around here aren't you? I haven't seen you around here before," he caulked his right brow up.
"Kind-of. I use to live here a long time ago and I just moved in with my cousin, I think you guys are friends?" I questioned.
"Hm. Who's your cousin?" he asked.
"Erik. Erik Williams," I answered.
"Oh, yes. He's hella chill. I love that guy. By the way, I'm Zack. Zacky Baker. You can call me Zacky, or anything you'd like," he chuckled.
"I'm Abigail Williams," I shook his hand, "Were you the one throwing the party last night?" I asked.
"No, no. That was my friend's. I was there, but, I don't like, do drugs or anything so I was kinda just up in a room watching TV. Your cousin was messed up," he said uneasily.
"Yeah, I know, I was up all night taking care of him." He gave me a look of sympathy.
"I truly apologize. I'm so sorry, I tried to stop him, but the guys just.. they kept pressuring him to and I know he didn't want to, but he gave in. I wish I could've stopped him, I'm really sorry," he said compassionately.
We talked and talked for a few hours, then we walked down to the park to talk some more. I found he was a really sweet, funny and interesting guy. I really wanted to get to know him more. We ended up talking and hanging out until the sun set, which was by-far the most longest conversation I'd ever had. He walked me home before it got completely dark.
"Well, it was nice hanging out with you," he said, giving me a goodbye hug.
I hugged back and smiled, "Wanna hang out again tomorrow?" I asked.
"Sure, I had a lot of fun with you."
We exchanged numbers, then went our separate ways.
