“What is your problem?” Daniel asks me after throwing me into his car.
“The question is, Daniel, what’s yours?”
“I don’t have time for your shit today Carter. Why are you picking fights with Lindsey?”
“She was the one who started it, trying to talk about Josh; I was only defending myself and him.” I say looking out the window, I hate conflict.
“Carter, it’s been like what? Two years? I doubt he would want you picking fights with your best friend over him and his death. Look man, you haven’t been the same since, we can all see it, even Matthew’s dumb ass.” I giggle “I just want our old friend back man; it’s not the same without you.” I look at him for a moment, if it wasn’t for him and Lindsey being so serious I would probably date Daniel, he is one of the hottest guys in school. Even if you push that to the side he is the greatest person I have ever known.
“It’s just hard for me you know? To turn my back on such a larger part of my past?” my eyes are watering now.
“Don’t; just learn to live in the future man, that’s all you have to do.” Daniel looked at me for a moment then out the windshield at Lindsey who still looked like she could kill me. “Do you want to go home?”
“That would be amazing, thanks”
“You’re welcome” he smirked at me then turned on his car and peeled out, I just know Lindsey will be calling me tonight over this whole thing, she has always been possessive over Daniel, we think that’s why he hasn’t tried to leave her in two years, she will kill anyone who even tries to speak to him that she doesn’t know won’t sleep with him.
Within two hours I am in my driveway walking to the door, to my satisfaction Daniel got me home right on time on when I am usually dropped off after school. I walk in the door and see my mom in the kitchen making dinner and my dad still isn’t home, in the seventeen years I have been on this earth my family has never changed, everything is so clocked I can’t even handle, my therapist says it’s because of my friends home lives that I feel this way, but I disagree. Everyone knows that my friends home lives all suck except for Matthews, but he still claims that it “it’s a shit whole, the fuckers won’t even let me drink”, I don’t see that as a reason to be unhappy, but for Daniel and Lindsey I understand completely. When Lindsey and I were twelve her dad got in a bad trucking accident in Miami and he died on the scene, she always said it didn’t bother her that he died, but I could tell it did. This sent her mom into major depression that she couldn’t get herself out of. This led to her dating guys that would hit her and her kids; Lindsey would stay with me for weeks on end because her mom’s knew “boyfriend” was beating her two bad. I remember one incident where one tried to kiss and then beat her for three hours straight because she wouldn’t let him, so she stayed with us for two months until her mom dumped him because “she wanted her baby back”. Around a year ago her mom went and got some help because she got pregnant with a little boy and wanted better for him then what she gave her other three children, so she’s better now, but she occasionally slips up and dates another jerk.
For Daniel its different, his dad is dying of Pancreatic cancer and needs to be constantly taken care of, it’s hard for him to do it because he doesn’t have the patience for it, and he can’t stand to see the man who once adored him lying on a bed in their dining room half dead. His mom doesn’t see it this way though, she thinks he is selfish and needs to get his act together to take care of her and her dying husband. I don’t think it’s fair of her to ask this of him with him being only eighteen and a junior in high school; he barely gets to live life as it is, let alone put that on his plate too.
Josh’s dad is a Vietnam veteran and wants his son to follow in his footsteps, but Josh would rather smoke weed with Matthew and Daniel and ride around town with us all. Matthew’s parents are filthy rich, they are the richest people in our area, and don’t ever try to get to know their son, Matthew acts like this doesn’t bother him at all but I think it does, they have always put him off on a house keeper named Molly who in secret he has been calling her mom/mommy since he was five. I guess no matter how much you try to get ahead in life, you never can never escape the reality that we all have our own issues and no one is immune to these things, no matter how much money you make or how much fun you have.
