OO-RAH!

Chapter 24

I walked through the front door of my house, the familiar smell of home welcoming me. The house was quiet, still. I let the silence consume me, welcoming the peace and quite fill the air around me. I walked to the kitchen and reached in the cabinet for a shot glass and then the bottle of Jack Daniels. Only the bottle was nearly empty. Just enough to fill my shot glass. Billie-Mae. I shake my head in disappointment and downed the shot of whiskey quickly. I wish I had more, but my potentially alcoholic cousin drank it all. 

After making myself some food to eat, I took a quick shower to wash off the tear stains and smell of hospital from my skin. I stood under the hot water, letting it fall onto my body and envelope me in warmth. I let my mind go blank and lose myself in the privacy of the water. I let the steaming water hit the spot on my neck that was sore from sleeping the chair all night, and massaged it as I stood there. When I finished my shower, I wrapped my hair in a towel and changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a Tarheels baseball t-shirt. The feeling of clean clothes was one my favorites. It made me feel like a brand new person. I stared at the clothes I wore last night at a pile on my floor. I contemplated throwing them out, convinced that I'd never be able to get the smell of hospital off of them. I laced my feet in my white, high top Converse and zipped up a navy blue hoodie over my t-shirt. I blue dry my hair, not bothering to brush out the tangled waves on my hair. I didn't realize how tired i was until I looked in the mirror at my exhausted face. Traces of dark circles appeared under my eyes, and my face looked more unamused than it normally does.  

I take a deep breath as I tuck Chase's dog tags and pendant into my shirt and walk out of my room over to Billie-Mae's. I don't bother knocking, knowing it wasn't going to wake her up. I approached the bed and gave her shoulder a slight shove. When she saw me, she sat up abruptly. Her eyes were wide and curious. "Is she okay? Is the baby okay?" she asks impatiently, standing up and holding my shoulders. 

I hold her arms in my hands and give her a tired smile. "She's going to be okay." I tell her. Billie-Mae's entire body relaxes and she falls into me, wrapping her arms around me. I hold her tightly and hold back more tears. I didn't want to cry today. I was so fed up with crying. It seems like that's all I did anymore. "She has a broken ankle, and had a dislocated shoulder but that was fixed. As far as the baby goes," I start. "due to the amount of force in the impact of the accident, the doctors were forced to perform an emergency C-section in order to save the baby." I tell her. Billie-Mae's hands fly to her mouth as her face becomes stricken with worry. I give my sister a smile. "Her name's Bailey Grace. She's four pounds, 13.5 inches. Born at 10:47 pm on January 21st." Billie-Mae sank to the floor and started crying in relief. I knelt down beside her and kissed her head in comfort. 

"They're both okay." she cries. She gives me a smile and stands up. "Bailey Grace." she repeats. "One name for Daisy, and one name for your momma." she says. I smile and nod my head. Daisy decided to make Bailey's middle name 'Grace', in honor of our mom. It was something I over looked earlier, but now it was hitting me in all the right places. "This calls for a celebration. Shots?" Billie-Mae asked encouragingly. My face and stomach dropped, and I grabbed her arm as she began to leave the room. 

"Billie, we really need to talk." I tell her. 

"Oh come on. Now isn't the time to rain on the happy moment." she tries to argue. But my grip on her arm only tightens slightly. 

"No, Billie-Mae. This is serious." I release her arm and cross my arms sternly at her. "You've had a drinking problem for a while now. I've been noticing that the amount of alcohol you've been consuming has increased, and so have been the amount of times you drink." I admit to her. She looked at me annoyed. I don't blame her. I didn't like having to act like a mother, but I didn't want to lose my cousin to alcoholism.