Teardrops

Chapter 28: Serenading Sliver

Chapter 28

-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-

Lexi's Point Of View

-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-

Shelly was scaring me. Like, seriously scaring me. For a moment, in the store, she seemed... free. Totally and completely free and it made the two teenage boys in there crazy about her. She had to know that, right? But something behind her eyes had come crashing down, like she just, turned off. I wanted her to turn back on. I wanted to have my happy little Shelly back. Yes, I loved her no matter what. But seeing her like that made me realize that there were parts of her still so buried not even she knew about them. And we needed to unbury them before this trip was over. Suddenly, I remembered something, "Hey, Shelly?" I called out.

"Yeah?" her reply was faint, but I couldn't question her with Donny there.

"I just remembered, there's only one tent. It's big enough for all of us, but if you're uncomfortable sharing then we should look into buying something else-"

"No, no. It's okay. Donny won't try anything." She answered and Donny shook his head.

"Of course I wouldn't. Number one, I'm not like that. Number two, you both would skin me alive and pour acid on me until I died."

I smiled. I wasn't sure if they acted like lovers or siblings more frequently. No wonder Shelly was confused about him.

"But Lexi is sleeping in the middle." Shelly stated, surprising me. Usually she hated giving orders like that. It made the most sense. however. No one could argue with her on it.

I heard her slurping her slurpee from the back but I didn't hear her open the Cheetos I had bought for her. Sure, yeah, Cheetos weren't health food, but she needed to eat. She had a habit of not eating much when she was upset, but you know that just tends to make people more upset.

"Change your mind about the chips?" I ask her, unable to tell anything from just looking at her, since I had to keep both eyes on the road.

"I'll have them later." She said, tiredly.

And that's when I positively knew she was upset.

"Shelly, eat the chips, and pass me a handful." I wanted to include her giving some to me, partially because I loved Cheetos, and partially because I knew she wouldn't want to open the bag unless it was for someone else.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiine." when I heard that, I smiled. Girl still had her attitude.

"Is there going to be water where we're going right now? I want to go swimming!" Donny panted.

"Is that a complaint?" Shelly demanded sharply from behind us.'

"N-no!!" Donny stuttered, "I just- love t-t-to swim!! Tha-tha-th-that's all!!"

"Okay." She passed the chips up, and something told me she didn't entirely enjoy the fact that Donny was scared of her. It's fun, sometimes. But it can also make you feel like a monster.

"Yeah, this first campsite has a river close by we can swim in. It's supposed to be really nice." I answered, all the while listening for the sounds of Cheetos crunching between Shelly's teeth. I didn't hear any. I sighed and immediately felt her eyes on me.

Of course she noticed.

"Please eat." I say quietly.

Crunch.

She always seems to listen in the end. I smile and turn my full attention on to not getting lost on these backroads.

Donny turns on the radio.