Forever

Chapter 3: The Aftermath

As I looked up from Idina's shoulder she said,

"I'm so sorry for your loss. Were the people in that car your parents?"

I nodded. "And my aunt."

"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry sweethart." and she pulled me in for another hug. Tears began to stream down my face again.

I heard a small beep and looked up to see what it was. I saw Katie looking at her phone with a frown. 

"Um...I have to go into work. It's an emergency."

"Okay," I replied through tears.

"But I don't want to leave you alone after all of this happened. I'll try and see if I can-"

"She can come home with me," I heard a voice from behind me. It was Idina.

"Really?" Katie asked. "Are you sure?"

"Of course!" Idina said. "It's no problem, really."

"Wow. Thank you so much," Katie replied. "Is that okay with you?" she asked me.

"Yeah. That's fine with me," I said.

I gave Katie a hug before she caught a taxi and left.

"Love you," she whispered to me. "And be careful."

Idina and Katie exchanged phone numbers and we went to get in the car. Idina opend the door for me and I slid into the passenger seat. As she started the car, I watched as Katie hailed a cab and got inside. I looked at my phone and saw that it was 12am. We had been outside for over an hour.

"My place is about twenty minutes from here," Idina told me.

"Okay," I replied.

On the way home, we listened to Idina's Barbra Striesand Pandora station and chatted.

"I just realized I don't even know your name yet!" Idina exclaimed.

"It's Christine. But you can call me Chris or Chrisy," I replied.

"Where are you from, Chris?" she asked.

"Pennsylvania. I'm about 2 hours from the city," I said.

"Thats awesome," Idina said. "Are you into theatre?"

"Yup!" I replied with a smile. I launched into what roles I had played and my favorite shows and how much I loved her music. Idina and I were both huge Barbra Striesand fans, so we talked about that, too. We chatted about the shows Idina had done the rest of the way home. I loved hearing her funny backstage stories and onstage mishaps. It cheered me up a bit. And, for a few minutes, it made me forget about the accident. But as soon as we parked and I got out of the car, the memory of the accident crashed onto me like a huge wave. 

"Hey, Chris," Idina said as she unlocked her front door. "Your sister just texted me and said that she won't be home until around 5am tomorrow morning and she has to go back into work tomorrow night too. Would it be alright if you came to work and stayed with me for a few nights?"

"Sure!" I said.

"Great," she replied. "She said that we can go get your clothes from her apartment tomorrow."

We walked through the doorway into the spacious apartment. It was gorgeously decorated with a large kitchen and a huge flat screen tv in the family room. 

"You can sleep in one of our guest rooms upstairs. I'll give you a phone charger so you can charge your phone. Do you need the new or old iPhone charger?" Idina asked

"The new one," I replied. "Thanks."

"No problem," she said.

I walked up the stairs and into one of the guest rooms. It was a huge room which was painted a light green color and there was a huge flat screen tv on the wall. I found an outlet by the nightstand and plugged in my phone. Then I changed into a shirt and a pair of sweatpants Idina let me borrow. They said 'Shiz University' down the side. She must have gotten them while she was in Wicked.

I checked my phone one last time. It was 12:36am. I yawned and finally realized how tired I was. I felt like all of my energy was drained. I turned on the tv and surfed through the channels until I found Modern Family. I crawled into bed and started to watch it. I only lasted for a few minuted before I fell asleep.

Around 3am, I woke up screaming and crying. Idina ran in and gave me a huge hug and asked if I was okay. I told her that I kept having nightmares about the crash. She sat there with me until I stopped crying. She asked if I wanted her to turn off the tv and I nodded. Just as I was drifting back off to sleep, Idina got up from the bed and walked towards the door.

"Goodnight," she whispered to me, and quietly closed the door. I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.