Exhale

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

I was tempted to complain to my mom about driving from Oregon to Massachusetts the moment I realized we still had fifteen hours of travel time between now and when we'd arrive. I wondered why we didn't decide to fly instead. I wondered why we had to sit in this car for who knows how many hours, driving to a place I didn't want to go. Of course I knew the reason why. It was because my mom grew up with road trips. She wanted to see the country. She wanted to have a sense of freedom from all her troubles, even though it had been troubling enough when Dad passed away. She was barely hanging on. I pondered on why I had been whisked into this trip. I could have flown there, and then met her when she arrived who knows how many days later.

But, I had the feeling that I was the only person keeping her from hitting rock bottom. I owed it to her, after all. After everything she had done for me in her life, including the most painful experiences a girl could have, like her best friend moving across country, a boy cheating on her because she wasn't good enough for him, or her dog dying, I owed this to her. After all. I missed him to. I still cry myself to sleep at night, wishing that things would be different. Wishing he'd be here with us, moving with us.

As these thoughts rolled around in my brain, and I felt a tension headache beginning to build up in my head, my phone chimed. I picked it up from off my lap and looked at the screen.

One New Message From Leslie

I felt a smile break through my frown's barrier as I slid up on the screen to respond to my best friend's text. I was lucky that she also lived in Massachusetts. In fact, her mom was the person my mom would be working for. Leslie had moved out of Oregon about 3 years ago when her mom was offered a CEO position from her boss who was about to retire. I thought it was incredible that there could be so many miles between a boss and an employee, and yet the boss still trusted the employee to do wonders.

As cool as I'd thought it was, I had been crushed, because my best friend of ten years was moving to the complete opposite side of the country, a few time zones ahead of me. It had been a bittersweet farewell, Now, I was moving there, getting the opportunity to finish high school with her.

I was pretty sure knowing my best friend was going to be there was the only thing keeping me from being pushed over the edge. One thing a person should never do is take their child out of school to move, from the ages of ten and up.

The last thing I wanted was a disaster to happen from my instability.

BABEEEE!! Ur close, right? Plz tell me ur close! I need 2 c u ASAP!

I snickered at her enthusiasm. Obviously she was happier about all of this than I was.

Try 15 more hours. :p

R u 4 realzzz? I've been waiting for this moment for the last 1050 days.

Uve been keeping count?

Um, Duh. Ur my best friend. I've been waiting 4ever for u 2 have a reason 2 move here.

Sadly that reason is because of my dad, so...

Ya, that's the only thing that makes me upset. Sry I couldn't come 2 the funeral.

U've already apologized a billion times. It's fine.

Leslie had been the first person I notified of my father's death. He was like her uncle. Our dads were pretty good friends, and shared a ton of common interests, like hockey, football, and grilling on the first day of spring, no matter how cold or warm the weather had been. Sometimes the weather was as bitter as thirty-five degrees, but that never stopped them from sliding their Kiss the Cooks aprons on over their sweatshirts and jeans, and getting out their very fancy tongs to flip the meat. I called it psychotic. They called it daring.