The Betrayal Within

Holiday Bonus Chapter #2 - Thanksgiving (Part One)

Song of the Chapter: Empire State of Mind by Jay Z ft. Alicia Keys

Jasmine's POV

“Uncle Louie, I'm going!” Paulene exclaimed on the phone with her uncle. We were both going to New York to see our families for Thanksgiving and we were stuck in traffic.

It's been a few months since I saw my parents because they moved to Florida and we both became extremely busy. Mom continued working around nursing, but Dad decided to open up his bakery again. When I was born, he closed it because he wanted to take care of me some more and took a different profession.

I told Mom that I started seeing someone again and not to tell Dad about it, or else he's going to cut his throat. Mom doesn't know Francisco’s name or anything so she doesn't have to blab out of nowhere.

Speaking of Mom, my phone started to ring. Since Paulene's talking to her uncle, I couldn't put my phone on speaker. Luckily, there was traffic and I could reach my phone.

“Hi, Mom,” I greeted her when I answered the call. “Yes, I might be late and--”

“Honey, it doesn't matter because we're stuck at traffic,” she said. “But someone had to book our tickets late.”

“It's not my fault!” I heard Dad holler.

“Everything's your fault,” Mom told him. “Anyway, we'll be in New York hopefully at the end of the night. Tell Paulene I said hi, okay? Gotta go, love you both.” I said my goodbye and we both hanged up the phone.

I look at the New Jersey traffic that's in front of me. I knew that I should've left earlier, but I had to take care of some things at the clinic.

Paulene hangs up her call and turns to me. “Was that Mom?”

“Yeah, she said hi,” I said. I sighed.

“You look tired. Did you sleep last night?”

“I had to finish my English paper that was due last night and try to find more evidence with the pawn shop robbery,” I told her. “Then I had to finish packing throughout last night and early in the morning.”

“Then you had to go take a four hour shift at the station,” she added. “I can't believe they didn't give you that day off. Are you sure you don't want me to drive the rest of the way there?”

“You know what, go ahead.” If I don't sleep now, there's a chance that I might sleep on the wheel. No one was moving anyway, so Paulene and I switched places while the car was in park. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” I felt weird not driving my own car and someone else driving it for me.

The traffic reminded me of Francisco daring me to put ice in my pants and scream like a maniac.

I miss him.

He wanted me to have Thanksgiving with his family, but I knew that it was a bit too early to meet the family. I told him that he can be with his family

I started to doze off, but my phone started to ring. I ignored it, but Paulene answered it with my car already set up for calls.

“Your girlfriend is sleeping, so shut up,” Paulene said.

“You know, I have a vibe that you have no happiness in your life,” I heard Francisco retorted.

“At least I don't--”

“Kids!” I exclaimed. “You two are like siblings.”

“No we're not!” They both exclaimed. Paulene started driving again.