The Price of Falling

Chapter 34

I was sitting on the living room floor, attempting to complete the math homework that had been sent home for the day. My mom was in the kitchen, cooking dinner for us, as she did on the days she was off. I loved the weekdays when mom was home. She worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. But I lived for the weekends. Those were the days that me and my dad got to spend together, just us. We would eat junk food, watch movies that mom would never approve of, and he would let me help him at the auto shop.

The doorbell rang. Mom hadn't told me we were expecting company, and Molly knew the rule: no hanging out until homework was finished.

Mom rushed into the living room, a dish towel in her hand. "I wonder who that is," she said, curiosity coloring her features. "If it's Molly, I'm sending her butt right back home. She knows the rule."

I shrugged my shoulders and went back to writing the answer to a word problem. I looked up for a second, my nosiness getting the better of me, and there were two police officers at the door. My mom dropped the dish towel she'd been holding. "Ma'am, do you mind if we come in?" one of the officers asked.

Instead of saying anything, Mom just moved to the side, allowing them to pass through the threshold. I tried to continue acting like I was doing my homework, but I was listening in on what might be a very interesting conversation. But Mom cut through my curious thoughts, saying, "Ruthie, go in the kitchen and watch the stove."

"But, Mom--," I started to argue, but her sharp stair silenced any objections.

"Go," she said sternly.

I went into the kitchen, looked at the stove, and then stood just out of sight, listening to what was happening in the living room. "Mrs. Smithey," the first officer began. "I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but...your husband was--,"

"No," my mom sounded like she was being strangled. "Don't."

"I'm so sorry. But he was involved in a car accident just over an hour ago. He didn't make it. He was pronounced dead at the scene," the second officer finished the statement. My brain wasn't comprehending what was being said.

My mom made an animalistic screeching noise, and I heard some rustling in the living room. I tiptoed over to the opening between the living room and kitchen so that I could see what was going on. The first officer was pulling my mom's limp body off of the floor, carrying her over to the couch.

***

I jolted awake, sitting upright in bed. My breathing was ragged and my eyes stung. It had been a while since I'd had a nightmare about the day my father died. I glanced at the alarm clock in my nightstand and groaned. It was two AM, which meant mom had been at work for five hours, and I had only gotten three hours of sleep. There was no way I was going to go back to sleep, even with the soothing sounds of rain beating down on my bedroom window. I grabbed my phone and, without a second thought, selected Conner's number. The phone started to ring and I immediately regretted calling him. What if he was asleep? What if he was still avoiding me? He'd been dodging my calls all week. My thoughts stilled as soon as I heard his alert voice say, "Hello?"

"Hey. Are you awake?" I asked him.

"Yeah. What's wrong?" Conner asked me, his tone now worried.

"I had a nightmare, that's all. I was wondering, if you're not doing anything, you want to come over?" I figured if I wasn't going to get any sleep anyway, I might as well invite him over. Misery loves company.

"Sure, just give me a bit. I should be there in about a half hour," he responded after a brief pause.

"'Kay," I said, and hung up before he could say anything else.

***

Thirty-five minutes later, I heard a knock on my bedroom door, and then Conner strolled through. "You know, you should really lock your side door, or you're gonna end up like Peyton from One Tree Hill," he joked.

I laughed, and I didn't know if I was more freaked out by the reference or surprised that he actually knew about the show. "Okay, one: I totally forgot to lock it earlier. Oops. And two: how do you know One Tree Hill?"

"Have you met my cousin? She practically tied me up and forced me to watch every season with her," he said, running a hand through his hair. I giggled again and he came to sit at the foot of my bed.

I had cleaned up a bit and made my bed before he got there. I did it more so that I would have something to do while waiting for him than to have it look nice for him. "Oh yeah," I responded to his admission.

He sat there, looking at his hands gathered on his hands for a beat, and there was an awkward thickness in the air between us. "Okay, Price, what's going on? You've been ignoring my calls all week. You went from not being able to keep your hands off me, to avoiding me like the plague. What's up?" I asked, addressing the elephant in the room. Although, I wasn't sure why there was an elephant in the room at all. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No, Griffin, it's not that. I've just been busy. And I've been thinking. You got what you wanted. I figured we might ought to start getting used to not spending every waking hour together, since you'll be gone soon," he ran a hand through his disheveled hair again. It had grown over the summer. He had threatened to cut it many times, but I had convinced him not to. The tangled locks suited him.

"So, you're ditching me because I'm moving to Seattle?" I asked.

"No. I have a job, and I've been helping Jase out with his football workouts. And I've been doing some favors for John," he said.

John. That name sounded familiar. "John," I repeated out loud. "That creepy guy from prom?"

"Yeah, him. Listen, I don't really want to talk about that. Why are you up so late? What happened? Besides you leaving your door unlocked for some serial killer to come in and murder you?" He laughed uneasily, quickly changing the subject.

"I had a nightmare. It's not a big deal," I said, avoiding the subject.

"About what?" Conner asked. Okay, maybe I wasn't going to avoid the subject.

"My dad. The day he died. I used to have the same nightmare a lot. Especially right after it happened. Tonight was the first time in a long time that I've had it," I admitted.

"Wow. I'm sorry Griff," he said, gently patting my bare leg.

"It's fine. We all have nightmares sometimes, right?"

Conner seemed to go away for a minute, off into his head. I didn't know if I should try to pull him out of his thoughts or stay silent. I knew his dad had died around the same time as mine, but his story was a bit more tragic than mine, seeing as his dad committed suicide.

"Yeah. Sometimes," Conner suddenly reappeared from his inner musings.

"So. I figured you could keep me company. I probably won't go back to sleep," I said crawling from my position at the headboard toward Conner at the foot of my bed. I grabbed his shoulders for balance and swung my leg over his lap, straddling him. I smiled and ran a hand through his hair, mimicking his motions from earlier. Conner put his hands on my waist, and my hand stilled at the base of his neck.

"I think I might like keeping you company," he said, giving me a mischievous crooked smile.

I pushed him back onto the bed, giving him a mischievous smile of my own. "Oh, yeah?"

"Oh, yeah," he said, his voice thick. He leaned up and took my mouth with his own.

And Conner did what he did best: distracted me.