Glory Days

Chapter 8: New Friends

-Emme-

I wake up in Kira's bed and look over at her. She is sleeping peacefully. I get on my phone and check my texts, none from my dad. Kira wakes up and groans.

"Why do I have such a bad headache." She says, then looks over at me. Her eyes open wide.

"I'm Emme, remember? You asked me to take you home at the party." I explained. She nods her head.

"Oh right, you did drive me home." She says.

"You should take an aspirin, it will help with the headache." I say.

"There should be some in the medicine cabinet." She says. I walk into her bathroom and find the aspirin and bring it to her. "Thank you." She says.

"You're welcome." I say. She takes the aspirin and sits on the bed for a second.

"Do you want breakfast? I think my dad is downstairs."

"Sure." I say. We walk downstairs and her dad is making pancakes.

"Good morning, you must be Emme. I'm John." He dad says.

"Yes, that is me. Thank you for letting me stay for the night." I say. He nods his head, continuing to make pancakes. Kira and I sit down at the giant island in her kitchen, and her dad brings us breakfast. He then leaves the kitchen.

"You have a very nice house." I say while eating.

"Yeah, it's nice, I guess. My dad is a lawyer but sometimes the house feels too big." She says.

"I could understand how. Do you have any siblings?" I ask, pretending like I didn't look at her family photos last night.

"Yeah, one older brother. His name is Markus. He goes to Columbia University. What about you?"

"I don't have any siblings." I say. We clean off our dishes and head back to Kira's room and sit on her bed. "It's actually just me and my dad."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She says. She looks over at one of the family photos I saw, the one where her mom is wearing a turban.

"Your mom has cancer, doesn't she?" I ask.

"Yeah, she does."

"What type? You don't have to say is you don't want to."

"Breast cancer. She was diagnosed in June. I haven't really told anyone, only me coach and a few close friends know. So far, the chemo hasn't been working as strong as they hoped. I just, I'm so tired of it and its only been 5 months." She says.

"Hey, I get it. Cancer is not an easy thing to deal with, especially when it's someone close to you. But 5 months is a long time." I say.

"Yeah, it is, I guess. I just wish it was all over."

"One day it will be."

"What happened to your mom?" She asks, changing the subject.

"Oh, she got into a car accident. The other driver was drunk and they both didn't survive. But what's ironic is that now, well now um..." Should I tell her about my dad?

"Now what?" She asks. Her green eyes look into mine.

"Now my dad is basically an alcoholic." I say. Oh wow, that felt good to say.

"Oh, so that's how you knew everything about the shower and Aspirin." She says. I nod my head. She scoots next to me and hugs me. This girl I just met. We didn't even know each other 12 hours ago and here we are, telling our stories. "I'm glad you stopped me from driving."

"I'm happy too." I say. Then I remember what she said when we first met. "Why'd you ask if Aaron sent me?"

"Oh, um I yelled at him and he told me not to drive. I just don't understand him sometimes."

"He is a hard guy to understand." I say. Kira looks at me, confused. "We were friends when we were little. I would go to his house all the time and play with him and his twin brother Mark. I'm pretty sure at one point Aaron had a crush on me in like, elementary school." I say and laugh at the memory.

"Really, that's so cute. Well, now he has Lauren all over him."

"Who's Lauren?" I ask. I get the sense that Kira doesn't like Lauren very much.

"Oh, she's the captain of the cheer team and is obsessed with Aaron. I saw them together last night and I don't know, it kinda made me mad." She says.

"Why? Are you jealous?"

"No, it's just that Aaron is so... two faced. In homeroom he's this nice guy that kinda talks to me but then when I put on the cheer uniform, he's all like 'what's up short stuff' or 'how's it going short stuff'. And last night he talked to me like I was a child when I was drunk- "

"Which you were like a child." I say and laugh.

"Well, that's beside the point. But I was just mad at how he talks to me differently with the cheer uniform."

"He's a boy, and he will always be like that. Give yourself some space from him, and then once football season is over, he will leave you alone." I say.

"Yeah, I should probably do that." She says and nods. "Thank you for staying, and the advice and everything."

"Of course, any time." I say.