hold her up, but she was already far gone. "Me; I'm fine." She
answered still slurring her every word.
"Can you help me get her to the kitchen; I think she could use
some water?" I asked Jon as he put one of her arms over his
shoulder.
"Move it guys we're coming through." He said, as we
pushed past the people crowding the hall. Even the hall was filled
with balloons and streamers. Although the house was filled to the
max, I couldn't get over that it some good decorations, well for
guys at least.
When we got into the kitchen there were Steve and Jim
standing around the huge keg of beer. The kitchen was huge. It
was very big, very modern and very open. There was a huge
island in the middle of the room with a counter top stove and small
sink.
By the looks of it, I' m not sure if Jim's parent even cooks
here.
"Can you make me a cup of water?" I asked as Jon pulled a
chair out.
We put Naida down but she refused to drink the water.
"No; I don't want that, I want; I want. I want to lie down. I don't feel
very good Mia. I think the room is moving around and around and
around." She said, nearly toppling off the chair.
"Jim, is there a room I can put her in?" I asked, motioning
toward Jon to help me lift her. "Don't worry; we got this Mia."
Steve said, putting down his cup. "Here watch." He said, as he
picked her up and propped her over his shoulder and headed
down the hall into the family room, where luckily no one was in it.
I could tell Jim's mom designed this room. It was very
vintage, just as she was; everything in the room was brown from
the old furniture, to the old end tables; but they were all in perfect
condition. The old book shelf held many, many old books, with
shredded corners and water damaged cover's. Steve plopped her
down on the brown plush couch, and threw a pillow off the double
seater at her. "Here use this." He said, laughing very hard. He
walked toward the open door still laughing with every step that he
took.
"Somebody's drunk and she couldn't handle her shit." He
teased shutting the door behind him. "Mia is that you?" She said,
reaching out her hand. I grabbed her arm before it hit the ground.
"Yes Nadia it's me. You need to rest, your drunk out of your mind
right now." I said positioning her head on the small pillow. "Your so
pretty Mia, so much prettier that I am." She said, as she tangled
her fingers in my hair.
"Nadia you need to rest; we can talk about it the morning." I
said; as I sat on the floor trying to untangle her fingers, that she
twisted into the strands of my hair. The door suddenly opened,
and Jon quietly stepped in. "Ha ha ha, she's pretty wasted huh?"
He laughed, as he shut the door behind him. "Yeah, she is." I
replied, just as I finally got my hair out of her fingers. I put my
jacket over her legs, in hopes that it would keep her warm.
"Is she asleep?" He asked standing near the window. "Um,
yeah at least I think she is." I said, with a slight chuckle. "Well then
come on let's go for a walk; Steve lit the fire in back yard." He said
pointing out the window. "Um; sure alright." I said, as I got off the
floor and followed Jon's lead. The crowded hall was bustling with
people going in and out of the kitchen; the smell of sweat and
alcohol were very prominent. I cringed my nose at the smell. We
went out the back door where there was less traffic.
It was a clear night; so many stars filled the dark sky. The
crescent moon was dim, but it didn't matter much; Steve lit a
massive fire and by the looks of things there was a whole lot more
wood that needed to be burnt. The chill
of the night air felt nice as
I left the over crowded house. The porch creaked as I stepped
over the floorboards, then down the stairs. We walked across the
gravel road that surrounded Jim's entire house toward the fire.
The warmth of the fire made me forget that I didn't have a
jacket.
Jon picked up two huge logs, turning them up right to
make stools to sit on. I sat down quickly, rubbing my hands
together to absorb more warmth from the fire, as the chill chipped
at my fingers.
"Cold?" He asked, as he put his jacket over my
almost bare shoulders. "Yeah, kind of." I replied softly, staring at
the ground.
I couldn't help but think of everything that happened
today.
All the feelings I felt for my mom.
All the nerves that was
stirring in my stomach right now, with Jon so close to me.
Jon
and I used to come here a lot to hang out with Jim.
But, I guess I
never took the time to really appreciate how lovely this place
actually was. It really was lovely.
The house was surrounded by tall old trees, and brush. You
would be afraid if you've never been here before; it had a very
spooky feel to it.
It was kind of like being in a scary movie scene.
But I guess I could say that about all the homes in this area.
Their
property ended at the lake; the lake was filled from the waterfall's
just up the way from his house; not to mention the lake, was just
yards away from their back porch.
The glare of the moon shone dimly off the lakes ripples.
A
slight but cold breeze blew down from the mountains. A few
people stood around the fire for a bit; but they all disappeared
back into the house, I thought; soon it Jon and I were all that was
left sitting there, quiet and alone. He didn't say a single word. He
just sat there, pushing the gravel around with his feet, waiting for
me to talk I guess.
The light of the fire caught his eyes just right, making it glow,
it also made his lips look even fuller. He was perfect. Soon my
mind was no longer on my mom but, instead on this beautiful
person sitting next to me.
"So, thanks again for the flowers. I
really liked them." I said softly, trying to settle my nerves. "I knew
you would." He replied quickly.
I stood up and slowly walked over towards the lake, where
the wind blew a little more, lifting my hair up and swirling it around.
I stared at the moon's reflection a little before I turned my gaze
upward toward the sky. I felt this weird feeling pumping in my body
like energy pulling me to gaze harder at the moon, so I did. I felt
the wind pick up a little; and the light of the fire grew a bit too,
brightly lighting the entire area. I could hear the ripples in the
water starting to swish around a bit more.
Suddenly I felt warm hands on my forearms under the jacket
that hung over my shoulders; completely releasing the odd feeling
that I had. "Hey, you ok.?" Jon said softly. "Um, yeah I think so." I
said, trying to shake the weirdness off. The wind slowly backed
down again to a cool breeze. The sloshing of water seemed to
calm, and the fire seemed to flicker slowly, now only lighting a
small area of the yard. Everything seemed to go quiet, and still.
Butterflies began to swirl in my stomach, spinning it into knots; the
nerves came back and this time it was much stronger.
"I've missed you a lot Mia." Jon said, gently turning me to face
him. I took a step back, as shyness overcame me. "I've thought
about you a lot too." I said, looking deep into his soft eyes. "I wish
things didn't go down the way that it did, but I guess it was for the
better at the time." He said, looking down; breaking our gaze into
each others eyes. "Yeah you're right I guess; but neither of us was
ready for a committed relationship anyway. I mean I wasn't gonna
stop cheer leading just because you wanted me to; and you
weren't ready to give up being with the boys. Not to mention, you
cheated." I said, taking another step back.
"It was hardly cheating, Mia. I went to a movie with her and
kissed her that's all. Besides I didn't love her or anything." He
replied, as he took a step closer. "Well a kiss is a kiss, and that's
still cheating in my book, your lips are supposed to be kissing just
mine."
I said, turning my face away toward the lake. "Yeah, I
know." He said, as he spun me around again to face him. He
stepped closer and pressed his warm lips against mine. I jerked a
little, caught off guard, but soon I kissed him back. The feeling of
his warm lips on mine felt new again. It was like this was
the very
first time we really kissed. We stood there for awhile holding on to
each other locked in a long kiss; and with every breath we took
the butterflies faded, until there were none left.
"Mia, Mia." I heard over the sound of the crackling of the fire. I
stood there in Jon's embrace and let the sound of my name fade
into the darkness. "I think Tucker's looking for you." Jon said, with
a smile as he slowly pulled his face away from mine. "Um yeah. I
can hear him." I said, as I turned back toward the house. "Over
here." I called out, as Tucker hurried across the lawn, pass the fire
pit.
"Mia, we need to go. Lily just called; she said that somethings
going on at the house. I could hear all kinds of weird sounds in the
background." Tucker said, breathing heavily. "What." I said
confused, looking at Tucker. "I think you should go and check it
out."
Jon said, running his hand on my back. "Yeah, I think so." I
said turning toward him. "Can we do this again?" He said with a
smile.
"Tomorrow, tomorrow." Tucker said, trying his best to hurry
me along. "Come on Mia, it sounded like an emergency." He
continued, now hurrying toward the front of the house.
We watched Tucker's silhouette disappear behind the corner
of the house.
Jon walked with me toward the front yard as
Tucker's truck started up with a revving engine.
"I'll come by
tomorrow to pick you up." Jon said still smiling. "That sounds like a
plan." I replied, as I hugged him tightly around his waist.
I jumped into Tucker's truck, as he peeled out of the driveway.
"So, I saw you talking with Kris earlier." I said, looking over at him
with my wondering eyes. His eyes were narrowed onto the dark
road, deep in concentration. "Um, yeah I was, but I don't know.
She wants more than just a relationship and I'm not sure if I want
the same thing." He said, still glaring at the road. "Well, at least
Nadia wasn't chasing after you tonight." I laughed. "Now that
would have been a problem." Tucker chuckled, as he kept his
eyes on the road.
"So, what did Lily tell you on the phone?" I asked, wondering
what went wrong after I had left. "She said something about dad
wasn't doing too good; but she got cut off,because the next thing I
knew the phone went dead." He said, screeching his truck tires
with every turn. "Gee Tucker slow down." I demanded, as my
head bumped the window. I rubbed my head and looked back
over at Tucker, who looked so worried, and scared. "I can't; I just
have this funny feeling that something really bad is going on." He
said, as he sped down the road.
Before we reached the house we could see the swirling red
and white lights of the ambulance and cop cars. The front door
was wide open with the screen door hanging off it's hinges. "Dad."
Tucker yelled, as he quickly jumped out of the truck, and ran up
the driveway toward the ambulance. I must have been taken back
by the emergency people there, because I didn't move at all. I just
sat there staring at everyone rushing around the front yard.
A police officer stopped him when he got closer. "Lily's in the
house."
He said, pointing toward the house.
"Where's my dad?"
He demanded, looking over at the ambulance. "We're gonna take
him to the hospital but there seemed to have been an accident."
Officer Green said, holding Tucker by the shoulders.
I slowly got
out of the truck and walked quickly up the driveway.
"Tucker, what's happening?" I asked confused; as I got closer
to everyone I kept looking around. "Mia, Lily's in the house and
we're gonna take your dad to the hospital. Why don't we all go
inside." Officer Green said tugging on my arm.
He and my father
worked on a few cases together before, and and he was Nadia's
uncle.
"Dad." I yelled out, trying my hardest to get some kind of view
