Everything Slips Away

Chapter 3

“Who the fuck do you think you guys are?” Abby seethed, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if steam started billowing from her ears. “If you worked at any other newspaper your asses would be out on the goddamn curb!” Everyone around me flinched. “If we ever miss another deadline I will kill you all.” Every teen in the classroom went three shades of white. Abby took a deep breath and smiled, everyone went green. “Have a great weekend because if your articles aren’t on my desk by seven in the morning on Monday this will be your last weekend.”

The bell rang and there was a mad scrambling for the door. I shoved my binder into my backpack and waited for Abby to calm down before I made any sudden movements. “I’m fine Bri, we can go now.” I let out a breath I didn’t even know I had been holding. I pushed myself out of my chair and swung my backpack over my shoulder. Abby copied my movements and grabbed a few papers off the desk.

I threw my arm around her shoulder; she leaned into me as we walked to my car. “You sure you want to do this?” I asked, hoping for the answer she wasn’t going to give me.

“Yes I’m sure.” Last Saturday Jack had a minor heart attack, it wasn’t his first and the doctors were sure it wasn’t going to be his last, and Abby had spent the day at the hospital instead of Matt’s garage watching us practice. She made sure I went to practice with the waffles; she spent at least half an hour trying to convince me to leave and not go to the hospital with her. Abby didn’t like it when people saw her cry, we both knew there would be torrents of tears when she arrived at the hospital. She let me drive her though.

Even though I was scared for Jack I was secretly pleased his body had scheduled the heart attack at such a perfect time. We usually practiced on Saturday but Abby had to bring her grandfather back to the hospital for a follow up check up for his heart so the guys decided Friday would be an okay day to practice. It seemed like I was the only one not thrilled about bringing Abby to Matt’s garage.

I pulled the keys to my beat up SUV out of my pocket. Abby pulled the latch for the trunk, tossed her bag in and threw mine in too. We went around to our respective sides of the car, I used to open her door for her until she told me that if I ever did it again she wouldn’t go anywhere with me. I pushed the keys into the ignition, the engine purred loudly. Abby put one leg under her butt and put her other foot against the dashboard. I flinched, there was going to be a shoe print on it later.

“I hate it when you do that.” I muttered darkly, pulling out of the student parking lot.

She shrugged, “I know, that’s why I do it.”

“You should stop doing it,” She rolled her eyes but let her foot fall to the floor anyways. We sat in silence for a moment, just listening to each other’s breathing. Abby and I never had uncomfortable silences, there was something about us just being together that was never awkward or uncomfortable, it was almost like we were an extension of each other, two separate entities that somehow blended together. Abby fiddled with the radio knob, her nose scrunched up when all she heard was static.

“Your radio sucks.” She crossed her arms and pouted, whenever she did that she looked twelve.

“Put in a CD if you want to listen to music.” I suggested. I watched her flip through my CD case out of the corner of my eye. She chewed on her lip thoughtfully as she decided. She held up a Metallica album, her eyebrows raised.

“How can you listen to this shit?”

“Metallica is not shit,” I replied indignantly, looking away from the road for a moment to fix her with my best glare.

“Yes they are.”

“You own a Metallica tape,” I pointed out.

“You gave it to me.” I silently admitted defeat. Abby flipped through the rest of the cases.

Finding one she pushed the CD into the slot. “Green Day.” She announced proudly.

“Turn it off.” I reached forward to turn the volume down but Abby knocked my hand out of the way.

“It’s your CD.” I kept my eyes focused on the road.

“You gave it to me.”

Abby popped open the consol that sat between us. Most people keep CDs in there, Abby kept her planners tucked away in my car. She flipped it open, turning page after page of scribbles until she reached an empty page. “Are you going surfing on Sunday?”

“Probably, do you want to come with me?” Abby pursed her lips and flipped back a page in the planner.

“Umm, yeah.” She closed the book and returned it to its place. “My Sunday is now filled.”

“You are so weird,” I turned onto the side road that led to Matt’s house.

“But you love me.” That was true, more so than it really should have been. I pulled into Matt’s driveway, everyone else’s cars were already there. I didn’t take the keys out of the ignition, the engine groaned in protest. We both sat there for a moment, the air was suddenly full of things to say that would never be said.

“Do you really want to go in?” I asked quietly, half hoping she hadn’t heard me.

“Do you not want me to meet your friends?” She looked hurt, my insides turned as I realized I was the one who had hurt her.

“It’s not that, I just don’t know if they’re your type of people.” I flinched; I wasn’t her type of people.

“Since when did I have a type of people?” her lips were drawn into a thin line, her cheeks were slightly pulled in which was something she did when she was upset and trying not to show it or concentrating really hard. I kept my mouth shut, I wasn’t about to put my foot in it again. “That sounded a lot like something my father would say. I already have a shitty father Brian; I don’t need you acting like him.” She pulled up the lock, grasped the handle and stepped out of the car, leaving me sitting there. I jumped in my seat as she slammed the door as hard as she could.

I opened my own door. Abby glanced my way before walking up to the door. She waited until I was on the porch with her before she pushed the tiny white button that sounded the bell deep within the house. She plastered on a smile as the door was opened quickly and slightly violently. A breathless looking Matt Wendt stood in the doorway. “It’s about time you got here.” He said in between deep breaths.

“Where the hell did you run from Wendt?” I asked, pushing my way into the house. Abby, smile still intact, followed me behind me.

“The Rev was fucking chasing me.” Wendt tottered behind Abby and I. I laughed at Wendt’s response, he was always doing something that ticked Jimmy off. It wasn’t a friendship type thing; Jimmy just wasn’t particularly fond of Wendt.

“Well what the fuck did you do to provoke him?” I grasped the handle of the garage door. I angled my body so I was half looking at Abby and Wendt.

“Nothing.” Wendt said stubbornly, he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Sure,” I rolled my eyes and tugged on the handle; the door swung open and revealed the garage that the band had claimed as their own. The walls had been painted with a coat of beige paint, something Mrs. Sanders decided that she would get us to do since the garage was in desperate need of a paint job and we wanted to practice there. The drums were located in the corner, Jimmy sat behind them, twirling his drum sticks between his long thin fingers. He stopped when he saw us and waved enthusiastically, I saw Abby wave back out of the corner of my eye. An old couch that we had procured somehow took up half of the wall opposite of Jimmy’s drums. It was red and coming apart at the seams but it was
comfortable. Zacky was leaning against the wall talking to the blonde who had been a familiar fixture in my life ever since Jimmy had introduced me to Matt; Valary.

“Hey,” Zacky turned to look at us, his eyes lingering on Abby for a moment longer than made me comfortable. “This is Abby.” I pointed to my best friend. Her smile faltered for a moment when four pairs of eyes fell on her but she waved anyway.

Val crossed the room in three long strides. She wrapped her arms around Abby, hugging her tightly. “Welcome to the family.” Val held Abby at arm’s length, inspecting her. Abby did the same to Val, taking in the black halter-top that tied around the back of Val’s neck and showed off her flat stomach.

“Why do you refer to us as a family Val?” Zacky asked from his corner.

Val turned to Zacky, her hands on her slim hips. “Because you all are as fucking dysfunctional as a real family.”

Zacky thought on it for a moment, “Yeah, true.”

Val rolled her eyes and turned back to Abby. “Since Brian hasn’t introduced you to everyone, I’m Val. That asshole over there is Zacky,” she pointed to Zacky. “Wendt is behind you, I know you know Jimmy and the only person missing is Matt.” She looked around the room as if she had only just noticed he wasn’t there with them.

“You missed placed Matt again Val? That’s terrible girlfriend behavior.” Zacky chuckled at his own joke. Val shot him the middle finger over her shoulder.

“I didn’t misplace him Zachary; I just am unaware of his current location.” Zacky coughed something that sounded suspiciously like ‘lost’. The garage door opened, its hinges creaking loudly in protest of the constant abuse we were putting it through today. Matt kicked the door shut behind him hard enough that it bounced back hitting his back. “Found him Zack,” Val said triumphantly. Matt glanced from his girlfriend to Zack, looking confused.

“I was just in the bathroom.” He muttered. He caught sight of Abby, who was looking increasingly awkward as the minutes passed. “You must be Abby,” she nodded. “Brian doesn’t fucking shut up about you. Ever.” Abby blushed, it made her freckles stand out. I gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “I’m Matt by the way.”

“Can we start practice now?” Jimmy asked. “We’re a half an hour late.”

I touched Abby’s shoulder, “Sit with Val on the couch kiddo.” She bit her lip and nodded. I watched her take the few short steps to the couch. She sat next to Val and hunched over slightly, I hadn’t seen her like this in almost two years. Abby had some issues, she was okay when she was around people she was comfortable with but when it came to new people she didn’t deal with it very well. I didn’t know exactly what was wrong but when she was sixteen she was on all sorts of pills, courtesy of the physiatrist her father had her going to. Last year she kicked the pills, I was thrilled, she was always miserable on them and her occasional discomfort around people and depression lessened as she got older.

I picked up my guitar; Abby gave me a shy smile of support. My insides lit up. I ran my fingers gently over the strings and frets getting a feel for my guitar just like I did every time I picked it up. “We’re going to play Streets first.” Matt said, he shot Val and Abby a smile, dimples and all. “Be prepared to shit in your pants Abby.”

Val leaned over to whisper loudly in Abby’s ear. “They suck that bad.”

“Gee thanks for the support Valary.” Matt shot back. Jimmy hit his drum sticks together for the count off and we started playing. I half focused on my playing and half focused on Abby. She bopped her head to the beat; her eyes didn’t leave my finger for one moment during the entire song. When I hit the last note and Matt stopped singing she brought her hands together and clapped as loudly as she could.

“That was so good!” She jumped off the couch and hurled herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck and placed a sloppy kiss on my cheek. “I’m not mad at you anymore.” She murmured into my ear.

I hugged her awkwardly; my guitar was in between our bodies. “I’m glad you came.” She pressed another kiss to my cheek and looked at the other guys.

“I’m officially a fan.”

“As an official fan how about you and Val go get us something to drink.” Jimmy suggested as he wiped sweat off his face. Val rolled her eyes and Abby nodded enthusiastically.

“Come on Abs, I see they need to talk about how hot we would look kissing without us here.” Val waved one hand over her shoulder and put her other arm around Abby’s waist. “If only they would learn it would be easier to just ask us out right to make out.” Val said breathily as if she was making a huge effort to talk. The moment after she shut the door Zacky turned to me.

“Fuck man, she’s hot.” I pulled my skull patterned guitar strap off my shoulders, and then carefully leaned my guitar against the wall. Zacky rubbed the back of his neck, “What’s with the sweater vest though? I bet she’s hiding some sweet tits under that. How long have you two been dating?”

"We're not."

"You act like you are," Matt pointed out.

"Naw, we're just good friends."

Wendt high fived Zacky, “Syn, have you ever seen her naked?”

I shrugged; it had been a few years ago. We were both totally smashed and decided it would be fun to go skinny dipping in the pool at one in the morning. “Yeah.”

“I bet she has great tits.” Wendt grinned. I usually liked Wendt, he was an alright guy. A bit of an idiot but overall an alight guy, but right now I was rethinking my position on that.

“She does,” Jimmy threw in. I felt jealousy burn in my gut, she was mine. Maybe it was only in a friend sense, but guys are like dogs, we mark our territory, we just didn’t piss on it. “And she has a fucking awesome, if not a little weird, taste in music.”