Turn Right

I woke up the next morning and it felt kind of good to wake up in my own bed. I got up, showered and got dressed. Then I grabbed the small silver ring that said‘Forever. Love Nick’ which was sitting on my nigh stand and put it in my back pocket and walked downstairs.

“I’m going to Rachael’s house,” I called to whoever.

“Alright hon,” mom called back and I walked out.

I turned as I began to walk and I saw Rachael sitting on her porch. I smiled big but then noticed something was wrong and my smile vanished. She looked up and saw me then jumped up and darted in my direction. She had tears in her eyes and I walked a little faster as she flew into my arms and she wrapped her arms around my waist in a tight hug as I hugged back. Out of all the time I’ve known Rachael, she hasn’t cried…not once…not like this. She has maybe showed a tear or two once or twice because she got hurt but it was never like this.

“Rea what’s wrong? Why are you crying?"I asked with concern.

“I’m moving Nick…I’m moving,” she sobbed.

“Where are you moving to?" I asked but she didn’t reply. “Hey,” I said gently as I pulled away and lifted her shin so she looked me in the eyes and I wiped some of her tears away.

“Deep breath,” I ordered and she listened. “What do you mean you’re moving?" I asked once she calmed down.

“My mom wants to move…again…this is the longest we’ve ever stayed in one spot…she wants a new adventure…Nick out of all of the places I‘ve lived, I‘ve loved being here the most…I have friends here…I have you here,” she said and I was in such a state of shock I didn’t know what to say.

“I have two hours,” she added and something inside me kicked.

“Two hours!" I exclaimed. “You’re moving today!?" I exclaimed again.

“Yea…Tennessee,” she said more timidly.

“Tennessee!?" I yelled even louder which I didn’t think was possible. “You cant!" I added.

“Well I am…my mom packed my stuff yesterday when I was here with you and we’re just going to be buying new furniture and all that stuff when we get there”

“How can you be so calm about this!?"

“What can I do? Why am I going to yell about it if I cant do anything about it”

“Cant do anything about it? Rea since when have you let people get in the way of you doing something about it?"

“Since it became my mother who is making the decision,” she scowled.

“You have a voice, speak up, you can have a say in it!"

“No I cant Nick! And stop yelling at me! I don’t need this right now!"

“You don’t need this right now? Well I’m sorry for trying to understand why you don’t want to stay,” I said and crossed my arms over my chest.

“I do want to stay! But I cant! She’s my mother, I cant just tell her we cant move for my own self-fish reasons for wanting to be with you, she wants to move so I’m not going to be the one to stop her”

“Stop thinking about everyone else and just think about what you want…”

“No! Because that’s exactly why my dad left, he was thinking about himself and not about us, so I wont be stooping down to his level…tell Maya I said good bye…” she said and began walking away.

“Tell her yourself!" I snapped and began walking away too but stopped when I saw Joe and Kevin standing there.

They heard everything, I know it. But I didn’t care. I wanted to look back…but I didn’t…I kept walking.

“Nick are you seriously going to leave it like that?” Kevin asked.

“Yea man, go after her,” Joe added.

“Why should I? She obviously doesn’t want to be with me anymore, so I don’t care,” I said and walked passed them.

They were about to protest but I blocked them out and walked in my house. Mom and dad both looked at me and I knew they knew too…I don’t know if they knew about our fight we just had {we were pretty loud so I doubt they didn’t know about the fight} but they knew she was moving. I ignored their sympathetic looks and walked straight up to my room and collapsed on my bed. I turned my head and looked at the picture of Rachael and I laughing and I hit it to the ground and I heard the glass of the frame crack and maybe even shatter. I took out the ring from my pocket and starred at it before closing my hand around it. But then I shut my eyes and fell asleep.
----------------------
When I woke up, I saw the ring sitting in the palm of my hand and then I sat up and almost set my foot down on the broken glass but stopped myself. I carefully picked up the picture and looked at it before folding it and putting in my pocket. Then I heard voices and stood up. I walked into the hallway and by the stair case but stopped when I got the perfect view of Rachael talking to my family.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go get Nick…” mom started to say.

“No really, it’s okay, I doubt he wants to see me…it didn’t really end to well between us…but I just couldn’t leave without saying good bye to all of you, you’ve all been like my own family and…I just don’t know what I would do without you guys,” Rach said.

“You know we love you Rachael,” mom said.

“You are family,” dad added and mom hugged Rachael tight and then so did he.

Then she faced Joe and Kevin and Joe pounced on her and hugged her so tight I could’ve swore I saw her turn blue as he lifted her off the ground. “Okay Joseph I cant breath,” she gasped.

“You better keep in touch and text and call me all the time Chief,” he said as he set her down. “I’ll try,” she said with a small laugh.

Then they did that weird hand shake they made up and laughed and hugged again. Then she bumped fists with Kevin and he pulled her into a hug. “It’s now your job to keep Nick, Joe and frankie all in line,” she said. “I’ll do my best,” he laughed lightly and they let go and she faced Frankie who was now in moms arms.

But then he opened his arms to her and she held him close and whispered something to him so I couldn’t hear.

“Well my moms waiting for me outside, she wants to make sure those mover guys didn’t steal anything, she has one of those bad feelings about them,” she said but I knew it was a lie.

Her mom was probably just sitting in the car, not wanting to come in because she knows my mom would try to convince her to stay. “It’s alright," mom smiled.

Then she lifted a folded black sweatshirt and I saw a few other things on top…it looked like, my Yankees hat that I let her keep, Jerry {the bear I bought her}, the burned cd I made for her, the bracelet, the heart locket necklace I gave her and the fake red rose that I gave her {it was fake so that it would last longer}. But before she could say anything, Kevin spoke up. “I think Nick would want you to keep all of it” He was right. Then I noticed her hands clenched the sweatshirt tighter as she looked down slightly. But then she looked back up with a small smile {even though I know she was on the brink of tears} and she tilted her head to the side, the way she always has done.

“Not good bye…just see you later,” Joe said.

“Right,” she nodded. Then she began to walk to the door and with a last wave, she walked out and shut the door behind her.

I stood up from my spot and just starred at the door and by the time my brain started working again, I ran down and jumped down the rest of the stairs and ran out the door. Rachael and her mom were already half way down the street when I began chasing after the car. When I finally realized I couldn’t catch up, I stopped and just stood in the middle of the road and watched the car disappear.

“Hey, get in,” a voice said and I turned my head to see Kevin and Joe in the car and I jumped in as Kevin continued driving.

Rachael had told Joe and Kevin what air port she was going to and I wasn’t really paying attention to what the name was as I continued to try and call Rea’s cell phone but it kept going straight to her voice mail so I figured she already turned it off to get on the plane. I couldn’t leave things like that with her.

We finally got there and I ran in as Kevin and Joe quickly followed. I was running as fast as I could, dodging people and mumbling apologies on the way. I tried to focus on the signs that told me which way the gate to Tennessee was but it was really hard. I finally saw it and I saw the last few people walk through the door way but before I could even take another step, the woman shut the door…and that’s when I knew…I blew it big time.