All The Pieces

I sighed loudly and followed her outside, almost running into a little blonde boy and girl. The boy let out a scream of excitement and darted away from the girl towards whatever he'd seen.

"MILES! Don't leave me!" she yelled and ran after him.

I continued on once they were out of my way. She was already starting to walk down the sidewalk to some place she probably hadn't decided on yet.

I got in my car and drove down the road beside her, going slower than what the speed limit was.

"Come on, Viola. Get in the car," I told her.

She scoffed and kept walking. She folded her arms across her chest and avoided looking at me or my car.

Some big SUV drove past me, honking their horn. "You're going to get in trouble driving so slow on this road," she remarked.

"Get in the car and I won't have to drive so slow," I told her. I could feel the ice cream leaking down my hair and onto my face.

"I'm not getting back in that car," she stated.

"Then I'm going to get in trouble for driving so slow," I returned.

She finally turned to glare at me. "What has gotten into your head? Why would you want to be friends with me?" she asked, exasperated.

I smiled up at her. "Because I like you. How long will it take you to accept that? And that you can trust me? And that no one at all has set me up to trying to be your friend?"

She sent me a glare. Another car passed me, honking loudly. This time there were a few shouts added.

She rolled her eyes at me and picked up her pace slightly. I sighed and kept following her. She ignored me for several blocks. She suddenly took a turn. I followed her down the street.

"Come on, Viola. You're going to get kidnapped and raped walking around this part of town with no one beside you out there," I stated as I glanced around. I hadn't been here long, but I knew this area wasn't the safest.

There were three portly looking men standing several meters ahead of her. They all turned to stare at her. She chewed her lip as she debated what to do. The men stood up strait and all lined up to look at her.

She stopped walking. "Vi, get in the car," I told her. I watched the three guys, they slowly began to walk forward.

Viola jumped and quickly scrambled to get in the car. She rolled up the window and slammed the lock down. "Drive," she told me.

I did so without hesitation. I flipped the three men off as we sped past them.

"Did you really have to do that?" she muttered as she slumped into the seat.

"Yes, I did," I stated as I drove into a better part of downtown. I parked by the curb and dug around in the back seat of my car. I sighed, not finding what I'd wanted. "Where is my mom with a wet wipe when you actually need one?" I muttered.

She laughed softly. I grinned when I found a pack of the wet wipes I knew my mom would put somewhere in my car. She always had these things everywhere. I knew it was for a bad purpose, but it was useful at times when you had ice cream in your hair.

I took out several and ran them over my head, hoping to get some of the ice cream off for now. Viola watched me in silence.

After a few minutes and several dirty wet wipes, I was relatively ice cream free. I started driving again. "How about..." I mumbled as I looked for somewhere to go or something to do.

I sighed. "Have you had anything to eat for lunch?" I asked. Time flew when I skipped class.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes. I just chowed down a whole huge turkey and had some cake after that," she said sarcastically.

I chuckled and pulled up to a Subway. I saw her crack a small smile out of the corner of my eye. "Are sandwiches okay?" I asked.

She nodded and we got out. "Let's try eating and not wasting it," I said as we walked inside.

The guy behind the counter stood up strait and acted like he hadn't been about to fall asleep. "Hey, welcome to Subway," he said. He looked like a meth head, but that was just from what I'd seen of meth users. It was almost scary how much I knew about drugs when I had never done them myself.

"Hey," I responded. Viola chewed on her lip as she looked around. "What?" I asked, knowing she was thinking of something.

She shook her head. She began wringing her hands together. The guy stared at her curiously. "Aren't you... That one girl from last year? Wait.." He looked like he was trying to figure it out.

"No. We're visiting for today," I told him.

"Oh. Sorry," he stated. "What can I get you?"

I ordered the sandwich I wanted. We both looked to Viola, who was nervously chewing on her lip as soon as our eyes landed on her.

The guy walked back down to the beginning of the line. "What do you want?" he asked.

She ordered the sandwich she liked. She only got a six inch, though instead of the foot long like mine. I gave him my cash to pay for the meals. "So, where are you guys from?" he asked.

"We're from southern California," I lied.

He nodded. "Sweet. Why would you be over here, then?" he asked as he handed me my change.

I smiled and put my change in my wallet. "I'm a chronic liar and there's supposed to be some kind of doctor here to help me," I said and took our trays to a table.

Viola sat down across from me. "Chronic liar?" she asked.

I nodded and took a bite of my sandwich. "Yeah. Why the hell not? Confuse him even more," I said.

She laughed softly and glanced back at the confused looking worker. I laughed at his expression and went back to eating.

"Going to trust me at all now?" I asked.

She took a small bite of her sandwich. "Covering up that I was the girl he was thinking I was only gets you a little closer to getting my trust," she stated.

I grinned. "Closer is better than nowhere," I commented.

We ate our sandwiches in silence the rest of the time. She finished shortly before I did. She watched the rest of my sandwich dwindle away.

"Why do you cover for me like that when you don't even know why?" she asked softly. Her eyes stayed on the crumbs I left on the tray.

"It's obvious you didn't want him to recognize who you were. Besides, friends help each other out, don't they?" I asked. She just stared at me. I threw our garbage away and waited for her to get up. "At least you didn't end up throwing that in my hair, too. I don't think I would have had enough wet wipes to get mustard out."