Your Voice Was The Soundtrack Of My Summer
Chapter Five
I wanted to apologize that it took me so long to update. But here we go I think I’m on a roll now! (Right.) Enjoy my kids hehe.
“Which bag did I put my toothbrush in?” I asked silently to myself. I unzipped every bag, searched through the clothes, but still no toothbrush. As I past the open bathroom door I saw it was still in there. Various words of profanity filled my mind as I squeezed the toothpaste tube. I sat out on my porch at 6:00am with my bags waiting for everyone else. Then like she has a, “make me miserable,” radar Josephine comes out on the porch in her pink robe to smoke a cigarette. I put my shirt over my nose as she breathed in the cancerous fog.
“I never knew you smoked.” I whispered.
“Yeah, I just never really told your father. He would try to make me quit, so I avoided the subject.”
“Anyway, what are you doing up?”
“I wanted to talk to you before you left.”
“Ok.”
“I know you really don’t like me, but there is a reason why I wanted to change you and your sister. See when I was your age I was just like you. Soon enough I ended up getting into some bad things, drugs, drinking, unprotected sex. Eventually I paid the price.”
I stiffened up my body and paid closer attention.
“When I was seventeen I almost overdosed, followed by a miscarriage I had no clue about.”
“Wow.”
“I realized last night when your father and I met Patrick that it was kind of stupid of me trying to change you. It’s not up to me to make sure you take the right path on the road of life. But it’s up to you, I just have to hope your mother and father raised you right.”
“My mother and father did raise me right.”
“Well I just hope we can turn our backs on the past, and start over?”
“You got that from a Cobra Starship song.”
“Hey… I can’t help it, the music you kids listen to nowadays is, what do they say, dope.”
I smiled it was pleasant to see this side of Josephine.
“Sure, well… when fall comes around of course.”
“Deal.”
Then a white van pulled up and Pete honked the horn.
“Well here I go.”
Patrick came walking up my driveway to help me with my stuff. Josephine got up and held her arms open to me. I kindly accepted her hug. My nose tickled with the smell of tobacco. When I got into the van Becky looked at me shockingly.
“What?”
“You just hugged the enemy.”
“Well she was telling me about how when she was younger she almost overdosed and had a miscarriage.”
“She’s just luring you in Piper! Soon she’ll snap the trap.”
“Come on Becky, I don’t think she would lie about something so serious as that.”
“That’s the point! She’s evil she doesn’t have a heart. It’s a gaping black hole.”
I giggled and looked away. She sort of did have a point. What if this is just a scheme to make me gain her trust just so she can feel like she owns me? The ride was pretty boring, Pete was driving, Andy was navigating, Becky and Joe were too focused on each other if you know what I mean, Patrick was playing his Nintendo DS and I just sat there, taking it all in.
“Patrick I could beat you at Mario Party.”
“Keep dreaming babe.”
“Come on! Lets go, right now.”
I fished around in my bag for my Nintendo DS.
“Ok…”
“Wait! Rules of the game! No one shall lose on the others behalf. This is going to go down fair and square.”
“Ok.”
A few minutes turn into an hour and our battle turned into a full on event. Becky and Joe watched us attentively like it was a match at Wimbledon. Shifting their eyes between us two as if they were watching the tennis ball past back and forth. My eyes were starting to get heavy as I was getting tired of playing. Then Patrick did something unexpected and won.
“Ah ha! I won.”
I just smirked as Patrick proudly accepted his victory. Then the van came to a stop outside a 7 Eleven. “Fuck,” I heard Andy curse under his breath.
“What?” Pete asked.
“Why do we need to stop?”
“Because I’m getting tired of fucking driving.”
“We only have been driving for about three hours!”
“Ok then you fucking drive.”
Andy didn’t say anything he just slumped in his seat. Everyone chuckled quietly as we got out of the van. I stretched my arms high up in the air. I glanced over to the little abandoned shopping cart outside the 7 Eleven. Patrick followed my eyes and smirked at the sight of the cart. He was going to try to pull something.
“Go get inside the cart Piper.”
“No! Are you insane?”
“Come on! I want to take you for a ride.”
“No Patrick!”
“Please?”
“No…”
“Ok then you leave me no choice but to put you in myself.”
Everyone around me laughed as Patrick picked me up and put me in the cart. But before he could push the cart, or for me to escape for that matter, a little elderly Asian man came out of the 7 Eleven.
“You kids stop playing with that cart and get off of my property.”
“Sorry.” Patrick and I said. “We were just about to come inside and get some things.”
The man mumbled something in another language as he walked back inside the store. We went inside and got what we wanted. When everyone met at the counter there was a mountain of junk food and soda. I skipped merrily back to the van with bags in tow. Once everyone got settled in we were back on the road. I pulled a Twizzler out of one of the bags.
“Hey Becky! Share this Twizzler with me. We can take each end and meet each other at the middle.” I said jokingly.
“No I don’t think we’d want to get the dudes going you know.”
I saw Patrick’s cheeks turn pink and Joe smirk down at his shoes.
“Besides… meet Patrick at the middle… now throw me a Dr. Pepper yo.”
I took her literally and threw it at her. She didn’t catch it and it went in the corner of the van.
“Damn Piper! You better get my soda!”
“Fine…”
I stumbled over to the corner of the van. The road was quite rough and it was hard to stand up. I retrieved the soda and tossed it into Becky’s lap.
“Heaven knows what dude germs are on it now.”
Becky looked down at the can and scrunched up her face.
“Here you drink this one Joe.”
“Why? Afraid of a little essence of man?”
“Yes I might die of an infection.”
The rest of the day seemed to have gone by fast. Then midnight hit which ended our first edition of this road trip. We punched the clock in a few hours away from Florida.
“Well dudes and gals, I don’t think I can drive anymore. We should get some rest.”
Pete parked the van in a motel parking lot.
“If Piper and I get kidnapped by pedophiles then you’ll pay Peter Wentz.”
“It’s ok Becky. Trohman will protect you.” Joe said proudly while wrapping his arm around Becky.
“Yeah so Becky and I will stand outside while you dudes change into your sleepwear. Cheerio.”
I grabbed Becky’s arm and pulled her out of the van before she said otherwise. She can be perverted like that sometimes. But I still love her like she was my own flesh and blood. We made some small talk while we waited for the guys to change. Then we threw them out of the van so Becky and I could change. We exchanged our goodnights and went to sleep. We only had two blankets in the van so Patrick and I sacrificed them to Andy, Pete, Becky, and Joe. I was regretting it because I was next to the window. Patrick held me close as she saw me shiver. “Are you cold?” He whispered. I shook my head yes. He stretched out his arm and grabbed Pete’s hoodie that was lying next to him.
“Here, I’m sure Pete wouldn’t mind. Sorry it’s not covering your feet… or your legs for that matter.”
“It’s ok I have socks on.”
“Ok, goodnight Piper. I love you.”
“I love you too. Sweet dreams.”
Although Patrick and I were in a van, in a motel parking lot, with four other people, this kind of did feel like a sweet dream, call me corny. I smiled up at the moon through the window as I felt Patrick’s slow steady breathing against my body. He must have fallen asleep already and I probably should too. Miami awaits me tomorrow.
“Which bag did I put my toothbrush in?” I asked silently to myself. I unzipped every bag, searched through the clothes, but still no toothbrush. As I past the open bathroom door I saw it was still in there. Various words of profanity filled my mind as I squeezed the toothpaste tube. I sat out on my porch at 6:00am with my bags waiting for everyone else. Then like she has a, “make me miserable,” radar Josephine comes out on the porch in her pink robe to smoke a cigarette. I put my shirt over my nose as she breathed in the cancerous fog.
“I never knew you smoked.” I whispered.
“Yeah, I just never really told your father. He would try to make me quit, so I avoided the subject.”
“Anyway, what are you doing up?”
“I wanted to talk to you before you left.”
“Ok.”
“I know you really don’t like me, but there is a reason why I wanted to change you and your sister. See when I was your age I was just like you. Soon enough I ended up getting into some bad things, drugs, drinking, unprotected sex. Eventually I paid the price.”
I stiffened up my body and paid closer attention.
“When I was seventeen I almost overdosed, followed by a miscarriage I had no clue about.”
“Wow.”
“I realized last night when your father and I met Patrick that it was kind of stupid of me trying to change you. It’s not up to me to make sure you take the right path on the road of life. But it’s up to you, I just have to hope your mother and father raised you right.”
“My mother and father did raise me right.”
“Well I just hope we can turn our backs on the past, and start over?”
“You got that from a Cobra Starship song.”
“Hey… I can’t help it, the music you kids listen to nowadays is, what do they say, dope.”
I smiled it was pleasant to see this side of Josephine.
“Sure, well… when fall comes around of course.”
“Deal.”
Then a white van pulled up and Pete honked the horn.
“Well here I go.”
Patrick came walking up my driveway to help me with my stuff. Josephine got up and held her arms open to me. I kindly accepted her hug. My nose tickled with the smell of tobacco. When I got into the van Becky looked at me shockingly.
“What?”
“You just hugged the enemy.”
“Well she was telling me about how when she was younger she almost overdosed and had a miscarriage.”
“She’s just luring you in Piper! Soon she’ll snap the trap.”
“Come on Becky, I don’t think she would lie about something so serious as that.”
“That’s the point! She’s evil she doesn’t have a heart. It’s a gaping black hole.”
I giggled and looked away. She sort of did have a point. What if this is just a scheme to make me gain her trust just so she can feel like she owns me? The ride was pretty boring, Pete was driving, Andy was navigating, Becky and Joe were too focused on each other if you know what I mean, Patrick was playing his Nintendo DS and I just sat there, taking it all in.
“Patrick I could beat you at Mario Party.”
“Keep dreaming babe.”
“Come on! Lets go, right now.”
I fished around in my bag for my Nintendo DS.
“Ok…”
“Wait! Rules of the game! No one shall lose on the others behalf. This is going to go down fair and square.”
“Ok.”
A few minutes turn into an hour and our battle turned into a full on event. Becky and Joe watched us attentively like it was a match at Wimbledon. Shifting their eyes between us two as if they were watching the tennis ball past back and forth. My eyes were starting to get heavy as I was getting tired of playing. Then Patrick did something unexpected and won.
“Ah ha! I won.”
I just smirked as Patrick proudly accepted his victory. Then the van came to a stop outside a 7 Eleven. “Fuck,” I heard Andy curse under his breath.
“What?” Pete asked.
“Why do we need to stop?”
“Because I’m getting tired of fucking driving.”
“We only have been driving for about three hours!”
“Ok then you fucking drive.”
Andy didn’t say anything he just slumped in his seat. Everyone chuckled quietly as we got out of the van. I stretched my arms high up in the air. I glanced over to the little abandoned shopping cart outside the 7 Eleven. Patrick followed my eyes and smirked at the sight of the cart. He was going to try to pull something.
“Go get inside the cart Piper.”
“No! Are you insane?”
“Come on! I want to take you for a ride.”
“No Patrick!”
“Please?”
“No…”
“Ok then you leave me no choice but to put you in myself.”
Everyone around me laughed as Patrick picked me up and put me in the cart. But before he could push the cart, or for me to escape for that matter, a little elderly Asian man came out of the 7 Eleven.
“You kids stop playing with that cart and get off of my property.”
“Sorry.” Patrick and I said. “We were just about to come inside and get some things.”
The man mumbled something in another language as he walked back inside the store. We went inside and got what we wanted. When everyone met at the counter there was a mountain of junk food and soda. I skipped merrily back to the van with bags in tow. Once everyone got settled in we were back on the road. I pulled a Twizzler out of one of the bags.
“Hey Becky! Share this Twizzler with me. We can take each end and meet each other at the middle.” I said jokingly.
“No I don’t think we’d want to get the dudes going you know.”
I saw Patrick’s cheeks turn pink and Joe smirk down at his shoes.
“Besides… meet Patrick at the middle… now throw me a Dr. Pepper yo.”
I took her literally and threw it at her. She didn’t catch it and it went in the corner of the van.
“Damn Piper! You better get my soda!”
“Fine…”
I stumbled over to the corner of the van. The road was quite rough and it was hard to stand up. I retrieved the soda and tossed it into Becky’s lap.
“Heaven knows what dude germs are on it now.”
Becky looked down at the can and scrunched up her face.
“Here you drink this one Joe.”
“Why? Afraid of a little essence of man?”
“Yes I might die of an infection.”
The rest of the day seemed to have gone by fast. Then midnight hit which ended our first edition of this road trip. We punched the clock in a few hours away from Florida.
“Well dudes and gals, I don’t think I can drive anymore. We should get some rest.”
Pete parked the van in a motel parking lot.
“If Piper and I get kidnapped by pedophiles then you’ll pay Peter Wentz.”
“It’s ok Becky. Trohman will protect you.” Joe said proudly while wrapping his arm around Becky.
“Yeah so Becky and I will stand outside while you dudes change into your sleepwear. Cheerio.”
I grabbed Becky’s arm and pulled her out of the van before she said otherwise. She can be perverted like that sometimes. But I still love her like she was my own flesh and blood. We made some small talk while we waited for the guys to change. Then we threw them out of the van so Becky and I could change. We exchanged our goodnights and went to sleep. We only had two blankets in the van so Patrick and I sacrificed them to Andy, Pete, Becky, and Joe. I was regretting it because I was next to the window. Patrick held me close as she saw me shiver. “Are you cold?” He whispered. I shook my head yes. He stretched out his arm and grabbed Pete’s hoodie that was lying next to him.
“Here, I’m sure Pete wouldn’t mind. Sorry it’s not covering your feet… or your legs for that matter.”
“It’s ok I have socks on.”
“Ok, goodnight Piper. I love you.”
“I love you too. Sweet dreams.”
Although Patrick and I were in a van, in a motel parking lot, with four other people, this kind of did feel like a sweet dream, call me corny. I smiled up at the moon through the window as I felt Patrick’s slow steady breathing against my body. He must have fallen asleep already and I probably should too. Miami awaits me tomorrow.