If I Die Young

“Oh my gosh, please tell me you brought food,” Zack said, climbing over the couch as we walking in the house.

“Did y’all just wake up?” I asked, looking toward the living room that had all of our friends laid out on the couch. Each of them was holding their heads due to their hangovers.

“Yes, but that’s not the point. Did you get food or not?” Zack was whining now.

Jamie rolled her eyes and sat the bag down beside Zack. “Here. It’s pancakes,” She said, before walking off to the porch. I followed.

I sat down beside her as we looked out to the sky. This was our tradition. The porch was our spot. We stay in silence. Jamie rested her head on my shoulder.

“What happened to your brother? You never talk about your family,” Jamie said, breaking the silence. She usually does.

“Neither do you,” I returned. She shot me a look that said just talk. “He died of cancer when he was 9 and I was 11.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Her voice was quiet like she was afraid she would say something wrong.

“Don’t be. He was too young to die but maybe that’s what was best for him. But when he did die, there was light that went off in my world. My family wasn’t the same anymore.”

“Is that why your parents got divorced? Because your brother died?”

“Not all because of that. It was more the aftermath of it. My mom had a breakdown. My dad just locked himself away in his office. They didn’t know how to work together anymore. They tried for years but they thought it would be better if they just separated.”

“How did you deal with them divorcing?”

“I don’t know. It was all a blur. I think I was ok with it because I knew that they were unhappy. I wanted them to be happy again.”

She didn’t say anything. We sat in silence again.

“What about your family? You never talk about them either,” I said.

“There’s nothing to tell. We were the all American family. I had two parents, a brother, and a big ole’ house. My parents wanted me to have the best so they sent to me to private school.
See, nothing interesting,” She said, removing her head from my shoulder, shrugging.

“You went to private school? I thought you meet Zack in high school. And I know Zack didn’t go to private school,”

“I got kicked out 8th grade year. I cussed out a teacher because she was wrong. No other private school would take me so they sent me to public school.”

I laughed. “Why am I not surprised by that?”

She shrugged, smiling at me. “Why were you kicked out?” I asked quietly, hoping she wouldn’t get mad.

“I got kicked out of public school for fighting. My parents couldn’t take me anymore so they said it was best if I left. I haven’t heard from them since.”

“Don’t you miss them?”

“Heck no, they kicked me out with no money and no place to go. I called Zack crying. He picked me and took me here.”

“What about your brother? You were closer with him, right?”

“Yea I was but he’s never reached out to me. I think he would be a junior in high school this year.” She acted like it was no big deal. I guess it wasn’t to her.

“Why are you acting like this isn’t a big deal?”

“Because it’s not.” She looked at me and sighed. “I have theory.” I rolled my eyes. Her and her theories. I hadn’t heard one in awhile.

“What is it?”

“People come and go. They can choose whether or not you’re worth their time. If they decided you’re not, then why get all mad about it? The people who stay, now those are the ones that care for you the most. They’re the ones that think you’re worth their time. I rather have a few people who think I’m worth their time then a bunch of people who just come and go as they please.”

“Nice theory. You haven’t told me any of those in a while.”

“Yeah, I know. Wanna know a secret too?”

“Yeah, humor me.”

Jamie leaned in, whispering in my ear. “I need a drink.” She laughed, getting up and running off to find herself a beer.

≈

The sound of Jamie’s laughter flowed through the house. Zack’s wasn’t far behind. They were up to something I knew it. I pretty sure we all knew it. I looked up to see Jackson giving me a questioning look.

“Don’t look at me. I never know what they do. Or at this time of night,” I said, looking at me watch. It was 1:30 in the morning. Heck, I don’t even know why I’m up.

Jackson shook his head. “You have been spending more time with Moose then I do. What’s up with that?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

From the moment he introduce Jamie and I, he has been all about us getting to together. Jackson swears that we’ll be the perfect couple. He said he was going to give Jamie hints about it. Jamie never showed interest. I didn’t really care either way. I just liked having her around.

“Nothing. I just like talking to her. Is that so bad?” I shot him a look.

“No, not at all. Actually that’s pretty freaking awesome. Maybe she’ll see that y’all should be together like I always say. For once, you’ll see that I’m right.” Jackson put a big smile on his face as we heard the laughter of Jamie and Zack coming down the stairs.

They looking like they were in stitches, they were laughing so hard. Jamie had tears in her eyes. Zack just missed the last step of the stairs and landed on his butt, making them laugh hard. Zack rolled around while Jamie doubled over in laughter. When they were finished, they looked up to see that we were sitting there.

“What are you two up to this time?” Jackson asked in his fatherly tone.

“Oh nothing,” They said in unison, laughing again.

Jackson rolled his eyes. Jamie came over and sat next to me, curling up at my side. I wrapped my arm around her, enjoy her body warmth. Zack gave us a weird look but sat down next Jackson trying to do the same. Jackson just pushed him off, making Jamie and I laugh. I felt Jamie jump against me as the door swung open.

We all turned to look at how was coming in. It was Alec with some girl. They were kissing passionately, full of lust. He didn’t even notice us sitting there staring at him. The poor girl seemed to be into him. Alec won’t even remember her name in the morning. He’ll just give her money for a ride home and be done with it. We watched as they went up stairs, heading for his room. Out of corner of my eye, I saw Jamie and Zack look at each other, smirking.

“Moose, Zack, you guys are so dead!” we heard Alec scream for up stairs.

Zack and Jamie fell on the floor laughing. Jackson looked at me confused just as I was.

“What did you guys do?” I asked.

“We took all his condoms out of the package and strung them across his room,” Zack managed to say between laughs.

I just looked at Jackson and shrugged. These were the memories I was going to cherish most.