Something Ends, Another Begins

It was 2:00, Saturday afternoon when I approached the front door of the mansion house I just arrived to. I heard footsteps becoming louder before the front door opened.

"Hey, you're right on time." Christie smiled and held the door open wider, inviting me to come in. Even when she's wearing sweats and has her hair in a messy ponytail, she still looked like a model.

To say that Christie White's house was nice would be an understatement. It's understandable why she has such a huge gorgeous house since her dad is a pilot and her mom is a lawyer.

"Are you hungry or thirsty?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks."

"Okay," she said before leading us upstairs. While we were walking down the hall to her room, I noticed pictures that were on the walls. I saw pictures of Christie and, apparently, her family. However, I saw a lot more pictures of a little boy who looked about ten. I could guess he was Christie's younger brother or something. He had short light brown hair and hazel eyes that looked very similar to Christies'.

The last picture I saw was of that same little boy but with no hair. Christie was next to him and they were both smiling, as if they were laughing. Before I walked in the same room Christie walked in, I couldn't help but notice the boy was wearing a hospital gown and they were in what looked like to be a hospital room.

As I set my bag down on the floor next to the bedroom door, Christie took her laptop from her bed and placed it on her (extremely organized) desk. I sat next to her while she opened up a word document. "Okay," she began, "We should go over what we read and decide which details are important to include in the beginning of the essay."

I nodded in agreement before I heard two beeps coming from my phone, indicating that I got a text. "Sorry," I said to Christie as I pulled out my phone from my pocket. She just smiled and shook her head to say it was no big deal. I quickly looked at the screen and saw that it was a text from Cameron reading: Hey, how r u?

I quickly shoved my phone back in my pocket as the thought occurred to me that I was at his ex-girlfriend's house. I looked at Christie, hoping she didn't see who text me, but she was looking at the screen and typing our names at the top of the page.

"Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll text them later."

***

"Okay. I think we deserve a break," Christie suggested while saving the document and closing it. We've only written two paragraphs so far and I've been here for about an hour and a half. You could say we got a little side tracked ten minutes after we started writing when we decided to listen to music. We started paying a little more attention to how we like pretty much the same artists and genres of music. At least we got some of the essay done.

Christie and I went downstairs to her kitchen (which I'm not even going to explain how amazing it is.) "Do you have any soda?" I asked her as I took a seat at the island table.

"Sure." She handed me a can.

While taking a sip, she took a bite of her apple. After a few seconds, she looked at me and asked, "Aren't you going to text Cameron back?"

I looked at her and I probably looked like a deer in headlights. "You mean you saw the text he sent me?"

"I didn't mean to. I just glanced at your phone screen and saw his name," she said casually and shrugged her shoulders. Shouldn't she be at least a little jealous or upset that I'm texting her ex. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but that's how most of the girls I know react.

She then smiled at me and said, "Ali, it's okay. I know you guys have been hanging out a lot more ever since this past week."

"So, you're not jealous or upset or anything?" I had to ask.

She actually started to laugh. "Of course not. We broke up for a reason. I never liked him that way and I'm pretty sure he felt the same way about me. But, I must admit, I've never seen you two get along like you have been the past week."

"Well, a few days ago, we decided that this whole time we've been teasing and being mean to each other was just a big waste of time. Now, we're starting to hang out and be friends."

"That's good, considering that I've never seen you guys be civil towards each other before now." Christie laughed.

"I know, but now that we've put all that behind us, it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I've been so upset with Josh's death and I feel like Cameron's the only one I know who knows exactly what I'm going through, so we bond a lot over that." Christie just nodded and looked down at her apple.

My eyes slipped to another picture of the little boy on the kitchen counter. I picked up the picture and asked Christie, "Is this your little brother?"

She nodded and smiled. "Yeah, that's Jared."

"How old is he?"

"Twelve."

"Where is he?" Christie told me before that her parents were at work but she never said a word about her brother.

Her smile slowly faded as she quickly looked down again, trying to form words. "Um, he's, uh..." Her voice trailed off.

I put the picture down and slowly made my way over to her. "What's wrong?"

She looked up at me and let out a breath. "Jared died of leukemia about two years ago." I felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach. I just had to open my big mouth.

"Oh, Christie, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up."

"I know you didn't and definitely do not have to be sorry." She paused before speaking again. "He was diagnosed when he was seven and he's been fighting it ever since. But, I guess the day came when he was just too tired to fight anymore. That's why, after I found out Josh died, I wanted you to know you could talk to me about it because I know exactly how you feel."

I felt even more like crap because I reminded myself of how I accused her of just giving me pity and not knowing at all that she went through this. All this time, I always thought of her as the rich popular girl from the dance team. This proves how you never know who goes through what.

"I really am sorry, Christie, I had no idea you were going through this and I just thought you were giving me pity."

"Don't worry about it, Ali. I felt that same way about certain people, too. When Jared died, my parents and I would always be reminded of him which just made us even more upset. My parents had a harder time dealing with it than I did and I don't blame them." She wasn't looking at anything in particular and I starting thinking she was starting to relive it.

She blinked hard. "Anyway, after Jared died and school started up again, I was desperate for something to distract me from everything. That's where Cameron came in. Cameron and I talked from time to time but when someone brought up the idea of Cameron and I dating, I figured why not. He's cute, funny, and seemed to like me. That's why I just went up to him one day and asked him out and he agreed." She took another bite of her apple. "However, on our fourth month of dating, I started realizing that I never wanted to go out with Cameron because I really liked him and thought that our 'relationship' could go somewhere. I went out with him because I wanted something in my life other than the constant reminder that I'll never see my baby brother again.

"I told Cameron this when I broke up with him and I remember him hugging me and telling me that he had a feeling that that was why I randomly asked him out. He also agreed with me that there was no romantic connection between us. We stayed friends after the breakup and he was there whenever I needed someone to talk to. I just thought you should know that that whole bad boy, flirtatious thing with Cameron is just an act. He's really a sweet guy and a good listener."

I had absolutely no words to say after all of that. The rich popular girl I knew before changed to a completely different person in a matter of minutes. What shocked me the most was that I've only talk to this girl for a couple of weeks and yet she tells me all about her dead little brother and how she knows what I'm going through. It's as if she trusts me, in a way since she's willing to share something like that. It's not easy to talk about the death of someone you love to someone you've only talked to for a couple weeks.

Realizing this, I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her. She was hesitant at first but then hugged me back. I knew I would never look at Christie nor Cameron the same ever again.