Left Behind

BRYCE

I woke up the next morning by my mother’s stupid dog licking my face. It was a tiny Yorkshire terrier and we called her Priscilla. It was her birthday present from my dad last year. “Move,” I grumbled as I pushed the dog away from my face. “How did you even get in here?” I said tossing and turning about in my bed.

“I let her in.” I looked up and Kristen was standing in my doorway completely dressed for school. I looked over at my clock slowly already expecting to be late. My alarm clock hadn’t gone off that morning.

“Shit.”

“I figured you were still asleep when you didn’t answer all three of my calls and two of my text messages,” she expressed.

I looked up at her. “My bad. Kristen, how did you get in here?”

“Your mom left like thirty minutes ago and let me in. I was waiting for you to wake your ass up, but you didn’t.”

“Okay, but why are you here?”

She came and sat at the end of my bed. “Because I’m ready to make up.” She stared at me with those pitiful puppy dog eyes she always gave to me. And every time she used them, she always got her way.

“I tried to talk with you yesterday, and the day before, but you completely ignored me,” I said matter of factly. “So, I'm not saying anything. You can talk now.”

“I was being a bitch,” she said. “A jealous one. And you hurt my feelings when you cursed and yelled at me.”

“Well, I'm sorry for that, but you don’t trust me. What even makes you think that I would like Carter?”

She ran her fingers through her long bleach, blonde hair. “Because, she’s pretty. And you stared at her in class. And let’s not forget that you gave her a ride and went to eat with her.”

“It’s called being nice. Something that it doesn’t hurt to learn,” I scolded.

“Can I just have my necklace back now?” she said with a sincere smile on her face.

I sat up and pointed to the necklace that was on the nightstand next to my bed. “That one?” She nodded. “That’s going to somebody else,” I laughed.

She laughed as well and came over. She picked it up and squatted down beside the bed so that I could put it on her.

CARTER

I woke up and Lucy was staring out into space just a couple feet away. I hadn’t even known that she returned, because I gave up after a while. I walked back to the alley and obliviously had fallen to sleep.

“Lucy?” I said half asleep. “Where were you yesterday?”

She didn’t even look at me. She just seemed to be sort of out of it. “I met a friend. We rode around for a while.”

“Lucy! You scared me half to death. I thought you weren’t coming back!” I yelled.

“Hush Carter. I’m here right?” she said sharply turning her head and glaring at me. It frightened me a little.

“Yeah, I guess,” I said sitting up. My back hurt so I moved around awkwardly trying to ease the pain. Sleeping on a hard ground for this long can do permanent damages. “You could’ve left some kind of note.”

“Well, I didn’t. But I came back. So stop worrying about it. Remember how we always promise that if we ever get separated we would always come back to each other, Carter?” She was very panicky and tense. She was acting completely out of the ordinary, and I was worried. “So just shut up about it.”

“Luce, you know that you can talk to me,” I said. “You know that I’ll be here for you, right?”

“It’s nothing, I’m fine.”

“Lucy, I'm not leaving it alone. You should-”

“Let’s go get you ready for school,” she interrupted. “Today’s Friday, and you're gonna have a good day and quit worrying about me, yea?"

“Yeah, whatever. And don’t scare me like that. When I get here after school, I want you to be here.” I began walking down the street in front of Lucy. Before I was too far away to hear what she said, I heard her mumble something.

“Yeah, me too,” she said quietly not knowing that I had heard what she said.

I didn’t know why, but it scared the shit out of me. What was that supposed to mean? I acted like I never heard a thing, and continued on my way.