Find Your Own Way

Sitting around the table Brian, Michelle, and Johnny quietly talked amongst themselves. What were they going to do about Arianna? If she continued down this path they would definitely have to cut her off from her friends, maybe pull her out of school and do the whole home school thing, and if all else failed, rehab.

Sighing Johnny took a mouthful of coffee and swallowed. “I showed her my letter last night.”

“The one Max wrote you?” Michelle asked raising her eyebrows. The guys that had gotten letters never threw them out. They kept them safely tucked away. She knew Brian still had his. He sometimes used it as a bookmark.

Johnny nodded. “From what I could tell she just doesn’t understand what an impact Max had on us.”

Brian pursed his lips. He never thought of showing her his letter. It probably wouldn’t mean much to her anyways.

“You alright man?” Johnny asked. It was so close to a stupid question Brian almost didn’t answer him.

“I’m fine,” he replied getting up from the table. “Can I bum a smoke? She still has mine.”

“Right,” Johnny said throwing him his pack.

Leaving the cabin without another word Brian sighed. He never thought that this would ever happen to him. Arianna was the oldest. Blake, Matt’s son, was the second oldest at ten. Zacky had two kids, twins, Jesse and Nathan who were six. He could only pray to God that they kept themselves out of trouble.

Walking down the stairs Arianna mumbled tiredly. She had stayed up late last night thinking over Johnny’s words. It wasn’t until two in the morning that she climbed into bed and fell asleep.

“Morning sweetie, I made pancakes,” Michelle said noticing her daughter.

Arianna grunted something and walked into the bathroom. It was too early to eat, not only that, she wasn’t hungry.

“She looks cheerful,” Johnny said. He had heard her come in last night and could only wonder what had done while she was outside.

“At least she isn’t yelling at us,” Michelle replied smiling. Last night had been fun. She just hoped it would stay like that for the rest of the weekend.

Coming back inside Brian gave Michelle a peck on the lips. He had walked the grounds and smoked three of Johnny’s cigarettes. He couldn’t figure out what the morning would bring them. Arianna was becoming a loose cannon.

“Hi Daddy,” Arianna said slumping into a chair.

“Sweets,” Brian replied looking her over. Her hair was a mess, she hadn’t showered in he wasn’t sure how many days, and her clothes were hanging off her. When did she lose weight?

“When are we going back home?” she asked rubbing her eyes. She really hoped they wouldn’t spend the entire weekend up here. She would go crazy.

“Sunday afternoon,” he told her. That meant she had two days left. Two days of wasted time.

“Can’t we go back sooner? I’m bored,” she muttered. She was still really tired and once she woke up some more she would go outside and smoke the rest of her joint.

“Suck it up,” Brian responded turning to Michelle. “Can I get some more pancakes?”

Laughing she nodded. “You want some Honey?”

Shaking her head Arianna sighed and looked over to Johnny. No one ever gave him enough credit. She really hadn’t expected him to share all that with her.

“I’m going for a walk, I’ll be back later,” she decided getting up and going up to her room to change.

Finding herself in the fresh air she took a long drink off her bottle of water. She would probably need it later, but it wasn’t often she got cotton mouth.

Going into the woods she sighed. What was she going to do for two days? She couldn’t just keep walking the property, that would just get too redundant. There was a water hole somewhere around here so she could go swimming. But why couldn’t there be other people? It’s not like it was cold yet. The weather still reached 80 degrees.

Spotting a place to sit Arianna took out her joint. If only she had someone to smoke with. Maybe Johnny, but he’d go back to Brian and blab.

Sighing she lit up. Her life sucked.



Looking out the window Michelle sighed. Arianna had been gone for four hours. She hadn’t eaten breakfast and only had one bottle of water.

“Don’t worry ‘Chelle, she knows where she is,” Brian said coming up behind her and hugging her to him. “You want to kick Johnny out and go relieve some stress?”

Turning around Michelle laughed. Of course he would want sex.

“You kick him out and I’ll meet you upstairs,” Michelle whispered giving him a hard kiss.

Sighing Johnny just shook his head and left. He almost wished he hadn’t have come. Grabbing a couple water bottles before closing the door he wondered where Arianna could have gone.

Making his way towards the old smoke spot he started thinking. Could he pull her out before she got in too deep? He’d lived long enough and known so many people that became so dependant on it their lives weren’t even worth living.

Finding Arianna rolling around in the field Johnny raised an eyebrow.

“What’s so funny?” he asked staring down at her.

Jumping a mile out of her skin Arianna screamed. “Don’t do that,” she told him and then laughed. “And you made me forget!” She laughed some more.

“You want some water?”

“I’d love some,” she shouted taking the bottle off him and pouring it over her head. “Thanks!”

“Uh, that was for you to drink,” he said chuckling a bit. She was definitely high.

“Oh well,” she muttered throwing herself back on the ground. “I found this field. I did,” she told him her eyes wide. “It’s gold! Not literally, but I found this,” she stopped and eyed him wearily. “Never mind.”

“Found the place where we planted weed?” Johnny suggested. “I had a feeling you would.”

Dropping her jaw Arianna stared at him. They planted that? “How long has it been here?”

“Years,” Johnny said taking a seat against a rock. “How much have you smoked?”

Bursting out in another fit of laughter Arianna couldn’t even speak.

“I guess that answers that,” Johnny laughed. “Wanna make a deal?”

Snapping to attention Arianna shrugged. “What kind of deal?”

“You continue being nice to your parents for the next two days, and I won’t tell them that you’re high,” he told her and took a sip of his water.

“That’s not even a good deal,” Arianna shouted jumping up. Running off towards the “field of gold” she laughed hysterically. Johnny couldn’t help but think he reminded her of Jimmy then.

Getting up and going after her he wondered if he should actually tell Brian and Michelle. They had a right to know. But weed wasn’t so bad. In her case though, it could be. She was already moving on to other more hardcore drugs.

He sighed and shook his head. She wasn’t hurting anybody this weekend.

“Wanna smoke some,” Arianna shouted.

“Aren’t you high enough?” Johnny laughed finding her bending over a rock.

“Oh,” she stated dully. Turning around to watch him she laughed and then decided, “You can smoke it! Just give me fifty bucks.”

Laughing Johnny just shook his head. “This is my weed, I’m not paying for it.”

“Correction, it was your weed. Now it’s mine,” she replied sticking her hand out. “Fifty bucks and I’ll give you a bunch!”

Making his way over to a small pile of rocks Johnny took a deep breath. They wouldn’t have to go back for a few more hours. Knowing Brian and Michelle they’d still be at it when they did decide to make their way back.

Setting aside the smallest rock, which in all actuality wasn’t really that small, Johnny pulled out a small baggy full of papers.

“Give me the weed and I’ll roll us a joint,” Johnny said going back over to her. “And I’m not paying.”

Brian would kill him if he found out but right now Arianna needed a friend. And at least with him he knew she wouldn’t get herself into trouble.