Audrey's Snow

Normally, I would say that I was above twitter stalking. When it came to Kimberly York, I couldn't say that at all.

'@Kimberly_york: He told me I was different. I have never felt so alive.'

I glared at the computer screen. He told me I was different too, and look where I am. Sitting in my room by myself while he is god knows where.

School was tense. I called Tony to pick me up. Harley was not happy about it, but he knew I wasn't happy with him so he let it go. Harley had asked me a couple times what was wrong, I ignored him both times. He acted like nothing was wrong this entire time, while he was kissing me and dating another girl. He should have known I would find out eventually.

Joleen and Kevin were getting back tonight. Kevin promised to teach me how to ride a horse when he got back, although he was confused why I didn't ask Harley to teach me. I just made a dumb excuse about him not taking it seriously. Which was true, with him teaching me he would probably want to stop and kiss. Not happening, ever again.

My door opened and Anthony peeked his head in. I smiled at him, quickly exiting out of Kimberly's twitter.

"Hi Anthony." I said. He came in and crawled up into the bed with me. I put my arm around him. He was shivering.

"I don't feel very good Audrey." He sounded like he was holding back tears. I put my hand on his forehead. He was burning up. No no no this couldn't be happening. I was doing good at effectively avoiding Harley. I hugged him to me as if it was going to keep him warm. Wrapping him up in my blanket, I picked him up and poked my head into Harley's room. He wasn't there.

"Do you know where Harley is Anthony?" I asked. He nodded.

"He left on the ATV a bit ago." His bottom lip started trembling as I hugged him tighter.

"Sam?" I called. He poked his head out of his room. He didn't look very good either, but he didn't look as bad as Anthony. "Go get in the truck. I'm taking you guys to the doctor." He nodded and stuck his feet in his slippers, hurrying to the truck. I quickly bucked Anthony in the car seat. Sam buckled himself in. I threw my blanket over both of them and got in. Luckily, they always left the keys in the truck.

I quickly put the truck and gear and drove down the driveway. It took me a bit to get used to driving a stick shift since I hadn't done it very much, but it slowly came back to me. Luckily, I remembered where the hospital was. Harley told me the doctors all were at the hospital too, since it was such a small town.

The second I walked in a nurse knew something was wrong and ushered us into a room with a doctor. The doctor asked me a bunch of questions. I knew very few of the answers. I told him what happened and he nodded.

"What are their names?" He asked. I told him and he told a nurse who quickly typed it in. He took the boys to a different room, leaving me to go crazy.

"Ms. Davey, can I talk to you?" The nurse from earlier came up to me. My stomach dropped when I saw her facial expression.

"Are they alright?" I asked. My heart was going crazy. She nodded reassuringly.

"They are going to be fine. We are just going to bring their fevers down. We called Joleen and Kevin, they are on their way straight here, but they said they were a few hours out. The boys don't have medical insurance Ms. Davey." She said. I knew what she wanted. She wanted money. I pulled out my wallet and handed her my credit card.

"I'll pay for it." I said. She walked me over to a finance woman, who took down my information and typed my card number in. I walked back to the boy's room, where they were both back. They were both sleeping. Anthony wasn't shivering anymore and relief washed over me. I walked over to a phone and dialed the house's number. After 5 rings, it went to voice mail. I left a voice mail for Harley.

"Hey Harley, um. I guess you are still out. I'm at the hospital with Anthony and Sam. They were pretty sick and couldn't find you. Joleen and Kevin are going to be here in a couple hours. I would say meet me here, but I took the truck. They are fine though, getting better by the minute. Um. Bye." I hung up and went back to them. I pulled a chair in between them, and sat down. I never realized how much I cared for them.

______________________

By the time Joleen showed up, I was barely awake. When her and Kevin ran in, I bolted up. I was brought into a tight hug from Joleen. I hugged her back. I was terrified.

"The nurse explained what happened. Thanks for taking them here Audrey." I closed my eyes and pretended she was my mom. I only pretended for a second, but it was enough to wash away my fear.

"They are doing fine, and Kevin wipe away that worry wrinkle. I paid for it." I said. Kevin looked at me shocked.

"You didn't" Joleen said. When she realized I wasn't kidding she gasped. "You shouldn't have. We would have figured something out." I looked at her. She was so frazzled. Her makeup was smeared and her eyes were bloodshot. I knew she had been crying.

"I take care of my friends." I found myself saying before I was pulled into another tight hug from her.

"We will pay you back." I nodded even though I would never accept money from her. She took me into her home, fed me, and has taken care of me. I owed her.

A bit later the boys were cleared and discharged. They rode with me back, although Joleen protested. They wanted to ride with me, and I was fine with it. When we got back, they had both fallen asleep. Kevin came around and picked Sam up. I unbuckled Anthony and carried him inside. Joleen carried my blanket.

The house was quiet and dark. The phone blinked, signally there was a voice mail. No doubt it was mine. I carried Anthony upstairs and laid him down in bed. He was already in his pajamas, so I just tucked him in. I went downstairs to see Joleen and Kevin listening to my voice mail. I looked at the time. It was 11pm, past curfew. Harley wasn't here.

"I'm going to take the truck and go looking for him. Wan't to come Audrey?" I looked over at Kevin and followed him. No, I didn't want to go see Harley. Yes, I did wan't to talk to Kevin. We got in the truck, and I instantly started blabbing my problems.

"I got drunk this weekend." I blurted. I could feel my cheeks turning pink as he raised his eyebrow at me. "It was your sons fault. He kissed me!" I said. He chuckled. He turned on the truck and turned so he was going behind the house. He seemed to know where he was going.

"Let me guess, you found out about Kimmy?" He asked. I nodded.

"Well, after the drinking. I was pissed. The worst part is nobody has anything bad to say about her, so I can't even hate her." He chuckled.

"She isn't smart like you are. She has never left this town and I remember her telling Joleen about how her goal in life is to get married and have babies." He sighed. "I would never wan't Harley to end up with someone with her, I could never see him being happy in a relationship like that. I can tell you for sure, they aren't going to last. I'm not saying you should wait around for him, honestly I think you should move on and do what you think would make you happy." I smiled. I felt better. He always knew what to say. He laughed. "Now I know why you wanted me to teach you how to ride. How about you skip school tomorrow and we'll go riding?" I smiled and nodded.

The headlights flashed on Harley and a few other teenagers. Kevin pulled up next to them and they all looked at us. Harley had an 'oh shit' face. Kevin opened the door and started yelling. I cranked my window down an inch so I could hear.

"Get in the truck, now!" Kevin yelled. The other teenagers moved slowly towards their cars.

"What about the ATV?" Harley asked. Kevin just seemed to get angrier. Its crazy how moments ago he was laughing with me.

"I'll get it tomorrow, get in the truck now!" He turned to the teenagers that were still here. "And you lot should get home unless you want me to call your parents!" Kevin seemed to have said the magic words, everyone hurried out and left.

The back door opened and Harley climbed in. I quickly cranked the window back up. I didn't turn around or acknowledge him. Kevin climbed in the drivers seat again. He slammed the door and started driving.

"Jesus dad, I just broke curfew." Harley said under his breath. Those were the words that set Kevin off. He stopped the truck and turned around yelling.

"You JUST broke curfew? Audrey has been sitting in the hospital with the twins for hours while you were out here what? Smoking a few? What if Audrey wasn't here? Me and your mother would just be getting back now. The doctor said if she had waited much longer, their fever would have put them at risk for brain damage." I didn't know that. "I left you in charge because I trusted you wouldn't screw up and you just did. Don't expect to have you Xbox for the next month, and that wont be all." Kevin turned back around and started the truck, driving again towards the house.

The rest of the ride was quiet. When we got back, Kevin was the first out of the truck. He practically jumped out of the truck and slammed the door loudly. When I got out, Harley stopped me.

"Audrey, I'm sorry I wasn't here." I turned around. I tried staying calm.

"I get it, you are a teenager, you just wanted to hang out with your friends I probably would have done the same thing." I bit my tongue.

"What did I do to mess this up." He gestured between us. There was no more containing my anger. I took a step towards him.

"This" I made the same gesture he did. "Never existed. You want to know why? Because you have a girlfriend!" I was yelling, but I didn't care. His face dropped and he fell silent. "Yeah, thats what I though." I turned around and stomped into the house.