I feel like I should be crying. But yet I feel like I shouldn't. Should I?
"Hey mom," I say casually as if I didn't just find out that my friend is dead. "What day did he die?" I ask.
"Yesterday, which was March 12th." She says.
"So today is March 13th--- oh shoot!" I say loudly. "Today is your sister's first trial!"
My mother's eyes widen. "I thought that already happened!" She exclaims. "We have to get ready!" I should've known she was going too.
After she says that I run upstairs and get changed into a black knee-length pencil skirt and a white half-sleeve button-up shirt. I slip on a pair of black flats.
After that, I throw my long blonde hair into a messy bun and grab a small black purse with a shoulder strap. I throw my phone and a charger into it and run downstairs.
My mother is waiting at the door. "Your father isn't going, he has business to attend to." My mom says as I reach her. My father a children's book author. What kind of business would he need to attend to that is serious enough to miss out on his- I don't even know what to call her- sister in law's trial?
"Okay," I say, nodding. "Let's go then."
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The trial went well.
Everyone just sat in the room and my lawyer defended everything out of her and I'm pretty sure she is going to prison for a good amount of time. But the final trial is on Eli's birthday, and I don't know what I'm going to do about that.
I'm the victim of the case and I'm also the one who sits next to my lawyer at a table in which my aunt would sit at a table with her lawyer. I've had to speak a couple of times, but every word I told was the truth and I just hope that's good enough.
The next trial is when we find the result in which if she's guilty or not. She deserves to be in prison.
All court stuff out of the way, I head upstairs to sit on my bed and do nothing until I have to eat.
Once I get in my room, I shut the door lightly, take my shoes off, and lay down on my bed. I stare at the ceiling until a nice memory clouds my mind.
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"Hey." He says and I jump as he puts his hands on my shoulders.
"Yo!" I screech and spin around to face the grinning jerk. "Eli! You gotta stop doing that!" I say and fake an angry pout as he pulls me in for a hug but I push him away. "No," I say grumpily and cross my arms.
"How would you like to go to this wonderful cafe I found with me tonight?" Eli asks and I start smiling.
"Sure," I say as I look down and my face heats up. I look up at him. "But you're paying," I say and do a victory dance in the hallway as I realize he was going to pay anyway. Other people give me weird looks as they pass us. Like I care.
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I tiptoe down the stairs in my white converse and land lightly on the first floor of my house, ready to go to a cafe with my best friend.
After getting out of my house, I sprint down the driveway to Eli's car that's sitting on the side of the road. I climb in and shut the door lightly.
I look over at Eli and smile at him. "Sorry I took so long, you know I had to sneak out and all that." Because of my mother. She wouldn't let me leave if I asked. Eli doesn't know about that yet.
After I buckle myself in, Eli starts driving toward whatever café he found.
Eli is older than me by a few months so he already has his driver's license. He was so excited to drive when he got it, and his mom would ride with us before it was legal to drive without an adult.
We reach the café within minutes, and I have to just stop and look at the place in awe. It's so simple, yet modern looking. It has a dark gray roof slanting down the front and sitting over the edge while being held up by small pillars on each corner. The building itself is made of stark white bricks and large windows letting you in on the dimmed lighting indoors.
Are we're both out of the car, we walk in together and find a table before we pick up our menus.
I decide on a blueberry smoothie and a cream cheese croissant and Eli decides on vanilla milk with a slice of pumpkin french toast.
After we order, we wait another 30 minutes to get our food. That made me kind of annoyed until I tried my items. They tasted truly amazing, the best I've ever had for a smoothie and a croissant.
When we both finish, we start talking and laughing like problems don't exist, and it feels like nothing I've ever felt before. Sometimes the world can throw too much at you; the only thing that kept me sane then is how Eli spoke and laughing with me. Nothing else exists when it's just us together. It seems like we can defeat the world with our presence.
We left about an hour after that, and we were much closer than before.
That was when I realized I had liked him for a very long time, and that my feelings weren't going to go away.
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"Ruby! Dinner's ready!" I hear my mom yell up the stairs.
"Coming!" I respond loudly, making sure she heard me and scramble to get off my bed and down the stairs.
"Hey." I say to my mom as she sets plates of food on the table.
"Hello, Ruby. How was your time upstairs?" She asks me, glancing up every once in a while.
"It was kinda boring," I start, "but it was nice to think back to when life wasn't as big of a gruesome mess," I mumble to myself.
"What?" She asks and my eyes widen.
"Nothing." I reply quickly. "So, what's for dinner?" I ask. My mom opens her mouth to speak but the front door slams before she can get an answer out. That must be my father.
My father stomps over and appears at the doorway.
"Hello, dad." I say kindly with a small smile. Just because he hasn't treated me very well the past few days doesn't mean he deserves the same. My mom stares at me warily. "Dad, what's been going on with you? Where did my best friend go?" I ask, referring to how he was my best friend when Eli wasn't there.
"Ruby," he starts cautiously. "I-I'm so sorry." He says and I smile softly and walk towards him. I embrace him and hug him tightly.
"It's alright, dad. I'm sure there's a reason to why you've been acting up the past few days." I say forgivingly.
"Honey, I'm sure your mother told you about your friend, Max, right?" He asks as we separate and he stares at me with pity. Pity? I nod. "Well, um..." he pauses. "There was a car crash, that's how Max died. But, there was someone else in the car too. They were as I know as your other friend, Parker."