The People I'd Die For (part 9)

1

Amy woke up early the next morning around five o'clock. The sun was not yet up and the sky was a dark color of blue. Amy felt Brian's arm wrapped around her stomach. She turned her head to her right and saw Brian next to her sleeping peacefully. She remembered Brian sitting on the bed while they were talking. "I guess we both fell asleep." Amy thought. She looked at Brian and thought of how peaceful he looked. Even with all that was going on, sleep held peace. Amy slowly moved Brian's arm off of her and pushed back her fleece blanket. She stood next to the bed, took one last look at Brian, then went down the stairs and into the living room.2

She looked over the couch and saw that the fire she had made last night had long since died out. The scent of pine was still wafting around in the room. She looked down and saw Kat lying on the couch underneath a knitted brown blanket. There were tear streaks on Kat's face which made Amy want to cry herself. She went into the kitchen and sat on a stool near the counter island. She put her head in her hands and wondered what she would do that day. Jake's parents' plane was coming in at three o'clock and she had no idea what she would say. She didn't know how Kat would take it either. Amy was glad that she was alone for the time being. She just wanted time to think. All of the sudden, she heard a soft buzzing noise. She took her head out of her hands and looked at her flip cell phone on the table. She had put it on vibrate and it was doing such right then. She opened it, pressed talk, and said "Hello?"3

"Hello, Amelia?" a male voice said. She could hear a female voice in the background. 4

"Hello, father." Amy said back with a yawn. "What are you doing calling so early? It's only 5:17 a.m."5

"Not in Japan it's not!" Amy's father said excitedly. 6

"You're in JAPAN?" Amy asked incredulously. 7

"You betcha." Amy's father replied. "Your mother and I decided to be spontaneous so we caught a flight from Daytona. You can stay at Kit's house for the week, can't you?"8

Amy knew that her father was talking about Kat. He could never get Kat's name right and never really tried to. Amy thought that it would be too much of a hassle to tell her that Kat's mother was in jail right now and that Kat's boyfriend had died. Amy didn't want her parents home any sooner than possible so she said, "Yeah, that'd be fine."9

"Splendid!" Amy's father said. "We'll bring you back a fan."10

"Tell her that I said hello, Thomas." Amy heard her mother say in the background. 11

"Your mother says hi." Thomas said. "We will see you in a week, Amelia."12

"Bye, baby!" Amy's mother called into the phone.13

Amy was so frustrated that she didn't even say goodbye. She pressed end on her phone and slammed it onto the counter. It infuriated her that anybody could be happy when she was so miserable. Slowly, Amy got up and went into the living room. She saw that Kat was still sleeping. Amy sat in front of the fireplace and put more wood in it as quietly as she could. She lit it and then leaned back on her palms. The crackling fire was strangely calming. She leaned back up again and took a stick of green inscense out of a small wooden box that she kept near the fireplace. She stuck it in the fire and could immediatly smell the pine. The fire popped and Kat must have heard the noise. She sat up slowly, looked at the fire, then looked over at Amy.14

"What are you doing?" Kat asked.15

"Uh, burning inscense." Amy replied.16

"Oh, well, thanks for waking me up." Kat said sarcastically. 17

Amy was getting annoyed at Kat's tone of voice. "Sorry, I didn't know the fire would pop so loud."18

"Think twice next time." Kat said. "Not all of us got as 'great sleep' as you did."19

"What do you mean?" Amy said in an offended tone. 20

"You were having a grand ol' time with Brian last night. You know, laughing, sharing stories." Kat lowered her voice. "Like that's really all that you were doing."21

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Amy yelled. At this point Brian was awake. He sat up in the bed, rubbed his eyes, and heard Amy yelling. He pushed the covers back and ran down the stairs. Now both Kat and Amy were standing. 22

"I think you know exactly what the hell I'm talking about!" Kat yelled back.23

Brian stood in front of Kat and Amy and said "What are you two yelling about?"24

Amy and Kat both ignored Brian. "No, I don't." Amy snapped to Kat. "Would you care to elaborate?"25

"Sure, I'll elaborate." Kat said. "My boyfriend just DIED and you're upstairs screwing HIM!". Kat pointed at Brian. 26

"What?!" Brian yelled, wide eyed. "We-"27

Amy cut him off and said in a clamer voice, "We weren't doing what you think we were, Kat. We wouldn't do that."28

Kat looked away from Amy. She knew that she already knew this. She had just been looking for something to take her anger out on and Amy was the perfect outlet. Kat's eyes started to water but she immediatly blinked her tears back. She sighed and sat back down on the couch. "I know." she said. "I know."29

"Then why'd you blame me for it?" Amy asked. She was still a little anygry but she was more curious. 30

"I...I don't know." Kat answered, hands in her lap. "I'm angry. I've never been this angry before in my life...I guess I just figured that I could blame you for something but since you're my best friend...you'd forgive me."31

Amy sat down next to Kat and took her hands. "Kat, of course I'll forgive you. I mean, I do. And I get that you're angry. Believe me, I am too. But we have a lot of crap to deal with today. We can't get in fights right now, we HAVE to stick together."32

Kat nodded in agreement. She looked out the window and saw the sky turning blue. "The sun's coming up, we should have breakfast and get dressed."33

Kat and Amy got up and walked up the stairs. Kat's words kept raging around in Brian's head about Amy screwing him. Not watching where he was going, he tripped on the stairs and Amy helped him up. "You okay?" Amy asked.34

"Yeah, fine." Brian replied. He sighed in relied that Amy hadn't sensed his discomfort. He looked back at the clock in the hall. It was 6:34. They had a long day ahead of him.35