The People I'd Die For (part 11)

While they were waiting for Kat, Amy and Brian leaned against Amy's car. Brian had his arms crossed and Amy was reaching up to her eyes to rub them. Brian looked over and saw that Amy was crying silently. Without speaking, Brian pulled Amy into a hug.1

Amy cried into Brian's chest and breathed in shakily. "Is it too much to ask if I ask for this all to stop?" she said.2

"I don't think so but it might be a little impossible right now." Brian said, still holding onto Amy. "I want it to stop too. Sometimes it feels like I can't breathe..."3

Amy pulled away from Brian and saw that there were dark spots on Brian's shirt from where her tears had fallen. "Oh, I'm sorry." Amy said looking at Brian's shirt.4

"No problem." Brian said. "It'll dry."5

Amy wrapped her arms around Brian again and closed her eyes. She felt that when she was with Brian, she wasn't so alone anymore. With Brian's hands on her back, she finally felt relaxed. All of the sudden, she heard Kat's voice. Amy opened her eyes and turned around, Brian's left arm still around Amy's shoulder.6

Kat came walking out of the house with the box from Jake under her arm. "Are we ready to go?" she asked. 7

"Yeah." Amy said as she nodded. She noticed that Kat was wearing a leather jacket. "Where'd you get that?" Amy asked.8

Kat figured that Amy was talking about the jacket. "Can I have the keys?" Kat asked before she answered Amy's question. Amy threw the keys to Kat and Kat popped open the trunk. As she was putting the box in the trunk, Kat answered Amy's question. "I found it." she replied vaguely. Kat threw the keys at Brian's chest and said, "You can drive". Brian fumbled and barely caught the keys. Kat was being oddly cold towards Brian and Amy. 9

"I figured that." Amy said. "But WHERE did you find it?"10

Kat rolled her eyes and said, "I found it in the closet." as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She slid herself into the backseat and buckled her seatbelt. Amy got into the passengers seat and Brian got in and started the car. There was silence at first when everybody got in.11

"I'm sorry." Kat said simply. "I didn't mean to be mean."12

Brian turned around in his seat and looked at Kat. "It's fine." he said with a half-smile. 13

Amy too turned around in her seat and looked at Kat. She just looked at her forgivingly, knowing she really didn't need to say anything.14

Amy looked at the car clock and saw that it was 9:13. "I think my appetite is returning." Amy said. "Can we turn around and go back to my house to get something to eat?"15

"Sure." Brian said. "Is that okay with you, Kat?"16

Kat said "Yeah." quietly and closed her eyes. Brian pulled away from the curb and turned back to Amy's house. 17

Kat was was dozing off in the five minute ride to Amy's house. She repeatedly heard Jake saying "I lo-" then heard his body ramming against the front of the car. She was hearing it so loud that it startled her in her sleep. Her head jerked backwards and hit against the window. Kat opened her eyes and looked around the car.18

"You okay?" Amy asked as she looked back at Kat.19

Kat looked at Amy and sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine." Kat said. She rested her head against the window and saw that they were pulling into Amy's driveway. 20

Amy, Kat, and Brian all slowly got out of the car walked into the house. Brian handed Amy the keys and Amy put them on the sidetable near the door. While Amy was putting the keys down, she saw her message machine blinking. She pushed the play button and heard the mechanical voice say, "Seventeen new messages."21

"What the hell?" Amy muttered under her breath. She pushed the play button again and listened to the first message.22

"Hi Amy, it's Victoria Hall from your history class. Um, I saw what happened last night and I really wanted to know if Jake was okay. Call me back at 227-5125 if you can, okay? Thanks Amy, bye."23

Amy cleared the message and went on to the next one. 24

"Hey Amy, it's Carla. If you don't mind me asking, what happened last night? I heard a rumor that Jake got hit by a car or something. Is he alright? Um, just call me back later, kay? Bye."25

The messages went on and on. It mainly consisted of Victoria, Carla, Matthew from Jake's math class, Rita from Jake's English class, Cassidy who was a mutual friend of Kat and Amy and Jeff from Jake's skateboarding club. The last message was from Jake's parents. Amy listened carefully. 26

"Hello, Amy? This is,um, Jake's mother. I'm calling from the airplane and um...I just wanted to let you know that we'll be at the airport at three o'clock. I'll see you all there."27

Amy turned to see Kat sitting on the wooden chair behind her, hands folded in her lap. "I guess we have some explaining to do." Amy said.28

"No." Kat replied angrily. "We don't have to explain a thing. We didn't do anything that needs to be explained. Plus they can read the newspaper on their own, they're not blind."29

Amy nodded and deleted all the messages except for the last one. She knew that Kat wasn't trying to be mean. She was just upset. 30

"I'll be in the living room." Kat said.31

"Don't you want any breakfast?" Amy called after her.32

"No." Kat replied quickly as she walked into the living room, still wearing Jake's jacket.33

Amy gave Brian a look to tell him that they probably should leave her alone. Brian nodded in response. 34

With a sigh, Amy opened the door to her left that opened up to the study. Brian followed her as she cut across the room and opened the door that led to the kitchen. Brian sat down on one of the stools pulled up to the island counter. He looked up and saw Amy getting down a box of Cocoa Puffs from the cuboard. "Is cereal okay?" Amy asked from over her shoulder.35

"Yeah, that's fine." Brian replied.36

Amy got down two blue bowls from a different cuboard and set them down on the table. "Sorry, no milk left." She said as she poured two bowls of cereal. She handed a bowl to Brian and walked over to the refridgerator. She opened it and looked around. "All we have is orange juice and my parent's vodka."37

"Gimme the orange juice." Brian said. Amy handed him the orange juice with curiosity, seeing as how she hadn't set out any cups. All of the sudden, Brian started pouring the orange juice on his Cocoa puffs. 38

Amy laughed for a second but almost immediatly stopped. "What are you doing?" she asked.39

Brian took a bite and then made an involuntary sour face. Even the least sour things made his face scrunch up. "Try it, it's good." he said.40

Amy took a bite of it and then smiled. "It's actually good."41

Brian nodded. He was thinking about smiling but remembering how wrong everything was going right then, he decided against it. "Amy," he said quietly, "I think you should go check on Kat. I don't think it's safe for her to be alone right now."42

Amy nodded in agreement. She thought for a second that Brian said that just to get rid of her. She quickly pushed the thought away. She set down her spoon and then walked out the door that led to the living room. Kat was not to be seen.43

"Kat?" Amy called out. No response. Amy walked past the fireplace and looked to her right. There was Kat, siiting on the floor in front of the couch holding onto the leather jacket. "What are you doing?" Amy asked gently. 44

With a silent tear, Kat answered simply. "It still smells like him."45

Amy walked over next to Kat and kneeled down beside her. Amy hugged Kat from the side and wiped her tear away. "We'll get through this." Amy said. "I promise."46