Falling (Bits and Pieces, Book 1) (24 page)

“I know. I know.” I shared with him the flight information.

“So, we should leave by 6:30am. I can pick you up.” He offered.

“No. My parents would wonder why I left my car, they don’t know you’re coming with me. It would start a whole new thing with them. I’ll pick you up. If that’s okay…”

“Yeah, no problem. I don’t have a problem with women drivers.” He laughed. “I can leave my car. My folks know I’m going.”

I was shocked. If the roles were reversed, I could never tell my parents. “What did you tell them?” I was worried that something might get back to my folks.

“The truth. I said that a really good friend had to go to
San Francisco
to testify in court, but her parents couldn’t go and that I told her that I’d go to support her.” He was so matter-of-fact about it.

Wow. “What did they say?” I was curious about their reaction.

“They were proud of me, being a good friend. They wanted to know if I had my ticket or if they should get it for me. I told them that they gave you an extra ticket.” He chuckled, “Then my mom said, ‘Call your sister, I’m sure she can pick you guys up from the airport. Oh! And you can give some things that I was going to send to Lindsey for me. Save me a trip to the post office.’ Then she headed to the kitchen to make Lindsey’s favorite cookies.” He laughed.

I couldn’t help but laugh with him. It felt good. Today had been so hard. “That’s funny.”

“Yeah, that’s my mom. She’s great.” He paused. “It’s good to hear you laugh. I was really worried about you in math.”

“I was kinda preoccupied. I talked to the DA at lunch and let her know you were coming with me. And she reviewed some stuff with me. I kept going over and over it in my head. Anyway, thanks for your help. I drew a total blank and couldn’t have answered the problem.”

“Anytime. I noticed that you weren’t exactly paying attention. Then Ms. Adams called you. You had this blank look, I’ve never seen you with that look in class. Anyway, you seemed to have snapped out of it a bit afterwards.”

“More like scared into paying attention. The one place I felt like I had control and I was losing it. It took a lot to focus. But I did it. I had to.” I started getting that sick feeling in my stomach and my mind started racing. “Well, you should call your sister to let her know what time we’ll be coming in. I should try to get some sleep. I’ll come by around 6:30.”

“Okay. Get some rest. Call me if you need anything.”

“Thanks. See you tomorrow.”

“Night.” Patrick hung up. I closed my phone, put my ear buds back in and blasted my music. I didn’t want to think about anything. I finally fell asleep with the image of Patrick’s mom frantically making cookies.

15. DEPARTURE

The next morning, I hurried to take a shower and get dressed, putting on my navy slacks and light blue blouse. I wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible. I didn’t want to run into my parents
at all.
I grabbed my backpack, MP3 player, and keys. I walked through the house in the dark. My parents were still asleep. I locked the front door behind me as I exited the house. I threw my stuff into the back seat of my car and took a deep breath. I could do this.

I headed over to Patrick’s house. It took me longer to get there than the internet directions said. Because, despite printed instructions, I got lost. A couple times. What is wrong with my brain? I can do complex calculus problems, come up with innovative ideas for physics class, but I couldn’t get from point A to point B with directions without getting lost! I finally had to find a main street that I recognized and start over. Eventually, I got there.

I didn’t know if I should call him or knock on his door when I got there. I didn’t think to ask him last night. When I pulled up to his house, it was all a glow. I nervously walked up to the front door and rang the bell. Surprisingly, Andy answered the door. “Hi, Liz!” He hugged me tightly.

“Hey, Andy! How’s my favorite second grader doing?” How could I not smile with a sweet kid hugging me and seeming so happy to see me?

“Okay.” He was still in his pajamas and led me into the kitchen.

“What are you doing up so early?” I asked.

Patrick answered, “He heard you were coming by and wanted to see you.” Patrick was dressed in a shirt and a tie, something that I usually saw him wearing on game days, but somehow he looked a little different. Maybe it was the reason.

I entered the kitchen and saw Patrick and his parents. His parents were already dressed for work. There was a big shopping bag sitting on top of the counter which seemed full of stuff. I got really nervous, I wasn’t prepared to see the entire family. I looked at Patrick anxiously. He smiled and politely introduced me to his parents.

“Hi, Liz. It’s nice to finally meet you. We’ve heard a lot about you.” Mrs. Connor said as I shook her hand.

“Yes. Too bad it wasn’t under better circumstances. But I’m glad our Patrick here can be there for you.” I shook Mr. Connor’s hand as he spoke. “He’s a good boy.”

I smiled. I didn’t know exactly what to say, “It’s nice to meet you, too. I really appreciate you letting him accompany me. It means a lot.”

“No problem, dear.” Mrs. Connor smiled. “You’re doing me a favor. I’ve been meaning to send a care package to Lindsey. Now, I was able to include some of her favorite cookies.” She got up and headed toward the big shopping bag on the counter. “Oh, and I included a bag of cookies in here for the two of you.” She lifted it out to show us.

“Mom, we need to get going.” Patrick went to pick up the bag for Lindsey.

“Okay. Safe flight, guys.” Mrs. Connor hugged him. “Give me a call when you land.” Then she hugged me, “Good luck, dear.”

“Will do.” Patrick hugged his dad and his little brother.

His dad shook my hand and gave me his business card. “Here’s my card. Let me know if you need anything. Feel free to call. Okay?”

“Thanks, Mr. Connor.” I looked at his card, their home phone was written on the back, and put it in my pocket.

Andy hugged me good-bye. It was nice to have a family see me off - even if it still wasn’t my family and they weren’t really there to see me off. It was still nice. I could pretend.

I unlocked the car and we got in. I looked back at his house and saw his parents and Andy standing at the front door, waving good-bye. What a big difference from when I left my house. Patrick looked at me, waiting for me to start the car. “You okay? You want me to drive?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I started the car and pulled away from the curb.

“What is it? I swear, I didn’t tell them anything that you wouldn’t want me to tell them. They don’t know about… well, you know…”

“It’s not that. Your folks are so nice. I know you’ve talked about them before, but I guess it was hard for me to believe until I met them. You’re really lucky.” I headed toward the freeway and to the airport.

“Yeah, I know. To be honest, I never really knew how lucky I was until…” He stopped himself.

I chuckled and glanced over at him, “Until you met me. Huh? It’s okay.”

“Yeah.” He admitted sheepishly.

I changed lanes so I could make a left turn. The light was green, so I kept driving. “Liz!” He shouted.

“What?!”

“You’re supposed to turn right here, not left.”

I looked around and realized he was right. “Next time say something sooner. How do I get back there?”

He was patient and calm as he gave me step by step instructions to get back to where we needed to be and gave me plenty of time to change lanes.

We spent the rest of the ride to the airport listening to the radio. Morning DJs had their moments. It was their job to help you start your day off with a laugh or thinking about other stuff than your day ahead. So, whether you are laughing at them or the people who call in, you don’t have to think about whatever lies ahead for you. That was good, for me at least.

We got to the airport and went through security with no problems. Patrick and I found our gate and sat down to wait for our plane to arrive. I started clenching my hands into a fist. Patrick looked at me, “Nervous?”

“That’s an understatement.” I mumbled.

“Do you want to go over what you’re going to say?” He offered. I’m sure it was killing him not knowing anything about the trial, but he didn’t let on. “Do you think it’d help?”

“No. Just distract me. Talk to me. Help me get my mind off of it.” I pleaded with him.

“Ok. I’m here to help. Let’s see. You going to Winter Formal?” He asked.

“What? Yeah, no. Me and dancing don’t mix.” I shook my head.

“Come on. It should be fun.” Patrick teased.

“According to who? You? I didn’t peg you for someone who looked forward to dances.”

“Well, no. Not me. No, I’m not really into these things. Becca says it’s supposed to be fun.” He admitted.

“Becca.” I nodded. “But, you don’t really want to go.”

“I didn’t say that.” His brows raised.

“You didn’t say you did.” I pressed.

“Well, you got me there.” He smiled.

“So, you’re letting Becca win this one. I guess that’s what a relationship is about. Compromise, huh?”

“Well, she really wants to go. She found her
perfect
dress months ago. I don’t mind going, so much. It just isn’t my first choice for things to do. What about you? You’re a girl…”

“Thanks for the confirmation.” I said sarcastically.

“What I mean is, most girls can’t wait to go to dances and buy a dress and all that stuff. None of that really seems to interest you.” He was observant.

“No, not really. It all seems like too much work and effort. Like you said, it wouldn’t be my first choice of things to do. That said, I guess, if there was a guy I really liked, I probably would want to go to a dance with him, if he wanted to go. I
am
a girl after all.” I admitted.

Patrick laughed. “I can’t imagine why a guy wouldn’t want to go to a dance with you. I bet you wouldn’t force your date to be on the dance floor all night.”

“No.” I laughed. “I’d be happy just to spend time with the guy. If he didn’t want to dance, we wouldn’t have to. Why are you letting her torture you?”

“What makes you think, I think that it’s torture?” He looked at me curiously.

“The way you talked about it. You get this look.” I shrugged.

“I have a look?” He was surprised.

“Yeah. It’s like you’re just waiting for something to hurry up and be over, but you didn’t want it to happen to begin with.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He wasn’t the only one that was observant. I was too.

“For instance?” He fished.

“Never mind. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, come on. When was the last time you saw this look?” He challenged me to provide evidence.

“Yesterday.” I paused. “I saw you in the quad after school. Becca ran up to you and, uh, greeted you.” I looked at him, watching for his reaction.

“Okay, I’ll give you that.” He admitted.

“Can I ask you something?”

“You can ask me anything.” The way he said it, the way he looked, I believed him. He
would
leave himself open for me to ask anything.