The People I'd Die For (part 16) (story)

The sight of Jake's mother put rocks in Kat's stomach. All of the sudden everything was too loud. There were too many people. She couldn't think. Kat swallowed hard and tried to breathe deeply. She could see Jake's mother looking gray in the face, her course brown and graying hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. Her right hand was stiffly intertwined with her husband's left one. Mr. Riley's lip was quivering and he bit it to keep it still. Kat thought quickly in her head that she thought it was funny Daniel was showing more emotion than Lucy was. She shut her eyes tightly and reminded herself that it wasn't her place to judge.
Nobody spoke, even when Daniel and Lucy were all but three feet away. Emotions overcame Lucy like lightening in the middle of a freak storm; angry, sleepy, completely distraught with sadness. She did the only thing her mind could concieve of doing at that moment and outstratched her arms to a closed eyed Kat. The moment Kat felt the embrace, she gasped slighly and opened her eyes. She recognized this feeling. The smell of Lucy's elegant perfume, her bony shoulders. Kat began to sob, realizing just how broken things could have been if Lucy had decided to hate her. Lucy pulled away from Kat and put her hands on Kat's shoulders.
"Baby, I'm so s-sorry!" Lucy said to Kat. "Just sorry!". Lucy pulled Kat into an embrace again. As Kat and Lucy cried on each other, Daniel stood in front of Carl and nodded his head in an absolute loss for words.
"It's going to be okay, Dan." Carl said, and pulled him into a hug. Daniel started sobbing freely as Carl embraced him.
Amy was feeling increasingly uncomfortable by the minute. She grabbed onto Brian's right arm, held onto it, and buried her head in it. Brian looked down at her and saw just how much she was in pain. He kissed the top of her head and said "I'm not leaving you. It's okay."
Amy moved her head up and down in response. "I know... I know..." Amy started crying silently, wishing she could run away from this awful situation. Brian turned to her and put her head to his chest. Amy took a deep breath, relieving some stressful tension from her own heart. The warmness of Brian's body brought her back to the moment. They were still alive. There were still other people to care for, and still people that cared about her.
The six of them stood in a semi-circle and took a look at each other. All of them had complexions of somebody who hadn't slept in days. Stone-faced, joyless, tired. Amy held onto Brian's arm while Brian wiped his eyes. Kat was barely functional, trying to sob as quietly to herself as she could. Lucy did the same, standing next to Kat. Daniel looked to the ground, hands shoved in his pockets, decidedly quiet. He was sniffling, trying not to let people se him crying. He couldn't have that, especially in a public airport. Carl stood next to him, hands in his pockets but looking up at everyone else.
Lucy tried to steady her breathing enough so she could talk. She took in a deep breath that sounded almost like a wail and let it out slowly. Shakily, she said "Can we go somewhere where we all can talk?"
"Why don't you come on over to my house?" Carl said gently. "I'm sure y'all could use something to eat."
To be honest, Lucy hadn't thought of eating since she found out about her son. As she was about to respond, Daniel spoke. "That's fine... We'll follow you in the rental car." he said in a low, broken voice. He sounded raspy from crying so much. He looked up at Carl and said "I guess we'll be seeing you soon.", nodded his head, and started to walk away. He stopped and outstretched his right hand. Lucy took it slowly and gave a look to Kat to say goodbye for the time being. The couple walked off to the rental kiosk in silence. They moved like zombies, only doing what they knew had to be done.
Brian, Kat, and Amy were all staring off after the Rileys. In awe of the sadness they were witnessing, none of them moved. Carl saw this and put his hand on Brian's shoulder. "Come on, kids. We should go." This gesture seemed to break the trance they were all in. Kat's sobbing had now quieted down to a minimal level, and Amy was now only sniffling. They turned around slowly and left through the nearest exit. They climbed into the familiar car and left the airport, heading home.
The car ride was more calm than it had been within the past sixteen hours. Everyone was tired, even Carl. Kat was sleeping heavily on Amy's shoulder in the back seat, and Brian was dozing off with his head against the window. Carl looked in the rearview mirror at Amy who was looking out of her window. "How you doing back there, 'Melia?" Carl asked. "I don't think you've talked once since I've seen you this morning."
"There's...nothing to talk about." Amy replied in a monotone.
"You could talk about how you feel about all this... about what you need."
"What I need?" Amy echoed, confused.
Carl was quiet for a second, then said, "'Melia, this may just be one of the hardest things you'll ever have to go through in your life. With your parents drifting off all the time, I think it's real important that you talk to somebody."
"Like who?"
"Anybody who'll listen." Carl replied in a tired voice. "I guess what I'm tryin' to say is, don't let this break the three of you apart." Amy's eyes started to well up when the phrase "the three of you" rung in her ears. The number would never sounds right, but Carl continued on. "I happen to know that my son here cares about you a whole lot, and he wouldn't want to see you in pain by bottling things up. And I'm sure Kat wouldn't either."
Amy began to feel hotness in her cheeks as she blushed easily. It's true, Amy was a bottler. "I know they wouldn't." she replied hesitantly. She had never been much of a talker, especially not to her friend's parents. Despite everything, she found her mouth making a small smile knowing what Carl said was true. She knew her friends wouldn't desert her, especially not now. Amy quickly wiped away the tears in her eyes with her palms. She felt she had done enough crying in front of people for today.
"Talk to your friends when we get back to the house, hon." Carl said with a nod. "I'm positive that'll make you feel better."
"Okay." Amy agreed, and the conversation was over.
Kat, Brian, and Amy slept through the rest of the car ride home except for a moment when Carl pulled into a gas station. The three of them looked around, half sitting up, saw each other's sleepy faces, and returned to their comfortable positions.
When they finally returned to Brian's house, the Rileys weren't there yet. "You kids go inside and relax." Carl said as they all stepped out of the car. "I'll be out here for a little bit. I'll watch for them."
Without hesitation, Brian then Amy then Kat walked into the house, clogging the entryway to take off their shoes. They made their way into the living room and sat down. After a moment of silence Amy said "I can't believe it's actually Sunday."
"Yeah...School tomorrow." Brian replied.
"I... I don't think anybody's...really expecting us to go to school tomorrow." Kat said. Brian and Amy both looked her way, surprised to hear her making conversation after the excessive amount of crying she'd done the hour before.
"Probably not." Brian agreed. He stopped for a moment and thought. "Amy, have you... have you told your parents yet?"
"No." Amy replied, shaking her head slightly. "They called at like, 2 a.m. last night... but I couldn't tell them. It was just something about the way they sounded. It just would have been to awful."
Kat gazed down wide-eyed at the coffee table in front of her. "It's better off that way." she said. "One less week that they have to be dragged into this mess."
Just as Amy was about to open her mouth to say "But they'll be back after the funeral anyway", she decided against it. It was too hard for her to think it, let alone say it.
"We can get through this." Brian said forcefully. "Jake would have wanted us to stick together."
Kat felt like her heart fell through her feet. "Well you know... I don't know if we can." she said, looking at Brian, "After what we did."
A silence fell over the room. They all knew perfectly well that she was talking about the kiss. Amy held her head in her hands as her eyes started to water. Then, just as planned, the Rileys pulled into the driveway.