Chapter 98: Chapter 98
She was perfect and my parents adored her, gave her everything she wanted and made sure she had the best of everything. But she wasn’t like them, she was distant from Gabriel but she still stopped by his room and had small talk to him, she just found it awkward because they rarely found anything to talk about and she didn’t know how to act around him because he was sick
"Hey Grace" I said smiling "I thought I wouldn’t get to say goodbye" I hugged her and she hugged me back tightly. I wasn’t really close to my sister, but we were always great with each other, she asked me for advice and I always tried to help but she was closer to my parents and a daddy’s girl through and through. If you ask me she is the only reason my father never left my mom, other than the fact that by divorcing her people would start rumors and it would ruin his reputation.
"Why are you leaving?"
"Because I can’t stay here anymore"
"But I’m going to miss you" She cried hugging me and I pulled back and wiped her tears "please don’t leave me"
"I have to. And I’m going to miss you too but we’ll stay in touch. You can call me anytime"
She nodded, wiping away her tears "This is because of Gabriel isn’t it? I knew you only stayed because of him. You’re the reason he lived as long as he did."
"No I’m not" I argued "It’s the doctors that kept him alive"
"No it wasn’t" she said "They expected him to live at least till he was five years old. But you took care of him from the moment mom and dad brought him home from the hospital. You fed him, washed him, stayed all day in his room as soon as you came back from school, and even spent most nights in his room and made sure the nurses were doing their best job"
"Believe me. I did nothing" I said, if all that stuff had helped him he would still be alive. "Call me okay?" My sister nodded and hugged me one more time "And good luck with mom and dad". Grace always had mom and dad’s love and affection, unlike me. I never had the parents she did. "Bye"
We kept waving goodbye even after I got into the cab and drove off. It was only when she was out of sight did I finally sit straight in the cab.
"Am I just going to keep driving around" the cab driver said. He looked at me through the rear view mirror and I shook my head
"Just a second" I told him pulling out my cell phone and calling the number of my best friend; Patrick Evans.
Patrick was two years older than me. He used to live near my house and went to school with me but as soon as he graduated high school he moved away and got an apartment and a job near his college but we remained in touch even with the long distance.
"Well if it isn’t my favorite girl" Patrick’s friendly voice came up after the second ring "How are you Nate?"
"I don’t know" I said. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I didn’t have anyone to take care of, I didn’t have a family, I didn’t have anything "Gabriel died two days ago"
There was silence on the other end of the phone "I’m sorry Nate"
"Its okay" I said forcing a smile "He didn’t suffer, the doctor told us there was nothing we could do and we said our goodbyes." I stayed silent for a while before adding "I left home"
"You did?" Patrick’s voice was shocked "Oh my god. How does it feel to be rid of Count Dracula and his wife?"
"I’ll tell you when it registers in my head" I said "Remember when you said you could fix me an apartment? Can you still do that?"
"You can be my roommate you dummy" Patrick said "I’ll sleep on the couch"
"No Patrick" I said "I want to build my life; I don’t want to depend on anyone. I have enough money saved to get an apartment and I’ll find a job to pay the rent."
Patrick sighed "I would argue with you but I know that wouldn’t do anything"
I smirked "You know me too well"
"I can’t guarantee that the apartment will be great since it’s on such short notice but I’ll do what I can. I’ll talk to Dean and see if his old apartment is still up."
"Dean?"
"He’s a mechanic here; his shop has improved here recently when he won this contest or something so he moved out of his old apartment and into a new one. When will you be here?"
"In a few hours"
"I better go apartment hunting then. Talk to you later Nate"
"Okay Pat. I’ll call you when I get there"
"Okay" Patrick said and added at the last minute "Oh and Nate?"
"What?"
"I’m proud of you" he said "It takes guts to do what you just did"
I stayed silent for a while and then smiled softly "You can thank Gabriel for that" I said "I’m just keeping a promise" ‘To be happy’ I thought ‘and happiness meant being away from my family.’ I hung up and told the driver where to go ’New Brooks’ was the name of the town. I tried not to think that it’s only a couple hours away from a certain town where I met the one who managed to make me want to lose control.
The one, Adrian Morgan, the most handsome and amazing guy I had ever met. A guy I had been trying to keep off of my mind for the past three years.