| Chapter 76: Eruption 1 week later Lauralee headed home from her drive that night, trying to keep herself awake, seeing the familiar cars in front of the house. Lauralee was going to head to the door, when she heard voices in the backyard. She ran around the back, but stopped when she heard the conversation. “I’m fuckin’ worried about her!” Alex yelled. “She’s grieving, Alex. She has to deal with it in her own way,” Laura said. “How, by staying up every night drinking coffee? She hasn’t slept a wink since the accident. I know she gets up and comes back to bed before the sun comes up.” “Alex, she’s going through a lot right now, we all are,” Kevin walked up to Alex. “But you’re right, I am worried about her. If she keeps this up, holding everything inside, she’ll self-destruct.” “She did the same thing when her dad died. She stiffened up, didn’t let anyone know what she was feeling.” Elizabeth said “Look, we got to do something. It’s been almost a whole month and she’s changing, although she’s putting on a front. The best thing to do is…” Brian said. Lauralee couldn’t take it anymore. “… Talk behind my back!” she stormed into the backyard, fists clenched. “Lau…” Alex started. “Oh save the fuckin’ sentimentality!” Lauralee yelled. “You have no right butting into my life like this!” “We’re worried about you Lau,” Bianca stood up. “That’s why…” “That’s why you decided to gang up on me,” Lauralee finished her sentence. “That’s not it.” “Bullshit!” “Listen to me damnit!” Laura stood up. “When was the last time you slept, huh? You stay up all night, never tell us what you’re going through. Talk to us Lau.” “You think I’m gonna talk to you after what you guys are doing? After all I have done for you. I was the one who comforted you. I was the one who was your strength. I’m trying so damn hard and… oh shit, who needs you!” Lauralee ran out of the backyard, hopping into her car. “Lau!” Alex and the others ran to the car and leaned on the window. “Where you going?” “Out!” Lauralee started the car. “Don’t do this!” Nick screamed. “I’ll be back when y’all stop deciding what’s best for me!” She shifted the car to reverse and screeched out of the house. ~*~ Lauralee looked at her speedometer, reaching 90 mph. She blasted her music, banging on the steering wheel, Veronica’s words echoing in her mind. It’s in the Best Friend Handbook, Rule #156: You can’t hold back information concerning the opposite sex. Now tell! For once, be selfish! Go find him and tell him! We can’t do this without you; we wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for you. Are you kidding? You would make a great mom! We better start taking great advantage of the little things. What the hell, the past 3 years have been a blur anyway. …and even if that’s cut short, she’ll be my angel watching over me, making me strive for the top, and it goes double for me. Lauralee started to scream, when she heard her cell phone ringing. She was going to ignore it, thinking it was home, but noticed the caller ID and picked it up. “Hello?” “Is this Lauralee?” “Who is this?” “My name’s Billy and I’m a bartender at the Rustic Inn. It seems that there’s a man named Howie here at the bar and he’s pretty wasted. When I asked him if I should call somebody, he gave me this number and told me to ask for you.” “Tell him I’ll be right there, and don’t let him leave. Bye.” Lauralee managed to slow down enough to turn around and head towards downtown Orlando. ~*~ Lauralee went into the bar and made a beeline for Howie. He was sitting at the bar, clutching a bottle of tequila and leaning his head against his elbow. She walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “D?” Howie looked up, turned his head around and gave a drunken smile. “Lau!” “Hey you. Looks like you had quite a night.” “Hey,” he tapped the bartender’s arm. “This is Lauralee, one of my bestest, bestest friends, the one I told you about remember?” “Yeah,” the bartender said. “Thanks for calling me,” Lauralee shook his hand. “No problem.” “Uh, what do I owe you?” Lauralee grabbed her wallet from her purse. “He paid already.” “Here,” Howie gave the bartender a hundred-dollar bill. “That’s for you. Take your girl somewhere nice. Everyone should take their girl somewhere nice.” “Yeah, come on D, time to go home,” she slung Howie’s arm over her shoulder and helped him get up. “You puke in my car and you just bought a new Infiniti.” ~*~ Lauralee stopped at her house, with Howie leaning against the window. “You better crash at my house for the night. You’ll need someone to hold your head over the toilet in the morning.” “Thanks,” Howie shifted himself to look at her. “Lau, you were her best friend, you know that right?” “Yup.” “And she would want you to be there for everyone else, right?” “Right.” “But who’s gonna be there for you? Who has held your hand?” Howie slurred. “I know I’ve had the whole world check up on me, especially you, but what about you Lau?” Lauralee was surprised at the clarity of his thinking, even though he didn’t know it. “I don’t know D. I guess I’ve been taking care of myself.” Howie shook his head. “That’s not good. Tell you what, as soon as the world stops spinning, you can cry on my shoulder, OK?” Lauralee stopped and looked at him, taking into consideration his words, everything seeming to crash down on her at once. “Come on, let’s go inside. Think you can walk?” Howie nodded. He got out of the car and slumped back down. “Uh, I think I could use a little help.” Lauralee slung his arm over her shoulder, and he leaned on her for support. She managed to get her key into the lock and open the door. “Hey everybody!” Howie managed to wave to everyone in the living room. “Hey Howie,” Nick walked up to him and stood back. “Man, who bought out the tequila farm!” “I had fun,” Howie leaned on the hall table. “I had fun my way. Veronica would want me to enjoy life and I am, I…” Howie stopped and started to cry. Lauralee tried to hug him, but he stopped her. “No! I told you, I was gonna be there for you! I was gonna let you cry to me, not the other way around! Come here Lau.” Howie grabbed her in a hug. Lauralee was startled by his actions, but started to let the tears well up inside of her. She broke from his embrace. “Lau, what’s wrong?” Howie leaned back up. “I’m here for you.” “We all are,” Alex came behind her. “Excuse me, I’m still not talking to you,” Lauralee folded her arms. Alex turned her around. “Lau, everyone appreciates what you’re doing. We wouldn’t have gotten through this past month without you, including V’s family and all of the fans. But you’ve been so wrapped up in taking care of everyone else that you forgot about yourself!” “Friendship is a two-way street,” Laura added. “Oh please, spare me! You’ve always depended on me, everyone depends on me! When my dad died, everyone looked to me. When we ever got into a jam, everyone turns to me. Did anyone ever think what would happen if I got into a jam? Huh? Well, I just turn to myself. Look at this,” Lauralee took out Veronica’s last journal entry. “She said I was her role model. Do you know how proud that makes me?” Alex took the journal entry from her hands. “But that doesn’t mean that you can’t show emotion. You can cry Lau.” “It’s called being human,” added Bianca. Kevin put his hand on her shoulder, but Lauralee flinched and backed away. “You have every right to grieve, to yell at the world. How Veronica died… God, I’ll never forgive whoever took her away. But we’ve all been through the process. We’ve denied, we’ve been angry, we’ve been sad and depressed.” “Now it’s your turn,” Howie said. “I… can’t,” Lauralee shook her head. “Please, leave me alone.” She ran towards the back door, but Alex hopped over the couches and beat her to it. “You’re not leaving,” Alex said. “Let… me… go,” Lauralee clenched her teeth. “No!” “Alex…” “Lau…” “I said LET ME GO!” She pounded on his chest with her fists, trying to do anything to let him pass. The emotions seemed like a volcano ready to erupt and she couldn’t subside them. The anger that she was taking out on him acted like a catalyst, bringing all of the feelings up inside her to her eyes. She couldn’t fight anymore, the emotions had won. She stopped and looked into Alex’s eyes, searching for some way to connect, to let him in. She closed her eyes, and for the first time, the tear had fallen. “Alex…” “Let it go baby,” Alex grabbed her face with his hands. More tears fell and the wall she had built around herself was falling. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let a scream out, a wail of sadness. She collapsed into his arms, slumping to the floor, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed so strongly there was no voice heard. Alex fell with her, cradling her in his arms, rocking her back and forth. “Why! Why did this have to happen!” Lauralee screamed into his chest. “I don’t know baby, I don’t know,” Alex let his tears fall as the others ran into the back. They stood in silence for a few minutes, watching Lauralee fall apart in Alex’s arms, torn between helping their friend but at the same time just letting her get it out on her own. Laura leaned down and touched Lauralee’s shoulder. Lauralee lifted her head up and hugged her. Laura grabbed her and held her close. “You’ll always have us to depend on. Never forget that.” Lauralee pulled away from Laura and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. God I’m so sorry.” “For what? You have nothing to be sorry about,” Kevin knelt down to her. “No, for not letting you guys in.” “We’re your family Lau. There’s nothing that you couldn’t tell us,” Bianca said. “That’s right,” Nick stepped up. “We can tackle anything as long as we stick together,” Elizabeth knelt down. “Think of us like the Partridge family. Hey, Nick could be the drummer that can’t keep a beat,” Brian put on one of his goofy faces. Nick shot him a look as the tension was cleared with laughter. “Oh sure, like you’re David Cassidy.” “I think I love you, so what am I so afraid of?” Brian sang. They all laughed again as Lauralee wiped away her tears. “I think I need some sleep. I’m beat.” “Come on,” Alex picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. Chapter 77 Contents Chapter 75 |