Wondering Minds

Chapter 11

I woke up on the wet cold ground but this time it wasn't dark but it was nighttime. A sidewalk appeared beneath me and then Emma appeared beside me. I bounced back confused and scared.

She giggles, "What's wrong with you? Why are you all jumpy?"

I looked around panicked, "Um... I thought we weren't friends anymore."

"What? Are you smoking weed again with your boyfriend Braden?" She says trying to figure out what's wrong with me.

"Huh? Me and Braden don't date... We never dated..."

She giggles again, "Stop playing games, Luna. You're cute when you try and prank me." We started walking down the street in the night sky. Looking around I realized something, "Wait? Is this a dream?" I thought to myself.

I looked over at Emma who was happy as ever. I stopped walking to ask her a question, "Can you give me advice on a situation?"

"Sure, what is it?"

I rubbed my hands together nervously, "My cousin's friend is pregnant, but her friend wants an abortion because the guy who got her pregnant doesn't want anything to do with it..."

I paused and then started back, "My cousin wants to be a good friend and tells her not to get an abortion so she could help raise the child. And now her friend is mad at her and won't talk to her... What should she do?"

Emma makes a thinking face, "I think she should be there for her whatever decision she makes, and don't force her to change her mind. She should also listen to her feelings and thoughts."

She turns to look at me, "Tell your cousin to let her friend come to her when she's ready, and when she does just listen to what she got to say."

I give a sympathetic look, "Thank you, " I wrapped my arms around her. She smiled as she hugged me back. Everything around me started to fade away.

"Yo! Luna, Are you okay?" I rose from the floor with a banging headache. My eyesight finally focuses as I see Braden and Nathan staring at me.

"What happened?" I said holding my head.

"You blacked out," Nathan says. I looked around me to see empty glasses of tequila shots. I felt everything in my stomach twist and turn as I ran to the bathroom. I felt all the tequila shots come up and into the toilet.

I felt a warm hand rub my back as I let it all out. I raised my head from the toilet, "I'm never drinking again."

Braden laughs, "I don't believe that." He picked me up and then carried me back to his room. He sits me down on his bed.

"Here's some water," Nathan says handing me a glass of water.

"Thanks," I take a sip. Braden grabs a trash bag and starts to clean up the empty bottles. "Y'all glad Mom and Dad aren't here," Nathan says.

"They'll never find out," He continues to pick up trash. I take another sip of water almost throwing it back up.

I turned my head to see Nathan admiring me from across the room. I started getting nervous, "Um...What time is it?"

Nathan looks at his watch, "It's two-thirty."

I tried to stand up but I fell back down on the bed. "Woah, take it easy," Braden says while sitting on the bed next to me. "I...I need to g-go home..." I said stuttering.

"I think you need to sober up first. Isn't your Mom home?" Braden says concerned. "She's at work I think."

"But... it's the weekend." Braden says.

I started laughing, "Oh, I forgot... she doesn't work on the weekend." Nathan and Braden looked at each other. "Drink some more water." Braden forces me to drink more water.

"Sober up then I'll take you home."

I sat there drinking water for about ten minutes while Nathan and Braden talked about superheroes.

"Are you okay? Are you sobering up?" Nathan says dusting off his shirt.

"Yes... I just got a headache but I need to go home, I got an appointment in about an hour."

Braden nods then gets up to put his shoes on. I stood up then took a glance a Nathan.

Nathan smirks because he knows he'll see me in about an hour.

Braden and I walked to his truck. He opened the door for me and then helped me in his truck. "Such a gentleman."

He smiled brightly, "Of course," He jumped into his truck and then drove me home.

He parked his truck in my long driveway, "I had fun with you today..."

"Me too, but only the parts I remember." We both giggled as Braden got out of his truck, walked over to my side, and opened my door.

I grabbed his hand as I carefully got out of the truck. "When's the next time I'm going to see you?"

"Stop playing games, you know you're going to see me tomorrow. My Mom invited you and your Mom over for my birthday dinner."

He puts his hand on my waist, "Oh yeah, I remember now." He leaned over and tried to kiss me but I pushed him away.

"I was serious about being friends."

I could tell he was frustrated, "Okay... Have a good rest of your day." He watched as I walked up to my porch and then into the house.

When I walked into the house Mom was in the kitchen snacking. "Where have you been? I've been calling you..."

"At the park..."

"Okay... Well, I need you to get ready because your therapist is coming over."

"Okay," I went into my room to freshen up and put on new clothes. Before heading to the living room I checked to see my phone to see if anybody texted me.

I walked out of the room to see Nathan and a girl in blue scrubs who had straight brown hair, and a pretty smile, "Hi Luna! This is my assistant Madison, she'll be helping you with an exercise today."

I smiled as I sat there on the couch but too nervous to say something to her. Madison grins, "Hi, Luna, it's nice to meet you." Her voice was soft and sweet as she spoke.

"Hi, It's nice to meet you too," I said without making eye contact. Nathan pulls out his computer to type something up, "Okay, this week you're going to get over your fear of talking to new people. My assistant Madison will help you with that today."

I nodded as my Mom watched from the kitchen. "Okay, I want you to make friends with Madison today." Nathan then turns to my Mom, "Ms. Jenkins, may I talk to you for a second."

Mom nods, "Yes sir." Nathan smirks, "Y'all two have fun." Nathen stood up and then walked outside with my Mom.

Madison looked at me waiting to start the conversation. "How's your day been going?" She finally says.

"Uh... It's been okay."

"You didn't do anything exciting today?"

"Not really... I just hung out with my friends Braden and Nathan..." I said not catching what had slipped out my mouth.

"Nathan?"

I gasped, "Fuck...Um..." I start to feel my body heat up and shake.

She laughs like somebody said a joke. "It's okay, please don't panic... I already know, Nathan told me beforehand."

"Oh..." I tried to calm myself down.

"Nathan really cares about you." She gives a half smile.

Nathan walked back into the house with my Mother interpreting our conversation. "Let's go to your room," Madison says.

I nodded and headed to my room. "Your room is so beautiful." She says amazed.

"Thanks..." I shut the door and let Madison wander around my room. She stopped when she came across a picture of me and Emma.

"Whose this?"

"Oh... It's just a photo of me and my ex-bestie." I sat on my bed as feelings arose.

Madison turns around, "Let's get your mind off of that." She climbed into bed and then sat crisscrossing applesauce.

"I'm your friend now... So, let's talk about girlie things. She thinks as she comes up with a question. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No, but my Mom thinks me and Braden go out."

"Why?" Madison leans in to get the information.

"Braden's Mom caught Braden and I... Making out on the couch."

"What?! Damn girl, you should just call him your boyfriend at this point."

I giggled as I started to feel more relaxed with Madison. "Yeah, I'm still very embarrassed."

Her phone timer rings loudly, "Awww man, we were just getting started." She hopped out of my bed, "I'll see you next time."

I stood up to let her out of my room, before walking out she said, "Happy early birthday."

I smiled, "Thanks." I watched as Madison and Nathan left.