"I don't know, I don't know if I can do this?" How in the world did Ellie end up here in the back of an old red pickup truck?
OK, its spring. Finally a warm day. Everyone loves a cookout, right? Well, Leia said they did when Nick met up with them sitting in the back of the truck of somebody's - who he worked with down at the Dairy Twist.
"I shouldn't, I have plans." Ellie shook off the notion of not going because she'd told Kyle they'd hang out. It was sort of a promise. Of course, there was no set time when that might happen on a Friday night.
"You do not. You're going." Leia got some help from Nick to get in the back of the pickup truck. Ellie stood there wanting to move, but she didn't. This felt like a very bad idea to her.
"Come on," Nick said. "It'll be fun, just burgers at the river."
"I shouldn't." She took a step toward home.
"You should." Leia shrugged. "What else you got better going on."
Ellie felt herself going. Going with friends. She didn't really want to be a party pooper, but then there was Kyle. What would Kyle think? Of course, he hadn't actually talked to her anymore this week.
"OK." She got in with no help from Nick. She edged her way next to Leia as the truck scampered away, faster than Ellie expected. Suddenly, she found herself under a curtain of fog, a fog where she couldn't make out what anyone was saying. The rush of the cold waved over her. She felt numb.
Finally the truck stopped and Cory hopped in. Ellie looked at Leia. Had she planned this all along? Ellie meant to ask, but she didn't because she couldn't. She just couldn't make the words come out.
She was cold, feeling dizzy with her strands of hair blowing all around her, whipping into her eyes. Of all days she wished she'd worn something she'd crocheted, but she hadn't.
Then Cory was saying something to her. She supposed, but all she could give him was a light smile as this truck rushed on, and she felt she was hanging on to her stomach before she threw up anything left from lunch.
This was the worst night ever. It seemed endless. People to pick up. Someone finally came running with hamburger patties. By the time she got there, she figured out there were no hamburger buns.
"I'll get them. Anything else?" Cory asked Nick's assistant manager who was manning the grill.
"Get that girl something to drink. She looks thirsty." He was talking about Ellie.
"Wanna, come with?" he walked backwards looking at Ellie. "You are OK, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I think so." She really didn't want to get in the back of that truck again.
"The Shop Stop isn't all that far." He promised. "It won't take long." He turned then and she followed.
They crossed the busy intersection together and found hamburger buns at the store.
"I don't think this was very well planned." It was then that Cory told her about the stolen meat patties from the Dairy Twist.
'What, we're eating stolen burgers?" She didn't like this idea.
"Yeah, freaky huh?" He said, grabbing paper plates and napkins along with mustard. "I haven't the funds to buy much more. Think this will do?"
Ellie grabbed a bottle of catchup. "I can't believe I'm doing this." She paid for her purchase and they walked back to the park.
"What if we get caught?" She asked him.
"Highly, unlikely." Cory shook his head, no.
"You think?" Still it didn't feel right.
"Don't worry so much," Cory said.
She didn't want to, but she was a little put off seeing Leia and Nick cuddling under a blanket. It was like Leia to always get what she wanted even if it meant...Ellie didn't even want to admit how she felt right now.
Why couldn't she be happy? Here she was with Cory, and he was nothing like she'd hoped for. But he got her a soda. She looked at it as if he might of contaminated it.
"Its just a soda. I didn't do a thing to it."
She was too tired to thank him. The smoke from the grill made her eyes burn. It was turning into a miserable night.
She got a text from Kyle asking her where she was. Ellie texted back that she would be there as soon as possible. Maybe she'd go home on foot. It would mean a jaunt across old town.
What does that mean? Kyle texted back.
She wasn't sure, but this was not a party for her, especially, when she saw the cops coming.
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