Zant
I’ll be your crying shoulder
I’ll be love suicide
I’ll be better when I’m older
I’ll be the greatest fan of your life
{‘I’ll Be’ -Edwin McCain}
I watch my girl walk down the sidewalk hand in hand with one of her best friends in the world. She has her back straight and her head held high. I’m so freaking proud of her. She needs to do this. She needs to do this for her. She has been afraid of every little thing for too long. She isn’t in danger from the monster that terrorizes her mind. She has nothing to worry about from that freak. I can’t tell her that though. She can’t know anything about that.
“We aren’t completely leaving them, are we?” Levi ask in a shocked voice. He has been super protective of Micah and has helped her in any way that he can since the attack. I can’t thank him or Chance enough for everything they have done for her. They stepped up and moved into protective mode for her and the other two girls. Kelly and Macy both went through living hell after the attack. They were afraid for Micah. They were afraid for themselves. They were even afraid for me. They all waited for Roy to come back around and start terrorizing them all.
It wasn’t going to happen.
“No man. We aren’t leaving them alone. We will be close. They just won’t see us.” I tell him as Micah and Macy walk out of site. “Chance, what is there around here for us to get into tonight?” I turn and look at him in the backseat.
“I don’t know, man. I will have to look but right now I am in shock. What if she freaks out in there? What if someone touches her?” He’s looking toward the direction that they went. “I need to text Kelly and let her know what is going on.”
“No.” I tell him quickly. “Don’t text Kelly. Don’t do anything. We are just going to sit here and we are going to let Micah do this. We will handle whatever happens while she is in there. And we will be waiting for them when they are ready to leave.” I look to him and then at Levi with a, that is final, look in my eye. They get my point.
“As long as we sit here.” Chance says under his breath. There is complete silence after that.
After about fifteen minutes of sitting in silence, I speak up. “Chance, you’ve got to find us something to do tonight. I want Micah to think that we left them alone while they were in there.”
“Oh yeah. I will look now. What is something you guys are into?”
“How about some mini golf?” Levi suggest.
“That actually sounds pretty fun” I tell them. “Find the right place for us, Chance, and get directions. We will get these two when they come out and then go back to the hotel to get Kelly. She should be well rested by now.”
Chance lets out a grunt. Levi and I chuckle and leave it at that.
About forty-five minutes after the girls left, I pull the van over to the parking lot of the store and park it where we can see the front door. I’m worried about her but I make my butt stay seated in the seat.
“Want me to go check on them?” Levi ask.
“No. They are fine. They will be out soon.” I say as I continue to stare at the front door. Forty-five minutes. I’m starting to get anxious. She hasn’t been gone that long. How can I ever leave her?
A few minutes later, I see Macy coming out of the door but I don’t see Micah. I sit up straight in my seat and hold myself inside the vehicle. I hold my breath. Where is Micah? Macy walked outside but stopped near the door. She is looking back towards the building. A few heartbeats later, Micah comes out of the store. I hear a collective sigh from all three of us.
I get out and make my way towards the girls. Micah sees me and runs towards me. She jumps in my arms and wraps her legs around my waist. I’m a little shocked but I don’t dare let go.
“How’d it go, sweet thang?” I ask her without showing any anxiety that I had over her.
“It went great. We got a few things for everyone. You’re going to love what I got you.” She says as she kisses my cheek. She makes a move to get down so I slowly lower her to where her feet hit the pavement.
“Well are you going to show me now or make me wait?”
“You’ve got to wait. Just like everyone else.” She says as she moves to Chance. Chance grabs her by the shoulders and brings her in for a quick hug before dropping his hands and backing away. I’m watching Micah and she doesn’t even flinch.
Levi is next and he wraps his arms around her from the side. Her hands are full of little bags so hugging her full frontal wasn’t going to be easy. She leans her head onto his shoulder and he kisses the back of her head. She straightens up and he lets her go. She then makes her way back to me. She is completely normal acting and I am about 0.2 seconds away from doing a happy dance.
Macy speaks up and ask us if we ever found something to do tonight. “Kelly is ready if you guys want to go pick her up. She needs to do some shopping.”
“More shopping? Come on girls. We can’t spend the whole day shopping. A guy has to do other things.” Levi whines. I can tell he isn’t being serious but trying to get under their skin. It is probably going to work.
Micah hits him in the stomach with a couple bags and he hunches over himself. I start to laugh along with Chance. “Idiot.” Chance says.
When we get back to the hotel, the girls need a few minutes so Levi, Chance, and I stay in the lobby. There really isn’t any need for us to go back to the room. What are we going to do? Straighten our hair?
Girls.
About ten minutes later, the girls come down and we head out to the van again.
“Where are we headed ladies?” Levi ask.
“I need to go shopping. I didn’t know you guys were going to go shopping without me.” Kelly says. I can almost hear her pout.
“Kelly, I told you that you were going to miss things if you decided to sleep in. Macy and I went right after we ate breakfast.” Micah reminds and informs her.
“What did the guys buy in the store? I only saw you two with bags.” Kelly says. Oh, here it comes.
There is silence so Macy takes the lead. “Actually, Micah and I went shopping alone. The guys went to look for us something to do tonight.” It takes a second for it to sink in then….
“WHAT???!!!!” Kelly shrieks. “The guys let you two go out on your own? They weren’t with you? Boys y’all better be explaining.” Her country accent has hit full force.
“Chill your heals woman. The girls were fine.” Chance has decided to put this fire out. I am all too happy to let him. Kelly is a firecracker.
“How do you know they were fine? You weren’t even there. Anything could have happened to them.” Kelly says.
“Kelly. You weren’t there either. Micah did good. Didn’t you Mi?” Chance ask Micah to add to his statement. “Yes. Kelly. I was completely fine. Nothing happened. I needed this. Besides, I had Macy.” I look in the rearview mirror and catch Micah’s eyes. I give her a wink and she winks back at me. A huge smile lands on my face as I look back to the road as we make our way to a different souvenir store.