Aubry Sneak Peek

Aubry

Ugh.

What a long day!

Those customers are crazy! And they make me so mad! Rushing to return their stale Christmas presents with pounds of receipts stacked in their pursues and wallets. What a waste of money and my time. I am so exhausted. So ready to crawl in my warm bed. It's freezing out here and I cannot wait to get inside that house and tear these stockings off. Winter is definitely here. And pulling up in the snowy driveway, I can see its clearly not leaving Detroit anytime soon. Huh? My phone is vibrating again. Ugh. A text message from that anonymous number.

"Is this Aubry?"

I almost crashed into the house. Oh my goodness! Now Charlie's brother is stalking me? Great. This is all I need right now. Some guy hunting me down about his weirdo brother. Why is he doing this to me? Why does he want to talk to me so bad? I am so glad that I made it home now.  Let me run in this house so I can curse him out. No. Ill just text so I don't have to worry about calling him back. I don't want to talk. There is absolutely nothing to talk about. I don't know where Charlie is and I could care less. And to think I started liking this dude. He disrespects me by pretending to be my friend, leading me on with hints of romance and bogus love notes. Just trash. Now Vomit Boy is hiding and ignoring me. Please. I am so done dealing with trifling guys. My heart is already crushed. I don't need any more pain. He is dismissed. Ill just text back and get this over with. It's time for me to get in the bed and clear my mind anyway.

"Yes."

He immediately texts back.

"Ok, can you please call me when you get a chance?"

I guess that plan didn't work.

"Ok. Five minutes."

Seventeen minutes just passed. Maybe Ill call him now. Dialing Brandon's number, I walk into the kitchen with my heart hammering against my rib cage. I really don't want to talk to this man. I just want to go to sleep! I am so irritated right now! Just leave me alone! I want everyone to leave me alone! What does Charlie's brother want from me? I haven't heard from Charlie for over 2 weeks. I don't know anything. And I will make sure that this brother of his knows this. 

An unsteady voice answers.

"Hello?"

"Um hello, this is Aubry. You called me earlier?"

"Ah yes, thank you so much for calling me back Aubry, this is Brandon."

"Mmmhmm... ok. What's going on? I just got off from work, sir." Attitude soils my voice tone.

"Uh, ok? Well, I wanted to call and tell you that CJ is in the hospital. He has been really sick these past few weeks and, uh, doctors found a, uh, tumor in his brain, not sure if its cancerous or not.."

"Huh?"

"...and, uh, he is going in for surgery in the morning. He keeps asking for an Aubry..."

"What?"

"...so I thought maybe I could get your number from his phone. It's been dead. Do you think you could, uh, possibly come down to the hospital tonight and, uh, see him?"

"Wait, what?"

My chest rips open. With tears welling up in my eyes, I fall against the kitchen wall, gasping for air.  I feel so weak. And numb. And cold. Words can not even slip out of my mouth. I'm so confused. And I feel like death.

"Um... can...can I...um...call you back?"

***