Consequences

⟡ eighteen ⟡

It was all a haze. The lights were blurry between tears and the alcohol in her system. Brinley didn't know why she was crying. She couldn't remember. Maybe she saw a really cute stray puppy. Maybe she was crying because she didn't know where she was anymore.
Brinley looked down at her knee and found it to be scraped and bloody. Now she knew why she was crying. She must have tripped. Her friends were a few feet in front of her, all laughing to the point of tears as well. Jade was especially teary eyed, as she had apparently been drinking away the argument that she and Enzo had just hours before.
As terrible as her knee felt, slowly dripping blood, the warm May breeze felt empowering. It gave her a different kind of high. There was only a few weeks left of senior year. In a few short weeks she would be graduating from high school, receiving her diploma, and be free from the crushing pressure of school. Until the fall when she would go off to college, but that was not something Brinley wanted to worry about now.
But Holden was worried. It was nearly two in the morning and he had no idea where his girlfriend was. He tried calling her, but it went straight to voicemail every time. He also tried calling all of her friends, but no one gave him an answer. This had to be natures sick way of paying him back for his future actions.
Holden did the only logical thing he could think of and quietly grabbed his car keys off of the table, shutting the door silently behind him. He didn't want to worry his parents, they were already so on edge these past few weeks. Theo wasn't around much anymore, he finally had friends at college and didn't come home every weekend. However, Alfie never left the house it seemed.
Once the loud engine began to roar, Holden quickly pulled out of the driveway, cringing to himself and praying that he hadn't woken anyone up. Brinley could be anywhere, and it wouldn't make sense for him to drive around the streets of Fairborn for hours.
With these thoughts running rampant through Holden's mind, he found himself at the one place where he felt welcome. Harold and Adelaide's house.
But Holden didn't feel welcome on this night. He had to talk to Harold about something that would absolutely crush the both of them. He nervously rang the doorbell and within thirty seconds the door was opening.
"What are you doing up boy? It's 2 o'clock." Harold's fatherly nature kicked in and pulled Holden into the house by the arm.
"I could ask you the same thing." Holden tried to joke, but his voice was too shaky.
Harold and Holden had gotten extremely close over the past few months. Holden would go to Harold for advice and in exchange, he would listen to Harold's book reviews and theories, which Adelaide had gotten sick of hearing.
"I was reading." Harold rolled his eyes a bit. "You're lucky you didn't wake Addy. She'd have a fit. That woman loves her beauty sleep, even though she doesn't need it."
"Harold, I'm here because of Brinley. I don't know where she is. She hasn't called or texted me all night. I'm worried about her."
"You're not talking to her for one night and you're all stressed out? Maybe she just doesn't want to talk to you right now." Harold took a cold bottle of water out of the refrigerator and handed it to Holden.
"But I have some important things to talk to her about. I can't have her running off and ignoring me. Not now." Holden sighed. "Harold, can I ask you something?"
Harold nodded and sat down at the dimly lit dining table. So Holden started, "What would you say if, hypothetically, a guy got a job offer in another country, let's say, England but would have to leave his friends and girlfriend behind to peruse said job."
"Hypothetically, you say?" Harold knew it was not at all a hypothetical statement.
"Of course." Holden bit his finger nail, a bad habit that he had been trying to shake, but somehow always came back to him in times like this.
"Well then I'd tell the man to follow his heart. If he wants the job that bad, take it. But I would also tell him not to hurt my granddaughters heart."
Holden realized that he had been caught. "I'd better get going home. I wouldn't want my parents to worry about me."
Harold stood up, giving Holden an especially strong handshake. "Have a good night."
As soon as Holden closed the car door, his heart sunk. He had to go. He hated this town. There was nothing for him here. No opportunities. No fun. No excitement. Just bad memories and Brinley. But Brinley would be going off to college in a few short months. She would forget about him, right? One part of Holden scolded himself for even debating moving so far away from her, but the other part scolded him for not having the balls to do something great with his life. He had so much potential, but it was going to be all wasted in Fairborn.
The inside of his mind felt like a screaming match that he couldn't escape.