FicWad

I continued to stand paralyzed in the middle of the street. James wanted me to go to Los Angeles with him? I couldn't do that! Downey was my home. I had lived her for a long time and it was safe and familiar. I didn't want to go to any place new or different. I just wanted to stay right here and have a relaxing, normal summer with my boyfriend. Seriously, was that really too much to ask for? Apparently, it was. James wanted to go to Los Angeles to start a band or whatever, and I was left with two options. I could go with him, or I could stay in Downey all by myself and spend the whole summer missing James.

"Come on, Olivia," James pleaded, gazing at me intensely. "You've got to come with me. I can't go without you." I hesitated before answering him. Of the two options, the second option seemed better. It did seem pretty crazy though. Was I really willing to give up everything for James? If you asked me a year ago if I would be willing to give up everything for a boyfriend, I would've said no way. But now? Well, things were different now. James had changed my life and literally saved me from the wings of death. Who know where I would be if he hadn't rescued me from Ray that day in the alley.

"I...I guess I'll go with you," I murmured, hoping I wasn't making a decision I was going to regret for the rest of my life. "But what about my home? What about the money? How are we going to make it to Los Angeles without money?" Now that I had made my decision to go with James, my mind was full of a million questions.

James let out a sigh of relief and hugged me tightly, "I knew you would come. Let's discuss all that stuff you just mentioned when we get into the house, okay? I can't think when I'm sweltering hot. Let's hope I remembered to set the air conditioner to turn on." We had reached my house now, and the two of us entered the little shack and exited the hot, humid summer day. I closed the door quickly behind me to keep the heat out, tossed my book bag aside, and then collapsed on the couch with exhaustion.

James plopped down next to me and lifted his blonde curls off his neck. His face was red and I could see tiny beads of sweat on his forehead. For some reason, seeing him this way made him look only more delicious than usual. God, I really had no self control now, did I? It was just about impossible for me to keep my cool when I was sitting next to the guy I loved more than anything in the world. But I supposed it was a good thing I was so attracted to him. After all, we were going to end up spending the next three months together. Let's just hope neither of us got into any big arguments.

Trying to remembered what we were talking about, I asked, "So what are we going to do with my house? We obviously just can't leave it here all summer. Someone could invade it and steal everything or something." James nodded thoughtfully and gave me a nervous smile, saying, "Um, I already have that all sorted out."

I raised an eyebrow at him. We hadn't even discussed this until a few minutes ago, but he already had a plan. Well, that was good I guessed. I wasn't so good at planning since I had never gone anywhere before, so James would probably be much better at it. Wondering what he was planning to do with my house, I asked, "So what exactly do you have planned for this little shack?"

James looked at me cautiously as if he was nervous about my reaction to whatever he was about to say, "Well, my aunt said she'd buy it from you. She sells houses so she'd buy it from you and then work on selling it while we're in LA. That would solve a lot of problems. By selling the house, we'd have money for our trip. That will be good because we're probably going to need kind of a lot of money. After all, we're going to have to pay for food, some place to stay, and electricity and all that crap."

I had stopped listening to James after he told me he was planning to sell my house. Selling my house felt like selling my life away. This little house was pretty much the only thing that belonged to me besides for the clothes on my back and the few items of furniture scattered around the house. Suddenly, another thought entered my mind. If I sold the house, that meant I would never be able to come back here. So did that mean we weren't ever coming back to Downey?

Needing to ask that question immediately, I held up a hand to stop James and said, "Wait, slow down a minute. If we sell my house, where am I going to live when we come back here this fall?" A guilty expression appeared on James' face and he didn't say anything. That was a clear sign to me that my hypothesis was indeed true.

Fear trickling through me, I restated, "We're not coming back here ever, are we? We're going to stay in Los Angeles." I tried to say it without showing my fear, but my voice cracked on the last few words. This was all so much for me to take in. It was going to take me a long time to get used to the idea of going to Los Angeles and leaving my old life behind.

"Um, yeah," James agreed, still eying me apprehensively, "That was kind of the idea. Think about it for a minute, Olive. It would be a great opportunity for you. You could leave all your past behind you and start over. You could forget about Ray and all the abuse you went through and just concentrate on getting a job, making some friends, and just enjoying life."

"I don't think I want to forget the past," I commented thoughtfully. "I mean, it's part of me. I can't just forget it or anything. Besides, you and I both know that I suck at making friends. Los Angeles is a huge city though. I mean, think of all the people living there! I bet there's a lot of crime and stuff there too..." I trailed off, wondering if there were people like Ray hiding in the alleyways in Los Angeles waiting to grab unsuspecting girls like me.

Reading my thoughts, James took my hand to reassure me and looked me in the eye, "There's nothing for you to be afraid of, okay? I'll do everything I can for you. I'll help you find a job and I'll never leave you alone in the city if that's what you want. That way, you never have to be afraid of rapists and people like that."

Well, if James promised never to leave me alone, then I supposed I would be okay. James was the best protector I could possible have. If I was with him, then I would be safe. Now that I was no longer quite so afraid, I was curious about lodging. Raising my eyebrows at him, I asked, "So where are we going to stay? I highly doubt we're going to have money to buy a house right away. Maybe later once we get jobs, but for sure not at first."

James nodded, obviously he had already thought of this, "Yeah, I know. We'll rent an apartment for the summer. I already have one booked for us." I couldn't help but laugh at that. James really did have this all planned out. Almost immediately, another question popped into my head, "Hey James, how the hell are we going to get to Los Angeles anyways? We all know that I don't have a car. My mom always believed that walking places was better exercise than driving."

"I already took care of that," James replied, nodding. "I bought a car. It's at my Aunt's house. It's not much. It's just kind of an old looking Ford, but it'll do it's job. I'll pick you up in it tomorrow." I was honestly surprised that James had been able to pick up a car. It wasn't easy to buy cheap cars. Especially in such a small town like Downey. Abruptly, I realized what James had actually said. Did he just say that he'd pick me up tomorrow?

"Um, wait a sec," I gave him a nervous look, "When you said that you'd pick me up tomorrow, did that mean that we're heading to Los Angeles tomorrow?" James nodded almost imperceptibly. Oh god. I was leaving tomorrow! This was all happening way too fast. I wasn't an impulsive person, so for me, it felt like the whole world was crashing down. Stuttering, I protested, "But how am I suppose to be ready by tomorrow morning? I don't have my bags packed or anything!"

"We can do that tonight," James reassured me, putting an arm around my shoulders in an attempt to try to calm me down. I bit back about a million protests that were coming to my lips. Was there really any point in protesting anymore? Probably not. After all, we were leaving for Los Angeles tomorrow whether I liked it or not. There was really no use in complaining.

As I tried to keep my mouth shut, another new thought occurred to me. Almost shyly, I glanced sideways at James and questioned, "So...um...are we going to be like living together and stuff?" James blushed and shrugged. I frowned and added, "Is that even legal? I mean, we're both minors and stuff."

"Oh, just fuck all the laws about majors and minors," James said dismissively, scrunching up his nose in disgust. "Nobody is going to question us about stupid stuff like that. Besides, we'll both be eighteen in less than a year from now. So really, who cares? We just have to take a chance and hope for the best. Will you trust me?"

"Yeah, you do I will," I answered almost reluctantly. James grinned back at me, "Good. Now you've better start packing all your crap because we have a lot of stuff to do before tomorrow."

~ ~ ~ ~

Tomorrow morning came, and I still wasn't ready for the trip. There were so many things I wanted to take with me, but there just wasn't enough space for everything in the small black bag I had decided to use as a suitcase. Frustrated, I sat on my bed trying to decide what to pack and what not to pack. I was trying to decide between my black sweater and an old photo album. The photo album contained pictures of my parents from back when I was little and when my dad was still alive.

Unable to help myself, I flipped the photo album open and started thumbing through it. Nostalgia filled me as memories from my past came flooding back to me. There was a picture of me sitting on my dad's lap at the beach and there was another picture of us splashing around in the water together. I wished so badly that my dad was here with me now. He would help me with the tough decisions I was facing now, and he would give me the comfort I desired.

I had gotten so caught up in looking at the old photos that I forgot that I had agreed to meet James at the door by eight this morning. So when there was a little knock at my bedroom door, I was completely caught off guard. I jumped about a foot off the bed in surprise, glanced at the clock, and immediately called, "Oh my god, I totally lost track of the time. I'm so sorry! Come on in. I'm just finishing packing up a few things."

The bedroom door creaked open and James slipped through the door. He was wearing loose black pants and a white tank top that read "Faith No More" on it lettered in black. He looked kind of tired, but the usual grin was on his lips. Forcing myself to look away from the photo album, I held it and the black sweater up to James, asking, "What one should I bring? I only have room to pack one of them. I just can't decide what one I want to bring, so decide for me, okay?"

James came over and sat on my bed. He took the two items from me and analyzed them carefully. Tossing the sweater aside, he eagerly opened the photo album and started paging through it with interest. I watched his expression as he peered through the pictures of my parents and of me when I was younger.

Without another word, James handed me the photo album, "Take this. Memories are priceless." I nodded and stowed it carefully into my black bag along with my few other belongings. Little did I know that someday I would be looking at pictures of James in this photo album because he would be nothing more than a memory to me.