Pulling into a gas station just down the road from where she checked into a hotel room for the night, Sonny pulled out her cellphone and noticed her three missed calls and five text messages, most of whom from Chad. She sighed and thought about it before tossing the cell into the back seat of her car and filling up the tank. Ignoring him was the hardest thing about this trip, but Sonny had convinced herself that the space was for the better.
An hour later, all washed up and ready for bed, guitar and pencil with a notepad in front of her, Sonny tried to concentrate on music, on anything that came to her. But, nothing would. Her mind was still full of images of Chad's polite, but insincere smiles and Marshall's demanding tone. Frustrated, she pushed her guitar away and pulled her knees to her chest, fingering her phone's buttons as she tried to figure out what to do. The red numbers of the clock beside her shabby hotel bed read 9:43, and she wasn't anywhere near tired yet.
Absentmindedly punching in the numbers to her mom's cellphone, she pulled the electronic device to her ear and listened to the dial tone. On the second ring, her mother answered.
"Sonny? Oh Sonny, good!," her mother sounded relieved, almost on the verge of tears.
"What is it mom?"
"It's just.. well, I was worried is all. This is a long drive honey. You've never done this before, and.. it's a mom's right to get worried you know," she said, voice relaxing a little as it took on a more motherly tone. At the sound of her mother's voice, Sonny's heart rate slowed and her patience, which had been growing mighty thin before, increased tenfold.
"You have nothing to worry about, mom. I am an excellent driver and I know the way there. I searched the directions online, and then memorized it. So any chances of me getting lost are few and far between."
"Have you called them yet? To let them know you're coming?," asked her mom curiously, and although she was trying her hardest to remain innocent, Sonny could detect the scepticism in her tone.
"No. I am going to just go. I remember the neighbourhood and what the house looks like. The last thing I remember gram and gramps telling me was that I was welcome back anytime. Well mom, my anytime is now," Sonny replied, picking at a loose strand on her blanket beneath her. She waited patiently for her mother to reply, and it seemed like an eternity passed before she did.
"Okay. I'm just a bit nervous of what they'll say. I mean, a lot has happened between then and now and..," and her mother trailed off. But where she went silent, Sonny could fill in the spaces. Sonny had only been thinking the same thing for the past six hours of driving.
Between tricking herself into believing that every vibration was a car noise rather than her cellphone going off and that she was not making a fool out of herself going to see grandparents who barely knew her, who she barely knew, Sonny had ample time to question her every move, to hesitate at the side of the roads and deliberate turning back. But now she was half way and there was no turning back now.
"You know what, mom? I'm getting really tired, you know- driving all day and all. I think I am going to get some sleep so I have enough energy to hit the road again early tomorrow morning. I love you and promise to call you when I get there, okay?"
"Okay, Sonny. Good night and good luck," her mother breathed, and Sonny was sure she heard some sign of sadness in her voice. Ignoring all indications of hesitation, from both her and her mother, Sonny set her guitar back in it's case and crawled under the stiff covers, prepared for a night lacking of sleep and ample in questioning thought.
--
Knocking on the big wooden door in front of her, Sonny tried to ignore the rumbling of her hungry stomach and the pain in her shaking legs. It had been a long day on the road to complete her journey, starting bright and early at eight am, after a night of virtually no sleep. All nerves had left her and what remained was a need to sit down and get a glass of water.
Sonny blatantly ignored the empty driveway that led down to the pebbled side road she'd taken in, as well as the lack of lights on in the house. She forced herself to stand up straight to give off a good impression, but after the third knock, she just couldn't take it anymore. Letting out a frustrated grunt, Sonny sat down right in front of the door and closed her eyes.
In a perfect world, her grams would welcome her with a glass of ice cold water and a steaming plate of food and her gramps would be upstairs, making up her room and laying out bath supplies she'd indulge in after a great meal. But, this obviously wasn't a perfect world.
As she was thinking of the warm, home made bread her grams used to bake, her cellphone went off in her back pocket, and for the upteenth time that day, Sonny plucked it out, her thumb over the ignore button, when she re-read the name on the display screen- TAWNI. She answered it instead.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Sonny! It's Tawni. How are things?" came the blonde's bubbly voice. Sonny could hear conversation in the background, mostly what seemed to be arguing.
"They could be better I suppose. What's going on there?" Sonny strained to hear what the voices were saying, but they were muffled and seemed to be getting farther and farther away.
"Oh, nothing," came Tawni's not-so-subtle reply. "Are you at your grandparent's house yet?" and at the question, her voice rose in volume. Sonny's brows furrowed together as she tried to figure out just what was going on.
"Yes I am, but they aren't," Sonny quipped, picking at the chipped paint on their porch. Just as she said it though, she heard tires over gravel and looked up to see an old blue pickup truck coming up the path to the house. "OH! You know what, Tawni? I can't talk just now. They just arrived. See ya!"
Throwing her phone back into her pocket, Sonny stood upright and smoothed out her clothes, playing with a strand of hair that seemed to be too stubborn to stay in it's place. And when the older gentleman stepped out of the truck and turned to look at her, both her eyes and his widened.
--
"What do you mean, 'they moved'?" Sonny asked, bewildered.
"Just what I said. Your grandfather got sick, and they moved back out to Wisconsin to be closer to family and for a specific nursing home they were both familiar with," replied the older man, whose name was Jack. Next to him, across from Sonny at the kitchen table, sat Jack's son, Caleb, who was a couple years older than Sonny. He seemed to be completely the opposite of his annoyed father, and came across as shy and quiet. "Did you come here all the way from Wisconsin? 'Cause that would have been a waste, wouldn't it?" came Jack's voice interrupting her thoughts.
"No. I came from Los Angelos. I... I needed some time to get away, and I thought I'd surprise them," Sonny said, not completely willing to tell the truth. She could only imagine the mocking look on Jack's face if Sonny explained that she hadn't spoken to her grandparents in over ten years, let alone come to see them.
"Well, you didn't surprise them, but you sure as hell surprised me," was Jack's response, earning him a light kick under the table from his son, who looked appalled at his father's behaviour.
"Look, Sonny, is it?" asked Caleb, the first couple of words he'd directed at Sonny since the ever polite 'Hello!' he threw her way when she walked into their home. She nodded. "Look, if you came all this way to clear your head, feel free to stay here. We have an extra room upstairs, back of the house. Fresh sheets on the bed, a robe hanging on the door, and you'll have your own bathroom. Almost like a little Bed and Breakfast or something."
Jack and Sonny just stared at Caleb, Sonny's mouth hanging open and anger flaring in Jack's eyes.
"Can I speak a moment with you Caleb?" asked Jack, already pushing out his chair and beckoning an ever-reddening Caleb over to the next room.
Sonny sat in silence, trying her hardest not to eavesdrop but doing a terrible job of it. She heard snippets of their conversation: 'What the hell do you think you're doing, inviting a strange girl in the house?'; 'It's only for a couple of days.'; 'Well, you're responsible for her, not me.' She scoffed at the last one, as if she was like a pet that needed to be taken care of.
She was about ready to reject the obvious forced invite, when Caleb came back into the room, followed by a beaming Jack who said, "Welcome to our humble abode!" She almost fell out of her chair in surprise, but nodded in acceptance, unable to find her voice.
--
a/n: Thanks for everyone who read and reviewed! I really appreciate it. This story is going in a completely different direction than originally planned, and I can only blame that on a change of atmosphere from when I first started writing it.
Please read and review :) That is all - Danni 3