Reclaiming the Sand(57)
Author: A. Meredith Walters

Dania detested her even as she used her for rides whenever she needed them. We would make fun of her behind her back and coyly to her face and then pretend we were only joking. We even gave her the nickname TFB, aka Tits for Brains.

We really were horrible people.

“Hey, Ellie!” she said in that overly exuberant way of hers.

“Hey Reggie, how’s it going?” I asked, feeling bad that I was already thinking of ways to conclude this conversation so I could get out of there.

“Ah, you know, a little of this, a little of that. Crazy shit that Stu’s back in the clink huh?” she asked, running her fingers through her greasy hair. Her eyes were a little bloodshot and she seemed twitchier than normal. My guess was she had been face first in a pile of meth not too long ago.

“Yeah, sucks for him,” I agreed, grabbing a bottle of shampoo and putting it in my basket.

“Shane’s having a party tonight. You should come. We haven’t seen you in a long time. Dania’s being a bitch about it too. Says you’re too good for us now that you’re screwing the ‘tard,” Reggie snickered.

I wanted to smack the drugged up grin off her face. Forget feeling bad about the way I treated her. She’s just lucky I never put a boot up her ass.

“You wanna watch how you talk about Flynn? I’d hate to make a scene by ripping that ugly shit you call hair out of your head.” I gave her a syrupy smile and turned back to my shopping, hoping she’d take a hint.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Ells. I didn’t mean anything by it. He’s nice. Really. And he’s cute too. I mean, I wouldn’t want to f**k the dude or anything. Because you know he’s a freak and all. But I’m sure he’s great.” Reggie was rambling and my patience was quickly running out.

“Shut up, Reggie,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Yeah, okay. I will. Um, wow, you’ve got a lot of stuff there. Why all the stuff, Ells?”

Tweakers were so freaking obnoxious.

“Because I’m going away for a few days,” I said, hoping she’d leave me alone.

I shouldn’t have told her the truth because now she wouldn’t shut up.

“You’re going somewhere? Where are you going?”

I sighed, feeling a headache coming on.

“Just going to the beach for a few days. Nothing big,” I was hoping by being uninformative, she’d let it go.

Today was not my lucky day.

“The beach? That’s so cool! I went to the beach once when I was a kid. Dad took us all to the Outer Banks. That’s in North Carolina. Have you ever been to North Carolina? It’s so pretty! I loved it. The ocean was cold because it was September. But it was so much fun. I made the biggest sand castle”

“Okay, thanks for the info, Reggie,” I interrupted her. She was twitchy and rambling and if I let her, she’d go on forever.

“Sure, no problem. So you’re not going to come the party?” she asked, scratching at a spot on the side of her nose.

“Nope, Reg. I’m not. Hope you guys have fun though,” I said, not at all sincerely.

“Oh we will. You know we will. You should have been to the party two nights ago! It was crazy! Dania and Shane almost got arrested! I did so much coke I thought my head would explode. But it was so cool”

“Wait, Dania almost got arrested? What happened?” I cut her off with a sinking feeling in my stomach.

Reggie laughed loudly. A few people looked over in our direction and I saw on their faces exactly what they were thinking.

What a bunch of losers.

I couldn’t believe I was ever okay with being lumped in with them like that. I honestly had always thought that I was just as bad if not worse than the people I associated with. How could I have never wanted more for myself than that?

“She was wasted. I mean waaasted,” she drawled out.

“And?” I prompted, trying to keep an easily distracted Reggie on track.

“And she and Shane wanted more beer. So they broke into JAC’s and got us a few cases. Of course the alarm went off. They almost got caught but they didn’t. It was epic, Ells!”

I hadn’t heard about a break in at JAC’s. But I had started cutting back some on my hours trying to focus more on school. I hadn’t had a shift since the beginning of the week. Still, I had thought I would have heard about something like that.

And what was Dania even thinking? She had been wasted. What else was new? But it wasn’t like her to be that reckless. That had always been my thing, not hers.

“How wasted was she, Reg?” I asked.

Reggie giggled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that bad. Some guy from Dale County was there and he had some kick ass shit he was selling. It was grade A stuff, Ells. He seemed to like Dania. They were hooking up for a while.”

“What kind of shit was he selling?” I asked.

“You know meth, weed, pills. The usual. Dania and I split a bump of crank which was killer!”

So now, aside from drinking herself stupid, she could tick hardcore drug usage while six months pregnant off the list. She smoked pot, still smoked half a pack of cigarettes a day and drank like a fish, but I hadn’t seen Dania touch drugs in over a year.

“I can’t believe her!” I growled, throwing the rest of the items I needed into the basket and storming down the aisle towards the cash register.

Reggie hurried after me. “It was fun, Ellie! What’s the big deal?”

I turned on my former friend and unleashed the temper I was known for. I couldn’t help it. I f**king lost it.

“Because she’s pregnant you f**king moron! She has a baby inside in her stomach!” I pointed at Reggie’s stomach for emphasis.

Reggie wasn’t smiling and laughing now. She knew the look on my face all too well and was already backing away in retreat.

“She says the baby’s fine,” Reggie excused and I thought a moment about throwing the bottle of shampoo I was putting on the counter at her dim head.

“Did you not pay attention at all in health class? Drugs will mess you up. They will cause that baby in her belly to have a goddamned arm in the middle of its forehead! Wake up, Reggie! Stop being the stupid slut everyone says you are! Grow a brain!” I seethed.

Reggie frowned and for a minute I felt almost bad. I shouldn’t be yelling at Reggie. She wasn’t the one forcing Dania to make such stupid decisions. She wasn’t the one I was really angry with.

“Dania was right. You have become a bitch,” Reggie spat out and rushed out of the store.