OUT OF THE RED ↝ dave grohl

three.

AROUND THREE'O clock, Reagan received a telephone call on the Wilson work phone from Kate.

"Wilson's Auto, how can I help you?" she said into the mouthpiece, cradling the phone between her shoulder and ear as she penciled in a flowery doodle on the paper calendar spread out on the countertop.

"It's Kate. Can you please come pick me up today?"

Kate usually rode the bus to and from school unless she was able to have one of her friends drive her. The one, singular perk that Reagan had found in being the oldest sibling was that she was the only child lucky enough to have her own car. Not even Robbie would be blessed with his own set of wheels once he turned sixteen.

"I don't get off for another half hour," Reagan reasoned.

"That's fine. I'll do homework in the library."

"One of your friends can't drive you?"

Kate huffed, flustered to have to explain herself. "If you don't want to do it, just say so."

"I'll be there," Reagan agreed with a sigh, hanging up the phone before anyone could catch her in the midst of a personal call.

As the phone clicked back into place, she pushed her hand through her hair, feeling how loose it had become in her ponytail. The clump that was her bangs fell into her eyes, never capable of actually staying out of her face.

She wasn't afraid to admit that she would do anything for her little sister.

Once Reagan's day was over, she punched out her time card and grabbed her bag from beneath the counter, pulling it over her shoulder. Predictably, Tommy came out of the garage as she readied herself to leave, yanking a t-shirt over the sleeveless white top he'd worn for work.

"Wait up," he called out, quickening his pace to a jog as Reagan strode into Wilson's parking lot.

"I'm in a rush," Reagan explained, neglecting to slow down. "My sister is waiting for me at school."

Tommy eyed her with the same familiar look from earlier that day, his way of prodding her with the reminder that, in his humble opinion, she needed to widen the gap between herself and her family. Reagan rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"Don't look at me like that. It's Kate that we're talking about."

If Tommy truly claimed to know her at all, he would have understood that Kate took up her own special place in Reagan's heart. Anyone who knew Reagan would have known so simply by her behavior towards Kate. It was a kind of motherly instinct that Reagan sometimes was not even aware she had in her.

"Think about what I said, alright?" Tommy suggested, leaning down closer to Reagan's face as she slid into her car.

"About what? Abandoning my family?"

"It's not abandonment. It's getting a life of your own."

Reagan bit her tongue, staring hard into Tommy's meaningful eyes. She did her best to tell herself that the only reason he said such things was in hope that it would make her eventually date him. She attempted to believe that Tommy wasn't motivated by her actual well-being. He only cared if the potential separation from her family made her crave companionship.

But she knew, no matter what she tried to negotiate in her head, that Tommy didn't mean it in that way at all. He cared for her too much to be malicious.

"Bye Tommy," she said, enunciating those two words and pulling her car door shut. The smallest of smiles curved upon Tommy's lips as she backed out of the parking lot, driving away while he disappeared in her rearview mirror.