Moving on up...

2/24/10

“I’m not asking for your advice, I’m asking for your support!”

“Would you shut up already? I'm not asking for your advice, I'm asking for your support!” Karyn nearly screamed in frustration. Abigail, her older sister, just looked at her.

“Karyn,” she said calmly. “You need my advice. There's no way you're going to get away with this. It's foolhardy, impulsive, and just plain stupid. Mom and Dad will find out, and then you'll be sorry.”

Karyn scowled. “I came to you and told you what I was going to do, not what I wanted to do. You can't change my mind on this, I just wanted your support.”

Abigail tossed her perfect hair contemptuously. “Well, you can't have it.”

That was enough. It didn't take Karyn long to throw what she needed in a backpack and toss it in the trunk of her car. That was her plan anyway, she had just hoped that her big sister would help her pack. This wasn't how she'd dreamed of leaving home. She knew her parents would never let her go—they were very conservative, and extremely orthodox in their beliefs. Karyn hadn't dared tell them about her change in philosophy—to put it lightly, reason was not part of the family belief system.

She turned the key, hearing the familiar click as her car decided not to start. She shoved the clutch down harder and turned it again. Click. Once more, she pushed down on the clutch and turned the key, this time taking a deep breath as she did so. The car coughed to life, and she put it in gear, crawling out of the driveway, praying that she wouldn't stall halfway into the road.

Karyn had been driving a standard for about two weeks, and still hadn't gotten the hang of it all the way. She had come to the conclusion that a standard car was a lot like life—sometimes you had a really good teacher, and only stalled while you were learning, and sometimes you just kept stalling and stalling until you figured it out on your own. Karyn belonged to the latter group. No one had taught her about the basics of life—everyone just shoved religion down her throat and assumed that she'd figure the rest out on her own. And she had, at least some of it, but not in the way they'd expected. It was Abigail, the sister, who had gotten the life thing right, at least according to her parents. Abigail wore dresses, Karyn wore jeans; Abigail read the Bible, Karyn read Ann Rice and Christine Feehan; Abigail didn't have a computer, Karyn Facebooked and Twittered with the best of them; but most of all, Abigail was a virgin, Karyn was not.

She hadn't told her parents that little detail, but she assumed that they'd figured it out. After all, she'd been dropped off by her boyfriend many times around midnight...or later. She sighed and down-shifted as she pulled into another driveway. She smiled at the brown-haired man standing by a blue Chevy pickup. He was waiting for her. She hopped out of the car and gave him a weary hug. He knew without asking how the conversation with her sister had gone. He just smiled, and handed her a key.

“I haven't gone in yet. I wanted to do it with you.”

She smiled up at him, and together, they unlocked the door and walked into their new house.

Word Count: 567