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silence. I seem to be having a lot of them lately.
    After lunch my dad leads me to the garage out back where my little white Honda sits. It looks exactly the way I left, down to the bobbling skeleton head hanging from the rear view mirror. Dad hands me the keys and I sit inside my car. The feeling is so surreal. I have good memories in this car. Of Harper and I being happy, driving around like we didn’t have a care in the world. We didn’t back then, but now God it even hurts to breathe.
    Waving goodbye to my parents I head back to Veronica’s studio to watch her work and kill some time. Anything to distract me is better than being alone.

Chapter 6:

    Closure is the Key

    T he tattoo gun is buzzing loudly when I enter “Ink of Queen’s.” V looks up from the back room through her little window, her hair bundled up in a bandana to keep it off her face.
    “Hey bestie,” she yells while tattooing.
    “Hey babe,” I reply and plop down onto the couch next to her. I have no tattoos and don’t think I ever will. But never say never.
    V has quite a few covering her arms. They are colorful tattoos of cartoon characters she loved as a kid. But being the playful artist that she is, she designed them to be a little more adult friendly. Snow white now looks like she’s had a makeover: A Hugh Hefner makeover.
    “What did you get up to today?” she asks whilst working away.
    “Saw my parents and yes it went how you think it did, awful. On the plus side I got my car back.”
    “Oh my God, you got Carmel back?”
    “Yes V I got my car back. Its name is not Carmel,” I reply giggling at the imagination on this girl.
    “And why not?” V asks bunching up her nose in query.
    “Cause it just isn’t. And besides, Carmel sounds like an old ladies name.” I reply picking at a lose cushion thread.
    “Carmel is a great car name. Don’t you think Henry?” Her client grunts in agreement. I think he’s too afraid to argue with Veronica whilst she is wielding that tattoo gun so close to his privates.
    “Sooo… You coming with me tonight?” V asks me playfully.
    “That depends on where you’re going.” I laugh at my friend’s randomness. I never know what to expect from her, so I always like to clarify where she is thinking of going before I blindly agree.
    “It’s Andy’s birthday party,” V says like I should know who Andy is.
    I lift my eyebrow in query. “Who is Andy?”
    “Oh sorry, I always forget I talk about you to the guys so much I feel like you know them too. Andy is the bassist who looks like he has just walked off a runway in Milan.” Oh Mr. Model has a name.
    I shrug. “Yeah why the hell not? It’ll be fun and I can drive my car that has no name.” She throws her gloves at me (gross) as she finishes with her client who pays, then hobbles out the door with a bandaged freshly inked thigh.
    “I know why you really want to go. Eh? Eh?” She smiles nudging me and wiggling her eyebrows up and down.
    “Oh yeah? Please enlighten me oh wise one.” I sarcastically smile.
    “Duh cause of Jasper. I saw the way you two were eye fucking each other. You go girl. Jasper is..” she trails off and I wait for her to continue. She looks deep in thought of a word to best describe Jasper but just shrugs. “It’ll be so much fun tonight. I am so happy you’re back for good.”
    I look at her suspiciously, what is my friend plotting?
    V locks up and I follow her in my car. Driving always clears my head and I love my car; we have been through a lot. I look at the heating vents where I know Harper accidently dropped his spare car key. I can still hear the rattle, and my stomach drops. I must remember to remove that key and burn any evidence of it existing. I take a calming breathe and let my mind think about Jasper. I’ve been kind of avoiding thinking about him after our weird but nice chat a couple of nights ago. After I insulted Indie (who the hell names a kid that!) we both went back inside and I didn’t see