Page 2 of Omega for the Pack

Picking up the bottle of pills, I turned the bottle around to look for a label or anything on it like I always did to find out what it was. As usual, there was nothing there. Opening the bottle, I poured out a pill filled with translucent gray matter floating inside, which sat on my palm. I stared at it in disgust. I only really started questioning what the pills were when I hit my late teens.

My parents were secretive, claiming that they were vitamins, but my mom had a lifetime supply of them under her bed for me. Vitamins had labels, names, and lots of numbers.

This bottle had nothing to indicate what it was.

So, instead of taking the pill this time, I walked to the toilet and flushed it down. I wasn’t going to take something that I wasn’t sure of anymore. If my parents cared enough, they’d tell me what it was for. I felt a sort of victory watching it disappear while anxiety rippled through my stomach. I had never directly disobeyed them like this, but I was getting fed up with the half-assed answers and bullshit.

Grabbing my small purse, I slung it over my shoulder and headed across the tiny hallway of our apartment into the living room, where my parents were hanging out after their shifts together at a retail store across the street. They were lounging on the old couch, which had tufts of cotton sticking out, and quietly chatted while watching the evening news.

“Tiana, where are you going?” Mom asked, looking at me inquisitively and pushing up her large-rimmed glasses. She was like a hawk, constantly watching everything I did.

“Just going out with my friend,” I said vaguely, stepping into my black heels and strapping them on.

“You look like you’re going to party or something. What’s the big occasion?”

“We just need a break from college life. That’s all there is to it, Mom,” I sighed, getting fed up with her line of questioning.She got especially nervous if I was around guys or if I mentioned a guy in particular. This was her way to prevent me from ever dating. Her reason was that I needed to finish college first before getting into a relationship.

“Don’t have too much fun,” chuckled Dad, cracking a peanut shell with his teeth.

I just wanted to scream that I could have all the fun if I wanted to, but I held it back.

“Yeah, I won’t,” I said, leaving out the front door before either of them could say another word. Thankfully, Lori was pulling up at the side of the road at that moment. My heels clicked on the cracked cement sidewalk, and I nearly tripped several times over the uneven road.

“Hey!” said Lori as I got into the car.

“Hey,” I greeted back, sighing when I pulled the seatbelt.

“What’s wrong, girlie?”

“Nothing,” I said. “It just sucks to still live with the parents. You know?”

“Haha, yeah, that sounds terrible,” she said, flipping her curly blond hair back. She wore a tie-dye print dress that was unique but also stylish paired with lime green heels. Her several keys jangled in the ignition along with a sizeable pink fur teddy bear attached to it.

“I’m so ready to party,” said Lori. “It might make me stop thinking of terrible James and the migraine from classes. My god.”

“I need to get out too,” I agreed, watching the road as she took a left turn to the bar she was heading to. It was the liveliest bar in Seattle, with plenty of cute guys and action. Low-key, I was hoping to meet a guy and finally have an adventure of my own. But for some reason, it was tough for me to get excited about a relationship, and I’ve never met a man who could give me butterflies.

“I have something to ask you. A favor,” said Lori.

“Yeah?”

“Well, umm. This is sort of last minute,” said Lori. I knew full well she was going to ask, regardless. She was crazy like that. “My cousin invited me to her cruise ship, and I was wondering if you’d like to come with me. I can bring one other person, and it’s all paid for.”

Oh no, my parents would lose their minds if I ever slept anywhere else but at home.

“I don’t think…”

“I know, Tiana. Even when we were kids, you were never allowed to come to sleepovers with me or anything,” sighed Lori. “But you’re fucking twenty-four, for goodness sake. Why can’t you distance yourself from your family a little bit? Live your own life?”

“What if I didn’t want to go?” I asked, taking offense that she’d jump to conclusions so quickly, even though she was right.

“I highly doubt that,” said Lori. “This is a cruise vacation. Three days.”

“When is it? I need to make sure I’m not busy or anything.”

“It’s the day after tomorrow. Sunday,” said Lori.

“Whoa, that’s super short notice,” I said. “I don’t know.”

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