by Jay T
“I get coffee,” I say, flailing my arms. “He brings me coffee, and that’s it. He doesn’t even talk to me!” Now I know I’m getting loud since everyone in hearing distance has turned to watch my meltdown.
“Eva, shush.” Amy grabs my wrist and pulls me out the side door.
Tears flow down my face. “I just need him to show up and be the guy I know he is. Why is this so difficult?”
Robert comes walking around the side of the house. “Cab?” he asks Amy when he sees me.
“Yes, please.”
“Next one is in five minutes. Get your stuff ready.”
“Yes, mother,” she says, she makes a face mocking her brother.
“I heard that,” he says walking away.
I giggle and wipe my eyes. “Is my mascara running?”
“Of course not, we used waterproof tonight,” Amy says.
“Oh right,” I say.
Tristan makes his way over to me and gives me a hug. “I hear you ladies are taking off.”
“Yeah, I think we’ve had enough fun for one night,” Amy answers for me.
“I got emotional,” I make a face.
Tristan laughs. “That happens when we drink. I hope you had fun though.”
I think back on the night. “I did have fun.”
Amy smiles.
“Night, Tristan,” I say.
“Goodnight, ladies. Get home safe.”
We walk around to the front of the house to catch the cab. Evan’s leaning against the front railing next to the steps talking with Brent, Robert, and Ryan. He has a drink in his hand and he’s smiling about something.
I glare at him. Why do I have to leave when he’s still here? He’s going to go inside and flirt with every girl in our school and not feel guilty about it because I’m not here to see him do it. Evan ignores me and keeps talking to his friends. I climb in the cab after Amy and slam the door shut.
Once we pull out of the driveway I start in, “Did you see that? He completely ignored me! Why do we have to leave?”
“Because the party was winding down anyways,” she says. “It was a good time to leave them wanting more.”
My eyes narrow in the dark but she doesn’t say anything else. I cross my arms and lean down in my seat to sulk before realizing that I’m acting like a child. I bust out laughing. Amy joins in. We don’t stop giggling until we make it home to Amy’s house where I’m staying the night.
35 evan
Eva wasn’t at lunch today. I wanted to see how she was doing after last night. Her eyes were puffy in class this morning like she’d been crying all night.
I look at the clock for the fifth time. It’s ten minutes after lunch period. “Hey, Brent, do you know where Amy and Eva are?”
“No, sorry.”
I crumple up my uneaten lunch and throw it into the garbage before stomping out of the lunch room and up to our lockers. She’s not there either.
I sit down on the couch and try to rest my eyes. I didn’t get much sleep last night either. I almost start to drift off when I feel the couch dip a little. I look up and there are two girls, one sitting on the far end of the three-person couch with a hairbrush and hair ties in her hand and the other lowering herself to the floor in front of her.
“Oh, sorry, we didn’t mean to wake you,” she says politely. “We have gym next period and she wanted her hair braided.”
I wave her off. “Oh, no it’s totally fine. I don’t own it.” I close my eyes thinking that was the end of the conversation.
Not three minutes later, I feel a hand on my knee and someone sits down beside me. The wave of perfume hits me first. I open my eyes to see who’s touching me; I know it isn’t Eva. It’s one of the girls from the cheerleading squad we’ve been practicing with. The hallways are beginning to fill up. “So, are you nervous?” she asks me.
Brent is walking up the stairs, probably looking for Amy. I grab ahold of the girl’s hand, which has reached my thigh, and pick it up, and drop it in her lap. “What would I be nervous about?” I ask. Besides the fact you think it’s ok to touch me?
“Our performance, silly.” She places her hand on my arm and I look down at it.
I begin to lean away from her but my ribs won’t let me go far. Brent start to laugh before trying to hide it behind his hand. The girl is oblivious. She’s carrying on the conversation without me, talking on and on about the pep rally on Saturday and the practice before it and the party she can’t wait to see me at tonight. She finally pulls her hand back and starts waving it in the air before squealing and grabbing my bicep. “Oh your so strong, well, I’m looking forward to our date tonight at the party. I’ll see you soon.” She gets up to leave and I stare at Brent.
When she’s out of ear shot, he doubles over, laughing hysterically.
“What just happened?” I ask him. I look over to the girls sitting on the other side of the couch.
The one sitting on the couch finishes the last braid and puts in a hair tie. “You just got Double D Mandy-ed.”
“What?”
“That was Double D Mandy and she talks a mile a minute. I guess you have a date with her tonight.” Brent’s voice hikes as he begins to laugh again.
The bell rings and I look around for Eva and Amy. They’re still not here. Great.
“I did not agree to anything. Help me up.” I hold out my hand for him and he pulls me to my feet. My breath catches for a moment but nothing like yesterday. I pat Brent on the back and open my locker, grab my books and bag for the next class, and make my way down the hall.
After school I agreed to a 30-minute choreography practice before I pick up Ethan from school and take him back to Eva’s house. Ethan still didn’t want to go back to the foster home after school and Kami offered to come home early from work again to watch him tonight. I overhear Mandy, whom I refuse to call Double D, tell the head cheerleader that we have a date.
“Actually, I didn’t agree to that,” I butt in on their conversation. I figure if she didn’t want me to hear it, she shouldn’t have been talking that loudly in earshot.
“What?” she says, clearly embarrassed and upset.
“We do not have a date tonight. I have plans. Sorry. And we only have thirty minutes so can we get this rolling please?” I say to the other girl.
Mandy stomps off to her friends on the other side of the gym that and begins bitching about something.
“Ok, when the song starts with the drums part, I want you to move over here.” The head cheerleader grabs hold of my waist and moves me but quickly lets go.
I look up and see Eva watching us through the window. She’s talking to someone but I don’t have time to worry about her at this particular moment, because I need to get out of here and pick up Ethan before he gets out of school.
Exactly thirty minutes later I stop them and say, “Sorry, I gotta go. I have to be someplace.”
“But we aren’t done yet,” the head cheerleader says.
“Yeah, no I get it, it’s going to be great. I’ll have the guys show me what I missed before the gig tomorrow.”
“No just get here two hours early tomorrow and we’ll go over it then,” the head cheerleader says.
“Yeah, cool, see you guys tomorrow.”
“You’ll see us tonight,” Ryan corrects.
I nod, pick up my backpack, and race out the door to my car. I drive to Ethan’s school and get there just in time. I walk in as he’s walking into the reception area.
“Anny!” he yells, running up to me and giving me a hug.
“Hey, little man, I missed you. How was school?”
“Epic, Mrs. Miller gave me a Skittle!”
“She did?”
“Yeah.”
“What did she do that for?”
“For getting all my work done. Only a few of us got one.”
“Wow, that’s pretty special. Good job getting your work done. What color did you pick?”
“Orange!”
“Is orange your favori
te color?”
He nods his head yes.
“Awesome. You ready to go back to Miss Kami’s house?”
“Yeah, she’s nice.”
“Yeah, she is huh? Let’s get out of here.”
I help him climb into the backseat of my car and head over to Kami’s house where I drop him off before heading into work.
***
“Hey, boss,” I yell as I make my way inside. The concrete job is over but they let me stay on with the framing team.
“Hey kid, grab that board there and toss it up to me,” Says a guy sitting on top of an interior ten-foot stud wall. There’s no roof on this house yet.
I look over and see a two-by-four lying on the ground. I carefully bend, pick it up, walk it over to him, and hand it up. Then I make my way over to the foreman who’s looking at a set of blue prints.
“Hey, how was school?” he asks.
“Very uneventful,” I say thinking about Eva missing lunch today. He looks up from the papers to my face.
“You get in a fight?”
“Oh, this? Nah, just a scuffle.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, all good. Where do you want me today?” I ask.
He looks back down at the blueprints and points to the laundry room. “I need you to start on these walls. I need two-foot centers on the pony wall and a double on the header here.” He points at the drawing.
“Sure, on it,” I say. I put on my gloves and hard hat and go over to the wood pile to gather the pieces I’ll need.
Once the wall is built, the foreman comes back over. “Hey, we’ll stand that up, why don’t you take off?”
“Huh?” I ask, confused.
“I know broken ribs when I see them,” he says. “I’ve been in enough bar fights of my own to recognize it. You need to go home and rest those before you make it worse.”
Crap. I need the money.
“I don’t want to see you for at least two weeks,” he says.
I cringe.
“When you come back, are you going to have your paperwork?” He means my birth certificate and social security cards he keeps asking me for.
“Yeah, I think I have a lead on where they might be,” I say. “I’ll see if I can track them down.”
“Good, because the boss is cracking down on us. I’m catching flack for keeping you on without them.”
“Alright,” I say.
“See you in a few weeks.”
I say goodbye and get in Naomi’s car. I’m off two hours early. I should go check on Ethan and get ready for the party, but I need to get the papers thing worked out. I pull out Naomi’s letter and read it again before heading over to Second Street.
I find the house, park the car on the street, and walk up to the gate. I try the handle but it’s locked. There’s a button that looks like it could be a bell on an intercom, so I push it.
Nothing happens.
I push the button again and look around to see if the guy is even here or not when I hear a male voice on the intercom.
“What do you want?”
“Uh,” I don’t want to announce to the entire street that I’m looking for a fake identity. “I’m Evan, I got your address from a friend of mine.”
“What’s your friend’s name?”
“Naomi,” I answer.
Silence. Just when I think he’s gone, I hear a door open and close, followed by a clanging sound. He’s unlocking the gate with a set of keys. The gate opens and a short, gray-haired guy with large glasses and wearing monster foot slippers stands behind it. What’s up with the slippers? I wonder.
“What took you so long?” he asks me.
“What do you mean?”
He turns his back and walks to his front door but says over his shoulder, “I’ve had these ready for months. You bring the money?” I follow him. He stops on his front step and turns back to me.
“What money?” I stop walking.
“What money? What money?” he scoffs. “These things aren’t cheap, kid. It’s six large.”
“Six thousand dollars?” My stomach drops.
“My art is top of the line. Either you pay up or you get yourself out of here.” He points at the gate.
Six thousand dollars is about everything I have. I was going to get my own truck and an apartment. I’ll have to start all over and I only have time after school to work instead of the whole summer. My stomach twists. I don’t have a choice. I won’t have a job in two weeks if I don’t walk out of here with those papers.
“I have it. It’s in the car. I’ll be right back.” I know, it’s not the smartest place to keep all my money. But I don’t have anywhere else to keep it that’s somewhat safe.
The short guy nods, “That’s what I thought.” He turns and goes inside the house, shutting the door behind him.
I slowly make my way back to the street where my car is parked and open the door. I climb in the passenger seat and open the glove box where I’ve been storing the cash I’ve been saving. I count it out. I have $6,458 dollars to my name. Plus, the $84 left in my wallet. I carefully count out six-thousand and set it on the seat beside me, pull out my wallet, and put the $458 in there and put it in my back pocket. I grab up the six-thousand and make my way back to the house.
I knock on the front door and hear, “Come in, don’t stand out there like a fool drawing attention to yourself.”
I open the door, step inside, and close it behind me. There’s a fog in the room and he’s sitting at a dining room table stacked with papers and photos. There’s a lamp and a large table-mounted magnifying glass. “Well, bring it over here.”
I walk in and hand him the money. He looks at me over the top of his glasses. “Is it all here?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Alright then, your papers are on the table by the front door. You can go.”
I walk back to the front door and see an envelope with the name Evan Darius on it. I have a last name. I smile, pick up the envelope, and leave.
Once I’m in the car, I open the envelope to find a driver’s license, social security card, and a birth certificate along with death certificates for two deceased parents. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and the only person I want to tell is Eva.
I pull up the driveway to Eva’s house. Her car isn’t here. She must be with Amy still.
I walk up to the door and ring the doorbell.
I hear running inside and Ethan flings open the door.
“Anny!” he squeals and hurries to hug me.
“Hey, little dude. You couldn’t have missed me that much. I was only gone a few hours.”
“Well, Kami says we’re going out for pizza and ice cream.” His little eyes are dancing with happiness. “Can you come with us? Please?”
Kami appears behind him and grabs her coat. I look at the clock. The party is about to start.
“Please?” he asks again.
“How can I say no to a face like that?” I joke.
Kami chuckles and holds her hand out for Ethan to take. She opens her car door and I see a booster seat in the back for him. Oh, he needs a booster? I didn’t even think about that. Kami buckles him in, shuts the door, and looks at me. “Do you want a ride?” she asks.
“No, that’s alright. I’ll follow you, I probably won’t stay long,” I tell her.
Kami nods. “Yeah, you’re going to be late.”
I shrug.
We go to the local pizza place where you can get pizza by the slice or a while pie. We walk up to the counter and order.
“That will be $48.62” the cashier says.
I reach for my wallet as Kami reaches for her purse.
“I got this, Kami,” I say.
She looks at me and says, “No no, I got it. It’s my treat.”
“I got it. I appreciate you helping us out.” I look down at Ethan who’s looking up at us and smiling from ear to ear. I pay, leave a tip, and we take our pizza and soda back to a table as Ethan starts talking
a mile a minute about his school and his teacher and the friends he’s making.
Thirty minutes later, Kami reaches over and puts her hand on mine. “You need to get going or you’ll miss it,” she says.
I nod. “Alright, little dude. I’m going to take off. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Alright.” Ethan pouts just a little.
“Ethan, I’m going to talk with Evan outside for just a minute but when I get back we’ll order that ice cream, OK?” Kami says.
Ethan nods.
“Be thinking about the toppings you want and I’ll be right back.”
Ethan smiles and nods again. Kami ruffles his hair and I follow her outside.
“I just wanted to tell you that I’m going to look into adopting him,” she says once we’re outside. “I want to take over taking him to school and picking him up.”
I didn’t realize that I’d been stressing over him until she says this.
“I haven’t gotten the full story of why he ended up where he did yet, but the pieces I have gotten have broken my heart. No child should be scared to go to bed at night. I want to keep him safe.”
I reach out and pull her into a hug. “Thank you so much,” I whisper. “I really appreciate you doing that for us.”
I pull back and look at her and see she’s smiling too. I think she might need this as much as he does. Maybe Ethan was sent to us for a reason.
“Go go,” she says. “I got it from here.”
I say goodbye and make my way to Sterling. The cars are lining the entire street, all the way to the highway. I find a spot down a side street and park and walk up to the house. There are kids everywhere. A feeling hits me as I approach the scene. A party just like this, in the living room, on the dance floor is where Eva fell in love with Chad. I take a breath and try to push the thought away.
“Hey, baby, you wanna get out of here?” a girl asks as she stumbles. She’s holding a red Solo cup and she spills some.
“No, I just got here, thanks,” I say without stopping. I keep walking to the front door.
Robert comes from around the back of the house. “Hey, Anny, glad you’re here. I need you to help keep an eye on the ones trying to leave. They have to get in a cab, not drive. We have the cabs coming every five minutes now.”