Know Him

by Courtney Loney

  “I dare you to do a backflip off the bridge.” A kid I didn’t recognize said. I looked over at him and noticed he was talking to the ice cream guy aka Mikey.

  Mikey stood up and pulled his shirt off almost falling over. “A dare is a dare.” He slurred. Luke stood up and stood in front of him.

  “That’s not a good idea buddy; you’ve been drinking a lot.”

  Mikey laughed in Luke’s face. “Hey guys. I’m Luke and I don’t show up to shit. I ditched my best friend years ago but now I have an out of towner girlfriend who’s ass I need to kiss. Always a big hero Luke, huh.” Mikey snorted.

  “I’m not going to take any of that to heart Mikey. You’re drunk and I’m not going to let you jump off the bridge.”

  “Fine bro. You’re right.” Mikey slurred again pulling Luke into a hug. Instead of hugging him he took off towards the bridge pulling off more articles of clothing with every step.

  “Shit.” I heard Luke muttered as he ran after Mikey. I quickly followed behind and everyone else seemed to follow me.

  Mikey was attempting to stand up on the rail when Luke ran at him from the side and tackled him to the ground. “Fuck!” Mikey screamed. “My fucking ankle.”

  Luke stood up and Mikey stayed on the ground gripping his ankle.“Thanks a lot dude.” Luke looked over at me clearly embarrassed.

  “Follow me.” He said to me.

  He walked towards Mikey and hoisted him onto his back. Mikey opened his mouth clearly ready to protest. “Shut your damn mouth before I throw you over the damn rail.” Luke said, clearly angry.

  We walked all the way back to Luke’s house. Even with Mikey napping on his back I still fell behind. Luke looked back to check on me every few minutes and smirked at me every time he did.

  By the time we got to the drop downstairs that led us to Luke’s room, he pulled Mikey off his back and whispered “hop.” Mikey hopped on one foot the best he could up the steps and I followed behind, hoping not to be squished.

  Luke sat him down on the bed. As he sat with his head buried in his hands, Luke ripped his shoes off and tossed them to the side. He lifted his clearly swollen ankle up and put a pillow under it. He rotated it in a circle and Mikey winced.

  “Be right back.” Luke said to me scurrying down the stairs. He came back with a bag of frozen peas and an ankle wrap. He wrapped the peas around Mikey’s ankle and pushed him backwards.

  “Go the fuck to bed and thank me later.” Luke said grabbing my hand and walking back down the stairs.

  We sat on the front steps of his house surrounded by darkness. “Happy we went to that party?” Luke asked with a chuckle.

  “Yes.” I replied. “You really are a hero and I mean that in a good way.” I told him.

  He snorted. “I don’t know about that. I just care a lot about people.”

  “I love that about you,” I replied, kissing his cheek.

  “I mean I would have helped anybody, but Mikey is also special. He was my best friend growing up but when things started going south with my uncle I REALLY became a loner. I just cut everyone off because I had responsibilities and it wasn’t fair to him.” I nodded.

  “I get that. Hopefully he’s okay.”

  Luke laughed again. “He’ll be hurting in the morning especially without any pain relief. He has enough alcohol in him for now though.”

  “You really are perfect, Luke Mellows.” Luke didn’t say anything. He just blushed and kissed me.

  ..

  Before I knew it, it was the end of July. Things were different with Luke since we visited his grandma Cindy. I had only known him for a short while but I knew what we had was completely real. It was strange and amazing all at the same time. I knew Luke loved me without him even saying the words. I thought I loved Luke too but how did I even really know what love was? Luke knew, I knew. Somehow that day when we were in the courtyard with his grandma and locked eyes it was like his soul sent a message to mine. He hadn’t said the words out loud but there was a passion between us in the days that followed that hadn’t existed before. I told myself it would be impossible to fall for someone so quickly, but Luke said my heart ablaze and there was no hiding how I felt either.

  “I have a surprise for you,” Luke said with a giant grin. He led me into his house. We walked by his Uncle Roger passed out on the couch. It was still sad to me that this had become an everyday occurrence but I didn’t bother Luke about it. He had been through enough. “Cover your eyes.” Luke instructed me as we climbed the stairs to his bedroom. He took my hand and led me carefully. I peeked a little bit until we got to the last step. When we got into Luke’s bedroom I completely shut my eyes and waited.

  “Okay. Open them.” I could hear the excitement in Luke’s voice. I moved my palms away from my eyes and sitting there looking at me was a small golden puppy.

  “Oh my God!” I squealed, kneeling down. The puppy ran over to me and covered me in big, wet kisses.

  “This is Poppy. Poppy, meet my wonderful girlfriend and hopefully your future mama.” Luke knelt down and Poppy jumped on his lap. “So I was down at the sunflower field watching the sunrise before work when I saw a paper bag moving near the stand. I walked over and this little rascal had her head stuck inside the bag looking for scraps. I took her to my car and shared my poppy seed bagel with her. You should have seen her gnawing on that thing. I hung around until Mrs. Edwards opened up shop and she said some guy was trying to get someone to buy her earlier yesterday. When she told him no thank you he left but he must’ve left the dog behind. She told me if I wanted her she was all mine.” Luke gently pet her and I could see the love in his eyes.

  “She’s precious.” I said, as Poppy began to quitely snooze on Luke’s lap.

  “You know it’s crazy. I found her in the sunflower field. You know where my parents got married and my uncle always used to tell me stories about how he and my mom had a golden retriever when they were younger and she was my mom’s best friend. It’s like my mom sent her down to me or something.” I could see Luke’s eyes welling up. He quickly wiped them. “I know you probably think I’m crazy but I feel like both my parents are constantly communicating with me.”

  I shook my head. “Not crazy at all. I completely believe in that stuff. They love you, of course they’re communicating with you.”

  Luke continued to caress Poppy. “I talk to them every morning. That’s why I go to the sunflower field to watch the sunrise.”

  “I think that’s great Luke,” I said sitting down next to him. I leaned my head on his shoulder and we were interrupted by my phone ringing.

  “Hello?” I picked up my phone, excited to finally hear from my dad. I had barely heard from him since the start of the summer. He had been on a business trip in China for the past few months.

  “Hi Sutton.” My dad’s deep voice was heard on the other end. “How are you honey?”

  “I’m good dad. How are you doing?”

  “Oh. Good. Good. You know, busy with work but I miss you a lot.”

  “I miss you too dad.” I replied.

  “How’s Gia? Is she there?”

  “She’s good but oh no, not right now. I’m uh, I’m at a friend’s house at the moment.” I bit my lip hoping my dad would leave it at that.

  “Not a boyfriend right? I don’t need to come down there and kick any asses.” I just giggled. “So. I just got home from China and I have a few days free before I head out again on another trip. Do you have a little time to spare for your old dad?”

  “That’s awesome! Of course, I do dad; when can you come down?”

  “I was thinking tomorrow afternoon and I can make it a long weekend and stay until Monday?”

  “That sounds great!” I said. “It’s a plan then! Oh and Sutton?”

  “Yes, dad?” “I will be meeting that boyfriend of yours.” I coughed a little bit. “What’s his name?” He asked.

  “Luke,” I said, glancing over at him. Luke pointed to himself and mouthed the words “me?”
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  “I look forward to meeting Luke too.” My dad said with a gulp. “Love you, Sutton.”

  “I love you too dad,” I said, hanging up the phone.

  “Your dad’s coming to visit?” Luke said, his eyes basically popping out of his skull.

  “Yes and he can’t wait to meet you.” Luke ran his hand through his hair. “Don’t be nervous he’ll love you,” I said with complete confidence.

  “You think?” He said.

  “I know,” I replied, kissing him square on the forehead.

  The next day around noon my dad pulled up in his dodge charger. My mom waved from the door and told us to have a good time. My dad hopped out of the car in a full suit. Gia ran into his arms and he scooped her up, kissing her on the cheek. He put her down and brought me in for a big bear hug.

  “I’m so happy to see you dad.”

  “I’m so excited to see my two girls.” He said kissing us each on the head. “Now where can a guy get some lunch around here? I’m starving.”

  “Oh, I know!” Gia yelped with excitement. “The Pizza Shack! On the boardwalk! Luke works there!” She said jumping up and down. I felt my heart flutter when she said his name. I looked at my dad to try to read him.

  “Luke huh?” He replied. “Let’s hit it.”

  We walked into the Pizza Shack and there Luke was behind the counter, taking orders. He had a pen tucked behind his ear and was bent down low handing a little girl a lollipop. Gia pulled on the side of dad’s suit and whispered to him “That’s Luke daddy.” Pointing towards the counter. My dad sighed but had a smile on his face.

  We approached the counter and got into line. Luke was so focused he hadn’t noticed us yet. When we got up the counter Luke jumped a little bit.“Oh my gosh! Hi Sutton! Hi Gia!” Luke said. He then immediately pulled off his hat, smoothed down his hair, and stuck a hand out.

  “And you must be Mr. Greys. It’s so nice to meet you, sir. My dad shook his hand firmly.

  “And you as well, Luke. Nice, firm handshake.” He winked at Luke and I felt my face turn bright red. “We’ll take a large sausage pizza and a pitcher of coke.” My dad said pulling out a $20.

  “It’s on the house, sir. A welcome to Coopersville gift.” Luke grinned. My dad took the $20 and placed it back in his hands.

  “Thank you, son. Although, I have visited here before. Here’s a tip for you personally and here’s another: Take good care of my daughter.” My dad winked and laughed. Luke gulped and faked a laugh.

  “Oh my gosh! Sutton said you got a puppy Luke, is that her?” Gia stood on her tippy toes and peered over the counter. There was a small dog bed and laying on top of it was Poppy chewing on a tied up old sock.

  “Oh yes, Gia. This is Poppy. She's been waiting to meet you. Maybe one day soon we can all take her out somewhere special.” Gia’s eyes lit up and stayed focused on Poppy. My dad had to practically drag her away from the counter to the booth.

  I slid in next to my dad and he patted me on the back. “Luke seems like a nice young man Sutton. Look at his head of hair, too.” He said gazing over at him chuckling to himself. “You approve of Luke?” he asked, nudging Gia.

  “I love Luke, daddy. He’s great. Now you have to meet Ronnie.”

  My dad sighed and rolled his eyes. “Ugh. Not both my girls with boyfriends. You’re too young Gia.”

  “Dad, Ronnie is just my best friend here.” Just then, we were interrupted by Luke bringing over our food.

  “Enjoy, my friends,” Luke said, placing the pizza onto the table.

  “Thank you, Luke. Would you be available to do breakfast tomorrow morning? I’d love to go out the four of us.”

  “Sure thing sir. What time were you thinking?”

  “I know you kids like to sleep in but how about 9 o’clock? I want to enjoy all the time I can here in Coopersville.”

  “Sounds great, sir. Looking forward to it.” Luke saluted my dad and shot Gia and me a big smile as he made his way back to the kitchen.

  After we stuffed ourselves with pizza and soda, dad drove us back to the house. To my surprise, mom and aunt Helen were in the front yard. Aunt Helen was in her wheelchair, clearly barking orders at my mom as if she didn’t know how to garden. As soon as they came into sight, my dad’s eyes were glued on them.

  “I guess I should uh probably get out and say hi.” My dad said looking in his car mirror and smoothing his hair. We all stepped out of the car and neither of them noticed us at first. Aunt Helen was repeating “no, there Lynn there!” over and over pointing out of her own reach.

  My dad slipped his hands into his slack pockets and mumbled “some people never change”.

  “Hey, mom! Hi Aunt Helen!” Gia ran up and hopped onto my mom’s back.

  “Oh, hi sweetie! Did you guys have a good time?” My mom asked, still not noticing my father in her shadow.

  “Yes, and daddy came to say hi!” My mom fumbled around with the gardening tools and swung around to look at us.

  “Hi, Lynn. It’s nice to see you.” My dad said, hands still planted in his pockets.

  “It’s great to see you too, Dean. I would give you a hug but you know?” My mom said shrugging dirt falling off of her onto the ground. My mom tapped Aunt Helen on the shoulder as she clearly and rudely was ignoring my dad’s presence. “Helen, did you see Dean is here?” Aunt Helen stuck a hand up in the air and subtly waved without looking in my dad’s direction at all.

  My dad just chuckled under his breath and said “It’s so nice to see you, Helen. You look great!” Aunt Helen blushed a little bit but continued to attempt to ignore my dad. “Well, I’m going to go rest up at my hotel. It was a long time traveling. Um. Lynn, would you be interested in catching up over dinner tonight?” My heart dropped. I was shocked. I could tell my mom was, too.

  “Oh yes. Of course Dean.”

  “Great. Great. I’ll give you girls some money to order some burgers or something.” My dad kissed Gia and I each on the head and strolled back to his car.

  “What the fuck Mom!” I said out loud covering my mouth afterward, realizing I had said it right in front of Gia.

  “Yeah what the fuck Lynn!” Aunt Helen said. I chuckled. Gia looked around both confused and in shock from our language.

  “Sutton! Do not talk that way! Besides, you shouldn’t be saying that to me you should be saying it to your father!” I was so confused and in utter disbelief; my parents had always been civil but they had never been on a level where they would go out to eat without Gia and I to “catch up”.

  I loved my mom and my dad but they had been separated since Gia was three and I had gotten used to a life with just mom, Gia and I. My dad had always traveled for work anyway, so he wasn’t around often the first thirteen years of my life. It had always been crazy to me that my parents had been together for 10 years and still gave up on their marriage.

  My mom sprayed on tons of perfume. I sat on her bed watching her. Her cheeks were slightly rosy. I could tell she was nervous. “So you’re telling me you guys are going out to dinner to “catch up?” I plummeted backward and laid flat on her bed.

  “Sutton you know just as much as I do,” she said adjusting her earrings.

  “What time is it?” She asked.

  “5:20,” I replied.

  “Dad’s here!” Gia yelled down the hall. “Come here, Sutton!” She added. I stood up and brought my mom into an embrace.

  “You look amazing mom. I love you.” I kissed her on the cheek and strolled down the hall.

  My dad was sitting on the couch with Gia. She was holding a bucket with her turtle inside. “Long time no see,” I said, finding a seat on the couch next to my dad.

  “Hi, Sutton!” My dad said. He immediately reached into his pocket pulling out his wallet. He slipped a 50 dollar bill out and handed it to me.

  “Order something good. Anywhere deliver around here?”

  “Luke’s off work at 6 he can pick up from the Burger Bar and bring it here when he comes over.”

>   “Okay great.” My dad said, fumbling with the buttons on his shirt sleeve. Just then, my mom came walking down the stairs.

  “Hi Dean,” she said. “Okay Sutton, don’t forget to check on Aunt Helen. She’s in her room and very grumpy today. If you order dinner just heat up a frozen dinner for her. I love you guys. I’ll be back shortly.” She kissed us each on the cheek and grabbed her purse.

  “Love you kiddos. See you soon.” My dad said saluting us.

  As my dad started his car and puttered out of the driveway, Gia and I peered out the window. “This is weird,” Gia said, turning back around to watch TV. “Are they gonna get back together?” She questioned.

  “No. No. I doubt it Gia. Dad might just have some news about work or something like that. Hey go grab the menu for the Burger bar and I’ll call in our order.”

  Gia scurried into the kitchen to search for the menu. I texted Reagan.

  SOS. Weird things going on over here in Coopersville.

  She texted back immediately of course.

  What’s up? Please tell me you didn’t mess things up with Prince Charming!

  Lol no, not at all. Luke and I are good. Dad came to visit in between work trips. He and mom are currently out to dinner “catching up”. I replied.

  OMG, no way! What does that mean Sutton!? WTF?

  Gia ran back in holding the menu above her head. “Got it!” She said. I dialed the Burger Bar to order our food.

  A while later, Luke barreled through the front door already shoving fries in his mouth. Poppy followed closely behind him. “So. You’re telling me that your mom and dad are on a date right now?” He found a seat on the couch next to me and handed Gia and me each a styrofoam to-go box.

  “A date?” Gia said as confused as ever.

  “I don’t even know Luke. Let’s just eat.” I replied. Luke unwrapped a plain beef patty and threw it to Poppy. We dug into our burgers, fries, and milkshakes.

  Luke coaxed Aunt Helen out of her room to eat her TV dinner in the living room, while we watched ‘Wheel of Fortune’. A shriek unlike any other made each one of us jump. Poppy even started barking. It was clearly Gia’s voice. She had gone to change into her pajamas. Luke and I hurried as quickly as possible down the hallway. We found Gia collapsed on the floor bawling her eyes out. I saw Theo motionless on the floor in front of her. My heart sank.