Peace Love Resistance

by Jettie Woodruff

  “Whatever, go to Ty.Dye.Ty on YouTube,” I said, my feet already walking away.

  “Ty, come here.”

  “Oh my God. What?”

  “What is it again? And stay here for a minute. Geesh.”

  I repeated my YouTube channel name and stood off to the side, my eyes widening with pure shock. My YouTube had over four-thousand shares, spreading across the Internet like the speed of light. That had never happened before. One time I did a video of a wet paint prank and got up to three-hundred-eleven, and suspended from school for three days, but that was it. This was going crazy and I didn’t understand how it had happened. I hadn’t even been on line to promote it.

  Both my parents watched my video, perfectly synchronized with the music and special effects in awe, my mom practically in tears. “Tobias, you did not do this. This is amazing. Why didn’t you tell me you could do this? I’m so impressed with you right now.”

  My first thought was to answer her with the cold hard truth, tell her why I hadn’t shown her anything I’d made. One, she was either in a bar or with a dude. Two, she was too busy with all her fake friends to give a shit. And three. She was probably asleep after a long night. But…I kept my mouth shut. A one shoulder shrug and a muffled, I don’t know.

  “Are there more?” she questioned, her fingers already scrolling.

  I rolled my eyes in annoyance, catching the pile of boxes off to the dining room. “A few. What’s this?” I questioned, my hands removing a set of walking talkies from the top of one of the boxes, taped together with a single strand of duct tape.

  My dad turned his head to look. “Some junk your mom and I cleaned out of the den. We’re going to paint it, make a little office for your mom.”

  “Do these work?”

  “I’m not sure. They did.”

  “What’s the range?”

  “Seven miles. You can have them if you want. There’s some rechargeable nine-volts in the junk drawer in the kitchen. You might have to charge them though.”

  I had offers from real life television stations with real money and here I was thinking about Tristan and how I could communicate with her. “I’m going upstairs. Are there left overs,” I asked, already in route to the batteries.

  “Ty, wait. I want to see the rest of your videos. Are you going to contact any of these people?”

  “Probably, I want to go upstairs. I have shows I want to catch up on.”

  “Whatever, you suck. We got pizza. It’s on a plate with foil.”

  “Cool, night. Oh, wait. Can I use the Jeep tomorrow?”

  “I guess, where’re you going?”

  “To a book store, night.”

  “Ty,” my dad called.

  “What?”

  “This is really good, I’m proud of you.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” I said back, already in the kitchen. Whatever. Dickhead. A little too late to be that dad.

  I tossed the plate of pizza in the microwave, and took the tape off the walkie-talkies. Unfortunately, none of the five batteries I found were charged. Gathering my food, my can of soda, and my yesteryear electronics, I overheard my mom asking my dad if I said a book store. Smiling at her confusion, I went to my own layer, away from them. They could be proud of someone else, my self-worth was fine without it.

  The rest of my night was spent, eating pizza and unpacking some of my stuff while watching the Walking Dead. Once I’d put away all that I’d planned on unpacking, I sat on my bed and read through some of the messages. After some extensive research, I did email three of them back, excited for the money. Even if it was only five-hundred bucks, that would go a long way in my van, and way more than I planned on getting. I did it as a means to ignore my parents during our long drive here, not to make it go viral. But hey, I’d take it. It wasn’t like I didn’t deserve some good luck.

  Time seemed to get away from me and it was after eleven before I climbed out on the roof, remembering I wanted to see Tristan again before I went to bed. Unfortunately, her lights were out, and I went to bed disappointed, my mind on her lips and our kiss.

  For whatever stupid reason, I was once again awake at the ass crack of dawn. I went across the hall, took a piss, and tried like hell to make myself sleep. I never got up before daylight. Ever. Finally giving up, I rolled to my back with a grown, forcing my eyes to stay closed, seeing her. Seeing Tristan, her smile, her lips, her body in my arms, and then I sensed the growing erection. It wasn’t like I had anything else to do. Certainly not sleep. Giving into the urge, I moved my hand behind the elastic in my shorts, stroking myself, my mind with her.

  Tristan was naked, her soft body pressed against mine and her legs wrapped around my waist. I could smell her scent, feel our bodies becoming one as I slid in and out of her, slowly making love to her. The way we kissed and came together as one was as real as my imagination allowed it to be. The same way I would have, had she really been there. I prolonged it for as long as I could, slowing my strokes, trying like hell to savor it until it was over. My body stiffened and my hand slid to the base of my shaft, trying to hold out for a few more strokes until giving in. I stroked hard, four or five good pumps, freeing a much needed release to the palm of my hand with a grunt. And with that, I got up, knowing I wasn’t going back to sleep. Instead, I got dressed and made my way to the barn.

  I grabbed a Dew on the way out for the caffeine, and quietly closed the door. Of course Kota met me on the porch, following me to the barn. Even though I had zero interest in the Ninja Warrior course my dad had suggested, I picked up two railroad spikes and walked up the sidewall with my hands, the oversized nails fitting between each plank on the inside wall. Using all my upper body weight, I made it to the top, tapped the old beam and dropped to my feet.

  “Yes,” I grunted, my fist beating off my chest like a proud Tarzan.

  Things seemed to slow down in the mountains for me, and time slipped by without notice. I still had the attitude about not getting a choice, and it sort of sucked that my high school crowd had so easily moved on without me, forgetting me like I was just another warm body. Mason and Thomas weren’t my best friends after all, Avery wasn’t my future, and not even a week later, they’d moved on without me. I did the same thing they did. They painted on the monument, too, yet they were all in Mexico, living it up while I was stuck here in the middle of nowhere. However, my internal fits seemed to lose their momentum. This inner tantrum lasted less than a minute, and my entire day wasn’t ruined because of it. That was a first. All I had to do was think about Tristan and Baby-T.

  One quick thought of her lips made me as guilty as my so called friends, living it up without me. As crazy as it sounded, I would have rather spent my time with a girl I didn’t even know, and a baby more than them. I was insane, no longer qualified to call her crazy, and I loved it.

  I was at the rear of my van, contemplating on whether or not I wanted to rip the plastic walls off the side or just paint them when my dad came out.

  “Damn, boy. What are you doing out here already?”

  “Couldn’t sleep.”

  “You’re not taking anything, are you?”

  An instant glare shot daggers through my dad’s brain. “What the hell? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Your mom’s worried that you’re not sleeping because, well, you know.”

  I walked around my dad, my head shaking in disbelief. “Yeah, well I’m not taking anything, and if I did, it would be weed. Weed doesn’t really do that, you know?”

  “I’m just the messenger here. Don’t get mad at me, and don’t smoke weed.”

  “Why? Because you and mom don’t smoke it, too?”

  “We’re not seventeen.”

  “Whatever, I’m not on drugs. I couldn’t sleep and thanks, but I don’t need a messenger.”

  He just wouldn’t leave. “I’m not the enemy here, son.”

  Although it was right there, right on the end of my tongue, I held it back. Instead of agreeing with him, telling him he was
n’t anything and he never had been, I walked away, busying myself with a hose clamp that was fine.

  “I’ll see you tonight. Maybe we can run over to Greg’s when I get home, check out that camper.”

  “Maybe,” I nonchalantly replied, my inner dialogue saying a lot more than that.

  “Okay, I’ll see you later then. Do you need any money?”

  Sometimes you just had to be a selfish ass. “I mean, if you got it.”

  “Sure. Go have a good time, and come home with one less chip on your shoulder, okay?”

  I tried to take the twenty, but his fingers tightened around it. “Yes, okay.”

  Once he’d left, I climbed up to the loft with a rake, going to the square window, my eyes on her camp. Sure enough, there she was, Tobias attached to her chest, and her body in a meditated position. The girl was a meditating nut, and I just didn’t get it.

  I chose to dress nice, but down this time, knowing Tristan seemed to have an issue with name brands for whatever reason. Slipping into a Grateful Dead tee, I thought about how different she was than Avery. Avery had even done my school shopping the year before, and pretty much anything that I bought thereafter. Not that I cared, I liked her style, but for the first time in forever, I didn’t feel like I needed it. The fights I’d had with my mom over hundred dollar jeans and the latest-greatest sneakers, seemed a little silly now. Maybe not in Cali, but definitely here in the mountains, where things seemed to move a little slower.

  Just when I was about to walk out the door, my mom called from the kitchen. “Hey, come in here before you leave.”

  “What? I want to go.”

  “Okay, I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

  “Mom, I’m not on drugs. I couldn’t sleep,” I assured her, dodging her fingers, aimed for the hair on my forehead.

  “It’s not so bad here, is it?”

  “Are you asking for me or you?”

  “You of course. I’m very happy.”

  I couldn’t help it she deserved the eye roll. “Yeah, okay. Can I go now?”

  “I am, Ty, and I promise, we’re not going anywhere.”

  “Yeah, I know. I’ve heard it before. Where’re your keys.”

  “You don’t know everything Tobias.”

  “And I don’t want to. Do we really have to do this?”

  My mom sighed exasperated, but giving in, her hip cocking to the side. “Where’d you say you were going?”

  “To a book store.”

  “And you’re not on drugs?”

  “Actually, Mom, I like to read, but of course you’d never know that.”

  And I deserved that one, too. My mom laughed, knowing me better than I gave her credit for. “Yeah, I’m not buying it.”

  I’d forgotten about the time I begged her to rent the ten-dollar movie, To Kill a Mocking Bird, not wanting to read it for a report, or the F I’d gotten for not reading some bullshit Romeo and Juliet book. “Whatever, can I get twenty bucks?”

  “For what?”

  “To buy a book and get some food maybe.”

  My mom stared me down, trying to read me with a studied glare. “In my wallet, and you better not be buying drugs.”

  “Yeah, because my California friends are going to meet me. Thanks, I’ll be back later.”

  “How late? I want to take your dad lunch.”

  “Can’t he come home and eat lunch? I don’t want to rush.”

  “I’ll call him, but if he can’t, I want my car.”

  Alright, I’ll see you later,” I called, keys and twenty in hand, knowing damn well I wasn’t about to rush right home for my dad’s lunch break. He could come home if he couldn’t make it the whole day without seeing her. It wasn’t like he had to clock out or anything. My dad had worked at the same garage since high school, him, my Uncle Coop, Greg, and some other guy I hadn’t met before. As hard as it was to admit, I had him to thank for my artistic side. Nobody could paint a Harley like my dad. Sure as hell not my mom. She couldn’t draw a stick figure.

  I pulled the Jeep into the hidden campsite ten minutes later, trying my best to hide the instant smile. Tristan was in simple white tank top with a long flowing skirt, an Indian pattern in browns and turquoise. My main man Tobias was in white. Thank the good lord above. It wasn’t blue, but at least it wasn’t pink.

  “Oh my, God. He doesn’t look like a she,” I said, my mouth rattling off anything just to keep from running right up to her and kissing her, at least touching her. It was so strong, almost inevitable.

  Tristan smiled and walked toward me, meeting me in the middle, the distance closing between us. “Good morning.”

  From there on was some sort of cosmic dream. One hand went to Tobias’s little head, the other to the small of her back, and then we just kissed. I don’t even know who kissed who first, that’s how fast it happened. After a thirty-second or so kiss, she flattened her feet, separating our lips.

  “Good morning. Want to know what just came to my mind?” I questioned, my hand holding her to me not wanting to let her go. Ever.

  “What?”

  “I didn’t know I missed you until I kissed you.”

  “I kissed you. Want to know what came to my mind?”

  I snickered at the confession, unable to get enough. “Of course.”

  “You’re not just some boy. That’s what.”

  I blew out a puff of air, and laughed. God I was in love with a girl from another planet, who believed in a fairy pixie land or something like that. She could have changed her first name to Alice and her last name to Wonderland and I would have followed her. Tristan could live in any world she wanted as long as she let me be a part of it. Looking down to Baby-T, I greeted him as well. “Hey there little, buddy. You’re awake.”

  “You can take him for a second if you want. I’ll get his stuff.”

  We’d just gotten Tobias secured in the middle of the back seat when my phone rang. I fished it from my pocket, tossing it to the console after seeing, dad flash across my screen. Nope. Wasn’t doing that in front of Tristan.

  Tristan buckled up, looking to my ringing phone, and to me. “Answer your dad, Ty.”

  “No, I’m sure it’s nothing.”

  With big eyes and a groan, Tristan hit the green button, holding my phone in front of my face for me to take it.

  I gave her an evil eye and answered my dad. “What? I don’t have good service.”

  “Hey, can you swing by here? I need to get something out of your mom’s Jeep.”

  “No, what is it?”

  “Then I’ll meet you somewhere. I need the estimate over the passenger sun visor. The guy’s here waiting on it.”

  “Seriously? Can’t I just tell you what it says?”

  “Tobias, come on. Don’t be a douche. You’re going right by here.”

  “Whatever,” I said, my finger ending the call as my phone fell to the cup holder between us.

  Tristan’s glare came right before her meddling. “You’re sort of an asshole.”

  “Me? He’s the asshole.”

  “What’s the big deal, Ty? I don’t mind. You’re making a thing out of something that doesn’t need to be a thing. Or…Am I the thing?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I questioned, throwing a distorted frown her way.

  “Do you not want your dad to see you with me and Baby-T? If you feel like you’re doing something wrong here, Ty, I don’t want to be a part of that.”

  “What? No, I don’t care what he thinks. He’s going to make the thing, not me. That’s the only reason I don’t want him to see you.”

  “You didn’t tell them? About delivering Tobias?”

  “No, we don’t have that kind of relationship, and besides. I promised you that I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

  Tristan sighed and turned her attention toward the window. “I didn’t believe you. You can let us out at the drug store first if you want.”

  “No, I’m not doing that. I’m not ashamed of you, Tristan.”
r />   Tristan turned a smile back to me, her fingers lacing around my wrist over the console. “I believe you, but if it’s okay with you, I’d rather just run into the drugstore with Baby-T while you do that. I try to keep myself out of other people’s things. I’m sorry. I’m not normally sensitive like this. It’s these damn hormones, or you, or something. I’m sorry,” she said again with a deep breath and a light shake of her head. Like she was trying to figure it out in her own mind.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m serious. I’ll just tell him to mind his own business. It’s no big deal.”

  “No, it’s fine. Really. I’ll just run into the store. I needed to anyway. Let’s move past that. It’s no biggie.”

  Even though I was more than okay with moving on, I was a little surprised. Avery and I would have fought about it for an hour. She would have gone at least a day, ignoring my calls and sending me short one-word responses to my texts. Letting that conversation rest, I reached around the back of the seat for the brown paper sack, placing it right in Tristan’s lap.

  “What is this?”

  “Open it,” I smiled.

  She looked inside the bag with a frown, “A walkie-talkie? You do know you need two of these things for them to work, right?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ve got the other one. At least this way I can check on you at night.”

  “I’m fine at night, Ty. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m not afraid of the dark.”

  “Just say thank you and look forward to my bugging the shit out of you every night.”

  Tristan laughed and pushed the button. “Come in, Ty. Do you read me? Over.”

  I did read her, every single ounce of her. There was no doubt something unique stood between us, whether or not it was this twin flame thing or not, there was something.

  Chapter Eight

  Have you ever wondered what your subconscious mind looks like?