Never Be Younger: A YA Anthology

by Rachel Bateman

  He can’t wait to give her the necklace he had made special for her. It will make their relationship official. For months, they’ve been dancing around each other, dropping hints about how the other feels, whether or not they should upgrade their best friend status. They’ve been friends since the sandbox, but he’s ready to change things. It’ll be great.

  For now, however, he has to survive his family.

  Taking a deep breath, Drew uses his key and tries to open the front door of his house. It only opens a few inches and he sees the chain is blocking the door.

  “Mom? Dad?”

  A hysterical-looking woman pops up in front of him. Her eyes are big and she starts yelling at him in a foreign language.

  “Are you the nanny?” He tries to ask through her yelling. “I live here. This is my house. My parents hired you.”

  She continues to rattle off in her loud, fast language. She starts to push the door closed, but he puts his foot in the way.

  “I live here!” he tries to yell again.

  “No!” She cries frantically. “Only son already home!”

  She slams the door on his foot and he jerks it back. Tears from pain fill his eyes, and he swears under his breath as the door shuts and locks.

  Stunned and in pain, Drew stares at the door. One of his foster siblings presses his grubby little face up to the window next to the door.

  “Bobby,” Drew says, “Go get Mommy and Daddy. Go tell them I’m outside, okay?”

  The four-year-old blinks at Drew, then blows a raspberry and runs off. The little brat always hated Drew.

  He pulls out his cell phone and tries to call the house, but no one answers. Rock music blares from an upstairs window and he realizes why the nanny got confused.

  Bear must be home from school and his parents didn’t mention they had two sons because they weren’t expecting him to come home.

  Bear. He always hated his brother’s self-chosen nickname. He also hated his brother’s tattoos, piercings, and tall, blond, ultra-tanned good looks. It was a complete contrast to his own 5-foot-8, pale complexion, dark hair, and glasses. Bear is a rocker, while Drew is a worker. Bears lives spontaneously, and Drew plans every detail. Everyone loves Bear, no matter what he does, and Drew is the weirdo.

  Great. Just great. This is exactly what he needs right now.

  “Forget this.”

  He shakes his head, grinds his teeth in frustration, and turns his back on the house. He’ll just sleep at Justin’s house tonight.

  three

  Bear whistles happily and strolls down Main Street. Small mom-and-pop shops line both sides of the street. People flitter from one store to the other, and chatter at sidewalk tables and benches. A few even host conversations in the middle of the street, not worrying in the slightest about a car hitting them. As a whole, the town doesn’t seem to have a care in the world.

  Syracuse is the opposite. It was always work and no play. It took him all of two hours to get in trouble when he first moved there…apparently electric guitars and ultra-conservative dorm rooms don’t mix. Who knew?

  He tried to tone down his antics and work hard to get a respectable degree, but two years proved to be the longest he could pretend to be something he wasn’t. He was figuring out his class list for Fall semester—the start of his Junior year—and he decided to apply for an internship. He went to the interview in a suit and no piercings. That was when he realized he wasn’t happy with who he’d become.

  He realized he didn’t want to study business or dress in monkey suits—that’s his brother, Drew—and he may not know exactly what he wants in life, but he definitely doesn’t want boring.

  As if on cue, a pile of guys pour from one of the shops up ahead. They’re loud, rambunctious, and entirely familiar.

  “Bear!” a few of them shout in greeting.

  The group envelops Bear and there’s a lot of hand shaking, back slapping, and, “How have you been, man?!”

  Sammy, a long-time friend, shakes his hand. “You look good, man. How’s that fancy school of yours?”

  “Yeah, did they convert you, yet?” Todd asks. He’s as tall as Bear, but has more piercings.

  Bear laughs. “No, I’m done with that. It wasn’t for me.”

  “Well, it sure took you long enough,” Bull says. He’s about 5-foot-4, and has a ring through his nose, just like the animal he’s nicknamed after.

  “So, you stickin’ around for a while?” Sammy asks.

  Bear nods. “For a while. Until I figure a few things out.”

  “Hey, you’ll be at the festival tonight, right?” Todd asks.

  Bear nods.

  “You still play?” Sammy asks, referencing the electric guitar Bear played in their high school garage band.

  “A little. You guys still jammin’ together?”

  “Just for a few weeks,” Bull says. “We’re playing the festival tonight.”

  “We could use another guitar,” Sammy adds, “you interested?”

  “Hell yeah!” Bear says, more excited than he’s been in a very long time.

  The guys tell him where to go and when, and after a few minutes of chit-chat, they part ways.

  Bear continues in the direction he was headed originally, but doesn’t get very far. Leo, a custom jewelry-maker, greets Bear as he’s about to pass by.

  “Andrew!” he cheers, using Bear’s given name. Leo is short, balding on top, and very round on the sides. He uses an Italian accent, even though the closest he’s been to Italy is eating pasta primavera.

  “Hi, Leo. How’s it going?”

  “Ah, bellissimo, bellissimo. Are you visiting your famiglia?”

  Bear nods and Leo throws his hands in the air. “Perfecto!”

  He hands Bear a small rectangular box and says, “Will you give this to your fratello, per favore?”

  He pushes the box into Bear’s hand without an answer. “My what?”

  “Your brother, señor Drew, ordered it last week. Please give it to him and tell him he can pay me this afternoon.”

  Before Bear can say another word, Leo grabs him by the face, kisses both cheeks, then disappears inside his shop.

  Bear is left standing there, looking at the box in his hand. “Uh…sure,” he says.

  He shakes his head and opens the box. Inside is a gold chain with some crazy oriental-looking pendant on it.

  Drew must have had it made for that girlfriend of his. He hasn’t seen his kid brother yet, but he’ll be at the festival. Bear can pass it off then.

  He turns around, once again intending to continue on his way, but once again, he’s stopped.

  This time it’s a girl with bright blue eyes, big fluffy black hair, and a very short mini skirt. It’s the girl from the train station—Drew’s girlfriend—and she has that same ‘I’m going to devour you’ look. She looks him up and down, head-to-toe, very slow.

  “Heeelllooo gorgeous,” she says devilishly.

  “Uh, hi,” he says. “It’s nice to see you again Marigold…uh, Marjorie…” He doesn’t know if she still uses a nickname.

  “It’s Melanie,” the girl says. She starts to circle him like a hungry jackal, and adds, “It’s nice to see you again, too.” She accents each word seductively and he takes a step back.

  “Uh, Melanie, sure. Hey, how’s it going?” He was pretty sure her name was Marjorie, but he isn’t about to argue with her…now…with her hand running along his arm.

  In fact, all he wants to do at the moment is get away from her.

  “You are certainly fine,” she says. “Do you work out?”

  “Uh, no, not really. I’m kind of a bum when it comes to the gym and stuff.” He takes another step back. “Hey, so have you seen my brother lately?”

  She presses herself close to his body and purrs. “Oh, you have a brother, huh?”

  Okay, clearly the girl lost her mind while he was away. Or maybe she had a fight with Drew and she was just trying to make him jealous. It wouldn’t be the first time a girl
used him in that way...it might also be the reason Drew had the necklace made.

  She starts to run her hand down his chest and without thinking, he pushes the jewelry box into her hand.

  “Here, that’s for you. It’s a present from the guy who loves you.”

  She opens the box, giving him a small window of opportunity…

  He runs in the opposite direction.

  * * *

  Drew stands in front of the town baker, trying to straighten out yet another mess for the festival.

  “No, no. A dozen cakes—three chocolate, three white, two carrot, two red velvet, and two German chocolate.”

  The assistant behind the counter scribbles profusely.

  “Will you be able to get all that by this evening?” Drew asks, definitely not convinced.

  The assistant nods, but it doesn’t escape Drew’s attention she doesn’t actually say ‘yes’. He also can’t help thinking she looks overwhelmed…and terrified.

  “Great, now I’m scaring people,” he mutters as he leaves the shop.

  The day really couldn’t get any worse. First, he had to sleep on his friend’s uncomfortable couch last night—where he was awakened by a dog with really bad breath licking his face. Then when he went home, he still couldn’t get in, so he was left with nothing else to do but go to work in his rumpled clothes from the previous day and smelling like dog breath.

  On top of that, everything was going wrong with the festival. Things were either done incorrectly, late, or not at all. He’s trying to keep it together—he has to if he wants the internship—but it definitely isn’t easy.

  Drew grinds his teeth and starts walking down the sidewalk of Main Street. It doesn’t help his mood or confidence the mayor can’t seem to remember his name either. He’s been working hard all summer to get a six-week internship in the mayor’s office—he’s been doing every dirty chore the guy needs done, he’s practically organized the entire festival…and the guy can’t even remember Drew’s name.

  He stops grinding his teeth and clenches his jaw shut.

  “Four letters. Four stinkin’ letters and he can’t remember it.”

  As he nears the jewelry store to pick up Marigold’s necklace, he sees Bear talking to a girl. He can’t see the girl’s face, but from the big, fluffy black hair, he knows it’s Marigold.

  He heads their way—he still hasn’t seen or talked to his older brother yet—but then Marigold starts to touch Bear and press herself against him.

  Drew’s heart stops in an instant. He tries to move for a better look, but right at that moment, a large family with a lot of energetic kids pours out of the diner to Drew’s left. They block his view, and one of the kids runs right into Drew’s leg and falls down. The kid starts crying at the top of his lungs, and, as Drew leans over to pick the little guy up, the kid’s mother starts whacking him with a large—and very painful—purse.

  The commotion draws the attention of one of the town’s deputies and by the time everything is calmed down—and Drew has a small lump on the side of his head from the purse—Marigold and Bear are gone.

  “Great,” he mumbles. “Welcome home, Bear. Just take my girlfriend, why don’t you?”

  He kicks a nearby parking meter, hurts his foot, and limps off.

  four

  Melanie stares dreamily at the necklace Bear gave her. She had to ask someone what his name was—he bolted right after he gave her the necklace—but with a little prodding of a nearby shop owner, she’d learned his name was Andrew, but he went by Bear.

  She made a mental note to ask him the next time she saw him how he got the name.

  He’s an interesting one—he sees her in the train station and the next time they cross paths, he has a necklace for her and says he’s her boyfriend. It’s a bit presumptuous, sure, but maybe he was struck by love at first sight, like she was.

  She crosses her legs and leans back in the chair outside her dad’s office. The room is to be expected—white walls, a lot of glossy dark wood furniture, several desks with busy people looking important, and one fairly crabby secretary at a large desk just outside the door that read “Mayor”.

  It’s definitely nicer than her dad’s last office.

  “He’ll just be another minute,” the secretary says, and glares at her.

  “Thanks!” Melanie says, adding a little extra cheer to her voice—just to grind the woman’s nerves a bit.

  The crabby crank suspiciously eyes Melanie’s mini-skirt and sneers.

  Melanie kicks her leg a little , pretending to fidget with impatience, and the skirt inches up a little higher. The woman’s face grows pale, and Melanie wonders if she’ll actually have a coronary.

  Just then, a door to her left opens and her dad appears. He’s shorter than she is, especially when she wears her taller high heels, and has quite a bit less hair than she does. Particularly on top. His stomach protrudes out in front of him, beating the rest of his body to any destination he’s headed, and his squat little nose rests between two rosy cheeks.

  In her opinion, he’s the most adorable little man on the planet…and one heck of a Santa at his annual Christmas parties.

  “Mel-Bell!” he says lovingly and holds his arms out to her.

  She has to lean down several inches to hug him.

  “Hi, Pop! Nice digs! How’s business?”

  He chuckles—his belly shaking as he does so—and he says, “Same as always. So many decisions, too little time.”

  He ushers her into his office, where he takes a seat behind a large mahogany desk. She sits in a chair in front of the desk.

  “Anything I can help with?” she asks.

  He chuckles and looks at her adoringly. “Thank you, but I’m not sure the town would appreciate it if I left important decisions up to my 19-year-old daughter. How’s the town treating you this morning?”

  She fingers the necklace hanging around her neck. “Great! The people here are so fun! They’re very…eccentric.”

  Her dad smiles wide. “They are at that, for sure. I thought you might enjoy it here—”

  A speaker on his desk buzzes and his secretary tells him he has a phone call. He takes the call, promising it will be short.

  While he chats with someone about a schoolboard budget meeting, Melanie notices a stack of applications on his desk. They have a Post-It note on top with the word ‘Internship’. Under that is her dad’s handwriting and the name Drew.

  Melanie’s heart starts beating faster. Bear didn’t seem to be the corporate internship type, but who knows? Maybe he’s a monkey-suit by day, and a rocker by night. And her dad gets names wrong all the time. He probably meant to write ‘Andrew’ instead of ‘Drew‘.

  Her dad hangs up the phone, and she points to the stack of applications. “Hiring a new intern?”

  “Yup, I just picked someone this morning. Good kid. Been aiding for me for a few weeks.”

  “I think I met him this morning,” Melanie says. “He was really nice…but I think his name is Andrew, not Drew. He uses a different nickname.

  Her dad slaps the palm of his hand to his forehead. “I was so sure I got it right this time. You know how I am with names.”

  She nods and before she can say anything, the speaker buzzes again. This time it’s a phone call he says will last awhile. She shows herself to the door, giving him a brief hug before she leaves.

  She passes the cranky-looking secretary, and just as expected, the old lady glares at her. As Melanie passes the secretary’s desk, she “accidentally” drops her purse and bends over to pick it up. When she straightens, the look on the old hag’s face is classic. She’s so glad she chose a thong today.

  Melanie laughs her way to the elevator, enjoying her time in this town even more.

  five

  Marigold hangs a dress in the fitting room of a downtown shop and tries to figure out what’s going on with Drew. He was fine yesterday—a little stressed from the job, but fine. Now he won’t reply to her text messages or phone calls.<
br />
  She replays their last conversation in her head, and she just can’t figure out what she did to set him off. They didn’t argue or pester each other about little things, like some other couples. Though, technically, they aren’t a couple…but she’s sure they will be soon.

  Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on her part. They’ve been friends since they were kids and its always been comfortable. Neither felt the need to change the relationship or make it more than friendship…until recently.

  Over the past few months, she started wondering what it would be like if they dated. She accepted the fact she was intrigued by the idea, and she thought Drew might have been feeling the same.

  Pain wells up in her chest as she considers she might have been wrong. Maybe Drew does only want friendship.

  She looks at herself in the mirror and admires the dress. Its long, blue and white, and feels very summery. It’s feminine, without being skimpy or slutty. It’s exactly the kind of dress Drew likes on her. He’s never been one for scantily-clad girls in high heels and their thongs sticking out, and she absolutely loves him for that. She can be comfortable in this dress, enjoy herself, and still catch the eye of her man. It’s great dress for a great night.

  At least, it would be if she didn’t feel so crummy.

  Marigold pulls the dress over her head and re-dresses. “It will have to do,” she says.

  She mutters about the stupidity of boys and curses Drew for making her feel so lousy on such a beautiful day. The day is supposed to be filled with the promise of a fun night at the festival. Not pain and heartache.

  She drapes the dress over her arm and heads for the cash register. As she passes the shop’s other fitting room, something small and gold klinks to the ground in front of her. She bends down to pick it up and immediately drops to the floor with the piece of jewelry.