Proof

by Craze, Chelle C.

  My phone had ten percent, so I told him I needed to save it for an emergency, but I really hoped there wasn’t one. We both said goodnight, and I set my phone beside me on the cushion, pulling the throw off the back of the couch and curling into a ball under it.

  Twenty-Three

  Cal

  When I got back home, the power was on, so I plugged a charger into my phone since it’d died on the way home. After my cold shower, the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. Mostly because I forced myself to stay home. All I wanted to do was go back to Jaci’s, but I wouldn’t allow myself. I wasn’t screwing over my brother or Amaris. Neither of them deserved it. I would have been trying to do exactly that if Jaci and I had spent any more time together at all.

  Dax returned home just a few minutes before our moms had and I watched him, trying to figure out if he had any idea that Jaci was here when he was Friday night. He dropped his duffel bag at the front door, and his mom promptly yelled at him as soon as she saw it beside the shoe rack, ordering him to take his dirty clothes to the laundry room and start a load. He was the world’s worst about procrastinating. Usually, he waited until two hours before we had to be at school to yell he didn’t have anything to wear. In reality, he had more clothes than I did, so I wasn’t sure how he always seemed to be out of clothes.

  He stopped by my room long enough to toss a pair of his dirty socks at me, and his phone dropped out of the pocket of his basketball shorts. Lightning fast, he bent and scooped his phone up off the carpet and eyed me. He was always so secretive about his phone and computer, not like I even had an interest to read his messages, until recently anyway.

  After chucking his nasty ass socks back to him and he opened his shorts and caught them in there, letting them fall onto the floor, he headed to his room. Probably to talk to Jaci. I was jealous, and it wasn’t something I was proud of, but it also wasn’t something I felt shame for either. If that made me an asshole, so be it.

  Twenty-Four

  Jaci

  Dax and I agreed we’d go to formal together, so we didn’t have to go stag. Although he liked the idea of everyone calling him that. He wanted to wear all white and be the white stag. Since he’d come clean with me, I gave him a partial truth a few weeks after he came out to me. I told him I was into his brother, and his response was far from one I expected. “If you’re just now admitting that to yourself, you’re either delusional or one damn good liar.”

  “Maybe a little bit of both,” I had told him, but never disclosed any more information. We all had secrets, I was finding out. Like Mar, she was not only dating Cal, she also dated a probate from her dad’s club. Panhead or Ratchet, I wasn’t sure what his handle or whatever bikers called their nickname was. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure what exactly a probate was, but that’s what she referred to him as. She’d mentioned so many names, it was hard to sift through them. The way she put it, she wanted to break up with Cal, but didn’t want to break his heart. I refused to comment on it, but the longer I let the news sink in, the madder I got and it wasn’t her fault.

  “I thought you really liked Cal?” I choked, not wanting her to go back on her decision, but also was a little insulted how fast she’d just thrown him to the side.

  “I did. Maybe I didn’t? I should have been honest with you,” she explained and guilt lifted its head as she’d awoken it inside me. She was apologizing, when I should have been the one to apologize. Even if she had broken up with Cal, it didn’t make me feel any less awful for considering going back to his house after Dax and I split. “I’ve actually been seeing this guy for a while, but had to keep Cal on the side so Dad wouldn’t kill him.”

  He sounded like a real upstanding guy if he let a high schooler take the heat for him. He must have had a great set of morals.

  “Of course, neither of them knew I was seeing the other,” she gushed, and I just rolled my eyes, which was something I usually refrained from, but in this situation it seemed fitting. It earned a smack on my arm from her, but it was worth it.

  “Mar, don’t you think you should break it off with Cal? It sounds like you’re more into Panhead or whatever his name is,” I said, trying not to sound too interested, and rubbed my arm. I’d been honest in what I’d said, though, not letting the feelings I had for Cal sway my opinion.

  “Hammerhead and you’re right,” she said with a huff, taking out her phone. After scrolling a second, she tapped on someone’s name. One could only assume she was calling Cal.

  “Hey, yeah. Remember what we talked about?” she said with a grin. “We were totally right.” She nodded her head in response and laughed as she said, “Okay,” and handed me the phone.

  “Hello?” I suspiciously mumbled into her phone as I passed her going to sit on her comforter, which had recently changed from purple to an orange and black color with a motorcycle on it. That should have been my first clue her interests were changing. It didn’t. I just assumed it was a present from her dad.

  “What are you doing, Sydage?” Cal made fun of me, using the name neither of us liked.

  “Cal?” I questioned and eyed Mar. She was half-holding her breath while trying not to burst into full-on laughter. It was undeniable by the way her body shook with silent laughter. We flipped each other off simultaneously, and I glared at her.

  “This is your crush.” He imitated what I thought to be his best attempt at a video voiceover.

  “My what?” I choked, chucking a pillow at Mar, and gritted my teeth. She finally let go of the laughs she’d been holding back and fell off her chair onto the floor, clutching the pillow to her stomach.

  “Um. So, Mar and I might have known for a while now that we’re not good for each other. She’s the chick version of me. I may or may not have sent her on a covert operation because I knew you’d never tell me how you felt.” He chuckled, and I heard him exhale heavily as if he’d said all of that in one breath.

  “You what!” I all but yelled into the phone. “Mar did…” Disbelief overtook me, and although I was relieved, it almost seemed intrusive for the two of them to conspire.

  “How long?” I flatly demanded from either of them, trying to decide if I was relieved to not be a shitty friend or disappointed I’d been that transparent.

  “Since y’all painted his damn floor.” Mar laughed and threw the pillow against my head.

  “Really?” I said into the phone.

  “Yes,” Mar and Cal answered in unison.

  “You really aren’t that good at hiding stuff,” Mar added with a soft smile and climbed onto the bed beside me.

  “Talk later?” I asked Cal, really hoping I would have the nerve to face him after this.

  “Of course,” he said and ended the call.

  “Mar, I’m sorry. I should have been honest,” I admitted and wished I had. Guilt won the internal fight, and I really didn’t know how to stop it from spreading. She had every right to be mad, and I wouldn’t blame her at all if she were.

  “Neither of us has been an open book exactly. We all have our own things.” She scooted closer to me, and I put her cell phone into her hand.

  “See.” She showed me a picture of a guy wearing a jean jacket that had a patch on it that said “Probate.”

  “What’s a probate?” I finally asked her, wanting to know what it meant.

  “It basically means you’re the asshole in the card game Asshole.” She searched the card game on the internet and handed her phone back to me so I could read the results.

  “And they like this?’

  “Hell no, but it’s initiation, and every brother, including Dad, goes through it,” she answered in a matter-of-fact fashion as if there was no other option. She’d been spending as much time as her mom allowed at her dad’s, I just thought they were spending quality father and daughter time with one another. Which, if she was at the club with him, that may have been what was going on.

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” She smiled with a sense of adoration. “I didn’t know
how to tell you before, but I’m moving in with him as soon as I graduate. Mom won’t be able to tell me where I can and can’t go.”

  “Why wouldn’t you tell me that?” I asked, a little hurt she thought it was something she needed to hide from me.

  “I don’t know, Jaci. Maybe I hid it for the same reason you did liking Cal. We don’t want to hurt each other. I felt like if I told you I was moving in with Dad, it would be like I was leaving you.”

  I had to admit, she had a point. The guilt that had somewhat subsided was back. To top it off, it was more noticeable than ever that our friendship was changing.

  “I want you to be happy,” I said and truly meant it, pulling her in for a hug and squeezing her as hard as I could just to annoy her. Mar wasn’t what you would call a hugger, and neither was I, but for her I made an exception.

  “You, too,” she choked and wiggled out of my grasp, shoving me over.

  “No more secrets?” She smiled, holding her hand out to help me off my side.

  “Promise. If they’re only mine, I’ll tell you,” I declared and knew she wouldn’t be happy with that answer, but I wasn’t the type of person who would tell someone else’s secrets. I would be pissed if someone did that to me, so I wasn’t doing it to them.

  “I’ll promise the same.” She winked.

  I’d always thought of her as the less rebellious of the two of us, but I was beginning to think I was wrong to assume that. Questioning everything made my head spin, and apparently, I wasn’t as good at judging people as I had thought. Figuring that out wasn’t something I swallowed easily, but to think, I could have prevented all of this if I’d been honest in the first place.

  Twenty-Five

  Cal

  At first, I was glad to have the secret Amaris and I had kept out in the open, but the more I thought about it, I regretted how we brought it out into the known. When I told Dax what Amaris and I had done, he smacked the back of my head and called me stupid. Honestly, I expected him to be more upset, given their breakup was still pretty fresh. Neither of them would tell what exactly happened between them, but they seemed to be closer than they were while they were dating. I took it as a small win, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t a bit leery of talking to him about Jaci. I wanted to be straight up with him, so I told him.

  “You could have gone in my place to formal with her. Could you imagine how romantic that would have been? You showing up in a tux with your back to the door and spinning around to surprise her? That would have been the romantic gesture of the year!” he spouted and rolled his eyes. “But, I guess your way was okay, too.” He shrugged, inhaling and exhaling dramatically.

  “Whatever works for you all, though.”

  He brought down the high I’d been on since Jaci and I last talked with each other. She and I had talked on the phone when her mom wasn’t home, but never about anything too heavy. I’d been at the graveyard every night, hoping she’d show up there and I wouldn’t have to ask. Maybe Dax was right. Each time Jaci and I had connected, it was either lacking romance or we were kids. I guess I just kind of sucked at the whole being romantic thing. I wasn’t even sure that’s what she wanted, but I thought I’d give it a try. Although I wasn’t sure how you prepared to confess your feelings to someone you’d cared for in one way or another your entire life. Surely, after the phone call the other day, it should have been a given, right?

  After dialing her number, my heart beat with panic and I almost hung up.

  “Hello,” she answered and yawned, making me feel like an idiot for not checking the time. It wasn’t even seven o’clock yet, so she may have just been tired.

  “Uh, hey,” she answered and paused, more than likely to let her skin flush and return to its normal color. I didn’t know what had changed from the time when we were kids to when we reconnected, but I loved how she reacted to me.

  “What’s up?” she asked in a hushed tone, probably after her normal caramel color returned.

  “I was wondering if you wanted to catch a movie,” I blurted out, falling victim to nervousness as well. I swallowed hard and my nervousness confused me. I’d been out with plenty of girls, so why was asking Jaci out putting me on edge? It was without question I cared for her far more than I ever had anyone else, but I wasn’t in love with her. Was I? Subconsciously, I shook my head because it was impossible to love someone you’d never dated. That was crazy. Wasn’t it?

  “I…um, I’ll have to ask my mom,” she honestly answered and brought me back down to Earth a little. “Hang on.”

  She set the phone down on what I assumed was a chip bag or an entire roll of tin foil. Who knew really. In response, I moved the phone away from my ear and wiggled my finger in the canal as I stared at the phone.

  “She said yes, but she has to meet you first.”

  “But we’ve already met?” I clarified, a little more than confused.

  “Well, you were a kid. I think she wants to make sure you’re not still anal-retentive.” She laughed, and even though I didn’t want to, so did I.

  “At least I wasn’t so forgetful that my mom had to put my address in my shoe,” I threw out at her.

  She cleared her throat. “Yeah, I did do that. Hey, I gotta go. Are you good to come over tomorrow after school around this time? It’s my mom’s only day off for a week.” She almost acted as if I’d offended her, but I didn’t understand how I could have, so I just told her I was free and wouldn’t miss it for the world, and I wouldn’t.

  Twenty-Six

  Jaci

  The idea of going on a date with Cal made me nervous, but him sitting down to dinner with Mom and me was terrifying. I’d never so much as been on a date, much less dinner and then a movie. I figured I’d ruin it, but wanted to tell him the details I couldn’t as a child.

  My mom showed her sense of humor by setting the table with a huge bowl of mashed potatoes and only brought the chicken from out of the oven when Cal had almost covered his entire plate with potatoes. It was almost the same scene that we were in years ago, which was thoughtful on Mom’s part, but that didn’t mean my heart didn’t hurt and miss Dad. Change had to happen, otherwise how would it make room for new things to come? Yet, the time past didn’t slow the ache in my chest as I always heard it would. As we sat laughing with one another, I missed Dad, but was happy at the same time to be here with Cal and Mom. It was bittersweet.

  Cal and I agreed to meet up at Amaris’ house since she insisted helping me get ready. Even though I thought it was silly to leave each other, only for me to go to her house and change into different clothes, I couldn’t tell Amaris no.

  “Here, try this one on.” Amaris shoved the pink lace top I’d bought when we went school shopping together at me.

  “I thought Cal was picking you up? Did your mom get a new car?” She stopped in front of the window and raised concern and fear within me.

  “No. Why?”

  “It’s probably nothing, but there was a black SUV with tinted windows sitting out across from your road a few days ago. I just assumed your mom got a new vehicle. Now, it’s outside my house,” she announced, peeking out the side of the window, making sure to stay hidden behind the curtain.

  “Fucking government. They would wait until now to show up.” The words slipped out of my mouth, and I regretted them as soon as they had.

  “Government?” Mar echoed what I’d said, and fear engulfed my entire body. Fuck! Shit! Why were they here now? I guess it answered my question of if they’d forgotten about us. There were so many possibilities that could be the root of their unexpected visit, but something told me it wasn’t the panties in my closet.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m crazy. Um, I don’t feel well, Mar. I need to go home.”

  “Is everything okay?” She eyed me and stuffed her books and belongings into her bag, but she wasn’t moving fast enough, so I started pushing them in with my hands, too. I thanked God she didn’t ask any more questions because I didn’t have the answers. The only thing poun
ding in my head was to run.

  “Actually, I know it’s a lot to ask, but can you drive and see if they’ll follow you, so I can run in the opposite direction?”

  “Let me make a quick call.” She cracked her neck, and without question had my back as I always knew she did.

  “Right. I need some business taken care of,” she spoke into a really cheap looking phone I didn’t even know she had and flipped the phone closed after she gave whoever was on the other end my address.

  “Who?”

  “Don’t ask questions and I won’t either.” She winked. “Give them ten and our distraction will happen.” I wasn’t sure when my best friend went from a girl afraid to steal panties to a law-breaking rebel with two cell phones.

  “Huh?” I paced the floor and roughly combed my fingers through my hair. Instantly, I became that little girl they took into custody while Mom was in the hospital. Imaginary sirens blared inside my head, and I gritted my teeth to keep the tears from falling.

  “Mom. Oh hell. Mom!” I shouted as panic raced through my body, and I actually feared for Mom’s life. I didn’t know why, but I did.

  I couldn’t get to her quick enough on foot, so I texted Dax and asked him if Cal would pick me up in his car his mom had just gotten him. It didn’t even have the tags on it yet. Without a second’s pause, he replied yes.

  As soon as Cal texted saying he was waiting in the back alley, the sounds of Harleys filled the air, and I silently thanked Mar for whatever she’d done. It was probably best I didn’t know what that was exactly.

  Cal didn’t speak as I climbed into his car. He just held his hand upward for mine. Everything happening had déjà vu written all over it, but this time, whatever was happening, I wasn’t a kid anymore. I would protect Mom at all costs.