by Bowie, Emily
Jessica slides right into our conversation, matching our strides. “Did you see how Luke went all brother bear on her, too?” She’s nodding her head like she thinks she’s on to something.
I hate that she just referred to him like a brother to me.
“Hi, Shay!” I’m greeted once again.
“You realize this put Kellen into god status,” Jessica reminds me. This would explain why the sudden increase in people noticing me.
“Awesome.” I try to fake my enthusiasm.
“Only you would be sad that your popularity has increased directly due to your brother,” Molly tells me still in awe of Kellen. No point in arguing, she will never come around to my viewpoint anyway. I can only hope this all blows over before Kellen is allowed back at school from his suspension.
All day I itch to hear that dismissal bell, hoping that by leaving the confined walls of school I will be able to breathe again. This small town is suffocating me.
Pushing on the outside doors has me almost running out toward the parking lot that leads to my thankfully isolated walk home.
“Wait up, Shay!” I hear Luke’s voice behind me as I hustle away from the school. I slow my steps but keep walking. If I don’t make it home in time I’ll be as grounded as Kellen.
“Where are you off to in a hurry?” he asks, matching each of my steps.
“Curfew.” I try to keep it short, refusing to look in his direction.
“Curfew?” He repeats my answer like a parrot.
“Kellen’s stunt put him and me under house arrest.” My tone comes out short, as the whole situation is frustrating. With Kellen not at school, I’m left walking, since he normally drives me. This may be the first moment ever that I wished I was signed up to take the bus.
I try to keep my head down but the moment it comes up I see everyone staring at Luke and me. I know they’re talking about us. I’m sure Kellen will get some inflated hero status from all of this, and I will be the sister in distress needing to be saved.
“Why are you?” Luke’s voice reminds me that he’s still following me, unconcerned, or rather, not noticing the crowd he is creating around us.
Stopping, I pin him with a glare. He looks expecting, like he has no clue. “Because my parents found out I snuck out to the party. The whole reason why Kellen has assault charges against him.”
Turning around, I start walking at a steady pace; ignoring the stares I now get from other students. I almost miss being ignored by everyone. Now I am the hot topic of the week.
“It wasn’t your fault.” He looks taken aback by my words but I ignore it.
I’m no longer frustrated but pissed off. I try to stomp away, kicking the dirt with each step, but it only feeds my foul mood. I know it wasn’t my fault, but if I had stayed home Kellen would have never been in a fight. I can’t help but to perpetuate this into guilt.
“Sam would have found a way to get under Kellen’s skin even if you weren’t there,” he continues to tell me, like he can read my mind.
“Doesn’t help Kellen is pissed at everyone and won’t even talk to me.” Now I’m bitching just for the sake of it.
“I can fix that,” he tells me, his eyes sincere, ready to help, clearly seeing he won’t be able to change my view on the situation. The thought is nice but everyone knows that no one can change Kellen’s mind but him. I almost laugh in Luke’s face and his stupid I’ll-save-you type of comment.
“If you say so.” I shrug my shoulders, prepared to walk a few miles to get home since my driver is now nonexistent.
“At least let me drive you home.”
I want to say no and smack that grin off his handsome face, but I also don’t want to walk the five-mile hike to get home.
“Whatever.” I start to head in the direction of his truck, allowing my pride to lose out.
Getting in, I notice a pile of mail sitting on his dash. Picking it up I look at each piece, finding reasons not to talk to Luke and hoping I annoy him as much as he’s annoying me. Although I really shouldn’t be so agitated since he is saving me from an hour long walk.
The last envelope has a college crest on the top left hand corner, the college all three of us applied to. Flipping it over in my hand, I inspect it. Our dreams of getting out of this town and making it in the real world sits in this envelope.
“What’s this?” I ask, forgetting that I’m mad. Instead, my excitement for Luke overshadows everything, so much so one would think this letter is for me. I wave the envelope back and forth with my eyebrows raised in question.
“Oh nothing.” He goes to take it from my hands but I pull it back, knowing it must be early acceptance. I can get right into his business like he was just doing to me.
“Why haven’t you opened it?” I wait, impatiently tapping my foot for him to answer. “Well?”
“The football team has zero tolerance for fighting.” He looks at me for a moment before his eyes dart back to the road. “Knowing that Kellen will be kicked off the team, it just didn’t feel right.” He shrugs like it’s not a big deal, when I know this must be killing him, too.
Understanding, I nod. They had hoped to play football together at the same college. My brother won’t be getting any scholarship now, if he’s lucky to get in after this mess.
“Can I?” I ask, waiting for permission to open it. I can feel my face soften as I take in the internal dilemma working itself out on his face.
“We should just throw that away.” He tries to dismiss how important this is for himself.
“Luke Rogers, this is a big deal. You will not be throwing your future away for some stupid reason.” I place my hand on his shoulder, waiting his answer.
“Fine, open it.”
I smile big, tearing the one side open and pulling out the neatly folded letter. I scan the letter, looking for the words conditional acceptance and scholarship.
“You got a full ride in!” I exclaim, reaching over to give him a hug, as much as I can while he’s driving. “I knew you would do it!”
“Grab the wheel,” he tells me, taking the paper in disbelief and scans it with his own eyes. “Holy shit!”
I can’t help but bounce in my seat. “Now give it back, before we end up killed.” I take the paper back, looking it over again.
“Come over for dinner so we can celebrate!” I tell him, knowing it will take some of the heat off of Kellen and I.
He slumps back into his seat. “Let’s just keep this on the down low for now. Just with everything that has happened.”
I nod, I kind of get it. But I think he should be proud and not feel like he has to hide this in order to not hurt other people’s feelings. Putting myself in his shoes, I know I would probably do the same. Who am I kidding? I would do anything for my brothers to keep them happy. We all would.
“Still come for dinner. Kellen could use some cheering up.”
“You think that would be okay?”
“Our parents love you, of course it will be okay.”
Walking toward our back gate, all of a sudden I feel nervous. I don’t know why. I’ve done this a hundred times before with Luke. But this time it feels different. I fumble with the latch because I am super focused on where Luke is as we walk through the gate together.
We walk into the backyard and immediately my sights lock on Cynthia. My mouth opens and closes, expecting to never see the likes of her again. I had convinced myself that Brax and her had broken up, the only reason why I kept my mouth shut.
Just like the hundreds of times before, my parents are doing their typical things. My dad is at the BBQ; my ma is scrambling with all of the small details trying to make it the perfect family gathering.
Seeing my arrival, my ma raises an eyebrow in question while motioning for me to come to her with a head nod.
“Shay, now that you are home. You can go in with Cynthia to make the salad.”
She makes it sound like I am late. If I walked I would have been here way later.
Cynthia wraps
her arm around me. “Hey, baby sister,” she greets me as I grit my teeth.
“Mrs. Steele, we have this, go relax with Mr. Steele.” Cynthia brownnoses further even though she is repeating what my mother practically just said. I fake my smile and my mother thanks Cynthia. I see right through her. I never liked her anyway.
Cynthia has a big grin for me as we head into the house. Leaving Luke to fend for himself, I head into our homestead style kitchen that holds a large picnic style table and large island in my mother’s dream of a cooker’s kitchen. Our house is old but somehow my ma convinced my dad a few years ago that we needed to remodel this area.
I take no less than five feet inside when I see Cynthia’s evil smile spread wide on her lips as she turns into a whole new person.
“Don’t you ever tell anyone about what you saw the other night.” She jabs a finger at me.
“I’m shocked you noticed between all of your moaning.” I fight back, ready to scream out her infidelity.
“I can make your life easier for you. You can start to tell your parents you are with me and they will ease up on you.” She knows that everyone has me pretty much under tight lockdown. All because I am a girl. And I thought this was the twenty-first century.
“In return you never utter a word about anything I might be doing.”
“What if I say no?” I have no intention of doing anything she tells me to. Brax deserves to know if his girlfriend is cheating on him.
“If you say no, I will be your worst nightmare. I will make sure you are never let out of this house.” She says it so matter-of-factly, with a cheery smirk, that it unnerves me. She is pure evil.
No one threatens me. I’m tired of people telling me what to do or how to think. She may not realize it but she started a war. I have no problem using her until I strike back, destroying her in every way possible. Brax doesn’t deserve to have his heart broken by a monster like her.
CHAPTER 9
I feel slightly awkward walking into the Steele family BBQ with Shay by my side. When her ma sees us I see a flicker of shock before a warm smile graces her lips. Her dad looks between us, eyes narrowing before he hollers over to Kellen, “Luke is here for you, Kellen,” before going about his cooking on the barbeque.
The tension between us is electrifying but I have no idea what to do with it. I can feel my dick stir in my pants before going toward Mr. Steele, hoping thoughts of Shay will cease before I get to her father.
“How’s it goin’, Luke?”
“Good, sir.”
“You keeping your nose clean unlike my son?”
Kellen walks toward us in that moment. “Really, Dad?” He shakes his head, looking defeated.
“Yes, sir.” I nod, watching him flip the burgers on the grill. Brax is sitting at the picnic table looking like he’s enjoying me under his dad’s so-called microscope.
“You still on track to head to college next year?”
“My folks and I sure hope so.”
“Kellen, go get your old man a beer please.” He waits until Kellen is out of earshot.
“Any intentions you may be thinking of having with my baby girl better start off with you heading off to college. She will not accept mediocrity from anyone.”
My tongue twists in knots for a response but I just trip over my words. “Um no, it’s not like that, sir. Shay and I are friends. But I will make sure she is treated properly. Us Rogers men are honorable.”
He looks unimpressed, or rather, bored from this conversation.
“I see the way you have been looking at her. Don’t forget that Kellen is your best friend.”
“There is nothing to worry about with me,” I tell him, the words rushing out of my mouth even though I probably cannot live up to those words. But I have seen that man’s gun collection and all of his extremely sharp prized hunting knives.
Thankfully, Kellen returns with his dad’s beer and he pulls me away. “I’ve been working on something.” The way his eyes dart around, I know he is up to no good.
“Yeah, like what?” I question, keeping my voice down. He has a hard time letting some things slide.
“We are going to head down to Fleming’s abandoned place Friday.”
“Sure you want to do that? You’re already in trouble with the cops, they probably won’t look so kind to breaking and entering.”
Hearing some laughter, I watch as Shay and Cynthia carry the salad outside. Shay is stiff and I can’t help but wonder what happened.
“I don’t care.” He states matter-of-factly.
I nod, walking toward the girls.
“Anything I can do to help.”
Cynthia’s hand pets my arm. “We have this, boys.” Her voice is like nails scratching on a chalkboard, and the way she touches my arm with those lustrous eyes shows me that she’s bad news.
Throughout the evening I keep a watch on Shay, something isn’t sitting right with me. I look from her to Cynthia, trying to figure it out.
I keep looking for a moment I can talk to Shay alone but it never comes. Kellen stays by my side, talking my ear off about his coming plans.
CHAPTER 10
There is a light tap on my bedroom door that has me putting down my book from which I was reading. Looking to my alarm clock it’s almost 11:30 at night. For a Friday, our house is silent except for that light scraping sound at my door. It’s so faint I think I have imagined it but then it sounds again. Standing up from my bed, I’m wearing my gray reading socks that come up to my knees with short shorts and a baggy T-shirt as pajamas.
Opening the door I see Luke, instinctively my hands go into my hair then fumble with my small gold-framed glasses.
“What’s up?” I whisper, embarrassed that he’s seen me in my homely looking PJs. I hadn’t realized he was over with Kellen. Thank goodness I’m too lazy to wash my face at night and I have amazing genes when it comes to the pimples I never get.
“We’re going joy riding. You up to come?”
I pause for a moment, really wanting to go. This is my first time being invited.
“Does Kellen know you’re asking?” He has still only said about a handful of words to me.
He just nods his head. From out of my window a light flashes brightly three times before the darkness takes over the space.
Holding up two fingers, I silently mouth, “two minutes.” Closing my door as much as possible before it clicks, I search my room for something to wear. I practically jump into a pair of blue jeans and then toss my old comfy T-shirt for a more appropriate form-fitting shirt that hugs my midriff. Glancing in my mirror, I pull out my elastic that has my hair in the messiest lazy bun, really it looks more like a beehive than anything, and run a brush through it trying to tame any portion of it that’s willing. As fast as I can, I switch out my glasses for slightly blue hazed contacts that enhance my already dark gray eyes.
Then I’m on my tiptoes, stepping on the only wooden planks that I am certain do not creak as I make my way to the front door, feeling free and giddy from sneaking out.
Stepping into the darkness, I can barely see Luke and Kellen pushing the truck down the long driveway to ensure our parents don’t wake up from the engine rattling near the house. Lightly jogging, I catch up to them as we all stay as silent as possible. Reaching the gravel road, we all jump into the truck as Kellen turns on the engine. I hold my breath, half expecting someone to be chasing us down, but the night is still as we head down the dusty road.
As our driveway fades away, Luke turns on the radio, filling our cab with music. Leaning toward the front seat, I squeeze Kellen’s tense shoulder from the back seat where I’m sitting. It’s my way to silently thank him, hoping that his silent treatment toward me is finally over. It has been killing me. He’s my rock, my go-to person, my best friend.
“So what’s the plan?” I ask, excited to see what type of adventure awaits us three.
“We’re heading to the old Fleming place,” Luke tells me as he shifts to look at me.
&nbs
p; “Isn’t that old homestead condemned?” I ask, wondering if it’s even safe.
Kellen grunts at my question, obviously not approving. I lean forward, squeezing my brother’s shoulder again. “Oh stop brooding over there,” I tell him, hoping he will get out of this funk.
Like most other events around here, we head over to Tips Park where everyone is meeting. Stepping out of the truck, both Kellen and Luke are thrown a beer, out from a car trunk that looks to be converted into a cooler for drinks.
It looks like I missed the memo that told everyone to wear black head to toe. “What’s with the all black?” I go to ask Kellen and Luke but they are no longer standing beside me, leaving my words unanswered.
“Shay!” Jessica yells toward me. Waving back I head toward her, snagging a can of Coke from the iced-up trunk.
“This is going to be so scary,” Jessica says excitedly, practically vibrating in place.
“I just hope the place doesn’t fall down on us,” I tell her, being the practical one.
“I heard old man Fleming’s ghost haunts the place. That’s why the family deserted it.”
“We’ll see about that.” I’m the skeptic. But it does give me a reason to stay next to Luke.
Soon the hollers of “let’s go” and vehicle honks fill the air, notifying everyone it’s time to head out.
“Shay!” Kellen is calling my name, searching through the crowd.
A handful of people are jumping into my brother’s truck. Inside and outside of the cab. Half jogging toward his truck, I can see there isn’t a spot for me.
“I can get a ride with Jessica,” I holler over the noise to my brother who is already sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Don’t be silly.” I hear Luke’s voice come from the back. Next, I see a shuffle of people and Luke is sitting by the open door, signaling for me to sit on his lap.
Cautiously, I step onto the bar of the truck to sit gingerly on Luke’s lap, trying to keep my weight off him as much as possible. Closing the door, it crowds us like sardines, and I get to live another moment I’ve fantasized about for years.