Chapter Ten
It’s Tuesday and so far I’ve spent the majority of the day studying. Only a portion of it has been spent being paranoid. Paranoid that someone’s going to see me sneaking into Lake’s house. Once inside, I search around for everything I need and quickly head back out the front door before everyone gets home from school. I throw my satchel over my shoulder and bend down to hide Lake's key back under the pot.
“What are you doing?!”
I jump back and nearly trip over the concrete patio rise. I control my balance on the support beam and look up. Sherry is standing in Lake’s driveway with her hands on her hips. I quickly try to come up with an excuse as to why I’m sneaking out of Lake's house.
“I…I was just…”
“I’m kidding,” she laughs, walking toward me.
I shoot her a dirty look for almost giving me a heart attack and turn back around to push the pot back into its original position. “I needed some things out of her house,” I say, without going into detail. “What’s up?”
“Not much,” she says. She has a shovel in her hands and I glance behind her to see part of Lake’s sidewalk cleared. “I’m just wasting time…waiting on my husband to get home. We've got errands to run.”
I cock my head at her. “You have a husband?” I ask with a little too much fervor. I don’t mean to sound surprised, but I am. I’ve never seen him before.
She laughs at my response. “No, Will. My children are the result of immaculate conception.”
I laugh. She’s got a great sense of humor. It reminds me of my mother’s. And Julia’s. And Lake’s. How was I so lucky to be surrounded by such amazing women?
“Sorry,” I say. “It’s just that I’ve never seen him before.”
“He works a lot. Mostly out of state…goes on business trips and the like. He’s home for two weeks. I’d really like you to meet him.”
I don’t like that we’re standing in front of Lake’s house. She’ll be home soon. I start walking away from the house as I respond. “Well, if Kel and Kiersten get married someday, we’ll technically be in-laws, so I guess I should meet him.”
“That’s assuming you and Kel have a different type of relationship by then,” she says. “Are you planning on popping the question?” She begins walking with me toward her house. I think she can sense I just want to be off of Lake’s property before they return home.
“I’d planned on it,” I say. “I’m just not so sure now what Lake’s answer would be.”
Sherry turns around and tilts her head, then sighs. She’s looking at me with pity again. “Come inside for a sec. I want to show you something.”
I continue to follow her into her house. “Sit down on the couch,” she says. “Do you have a few minutes?”
“I’ve got more than a few.”
She walks down the hallway and returns a moment later with a DVD in her hands. After she inserts it into the DVD player, she sits down on the couch beside me and turns the television on with the remote.
“What is it?” I ask.
“A close-up of me giving birth to Kiersten.”
I jump up in protest and she rolls her eyes and laughs. “Sit down, Will. I’m kidding.”
I reluctantly sit back down. “That’s not funny,” I say.
She presses play on the remote and the television is interrupted by a brief second of static, then cuts to a shot of a much younger Sherry. She looks about nineteen or twenty in the footage. She’s sitting on a porch swing laughing, hiding her face from the video camera with her hands. The person holding the camera is laughing, too. I assume it’s her now-husband. When he walks up the porch steps, he angles the camera around and sits beside her, focusing the lens on both of them. Sherry uncovers her face and leans her head against his and smiles.
“Why are you filming us, Jim?” Sherry says to the camera.
“Because. I want you to remember this moment forever,” he says.
The camera shuffles again and comes to a rest on what is probably a table. It’s positioned on both of them now as he kneels down in front of her and places his hands by her side. It’s obvious he’s about to propose, but you can see Sherry attempt to suppress her excitement, in case that’s not his intention. When he pulls a small box out of his pocket, she gasps and immediately starts to cry. He brings his hand up to her face and wipes away her tears, then briefly leans forward and kisses her.
When he settles back onto his knee, he wipes a tear away from his own eyes. “Sherry, until I met you I didn’t know what life was. I had no clue that I wasn’t even alive. It’s like you came along and woke up my soul." He's looking straight at her as he talks. He doesn't sound nervous at all, like he's determined to prove to her how serious he is. He takes a deep breath and then continues. "I’ll never be able to give you everything you deserve, but I’ll definitely spend the rest of my life trying.”
He pulls the ring out of the box and slides it on her finger. “I’m not asking you to marry me, Sherry. I’m telling you to marry me, because I can’t live without you.”
Sherry wraps her arms around his neck and they hold onto one another and cry. “Okay,” she finally says. When they begin to kiss, his hand reaches over and turns off the camera.
The television goes black.
Sherry presses the power button on the remote and she’s silent for a moment. I can tell the video brought back a lot of emotions in her. “What you saw in that video?” she says. “The connection Jim and I had? That’s true love, Will. I’ve seen you and Layken together, and she loves you like that. She really does.”
The front door to Sherry’s house opens wide and a man enters, shaking the snow out of his hair. Sherry looks nervous as she hops up and hits eject on the DVD player and puts it back inside the case.
“Hey, Sweetie,” she says to him. She motions for me to stand up, so I do. “This is Will,” she says. “He’s Caulder’s older brother from across the street.”
The man walks through the living room and I reach my hand out to him. As soon as I’m eye to eye with him, Sherry’s sudden nervousness is explained. This isn't Jim. This is a completely different man than whoever it was I just saw propose to Sherry on that DVD.
“I'm David. Nice to meet you. Heard a lot about you.”
“Likewise,” I say. I’m lying.
“I’ve been giving Will relationship advice,” Sherry says.
“Oh yeah?” he says. He smiles at me. “Hopefully you take it with a grain of salt, Will. Sherry thinks she’s a real guru.” He leans in and kisses Sherry on the cheek.
“Well, she is pretty smart,” I say.
“That she is," he says as he takes a seat on the couch. "But take it from me…never accept any of her medicinal concoctions. You’ll regret it.”
Too late for that.
“I better get going,” I say. “Nice meeting you, David.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Sherry says.
Once we’re outside, her smile fades after she shuts the door behind her.
“You need to know that I love my husband, Will. But there are very few people in this world lucky enough to experience love on the same level that I’ve had in the past…on the same level that you and Layken have. I’m not getting into the details of why mine didn’t work out, but take it from someone who’s had it before…you don’t want to let it slip away. Fight for her.”
She steps back inside her house and shuts the door.
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” I whisper.
***
"Can we have pizza tonight?" Caulder says as soon as he walks through the front door. "It's Tuesday. Gavin can get us the Tuesday special that comes with the dessert pizza."
"Whatever. I don't feel like cooking, anyway." I text Gavin and offer to buy them pizza if he'll bring it over when he gets off work.
By the time eight o'clock comes around, I've got a houseful. Kiersten and Kel showed up at some point. Gavin and Eddie walk in with the pizza and we all sit down at the table to eat. The only one missing is Lake.
"Should you invite Lake?" I ask Eddie as I toss a pile of paper plates onto the table.
Eddie looks at me and shakes her head. "I just texted her. She said she's not hungry."
I sit down to the table and grab one of the paper plates and toss a slice onto it. I take a bite and drop the pizza back down onto the plate. I'm suddenly not hungry, either.
"Thanks for bringing me a cheese pizza, Gavin," Kiersten says. "At least someone around here respects the fact that I don't eat meat."
I don't have anything to throw at her or I would. I shoot her a dirty look instead.
"What's the plan of attack for Thursday?" Kiersten asks me.
I glance at Eddie and she's looking right at me. "What's Thursday?" Eddie says.
"Nothing," I reply. I don't want Eddie ruining this. I'm afraid she'll go warn Lake.
"Will, if you think I'll tell her whatever it is you're planning to do, you're wrong. No one wants you two to work things out more than I do, believe me." She takes a bite of her pizza. She seems genuinely serious, although I'm not sure why.
"He's doing a slam for her," Kiersten blurts out.
Eddie looks back up at me. "Seriously? How? You aren't gonna be able to talk her into going."
"He didn't have to," Kiersten says. "I talked her into going."
Eddie looks at Kiersten and grins at her. "You're a sly little thing. And just how are you planning to keep her there?" Eddie looks back at me. "As soon as she sees you on that stage she'll get pissed and leave."
"Not if I steal her purse and keys," Kel says.
"Good idea, Kel!" I say. As soon as I say it, the reality of the moment hits me. I'm sitting here praising eleven-year-olds for stealing and lying to my girlfriend. What kind of role model am I?
"And we can sit in that booth we sat in last time," Caulder says. "We'll make sure Lake gets in first, that way we can trap her in. Once you start doing your slam, she won't be able to get up. She'll have to watch you."
"Great idea," I say. I may not be a role-model, but at least I'm raising smart children.
"I want to go," Eddie says. She turns to Gavin. "Can we go? Aren't you off Thursday? I want to watch Will and Layken make up."
"Yeah, we can go. But how are we all getting there if she doesn't know you're going, Will? We can't all fit in Layken's car. I really don't need to be driving all the way to Detroit in mine after all the deliveries I've been making."
"You can ride with me,” I say. “Eddie can tell Lake you're working or something. Everyone else can ride with Lake."
Everyone seems to agree on the plans. The fact that they all seem determined to help me win her back gives me a sense of hope. If everyone in this room can see how much we need to be together, surely Lake will see it, too.
I grab another plate and throw three slices of pizza on it, then take it to the kitchen. I glance over my shoulder to make sure no one is paying attention. I reach into the cabinet and pull out a star and set it under one of the slices of pizza before I wrap it.
"Eddie, will you take this to Lake? Make sure she eats something?"
Eddie grabs the plate and smiles at me, then walks out the front door.
"Kids, clean the table. Put the pizza back in the fridge," I say. Gavin and I walk to the living room and sit on the couch.
He lays on the couch and rests his head on the arm of it. He pinches his forehead with his hand and closes his eyes.
"Headache?" I say.
He shakes his head. "Stress."
"You guys decide on anything yet?"
He's quiet for a moment. He inhales a slow, deep breath and exhales even slower. "I told her I was nervous about going through with it the other night. Told her I think we needed to weigh our options. She got really upset," he says. He sits back up on the couch and puts his elbows on his knees. "She accused me of thinking she would make a bad mom. That's not what I think at all, Will. I think she would make a great mom. I just think she would make an even better mom if we waited until we were ready. Now she's pissed at me. We haven't talked about it since. We're both just pretending like it's not happening or something. It's weird."
"So you're both carving pumpkins?" I say.
Gavin looks at me. "I still don't get that analogy."
I guess he wouldn't. I wish I had better advice for him.
Kiersten walks into the living room and sits down next to Gavin. "Know what I think?" she says.
Gavin looks at her, agitated. "You don't even know what we're talking about, Kiersten. Go play with your toys."
She glares at him. "I'm going to let that insult slide because I know you're in a bad mood. But for future reference, I don't play." She stares at him to make sure he doesn't have a response, then she continues talking. "Anyway, I think you should quit feeling sorry for yourself. You're acting like a little bitch. You aren't even the one pregnant, Gavin. How do you think Eddie feels? I'm sorry, but as much as the guy likes to think he's got an equal part in these kinds of situations, he's wrong. You screwed up when you got her knocked up in the first place. Now you need to shut your mouth and be there for her. For whatever she decides to do." She stands up and walks to the front door. "And Gavin? Sometimes things happen in life that you didn't plan for. All you can do now is suck it up and start mapping out a new plan."
She shuts the door behind her, leaving Gavin and I speechless.
"Did you tell her Eddie was pregnant?" I finally ask.
He shakes his head, still staring at the door. "No," he says. He continues to stare at the door in deep thought.
"Dammit!" he yells. "I'm such an idiot! I'm a selfish idiot!" He jumps up from the couch and puts on his jacket. "I'll call you Thursday, Will. I've got to go figure out how to make this right."
"Good luck," I say. As soon as Gavin opens the front door to walk out, Reece walks in.
"Hi-Reece-Bye-Reece," Gavin says as he passes Reece. Reece turns around and watches Gavin run across the street.
"You've got strange friends," he says.
I don't argue. "There's pizza in the fridge if you want some."
"Nah. I'm just here to grab some clothes. I already ate," he says as he walks down the hallway.
It's Tuesday. I'm pretty sure he and Vaughn went out for the first time yesterday. Not that it bothers me in the least, but things seem to be progressing a little fast with the two of them. Reece walks back through the living room toward the front door. "You work things out with Layken yet?" He’s shoving an extra pair of pants into his bag.
"Almost," I say, eyeing his overnight bag. "You and Vaughn seem to be hitting it off pretty well."
He grins at me and walks backwards out the door. "Like I said, I've got skills."
I sit there on the couch and ponder my situation. I've got an old best friend who's dating the girl I spent two years of my life with. My new best friend is freaking out about becoming a dad. My girlfriend isn't speaking to me. I've got class in the morning with the very reason my girlfriend isn't speaking to me. My parallel eleven-year-old neighbor gives better advice than I do. I'm feeling a tad bit defeated right now. I lie down on the couch and try to think of something going right in my life. Anything.
Kel and Caulder walk into the living room and sit on the other couch.
"You with wrong what's?" Kel says backwards.
"Wrong not what's?" I sigh.
"I'm too tired to talk backwards," Caulder says. "I'm just gonna talk frontwards. Will…can you come to school next Thursday and sit with me at lunch? It's supposed to be Dad day, but Dad's dead so that leaves you."
I close my eyes. I hate that he's so casual about not having a Dad now. Or maybe I'm glad he's so casual about it. Either way, I hate it for him. "Sure. Just let me know what time I need to be there."
"Eleven," he says as he stands up. "I'm going to bed now. See ya later, Kel."
Caulder walks toward his bedroom and Kel stands up. I watch him as he crosses the living room. He looks just as defeated as I do right now as he heads toward the front door. When the door closes behind him, I slap myself in the forehead. You're such an idiot, Will!
I jump off the couch and follow Kel outside. "Kel!" I yell when I open the front door. He turns around in the street and starts walking toward me. We meet in my front yard.
"What about you?" I say. "Can I have lunch with you, too?"
Kel tries to suppress a smile, just like his sister. He shrugs. "If you want to," he says.
I ruffle his hair. "I'd be honored," I say.
"Thanks, Will." He turns and walks back to his house. As I watch him close his front door behind him, it occurs to me that if things don’t work out between Lake and I, it's not just her I'm afraid of losing.
***
I'm not sure how today is going to go. When I get to my first class, all I can do is wait. I'm hoping she doesn’t sit by me. Surely she knows that much. Most of the students arrive and the professor finally walks in and hands out the tests. It's ten minutes after the start of class and Vaughn still hasn't shown up. I finally let out a sigh of relief and begin to focus on the lecture when she bursts through the door. She never has been much for subtlety. Of course, after she grabs her test, she comes straight up the stairs and sits right next to me. Of course she does.
"Hey," she whispers. She's smiling. She looks happy. I'm hoping it has everything to do with Reece and nothing to do with me.
She rolls her eyes. "Don't worry. This is the last day I'm sitting by you," she says.
I guess she could see the disappointment clearly written across my face when she walked up.
"I just wanted to say I was sorry about last week. I also wanted to say thanks for being so cool about Reece and I dating again." She picks her bag up from the table and starts sifting through it, then takes out a pen.
"Again?" I whisper.
"Yeah. I mean, I thought you'd be pissed that we started dating right after you and I broke up last time. Before he left for the military? Actually, it kind of upset me that it didn't piss you off," she says with a strange look in her eyes. "Anyway, we decided to give it another shot. But that’s all I wanted to say."
She turns her attention to the test in front of her.
Again? I want to ask her to repeat everything she just said, but that would mean I was inviting conversation, so I don't. But again? And I could swear she just said they dated before he left for the military. Reece left for the military two months after my parents died. If he and Vaughn dated before that…that only means one thing…he was dating her right after she broke my heart. He was dating her? The entire time I was venting to him about her, he was dating her? What a jackass. Hopefully he and Vaughn have gotten to know each other pretty well the whole three days they've been 'back' together…because he's about to need a new place to live.
***
I expect to confront Reece about it when I get home, but he isn't here. The entire night is relatively quiet. Kel and Caulder are spending most of the evening at Lake's house. Kiersten is too, I guess. It's just me and my thoughts. I use the rest of the evening to perfect what I want to say tomorrow night.
***
It's Thursday morning…the day Lake forgives me. I hope. Caulder and Kel have already left with Lake. I hear Reece in the kitchen making coffee and decide now would be a good time to go have a talk with him. To thank him for being such a great friend all these years. Jackass.
When I walk into the kitchen ready to confront him, it's not Reece making coffee. It's not Lake, either. Vaughn is standing in my kitchen with her back turned to me. In her bra. Making coffee in my kitchen. Using my coffee pot. In my house. In her bra.
Why the hell is this my life?
"What the hell are you doing here, Vaughn?”
She jumps and turns around. "I…I didn't know you were here," she stutters. "Reece said you weren't here last night."
"Ugh!" I yell, frustrated. I turn my back to her and rub my face with my hands, trying to sort out how the hell to fix this whole 'roommate' situation. Just as I'm about to kick Vaughn out, Reece walks into the kitchen.
"What the hell, Reece? I told you not to bring her here!"
"Chill out, Will. What's it matter? You were asleep. You didn't even know she was here."
He casually walks to the cabinet and grabs a coffee cup. He's wearing boxer shorts. She's in her bra. I can't imagine what Lake would think if she walked in right now and saw Vaughn in my kitchen in her bra. I'm thisclose to getting Lake to forgive me. This would derail my entire plan.
"Get out! Both of you, get out!" I yell.
Neither of them moves. Vaughn looks at Reece, waiting for him to say something…or do something. Reece looks at me and rolls his eyes. "Let me give you a piece of advice, Will. Any girl that can make you as miserable as you've been this week isn't worth it. You're being an ass. You need to drop that chick. Move on. If you ask me, she ain't worth it."
This little piece of advice, coming from this man who could care less about anyone but himself, pushes me over the edge. I don't even know what comes over me. I don't know if it's the comment about Lake not being worth it, or the fact that I'm now aware he lied to me for months. Either way, I lunge forward and punch the shit out of him. As soon as my fist meets his face, it's agony. Vaughn is screaming at me as I back away from him, holding onto my fist with my other hand.
Jesus! In the movies it always looks like the one being hit is the only one hurt. They never show the damage it actually does to the hands doing the hitting.
"What the hell!?" Reece yells, holding his jaw. I expect him to try to punch me back but he doesn't. Maybe deep down, he knows he deserves it.
"Don't tell me she isn't worth it," I say, turning toward the refrigerator. I reach in and grab two ice packs. I throw one to Reece and put the other one on my fist. "And thanks, Reece….for being such a great friend. After my parents died and she broke up with me…" I point to Vaughn when I say 'she.' "You were the only one willing to stick around and help me through it. Too bad I didn't know you were helping her out, too."
Reece looks at Vaughn. "You told him?" he says.
Vaughn looks confused. "I thought he knew," she says defensively.
When Reece realizes I now know he dated Vaughn during the lowest point of my life, he becomes flustered. "Will, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen. It just happened."
I shake my head. "Things like that don't just happen, Reece. We've been best friends since we were ten! My whole damn world collapsed around me. For an entire month you acted like you were trying to help me get her back, but instead you were screwing her!"
Neither of them can look me in the eyes. "I know I said I'd let you stay here, but things are different now." I throw the icepack on the counter and walk toward the hallway. "I want you both gone. Now."
I shut my bedroom door behind me and collapse onto the bed. I can probably count the friends I have left on one hand. Actually, I can count them on one finger. I lay there for a while longer, wondering how I could have been so blind to his selfishness. I hear Reece walk to the spare bedroom, then the bathroom, packing up his things. I don't come back out of the bedroom until I'm positive they're both gone. When I hear his car pull away, I walk to the kitchen and pour myself a cup of coffee. I guess I’ll have to start making my own coffee again.
This isn’t a very good start to the day. I reach into the cabinet and grab a star out of the vase and unfold it.
"I want to have friends that I can trust, who love me for the man I've become…not the man that I was." -The Avett Brothers.
As soon as I read it, I look over my shoulder…half expecting Julia to be there smiling. It's eerie sometimes how fitting these quotes have been to the situation. Almost like she's writing them as life is happening…
Thursday, January 26th, 2012.
I can only hope that the next entry I write into this journal after my performance tonight will be something like this:
Now that I have you back, I’m never letting you go. That’s a promise. I’m not letting you go again.