The sun warmed our skin, the slight breeze carrying the first trace of Fall. Lucas and I shared the boulder near the stream on the last afternoon at the cabin. Our pinkies hooked together while we watched the clouds float past forming shapes and characters we invented. We were in a short-lived state of bliss. A moment when we could pretend the last few months at the Carter house hadn’t been the hardest of their lives.
A week had passed since the explosive feud erupted, and Lucas still wore the purplish bruises as a sickening reminder. The wound on his cheek was healing the best it could, but it would permanently mark him. The violent boyfriend had once again taken off leaving Mrs. Carter bedridden with grief.
Shortly after, Mason packed a bag, and without so much as a word to his fractured family, he left. It had been almost a week, and he hadn’t yet contacted home. The Carters’ lives had been turned upside down, but for the briefest moment, Lucas wanted to forget everyone and everything from the world that was crumbling around him.
“No way,” Lucas exclaimed in disbelief. His laughter lit up my heart.
“Yes way,” I insisted. “Mr. Wilkins went in with his tie perfectly knotted, and hair gelled back and came out with it mussed up and his first two shirt buttons undone.”
More laughter, his pinkie tightening around mine. I had been telling Lucas about this week’s class excursion to the city’s research facility. Mr. Wilkins, my science teacher, had struck quite the affection with the lead female researcher. After exchanging coy smiles and flirtatious glances all day, my teacher and his mutual admirer had disappeared. We were outside waiting for our buses’ arrival to return the class to school when Mr. Wilkins excused himself and casually, yet with a suddenly awkward swagger, walked back into the facility. When the bus arrived, and we boarded sans our teacher, we were left waiting for fifteen minutes until Mr. Wilkins returned looking unusually disheveled. There were giggles and innuendos thrown into the mix, all of which he expertly ignored. There was no denying the small smile on his lips for the rest of the journey home.
“Truth or dare?” Lucas asked, suddenly serious.
“Truth.” He knows I would always choose truth, but this was the game.
“What do you think life will be like when we finish school?”
A cloud in the shape of a duck slowly crept above us creating a shadow, absorbing the last of the heat.
“Scary,” I finally said.
“What’s scary about it?”
A hard lump formed in my throat. “I’m scared that when we graduate we’ll be sent in opposite directions and we’ll never see each other.”
“It doesn’t matter what we both end up doing, we’ll always be in each other’s lives, Gem.”
I dropped my head to the side to study his profile. “We have totally different interests, Lucas. We can’t guarantee that.”
This time, his eyes met mine. “You’re my rock, Gem,” he said, voice shaky with emotion. “Nothing and no one will ever tear us apart.”
“Do you mean that?”
“With all my heart.” Lucas smiled before returning his gaze to the sky. “Besides…” he said, a small smile playing on his lips, “… you won’t even remember me a month into college.”
“Oh! And why is that, Mr. Carter?”
“You’re beautiful, Gem. Smart, witty. You’ll be every guy’s dream girl.”
My heart both melted and shattered, tears prickling my eyes. “By the time we see each other on break, you’ll already have a rock on your finger.”
“That’s not true, and you know it.”
There was a pause before he finally spoke, “I don’t want it to be true.”
“Then let’s make a promise,” I said, turning on my side and facing him. He did the same, and we got lost in each other’s eyes.
“And what would that be?” he asked, playfully.
“If we’re both still single by the time we’re thirty, let’s marry each other.”
“I don’t think I can wait till we’re thirty, Gem.”
My heart exploded.
I touched his cheek, his skin soft. “You’re the only girl I’ll ever want,” he continued, and I believed every word.
“Spare me the bullshit!”
Huh?
We sat up, startled by the familiar patronizing voice behind us.
“Where the hell have you been?” Lucas’s tone was both angered and pained, a stark contradiction to only moments earlier.
“Calm down, little brother,” Mason replied flippantly. His mood was one I couldn’t quite place. While he was somewhat chilled with Lucas, his attitude toward me was cold and spiteful. “You two planning on getting hitched, are ya?” A cruel smile played on his lips. “Shhh, don’t let Jessica find out.”
Confusion marred Lucas’s face. “What are you talking about?” It was too late, Mason was already walking away, his head thrown back in a masochistic laugh. There was no Jessica. It was a ruse, but Lucas wasn’t yet finished. He jumped off the rock and held his hand out for me to take. After helping me to the ground, he stalked after Mason. I followed quickly behind, hoping and praying the altercation wouldn’t turn violent.
“You didn’t answer my question, Mason. Where the hell have you been?”
His brother kept walking a few steps ahead before he suddenly turned on his heel, his eyes reflecting the devil himself. “I had to get out of there before I killed that fucker!” he seethed.
“So, you just leave Mom and me there to deal with his shit?”
“We wouldn’t be in this situation if Mom didn’t keep taking him back. She obviously doesn’t give a fuck about whether we’re met with his fist every time he comes around, so why the fuck should I stay? Dad never laid a hand on us.”
“Dad fucked off, Mason! He left us for some other family and forgot about his own. And now you’re fucking off, too.” Lucas’s voice began to waver, and I gripped his arm in support. “So why keep coming back?”
“Why do I keep coming back?” Mason raised his brows and advanced a few steps. “If I stayed, he would be dead…” his finger jabbed into Lucas’s chest, “… and I would be sent to jail. I come back to make sure my little brother and stupid mother are all right.”
“Yeah, well…” Lucas scoffed. “Too bad if one day you come home and we’ve received more than the regular Friday night bashing.”
Mason bared his teeth while biting down hard on his bottom lip. “Then come with me. Better yet, we’ll move all our shit into the cabin. We have a roof over our heads and no one except Gem will know where to find us.”
“You don’t even have a job, Mason, and I still haven’t finished school.”
“Then we’re shit outta luck, aren’t we?”
Lucas, done with the conversation, turned in the direction of the cabin, swiping angrily at a low hanging tree branch.
Mason, being older, was taller and stronger and could stand up to a grown man. All Lucas wanted was to know his brother was around in times of need and would have his back. But in the same sense, I understood Mason… to a degree. At his current age, he walked a fine line. In most situations, he would be considered a minor still, but if he did something the court considered severe, he would be tried as an adult and face the full brunt of the law. It was a catch-22, and neither of the boys had the answers.
“Lucas, wait,” I called after him. He stopped at the sound of my voice but refused to turn around. Instead, he wiped his hand across his cheeks not wanting us to see him cry.
A rock formed in my throat and the words struggled to come out. “I brought enough food for the weekend. Let’s just all stay and see what we can come up with. There’s got to be an answer, we just don’t know what it is yet.”
Sliding his hands into his pockets, Lucas looked up to the sky. I took his silence as agreement.
Mason retrieved his bag from the nearby shrubs and despite having enough room to go around me, knocked his shoulder into mine. “What’s to eat? I’m starving.”
~
The evening came and went without drama.