It wasn't much longer before the screen went black, and I was helping her down from the truck bed and driving her home. I parked down the street and walked with her up to the house, standing just out of view of her front windows with my hand tangled into hers.
“They’re never going to accept that I’m some poor farmer kid,” I said quietly, my confidence shaking under the ominous mansion. Everything about it mocked my inability to provide her with that down the road. Our future would never look so rich.
“Since when do you care what they think?” She asked me as her fingers brushed my jaw and forced me to look at her.
“I only care about you,” I said. “I want out of this town, Rae, and I want to take you with me, but…” I scowled and took a moment to collect all of my scattered thoughts. “I’ll never be able to give you that,” I nodded to her perfect white fence and rose bushes.
“Good,” she laughed, the sound unexpected. “I don’t want to live or die in a house like that, cold and unwelcoming. Empty hallways and untouched furniture.”
“You don’t mean that you’re just trying to make me feel better,” I said, and she shook her head.
“Until you came along, there wasn’t a single person who had ever noticed me. Not the way you do…” she smiled up at me. “You took me to the drive-in tonight based on the sole fact that you’veseenhow well I read my copy of the book. That’s more than just throwing money at me andmaking me comfortable.” Lorraine said the last part with venom. “I want to live,” she said, “I want to laugh and love…I want to struggle and learn.” She added. “I want that with you. I don’t care where we go or where we live. As long as I have you and the stars, I’ll be happy.”
I stared at her, every word she said with confidence and a startling lack of hesitation.
“And I hate roses,” she said with a scoff, “lavender bushes, I want a thousand lavender bushes.”
“Alright, alright,” I threw my hands up in surrender. “Loveandlavender bushes,” I said.
CODY
An A.
“Congratulations, Mr. Cody. Looks like you’ll get to play in your game.”
I stared down at the paper in my shaky hands and tried not to scream in the middle of English class when I saw that ugly red marker in the shape of an A.
I got a fucking A!
When the bell rang, I collected my bag and beelined for the library. The door slammed against the wall, and the librarian startled up from her desk with a scowl on her face. I apologized in passing and crept through the main space before checking all the aisles, but Lorraine was nowhere to be found.
“Again?” I swore and jogged down to my truck. I didn’t care what her parents said. I wanted to show her my paper and my grade. I only wanted to celebrate with her. The drive up to the gated community was longer than any other day I’ve driven it, but when I finally found myself on her street, my heart was ready to pound out of my chest.
I don’t know why I was so nervous. It was as if she would tell me our friendship was over now that I didn’t need her help anymore or anything, but I couldn’t breathe as I knocked on the door.
It took a moment, but before I could knock again, footsteps approached the door, and it unlocked. Lorraine’s father stood with tired eyes in what appeared to be an old suit with a loose tie.
“Mr. Cody?” He narrowed his gaze on me, rolling from head to toe as he sighed. “She’s not home, and you shouldn’t be here.”
“Where is she then?” I asked him, ignoring the judgmental tone to his dry voice.
“She’s out with her Mother,” he answered quickly and aimed to close the door in my face, but I stopped him. The Field family had a habit of that closing doors on people in the middle of conversations.
“Out where?” I asked. His answer created a tidal wave of unsettling worry.
“Son, it’s none of your business,” he answered, and that time, he managed to get the door closed. I groaned and flexed my hands at my sides, tempted to bang on the door again.
I looked around the porch to find traces of her without luck. None of her usual were lying around, no sweaters or blankets. Even the space where her telescope occupied was empty, leaving three small, worn-in circles where the tripod typically stood.
My heart hadn’t slowed, and my throat felt sticky as I snuck around the side of the house to chuck a few rocks at her bedroom window, just hoping that the nauseating gut feeling I had was wrong.
I threw rock after rock, the last one hitting so hard it created a tiny splinter of glass. I stepped back against the fence with a sad huff.There’sa chance she is just out with her mom…I thought, but that worry still licked at the back of my mind, and I couldn’t leave it be.
Spinning on my heel, I followed the fence and shoved my way into Landry’s backyard, hoisting my weight onto the barbecue and then onto his balcony. I clicked the lock on his sliding door and dipped inside of his empty room.
“Landry?” I called out without an answer. I kicked around his room, trying to figure out where he had gone before exiting his room, wandering downstairs, and calling out to him again.
“He’s not home,” Landry’s older sister, Margaret, stood in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal with a magazine spread open on the island. Her long red hair was braided back over her shoulders, and her attention was minimal as I moved closer. “How did you even get in here?”
