Page 27 of Reckless
Obnoxioussoundwokemeup. It took me a few seconds to recognize it as the doorbell. I glanced at my phone. Five in the morning. I dug my head under the pillow, waiting for whoever was outside to go away. A minute after the doorbell stopped ringing, my phone started to.
Unknown number.
“Yes,” I answered the call with a growl.
“Good morning, sunshine,” a male voice boomed on the other side of the line. I wasn’t conscious enough to recognize who it belonged to, but my brain didn’t miss the wordsunshine. Not only that, but it immediately flashed me an image of Hannah Spencer.
“Who is this?”
“Your brother-in-law.”
“I don’t have a brother-in-law.” Lucas just laughed and ignored my remark.
“We are leaving in an hour.”
“Yeah, you do that. I will catch up with you later.” I yawned. The dickhead rang the doorbell again, signaling me he wasn’t leaving until I got up. Other people gathered around him. Everyone was shouting and laughing.
“You don’t have a car and no offense, but we both know that if I don’t drag you with us, you would never come on your own.”
He was right about that. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I came here for that camping trip, didn’t I?
“Fine,” I snarled. “I’m up.”
“We will wait at my parents’ house,” Lucas said and killed the call.
I took a shower and tried to remember why the hell I agreed to this bullshit. At five in the morning, my sister’s pregnancy seemed like a stupid reason.
Twenty minutes later, I entered the Coles’ residence. Their front door was almost entirely blocked with huge backpacks. I vaguely recognized Lucas’ younger brother Troy. The last time I saw him he was still in junior high. He looked like a man now. He was already taller than his brother.
I also recognized Lucas’s annoying friend Chase. He was going to be the best man, no doubt.
The other two guys I didn’t know, so I introduced myself with the title of the brother-in-law, because apparently that was what I was now.
“Tyler,” I heard a female voice behind my back. Elizabeth Cole, Lucas’s mother, came down the stairs. “Chaperoning again?”
“It won’t be the same without you. I’m not big on rules, remember?”
She laughed, came to me, and leaned closer.
“I instructed everyone to keep an eye on Troy. He’s sixteen and causing trouble is his newfound power. Other than that, it should be fine,” she paused to watch Lucas and Chase wrestle each other in the middle of her living room. “Or not. I’m pretty sure Chase hasn’t evolved emotionally since he was ten.” She tore her gaze away from them. “So, did you meet Mike?”
“Nope. But I heard all about him last night.”
“You are going to love him. He is amazing.”
“If you say so.”
My mother revealed to me the existence of a man named Mike, who apparently was her boyfriend. She left me alone last night explaining she was basically living with him at his place. They met at an A.A. meeting six months ago.
Was I worried my mother lived with an addict she met six months ago? Yes.
Was I glad she left me alone for the night and spared me her nagging? Also yes.
My mother and I ran out of things to talk about years ago. Our conversations consisted of her whining about my life choices and me pretending I was listening. Now we had one new topic. Her boyfriend Mike.
An hour after Lucas woke me up, we got into the cars. Elizabeth and her husband reluctantly saw their younger son off. It was understandable, considering they were letting him go into the mountains with a bunch of grownup men, one of which was Chase. Bad influence was written all over his face. Same could be said about me though, so no judgement.
I sat in the back seat in Chase’s car. Lucas’s cousin sat in the passenger seat and the two of them talked about football. Chase was a professional player now. I pretended I was sleeping which I could probably do if they continued their boring conversation.
