Glimpse - A Novel Part 5

After youth group Avery and I stayed in our chairs. Man, I was super duper colossally horrible at this whole girlfriend thing. Plan? What plan? I guess I thought we'd just sit here and everyone would leave and then we would get right on the making out. Ugh.

"I'll collect the Bibles, Pastor Morris. I know you need to get upstairs." Avery stood, Bible in hand, and began picking up the other Bibles scattered across the table.

"Thanks, Avery. Zellie can show you where they go. See you guys upstairs." Pastor Morris shot an amused look at both of us and then made his way upstairs to prepare for the service.

I got to my feet and wiped the palms of my hands down the front of my knee length floral printed skirt. "I'm glad you thought of something," I said, reaching out and picking up a few of the Bibles that were near me. "I guess I'm not too good under pressure."

"Yeah, it took me almost all of youth group to come up with this." He nodded to his stack of Bibles. "You usually put them away? I really don't know where they go."

"They go in my dad's office." I walked over to the door, looking back at him as I opened it.

Avery followed me into the room, kicking the door closed behind him with his foot. Hot. Can I get an Amen? H-O-T.

"Just set them here." I pointed behind me to the top of the filing cabinet I just happened to be standing in front of.

Avery leaned past me, his cheek skimming mine as he placed the Bibles on the filing cabinet. Pulling back, he gazed into my eyes. The spell of the night before had not been broken.

"You still want to meet at the lake this afternoon?" he said, licking his lips.

"Yes," I lifted my mouth to his and gave him a quick, sweet kiss, "how are you going to get there?"

He ducked his head. "Um, I have to ride my bike." Avery pulled back from me a bit.

"Good," I giggled, leaning in and kissing him again, "I do too."

He slid his hands down my forearms, grasping my hands in his. He smiled a crinkly-eyed smile at me. "Your skin is so soft. Just like I thought it would be."

"Thanks." I smiled back. If I had to get up at five in the morning for the rest of my life and loofah the bejeezus out of myself, it was worth it to hear him say that.

He drew me to him and kissed me once more, and then buried his face in my hair and took a big whiff. It was so good to know we were the same kind of perv.

Reluctantly, he pushed himself away from me. "I'll see you at three. Meet me by the picnic tables, okay?"

I looked at the big clock on the wall behind my dad's desk. Crud! We were seriously late for the church service. "Okay. I'll see you at three." I pushed him toward the door. "Hurry. Church has started already."

Chapter Six.

It was 2:45. I was for sure going to be late to meet Avery. There was no way I was going to be able to make it home, change out of my church clothes, think of an excuse, and then ride my bike the three miles out to the lake.

Mom eased the minivan into the driveway. Both Melody and I shot out of the car, running through the house and into our room.

"Ick!" Melody said, collapsing on her bed. "I hate visiting sick people. Mom better not ever make me do that again."

"Yeah, well, she's being really weird today." I tore off my church clothes, slinging them over a hanger. "I'm supposed to meet Claire for a hike at the lake in like ten minutes and I'm going to be so late!"

"Bull," Melody said. She walked to her dresser, taking out a pair of shorts and pulled them on underneath her skirt.

"Bull what, Melody?" I didn't have the time to fight with or ask my sister for help. I kicked off my dressy white sandals.

"Bull you are meeting Claire at the lake. Everyone in church saw you and Avery coming in late to the service, including Mom." Melody pushed her skirt off over her shorts, letting it fall to the wood floor.

Mom opened our bedroom door and stuck her head in. "When you two are finished changing, come out to the back yard. I need help weeding the vegetable garden. Melody, pick up your skirt and hang it in the closet."

"But, Mom," I began, trying stay calm, "I promised Claire I would meet her out at the lake at three and now it's too late for me to call her and cancel."

"She has a cell phone doesn't she? Call her on that." She shook her head at me. "You know, you didn't ask for permission to go anywhere this afternoon. I don't appreciate that at all, young lady." Mom drew her head back into the hall and closed the bedroom door.

I couldn't help it; I threw one of the sandals after her. "c.r.a.p! What am I going to do now?"

"I guess you're going to help me and Mom weed the vegetable garden. You ruined my entire afternoon. I was supposed to be talking to Andy Cook on the phone since 1:30." Melody picked up the sandal. "But no, Mom thinks there's something going on and I get dragged along on the sick people visits to keep an eye on you." She threw the sandal back at me, just missing my head, and then flung the bedroom door open. "I can't wait to help you weed Mom! Zellie can't either! What a nice way to spend an afternoon!"

I sunk down to the floor and leaned back against my bed. I hoped Avery wouldn't be too mad at me. Worst girlfriend ever.

The fumes from the wood stain made Avery dizzy. He was pretty sure that he should be wearing some sort of breathing mask. It was just further proof that his father enjoyed torturing him. He slapped the paintbrush against the porch railing.

On a p.i.s.sed off scale of 1-10 he figured Zellie was going to be about an 8. Their first kinda sorta date and instead of kissing her and talking to her and kissing her some more, here he was sweating his b.u.t.t off, asphyxiating in the sun with his dad. Worst boyfriend ever.

"Make sure you get the stain in there real good. This isn't the time to be doing a half-a.s.sed job." His dad stood over him. "Okay...that's better. Good job."

Did his dad just give him a compliment? He was up to something.

The Adams men worked on staining the front porch for over an hour before his dad spoke. "Son, what were you doing with Zellie Wells during church today?"

Avery became intent on the railing he was working on. "Nothing, I don't know what you're talking about."

His dad set his paintbrush down, then took him by the shoulders, looking into his eyes. "You both came into the service late at the same time this morning. You have to be careful around her."

"Why?" Avery asked, backing out of his father's grip.

This time when his dad grabbed him by the shoulders, it was not so gently. "Listen, this is for your own good. Break things off with her now before you get in too deep."

"Dad, I like her, she likes me, that's it. I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this." Avery resumed working on his railing.

"I don't want you to get hurt like...I need to keep you safe."

Avery was really confused, where was all of this coming from? Then he remembered how his Dad had behaved with Zellie's mom at the birthday party. Was he jealous? "We're not you and her mom, y'know." His dad blinked hard, taken aback. That was was it. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't be with her, when you can't seem to be without Mrs. Wells." He tightened his grip on his paintbrush handle. "Don't think the entire town hasn't noticed how embarra.s.sing you two are with each other." it. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't be with her, when you can't seem to be without Mrs. Wells." He tightened his grip on his paintbrush handle. "Don't think the entire town hasn't noticed how embarra.s.sing you two are with each other."

"You will do as I say because I'm your father and I said so. That's reason enough." He let go of Avery's shoulders, looking at him with a glimmer of sadness in his eyes.

"Can we just finish staining the deck? I have a lot of homework to do." Avery turned away from his dad, more determined to be with Zellie than ever.

Sitting on his bedroom floor with his back against his bed, Avery pulled his shirt out from his chest and sniffed it. Great Great, he totally reeked of wood stain. He dialed Zellie's phone number, hoping she wasn't too mad at him for not showing up at the lake.

Pastor Paul answered the phone. "h.e.l.lo?"

"Hi, uh, is Zellie there?"

"Who's calling?"

"It's Avery Adams, sir."

"Oh, Avery, hi, Zellie's mom has her doing hard labor out in the garden. Can I take a message?"

Wonderful, so it wasn't just him being imprisoned by his parents? What were they up to? "No, that's okay. I'll see her at school tomorrow. Thanks, um, bye."

"Bye."

Later that night he lay in bed fully clothed, listening for his parents. He'd heard his dad turn off the eleven o'clock news about a half hour before. They were sure to be asleep by now.

He crept from his bed, inching open his bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway. The wood floorboards creaked beneath him. This would have been so much easier if he could've fit through his bedroom window. He made his way to the garage, opened the side door and wheeled his bike out to the street before getting on it. He looked back at his house, everything was dark and still.

Riding his bike at this time of night was peaceful. All the houses were quiet, only a few had their TV's on, the light strobing though sheer curtains. The park by Zellie's house was empty, so much calmer when there weren't any kids in the sandboxes or on the swings. Avery noticed that they had reached the time of year when the city left the fountain flowing constantly. The night was hushed enough for him to hear the water cascading from the cherub's pitchers into the pool below.

He parked his bike at the end of the Wells' gravel driveway and made his way around the side of the house.

Walking down the length of it, he ran his hand along the siding to balance himself in case he tripped over something in the dark. Standing to the side of what he thought was Zellie's bedroom window; he tapped his fingers on the gla.s.s.

Someone was shaking me. "Zellie, wake up!" Melody whispered, "Avery's at the window."

"What?" I opened my eyes. I was clutching my belly. I'd been dreaming his vision.

"Avery's at the window, Zel. He wants to talk to you." Melody backed away and pointed outside. Avery waved at me.

I got up and opened the window. "Hey," I said, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. G.o.d, I must look horrible! Not to mention the fact that I was wearing my Minnie Mouse night shirt. The embarra.s.sment, it seemed, would never end.

He stuck his head into the room and gave me a quick kiss on the mouth. "Hey, can you come with me somewhere?"

I looked at Melody sitting on her bed watching us like we were in a movie. "Right now?" I wanted nothing more than to go with him, but I was also afraid of getting grounded for the rest of my life.

Avery looked to Melody. "You're not going to say anything, are you Mel?"

"Not if Zellie gives me her allowance for the next two weeks, I won't." Melody spit on her hand and stuck it out to me.

I spit on my hand and shook Melody's. "Deal."

The excitement of what I was about to do was thrilling. I grabbed a pair of jeans from the closet and pulled them on under my night shirt. I debated for about two seconds whether I should put a bra on, but decided I couldn't be incognito enough to get it on with Avery standing right there. I was thankful for my nice little B-cups for once in my life. I slipped on my flip flops and then went to the window, trying to figure out the best way to climb through it without making too much noise.

Avery held the window all the way up while I stepped up onto my and Melody's desk. I slung my leg over the sill and ducked under the window pane. He put his arms around my waist, helping me out the rest of the way.

I let the window slide closed with a soft thud and mouthed "thanks" to Melody. Avery took my hand and led me around the side of the house down the driveway to where his bike was. "I'm sorry I didn't meet you at the lake, my dad made me help him stain the deck."

I smiled. It was a relief to know that I wasn't the only one whose parents forced them to do ch.o.r.es. I think Claire would have to look the definition of ch.o.r.es up in the dictionary. "Yeah, well I was in weeding h.e.l.l all afternoon and couldn't get away either." I put my arms around his waist, hugging him to me. "You're here now and that's all that matters. So, where are we going?"

Avery took my hands from around his waist. "Let's walk over to the park across the street. I have some things I need to talk to you about." He took hold of my hand and started walking.

This couldn't be good. Had he decided that I was a dork after all? Had he realized that I was not worth his time? Was I too freakishly tall? Melody said guys didn't like it when you were the same height as them. Did I not know how to gauge his feelings at all? No. I knew him. I already knew him. It had to be something besides me that was getting in the way of us.

We sat down on a bench underneath a street light. I could hear the water spilling from one level to the next in the fountain behind us. If what he was going to tell me was really bad I could always go drown myself in it. Let the cherubs take me down.

Avery turned to me, still holding my hand. "My dad doesn't want me to start seeing you. He says that it's for my own good, to keep me safe. Do you have any idea why he would say that?"

My hands began to tremble. Before I was kinda kidding about the fountain, but now maybe not. I'd been with Avery not even two whole days and now his dad was making him break up with me? And was he going to obey him and do it? "So your dad knows about us? What did you tell him?"

"I didn't tell him anything. He saw us both coming into church late and put two and two together I guess." Avery scooted closer, wrapping his arms around me to quiet the trembling that was taking over my body.

I searched his eyes, he was telling the truth. Of course he was. This was something our parents were doing to us. Avery still wanted to be with me. "My mom must know too, that's why she kept me from meeting you today. I honestly don't know why they would be trying to keep us apart."

He nodded. "You know they were engaged? Your mom and my dad?"

"Yeah, but for like a minute." Could that be why? That didn't seem fair at all and it was so long ago. I shook my head. "They were high school sweethearts. My mom said they broke up when she went away to school in St. Louis. They've been over for more than twenty years. You don't think that has anything to do with us, do you?"

"I don't know." Avery shrugged. "It just seems like the most logical explanation." His eyes grew wide and he loosened his grip on me just slightly. "Hey, you don't think we're, like, related or something?"

"No! Gross!" I slapped him on the chest. "There is no way that's what's going on. Yuck, I can't believe you said that!" Okay, it had crossed my mind for like a nanosecond, but I didn't want to have to change my firm "no" stance on incest, so I'd let it go. Too skeevy. I tried to pull away from him, but he just pulled me closer, laughing.

"Our moms were best friends too," he said. I've seen a picture of them with my dad and Jason's standing in front of your mom's old house before their prom. Maybe it has something to do with them not being friends anymore?"

"Maybe." I chewed my lower lip. This was something Claire and I had debated several times. "Do you know why they don't like each other? I mean, they were as close as me and Claire and I can't imagine us not being friends."

Avery looked up at the street light. "I think it might have something to do with my sister." His eyes met mine, his face somber now. "Did you know that? That I had an older sister? Her name was Erin. My family never talks about it."

"No, I've never heard any mention of her." That surprised me, not that I knew everything about Avery, but Rosedell was a pretty tight community, surely I would have heard about him having a sister? Something really bad must have happened- Oh. The now familiar smell of pine began tickling my nose. "What happened to her?" I asked, not really needing to. Images of a baby girl, sprawled out on a hospital bed, tubes running up her nose and into her arms, flashed through my mind.

"She had leukemia." His eyes filled with tears and he looked away. "Actually, my parents partly had me because my bone marrow maybe would've helped her. She didn't...she died before I was old enough for it to be harvested."