Hurricane

June 2005

The next day, Pete arrived earlier than usual to pick me up. When I went downstairs, he was talking to my mother.

“Hey,” Pete said, smiling at me. I smiled back and my mom turned to look at me.

“Good morning, Molly,” she said. “Pete was just saying that his parents want you to stay for dinner at their house tonight.”

I looked at Pete and then at my mom.

“Is that okay?” my mother asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s fine.”

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“Do your parents know about me?” I asked Pete as I sat on his bed.

“What do you mean?” Pete asked. I looked at my hands and let out a shaky breath.

“Do they know about what I did?” I asked. I didn’t want to go into specifics. Pete looked up from his notebook and at me.

“Yeah,” Pete said. “Well—I think they have an idea. They know that Patty wanted you to start hanging with me.”

I nodded my head. It was silent again and I looked out of the window that was over Pete’s bed. I expected to hear the sound of Pete writing again, but it continued to stay silent. I looked at Pete out of curiosity and saw that he was watching me.

“What?” I asked.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” I said. Pete nodded his head. It was silent for a moment before Pete spoke again.

“I’m sorry it’s so boring here,” Pete said.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, we don’t do anything and I usually just sit here and write,” he said. “You must be dying of boredom.”

“No,” I said. Pete looked slightly shocked. “I actually haven’t been bored when I’m here. I, um—like watching your write.”

I looked away from Pete then, feeling my face warm slightly. Another moment of silence.

“I still feel bad,” Pete said quietly. I looked up at him.

“Don’t,” I said. “Besides, if I was bored, I’d probably let you know.”

“I doubt that,” Pete said, smirking at me now.

“Okay, maybe I wouldn’t,” I said. “But from now on, I promise to tell you if I’m ever bored.”

“You better,” Pete said. He smiled at me and I smiled back. Pete went back to writing.

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Around 5:30, noise from downstairs suddenly drifted up to us. I normally left at 5, before anyone had even come home. A moment later, there was footsteps coming towards Pete’s room and the door burst open to reveal a boy who was obviously younger than Pete.

“Pete,” he said loudly. Then he noticed me and smirked before looking back at Pete. “Sorry. Didn’t realize you had a girl in here with you.”

The boy left quickly, re-closing the door. I distinctly heard him yell, “Pete’s got a girl in his room!”

Pete looked at me apologetically.

“Sorry about that,” Pete said. “That’s my brother—Andrew.”

I nodded my head as Pete closed his notebook.

“Let’s go downstairs,” he said. “My mom is probably home now.”

“Okay,” I said, suddenly feeling nervous. I got off of Pete’s bed and followed him out into the hallway. When we reached the top of the stairs, Pete turned to look at me.

“Hey,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t look so scared. My family’s not that scary.”

I gave him a slight smile, which he returned. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we ran into a girl who was definitely too young to be Pete’s mom. I assumed that this was his sister. She smiled when she saw me.

“You must be Molly,” she said. “I’m Hilary, Pete’s sister.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, giving her a small smile. She grinned back at me.

“I’m sorry about Andrew, by the way,” she said. “He’s not all that bright.”

“Hey!” Andrew said, coming to join us. “I heard that. And besides, how was I supposed to know that she wasn’t some new girlfriend of Pete’s?”

“Maybe because of the fact that you know that Molly comes over every day and that she is staying for dinner,” Hilary said.

“I didn’t know that,” Andrew said. Hilary rolled her eyes. I felt a hand on my arm and looked at Pete who was indicating for me to follow him. Leaving Hilary and Andrew at the bottom of the stairs, I followed Pete to the kitchen.

“Mom,” he said, as a woman who was standing by the stove came into view. She turned to smile at us.

“Oh, Molly!” she said coming over to us. She surprised me when she wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

She pulled away, leaving her hands on my shoulders. Her eyes moved over my face and her smile grew.

“You are absolutely beautiful,” she said. “I’m so glad that you agreed to stay for dinner.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Thanks for having me, Mrs. Wentz.”

“Oh, anytime Molly,” she said. “And don’t call me Mrs. Wentz. You can call me Dale.”

“Is Dad home yet?” Pete asked.

“No,” Dale said, frowning slightly. “He said he might not make it. He’s got a lot to do at the office.”

Pete nodded his head, and turned to smile at me.

“Well, you’ve met most of the family at least,” Pete said.

“Yeah,” I said.

“And it wasn’t that bad, was it?” Pete asked. I shook my head and Dale laughed.

“Was she nervous?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Pete said. Dale smiled at me before returning to the stove.

“Dinner will be done in about 30 minutes,” she said.

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“Thanks for dinner, Dale,” I said as Pete and I were getting ready to leave.

“Oh, no problem, Molly,” she said. “Stay whenever you want.”

I smiled at her as Pete opened the front door.

It was quiet in Pete’s SUV until I decided to break the silence.

“Your mom is really nice,” I said.

“I’m glad you liked her,” Pete said. It was quiet for a moment before Pete spoke again. “I’m kind of glad that you didn’t meet my dad tonight though.”

“Why?” I asked, giving Pete a confused look.

“Well…it’s just that my dad hasn’t been too happy recently,” Pete said. “Because of what I did. I don’t know how he’d be around you.”

“Oh,” was all I said. It was silent again until we reached my house.

“Thank you for driving me home,” I said.

“No problem,” Pete said. I opened the passenger side door and got out of the vehicle.

“See you tomorrow,” I said, before closing the door. Pete smiled at me and backed out of the driveway. I watched him go before entering my house.