The Ballerina

To say that Tuck’s room was much more extravagant than Luke’s would be an understatement. He had two very expensive looking laptops on a fancy desk, a giant sound system, three bookshelves filled that reached the ceiling, and flat screen TV on the north wall. The bed was like a sea of black and white sheets and pillows.

It was obvious that Tuck took advantage of their father’s wealth for his own benefit. Acelynn remembered the shiny, sleek sports car from the night before. She didn’t know much about parent-child psychology, but she had a hunch that Tuck was trying to keep Mr. Spencer close by spending his money.

“Nice.” The girl breathed quietly. She turned to face Tuck, and he didn’t have a goofy grin on, or anything other than serious. When he didn’t respond other than to just stare at her, Acelynn continued to talk. “We need to talk.”

“What; you’re not gonna break up with me are you?” Tuck finally said with a thick, heaping pile of sarcasm on top. “Because that would be devastating.” He said this lightly, but his eyes remained stony.

Acelynn’s expression didn’t change at all. Her face was completely emotionless. “I need to know what happened after I passed out.”

“We’ve been through so much together, my pet.” The jade-eyed boy continued as if Acelynn hadn’t said anything. “Those strolls in the park, the drives through the night, hangin’ with the guys. It would be such a shame to end that.”

“Just shut up, would you?” The brunette snapped at him. “You’re not funny, you’re not intimidating me, and you’re not being cool. All you’re doing is annoying the hell out of me. So why can’t you get that giant stick out of your ass and tell me what happened?”

Tuck’s eyes narrowed, and Acelynn could tell her words were sinking in. “I just want to know one thing first – why would you hurt Luke like that?”

“Hurt Luke how? I didn’t do anything to him.” Acelynn growled. She crossed her arms across her chest.

“Well first of all, Luke pours his heart and soul out to you when you play swing-set or whatever the hell you do; and you still expect him to clean up all your problems. He’s got enough of his own, for your information. He can’t play Superman at any moment you want to pretend to be Lois Lane. And secondly, how stupid can you be to cut your fucking wrist?” Tuck shouts the last part in her face.

Like water droplets on the windshield of a car, tears threatened to mark paths down Acelynn’s cheeks. How could he possibly be angry at her for doing something like that? It wasn’t like she was forcing Luke to do it with her or anything – and it wasn’t a regular thing. Acelynn was disoriented that night and in such a rutty depression, it was the only thing she could think of doing that could help ease the pain. Tuck didn’t have any idea of what she was going through. “Why are you yelling at me about this? And how is this hurting Luke?”

“Because for some God-awful reason, Luke loves you in a way that I can’t wrap my mind around. You’re needy, you mooch off of him and his pain, all you do is whine and cry about your terrible life. He may think that you help him, but you and I both know that it’s the other way around.”

“You’re not making any sense!” Acelynn cried, and pulled at her hair. “How am I hurting Luke?”

“Luke needs someone who can take care of him – not make it worse. Do you know how awful last night was for him? When he found out that it wasn’t that you could understand him, but you were like him. You hurt yourself on purpose just because Mommy said something mean.” Tuck sneered as the tears fell down Acelynn’s face. “I brought you to him all bloody and shit. And do you know what – you made him fucking break down on his knees and cry.”

Against her own will, Acelynn pictured a frightened Luke by her bedside, with his hands on his face trying to wipe away the tears. She wiped away her own with her sleeve.

“He thinks that it’s his fault – that’s he’s been too much of an influence over you.” Tuck said a lot calmer. He looked down at his floor and said almost to himself: “Last night, while you were asleep… He almost…” But he shook his head and returned his fiery gaze back to the girl as he trailed off.

“So what the hell do you want me to do?” Acelynn hiccupped. “Do you want me to stay away from him – what? What can I do to make it okay?” She never would have thought that she would ever ask Tuck for advice.

Suddenly, through tear-filled eyes, the green-eyed man looked a lot more parental than Acelynn ever remembered. Tuck stood a few feet away, his chest rising and falling with rage. His fists were clenched, and his feet in a balancing stance. It was as if an imaginary Luke was behind him, and he was protecting his little brother from the mental-harlot, who leeched from the teen’s very core.

Acelynn remembered from the first day she met Tuck that Luke explained that he used to watch over his older brother from getting into trouble. But maybe it was the other way around now – Acelynn wasn’t quite sure when Luke got to his self-destructive state, and maybe that’s why Tuck had settled down. To watch over his kid brother from going too far.

“Of course not.” Tuck snapped. “You can’t leave him now. If you leave, he’ll come looking for you. He doesn’t want you to be like him, Acelynn. He wants you to be normal and happy. He’d do any – fucking – thing for you.”

“So what do you want me to do?” The brunette whimpered.

Tuck had calmed down with Acelynn’s question, and his breathing evened. “I want you to get better. Get help or something.” He said sharply at first. But his eyes mellowed as he stepped towards the shivering girl. He pushed back a strand of hair behind her ear; like a friend, a mother, a counselor, or even just someone who cared about her in general. It didn’t fit the picture Acelynn held for him. “For him, but even more – for yourself.” He murmured.

“Okay.” Acelynn breathed, not knowing what to do. She was still uncomfortable with being that close to Tuck. She tried to shrink away as much as possible without moving her feet, but she didn’t get far.

Tuck either didn’t realize her discomfort, or didn’t care. He remained placed extremely close to her own body. After a pause, he began to speak. “I brought you here after you passed out. Luke took you to his room and fixed you up. Your parents called here around three this morning, asking if you were here. Luke told them you were, and not to worry. He didn’t let the hairy details slip, and they wanted to come pick you up. He didn’t want them to, but hey – they’re your parents. I figured you wouldn’t want to go home after your little incident, so I told them you were eighteen and you were legally an adult.”

Acelynn nodded at the floor, not wanting to look at Tuck, even though he was finally giving her what she asked for.

“I’m not sure if that actually works, you still being in high school and all, but it got them to shut up. I think they decided to Google all that shit. Either that or –“ Acelynn felt Tuck shrug. She had a feeling that he was going to say something terribly mean, but he held off.

“Thank you.” The brunette whispered. For both keeping her parents at bay, and for finally telling her about that night.

“Oh and I just remembered—“ Tuck said.

And suddenly, His mouth was on hers. It was a solid, cold kiss. His arms wrapped around the small girl’s body in a tight embrace. He locked her arms in between her body and his much larger appendages. She couldn’t escape.

It wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t “a dream come true” and it wasn’t enjoyed. In fact, the moment Acelynn wiggled herself free; she instinctively took her right hand and slapped Tuck’s face. She thought that it only happened in the movies; when the romantic black-and-white couple shares a kiss on a beach scene. The woman slaps the man for doing the bold move, even though she’s really into it as well. But Acelynn wasn’t into it, and she didn’t want the kiss.

Tuck made a slow motion to touch his reddened cheek gingerly with his fingers. He let out a cough that sounded a little like a small laugh, and said: “Happy-fucking-birthday.”

Acelynn turned even redder with anger covering her embarrassment. She stormed towards the door and yanked it open. She took one last look at Tuck and his green-eyes before leaving. “And a happy go to hell to you.” She hissed.

So she left Tuck with some questions answered, but even more now buzzing in her head. As usual with the strange boy, she was more confused after talking to him than before.