The Ballerina

Acelynn jumped into the old, familiar red truck as Luke did. She had gotten better at closing the door and slamming it shut became more fluid. The two sat in the quiet, just listening to each other’s breathing.

It was so unfamiliar for Acelynn to be going straight to Luke’s house. Well, it was their house now. But still, it made her feel odd not going to therapy or her old house.

“So how as school?” Luke asked after much silence.

“You sound like a parent.” Acelynn laughed. “School was okay, I guess. It was the same as it has always been. How was your day?”

“Same. It was pretty boring.” The boy agreed.

It wasn’t long before they pulled into the Spencer driveway. Luke parked inside of their garage to avoid ice to form on the windshield. Usually he had parked it in the street, but it had begun to get colder and colder outside. It was only that morning where they both woke up late and rushed to get out the door. If they had parked outside, it would have been that much longer to get to school. And if Acelynn was late for her anatomy class one more time, she could possibly lose the credit and not graduate.

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” Tuck screamed.

The moment Acelynn and Luke walked into their home it was a screaming matched between the two eldest Spencers. Tuck was shouting at Brian, and Brian was shouting back. It seemed incredibly out of character for Mr. Spencer to be showing this much emotion. Obviously he was worked up about something Tuck said, or vice versa.

“Don’t you talk to me like that! This has nothing to do with you! You’re nineteen, god dammit! You’re not under my custody anymore!” Brian shouted back in his booming voice.

Acelynn leaned into Luke’s body when she heard the loud voice. It frightened her to know someone could get that loud when they were so angry. His voice seemed to have to potential of bringing the whole house down.

“What’s going on?” She asked in a small voice.

“I don’t know.” Luke murmured back. He began to walk towards the dining room where the argument was going on. Acelynn followed him only because she didn’t want to be anywhere alone in this house while there was fighting.

“You’re going to ruin everything. Do you seriously think that this is in the best interest of him? Do you think that this will benefit him at all?” Tuck barked.

“Yes, in fact I do. I think that this is a good thing for us all.” Brian hissed indignantly.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Only an insane moron would think that this was a good choice for Luke. You’re despicable. You’re selfish and you are so near sighted.” The green eyed boy insulted.

“How dare you! How dare you speak you to me in this way – in my own home?”

“You’d have to actually live in the place to call it a home,” Tuck spat, “you’re never here long enough to do that!”

“What’s going on here?” Luke asked in a quiet voice.

Both of the older men immediately turned to look at Luke with a shocked expression on each face. “What are you doing here so early?” Tuck asked in a much lower voice.

“I’m not early.” Luke replied weakly. “It’s 3:40 right now.”

“Luke, why don’t you go to your room?” Mr. Spencer asked, but it sounded more like an extremely strong suggestion.

Of course, Luke, trying to be Daddy’s little angel, wordlessly obliged. Acelynn followed him – avoiding all eye contact with Tuck and Brian. Her pinky was laced with Luke’s as he led her up the staircase to his room.

“What was that all about?” Acelynn whispered as they sat together on his bed.

“I have no idea. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them have that big of a fight before… And never that loud.” Luke said in a hushed tone.

The black-haired boy sounded so hurt by this argument, and he didn’t have any idea what it was about. Acelynn didn’t really know what to say to make anything change or to make him feel better. “Oh, come on Luke; they’ll get over it. Your dad has more important things to worry about and Tuck is like an elastic band. Everything will be fine. I promise.”

Luke merely nodded.

“Anyway, let’s talk about something else.” She suggested. Luke didn’t respond; he seemed as if he were trying to develop hypersonic hearing so he could listen in on his brother and father’s argument. “What else is on your mind?”

“What could they possibly be fighting about?” Luke said briskly. “I mean, what could possibly get them so worked up? Nothing big has happened lately. There haven’t been any big changes in life lately, so there shouldn’t be anything to argue over. It sounded like they were fighting about something that had to do with me. Should I go down there? I think I should go down there.”

The younger boy began to get up from his placement on the bed. But Acelynn pulled him back down to sit. “Just stop right there. You don’t need to go down there; I don’t think it will help any either. Let them figure it out by themselves.”

“But if it’s about me—“

“When we came into the dining room the first time they stopped talking about whatever they were talking about. So what makes you think you can help anything by going down there? No; you’ll stay up here and talk to me about anything besides your brother or your father.” Acelynn ordered.

Luke sighed and smiled. “Alright, Ace, what do you want to talk about?”

The brunette paused and gave it some thought. “Let’s talk about… Cheyenne.”

The blue-eyed teen looked slightly taken aback. “What about Cheyenne?”

“Well, if you’re going to try and get to know her, don’t you want to, you know, know her?”

“I guess… Aren’t I supposed to do that on the, you know, date?” Luke replied, imitating Acelynn’s girlish accent.

“Yes, but… Don’t you even want to know what she looks like?” Acelynn asked, slightly exasperated. Her companion smiled and rolled his eyes. “Okay, well she’s got this really pretty blonde hair. It’s even longer than mine. And she’s got these light brown eyes. She’s also totally smart – she’s on the National Honor Society. She’s on the volleyball team and –“

“Okay okay, I got it. I don’t want her whole life story. If I’m going out with her I need some conversation when we talk, right?” Luke asked.

“I don’t know; why are you even asking me? I have practically no experience in that area.”

“You’re probably better at this than me.” He grumbled.

“You know, you don’t seem like you really want to go on this date with Cheyenne.” Acelynn accused skeptically.

Luke paused and didn’t make any eye contact. “Well, to be perfectly honest, I don’t. But you kept pushing it—“

“I’m so sorry Luke… I didn’t mean to make you do anything you didn’t want.” She replied honestly.

“Really, its fine—“

“I hate that man!” Tuck shouted and slammed Luke’s door closed. “I hope he gets his head gets dismembered by an angry bear.”

“What’s wrong, Tuck? What have you and Dad been fighting about?” Luke instantly jumped up to ask Tuck the questions.

Acelynn felt that whatever was going on could not possibly be good for Luke to know. All she wanted to do was to protect her friend from the horrors of the world.

“It’s… It’s nothing. It’s nothing that you have to worry about, Lucas.” Tuck replied, trying to calm himself.

“But Tuck; please just tell me what’s going on. I have no idea what the big deal is between you and Dad. I have no idea what is going on in my own home!” Immediately Acelynn knew that Luke wasn’t going to let this go anytime soon. And Tuck definitely didn’t want to talk about.

A battle between the brothers.