Irrevocably Forever

“Luke, get out of the bathroom now.” I shouted, pounding my fist against the closed, and locked, bathroom door.

“No!” Luke cried back.

“What the hell are you even doing?” I demanded.

Luke had been in the bathroom for over an hour now, and I was seriously beginning to wonder if the kid was alright. I would’ve been concerned that he’d drowned in the toilet but he was shouting back, so at least I knew that he was, indeed, still alive and kicking.

“I’m not doing anything.”

“Then why don’t you unlock the door and come out so I can brush my teeth?” I said, trying to control my voice. I had learned long ago that arguing with Luke would do nothing, he was far too stubborn, me and him both, to give up.

“I can’t,” he replied.

“Luke!”

“What?” he replied, exasperated.

“Get out here, now.” I hissed.

“But then you’ll ruin my beach!” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

I leaned with my back against the door, figuring it would take me at least another twenty minutes to try coaxing, and then most likely bribing, him to come out. Suddenly I heard the lock click, and it registered in my mind too late that I should have moved. When Luke swung the door open it sent me stumbling backwards into him, who in turn stumbled into the counter around the sink.

“Ow!” he cried indignantly.

“You could’ve given me some warning.” I replied.

The bathroom was filled with steam, as if Luke had just showered, which made everything look fuzzy around the edges. It was hot and sticky and difficult to breathe as I waved my hand in front of my face in an attempt to disperse the steam. I glanced at the bathtub and saw that instead of the usual off-white color, the bottom was a peachy tan, and it was filled nearly to the point of overflowing. I took a step closer and realized that the reason for the discoloring of the tub was that it had been filled with sand. There were various sized of sea shells and sea glass lying on the sand and along the sides of the tub Luke had set up my old Barbie and Ken dolls in their bathing suits.

Luke had really meant it when he’d said he’d made a beach.

“Where did you get the sand?” I asked.

“By the pond. There’s a bunch,” Luke said, looking relieved that I wasn’t yelling at him.

“And why did you make a beach?” I replied.

“Ma wouldn’t take me to a real beach, so I made my own.” Luke answered proudly.

“I hope you realize she’s gonna kill you.”

“Don’t tell her!” Luke cried out.

He stared at me, his dark brown eyes wide and desperate, pleading with me. It was times like this that I realized how cute my brother would be if he didn’t talk and didn’t move. Picture cute, as my uncle would say.

“I think she’s going to realize when she goes to use the bathroom and sees that her bathtub is filled with sand, Luke.” I replied.

He gave me his best puppy-dog look, his bottom lip sticking out and quivering slightly, his eyes begging me for help.

“Help me clean it up?” he asked hopefully.

I rolled my eyes.

“Okay, how’d you get it from the pond to our house?” I sighed.

“Yes!” he cried, throwing his arms around me. “You’re the best sister ever!”

“Keep in mind you owe me for this,” I said, patting the top of his head. “Okay, what’d you use to carry the sand here?”

“My beach buckets.” He replied.

“Go get ‘em, and make sure Ma doesn’t see you.”

He ducked out of the bathroom and scurried down the hall towards his bedroom. I closed the door behind him, incase my mother decided to walk past by chance. While I waited, I brushed my teeth, the task I had originally been trying to do before this whole fiasco. Luke returned a few moments later, carrying a bright orange bucket in one hand and a navy blue one in the other.

“Okay, we have to scoop out all the sand first.” I said as he handed me the blue bucket that I was pretty sure was mine from when I was a toddler.

I knelt down next to the tub and scooped up as much sand in my hands as I could and filling the bucket. Then I rinsed my hands in the water and, grabbing the bucket of sand, hurried out of the bathroom and towards the front door. I dumped the sand into the front gardens, where hopefully my parents wouldn’t notice it. Luke followed my lead and soon we had each carried three buckets of sand out and the bath tub held just water and a small amount of sand.

“I think you can handle this now,” I said to Luke when we went back to the bathroom for the third time. “Just pull the plug and then wipe out any sand that doesn’t drain.”

“Okay,” he said. “Thanks for helping me.”

“You owe me big time, just keep that in mind.” I replied.

He nodded and I left him to finish draining the tub. As I made my way downstairs towards the kitchen the doorbell rang. I could hear my mother downstairs doing laundry, and my dad was on his Sunday golf outing with our neighbor so I went to open the door.

“Hi Ana!” Grace said cheerfully.

I stared at her.

“I don’t remember telling you my house number,” was the first thing that came to mind.

“Oh that’s because you didn’t,” she grinned.

“Then how…?” I asked.

“Online phonebook, the internet is a wonderful thing.” She said.

“Oh,” I replied dumbly. “Um, you wanna come in? I’m about to eat breakfast.”

“Yeah thanks,” she said.

She stepped past me and walked through the living room towards the kitchen like she’d done it a million times before. I followed her, rubbing my eyes to wake myself up a bit.

“What’s with the sand on your lawn?” Grace asked.

“Luke,” I replied. “Long story.”

“Ah, one of those,” she said as she plopped down in one of the kitchen chairs.

“You want something to eat?” I asked.

“Nope, I ate before I came here.”

“How exactly did you get here?” I asked.

“Bike,” she said, “Speaking of which, I hope you have one because otherwise you’ll be walking a lot today. You wanna know why?” She didn’t even pause to give me a chance to ask why. “Because you’re showing me around town today. And don’t even ask if you have a choice, because no, you really don’t.” she smiled.

“Okay, I guess.” I said.

“Hurry up and eat, those two weeks of talking to no one but the twins and Will, and doing absolutely nothing have been driving me crazy. I have ADD I swear.”

And I could believe her. As I ate my cereal (maybe a little slower than I normally would, just to annoy her) she fiddled with her hands, stood up and walked around and shook her leg up and down. When I finally did finish my cereal and placed my bowl in the sink she jumped out of her seat and nearly pulled me to the front door.

“Jesus Christ relax,” I said. “The town’s not gonna disappear.”

“Maybe not but I’m going crazy not doing anything.” Grace replied.

Grace went and got her bike where she had left it on my driveway while I went to dig mine out from the garage. I hadn’t used my bike it what seemed like years, and it was buried under the piles of things my dad always said he’d get around to clearing out some day. Finally, after what seemed like ages, my bike came free from the jungle that was my garage and we were on our way. First I showed Grace how to get to the high school, Thomas Jefferson High, and showed her the shortcuts around her house. It turned out that Grace lived only a block away from me.

“We could walk to school together this year,” I said after making this discovery.

“I don’t make plans, remember?” Grace replied, brushing her hair out of her face.

“What’s up with that?” I asked.

It was unfathomable to me, who never left anything to the last minute and always made sure I was following a schedule to the second, that she never made plans. I couldn’t understand how she stayed on track, how she got anything done. But then again maybe that was the point.

“I just think it’s pointless.” Grace answered. “It’s not guaranteed to happen so why bother thinking about it?”

“Because planning keeps everything organized,” I argued.

Grace rolled her eyes. “You have OCD don’t you?” she joked.

For the rest of the day we rode around town, and I pointed out all the party spots (not that I’d ever been invited to one), the hot spots during lunch (not that I ever left the cafeteria), and stores that had everything you could ever want. By the time we had gone all through town, and I had shown her everything I could think of, it was noon and we were both starving.

“You wanna come eat lunch at my house?” Grace asked. “My mom was gonna have a barbeque.”

“Okay,” I said. “But I thought you didn’t make plans?”

“Yeah well this is happening now, it’s not like I’m making a plan for lunch tomorrow.” Grace replied. “There’s a difference. Now let’s go eat, I’m hungry.”