Love Letters

“Trey is crazy,” Andy said, shaking her head as we sat down in a restaurant on Friday night. “He pulled that ‘lie down in the middle of the road’ on us once before, remember? Although, we were like . . . seven, and we practically lived in the middle of the street.”

Trey raised his eyebrows. “Where do you think I am? I’m sitting right here.”

“We weren’t homeless, you know,” Pax said, crossing his arms on the table. I was barely paying attention because I was too concentrated on the menu in front of me.

“Hey now,” Trey spoke up, frowning. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with being homeless. They’re people, just like us.”

“Is that really the point of this conversation?” Andy argued. “I’ve been stressing to you that it is not appropriate to deprive your friend of her sleep just because you are bored and you want to put your life on the line.”

Pax started laughing. “He does it all the time.”

My dad sat down at the table next to Anne and rubbed his hands on his legs. “What were we talking about?” he asked.

“Nothing,” we all replied quickly, and Anne sent me a private smile. She wasn’t harsh on the rules; she was well aware that I snuck out sometimes. I was surprised that she hadn’t ratted me out yet.

“Can I have coffee?” I asked my dad, leaning forward to look at him.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re too young.”

“Can I?” Trey asked, flipping the page of his menu.

“Sure.”

My jaw dropped. “Dad!”

He looked up at me. “What?”

“He’s not even your kid!”

“Well he’s not too young.”

“He’s sixteen!”

Trey smirked.

“And you’re fifteen. When you’re sixteen, you can have coffee but until then, you can wait.”

I scowled. “I had to be a late bloomer.”

Andy laughed. “Trey, coffee stunts your growth.”

He shrugged. “I’m tall enough as it is.”

“Doesn’t it slow down . . . you know . . .” Pax said, twirling his fingers. Andy covered her ears and yelled “lalalalala!” over and over again to tune him out. She was actually very sacred and absolutely hated sex jokes or anything relating to the topic.

“The little swimmers?” Trey asked, crossing his arms. “That’s not coffee, that’s pop.”

“I’m not drinking that stuff anymore,” Pax said, twitching.

“It’s not all pop. It’s just a few kinds.”

“You can never be too safe!”

Anne smiled and held up a hand. “Let’s not talk about this anymore. It’s time to order,” she said and right on time, the waitress came by and wrote down what all of us wanted. Anne sometimes liked to treat us on a Friday night to a dinner out when no one really had anything to do or someone had a bad day and we needed a little pick-me-up. All of our families were very close so she didn’t really have a problem paying for the big group of us.

She used to bug me because of everything that had happened between my mom and my dad, and I felt that on some level it was her fault, but now I knew that they were the perfect couple and she was a great person even though she didn’t make the right decision with my dad. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if they found each other sooner, though. Things would be so different.

When the food came, Pax practically dove right into his. I stabbed at my chicken and started to lift it up to my mouth but I stopped when my eyes made contact with another pair across the restaurant. More specifically, Dalton’s eyes. What was he doing here?

He looked miserable and even though he was looking directly at me, he wasn’t really looking. It was like those times when you would just drift off, not knowing what you’re staring at and you’ll just keep staring until someone points out to you what you’re doing. He really was just looking right past me. I lifted a hand and waved. He looked now, raised a hand as if he was confused about why I was here as well but the surrounding people must have given him the answer because he gave a little nod, more to himself than to me.

Andy, Pax, Anne, Trey and my dad turned around to look at what I was looking at, and Dalton quickly turned away, most likely to avoid eye contact with my dad or anyone else staring at him.

“Who’s that?” Anne asked.

“Just a boy from school,” I replied.

“A boy you like?” my dad asked, raising an eyebrow. “Should I use my—”

“No dad, you should not use your gun.”

Anne put her hand on top of his. “Kevin, you know that’s not always the answer to everything.”

Andy and Pax laughed.

“Worried about your little girl, Mr. Hawthorn?” Trey asked, cutting his steak. I glanced over at him. He was looking at me through his eyelashes and once he felt that we had held the gaze for too long, he looked away.

“Always am,” my dad replied. “It’s my job as her father.”

“Do you still worry about Chris?” I questioned.

“Of course,” he said. “But she’s older than you, remember. She can take care of herself easier.”

I frowned. “Are you saying I’m incapable?”

“No.”

“Are you saying I’m less mature?”

“No, I’m not.”

“It’s always lovely to witness a family argument,” Andy said sarcastically.

“Do you think I should grow a moustache?” Pax cut in quickly to move the energy elsewhere. Trey looked over at him and raised his eyebrows.

“You know, sometimes it’s okay not to talk,” he said. Pax nodded.

“Cool.”

I finished my meal in silence because I didn’t really want to get into a fight with my dad in the middle of a restaurant about something we argued on so frequently. We could settle that at home. I decided to go say hello to Dalton but he was already getting out of his chair and heading toward the table before I had a chance to blink. I stood quickly so he wouldn’t have to speak with anyone and most likely get me embarrassed from it, and met him in the middle.

“Hey,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

He nodded over his shoulder and shoved his hands in his pockets. “With Amanda. She’s been on her phone all night. What a waste of time.” He shrugged. “Oh well. What about you? Here with your family or is it a special occasion?”

“My dad and my step mom,” I replied. “Then you know everyone else. We’re just out because we don’t have anything else to do and house food didn’t look very tempting tonight.”

He smiled. “Makes sense.”

“Did she force you to come with her?” I asked. He nodded.

“Yeah, my mom said that since she was in town for a bit, I should spend some time with her and she wanted to eat here. She’s even making me spend my money on this forced pain, can you believe that?”

I laughed. “It happens sometimes.”

“Dalton! Let’s go. Laura’s meeting me back at the house in ten and if I’m not there in time, it’s your ass,” Amanda said, walking up behind him with her eyes glued to her phone screen. She looked up now, noticing me and smirked. “Oh hey there. I didn’t realize you had a friend around. No, sorry, I didn’t realize you had friends.”

“You’re funny,” Dalton muttered, rolling his eyes.

“So you’re Christabelle’s little sister, eh?” Amanda asked, crossing her arms. “I knew I recognized you from somewhere.”

I glanced at Dalton. He mouthed "sorry" to me.

"Do you two have the same morals?" she asked. "I know she took pleasure in going for boys that were off limits."

“Amanda, not now,” Dalton said, shaking his head. “It’s not the time or the place. It’s not even a necessary conversation so can we just drop it?”

“You know, your sister was a real piece of work,” she said, completely ignoring him and taking a step toward me. Whoa.

“That’s funny. I could say the same about you,” I retaliated, folding my arms. I was practically a duplicate person of Christabelle, except for the obvious differences like appearance and the fact that we excelled in different classes. I already disliked this chick.

Amanda narrowed her eyes. “You two are a lot alike. You’re both spoiled little b—”

“Okay, that’s enough from you,” Dalton said, giving her a shove toward the doors. “Go wait in the car or I’m going to make you walk home in those crappy heels of yours.”

She shot him a death glare but left anyway without another word.

“Sorry,” he said. “I should apologize for her. She never does it by herself. It’s like her nature to make other people take responsibility for her actions.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “She was right when she said that I’m a lot like my sister but the rest was uncalled for. I didn’t know you could drive.”

He nodded. “Birthday is in the summer,” he replied. I could have sworn I had heard that before but I couldn’t remember where so I just shrugged it off. “I got my driver’s license pretty early in the year and she still doesn’t have hers so it’s simple blackmail.”

“And your parents gave you a car?”

“Of course not,” he replied. “I’m just borrowing theirs for the night as services rendered. They put me through this so it’s what they get. I may ‘accidentally’ run into a fire hydrant on my way home, I don’t know. It’s still undecided.” He checked his watch. “I should probably go. I’ll see you tomorrow at school though, right? You’re still okay for tutoring me?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Good to see you, Karlee,” he said, giving me a quick smile and then leaving the restaurant. I went back to the table and sat down quietly. Andy nudged me.

“Wasn’t that—?”

“Amanda or Dalton?” I asked. “It doesn’t matter. They’re brother and sister.”

My dad dropped his fork and gaped at me. “Amanda, as in the girl who tortured your sister through high school? And you’re interested in this boy?” He threw his napkin down. “All right, that’s it. I’m teaching the kid a lesson.”

Anne grabbed his arm and I shot Trey a glare. He stared, wide eyed, and then grinned to try and solve the problem. As if that would work.

“That’s not funny, Kevin,” Anne said. “He’s just a boy. He didn’t even do anything.”

“Yet,” my dad replied. “That’s what I’m focused on.”

”Leave him alone,” I said sharply. My dad’s preexisting frown deepened. “This is what I mean. You’re too protective.”

“And you’re too young.”

“I’m fifteen! Oh my God!”

He nodded. “My point exactly.”

Christabelle was a real warrior, because I was about ready to kill him.