Until the Tide Returns

“Dad?” I asked the next morning as he stood over the stove scrambling eggs already dressed for work.

“Yeah?” He kept his back to me.

“Loraine said her dad was having a cookout tomorrow and we’re invited.” I knew it was a long shot. Like to the moon and back fifty times long but I had to ask.

“Oh?”

“I was kind of hoping we could go.” I waited nervously for him to say something. Anything. It seemed like an eternity before he said anything.

“I suppose we could go.” Wait. Did he just say yes? “But there will be some rules.” I couldn’t believe my luck. “You are to sit in the bathtub full of water for an hour before we leave, and you have to stay indoors.”

“Really? We’re going?” He nodded. I squealed and ran over to him giving him a hug.

“I know I’ve been a bit over protective with you Becks, but it was always because I was worried about your safety. We figured out a way to make you more ‘normal’ I guess so I’m going to start giving you some freedom. But there will still be rules. We still have to be careful and I mean that. You’re still going to be home schooled. Your time outdoors will still be limited. You can, however, have friends, like Loraine, over at reasonable hours. Maybe I’ll even go crazy and get you a cell phone so you can talk to them.”

“Ok, so where’s my dad and what have you done with him?” My dad laughed.

“I tied him up and left him in his office, he’ll be home in time for dinner. He wanted to make sure you had a good breakfast and that you paid attention to your lessons.”

“Ok. Don’t hurt him. I need him to be able to drive tomorrow.”

I managed to make it through my lessons and ace a pop quiz even though I was bouncing with excitement. It was the longest 34 hours of my life. Especially the last one sitting the tub making sure ‘my tanks were full’ as we put it. Finally I was able to get dressed. I had picked my outfit out the day before. A green floral print dress, brown sandals and a golden arm cuff. I wore the ring I always wore. I looked at myself in the mirror and was fairly certain I looked alright. My wavy black hair had been sprayed so it wouldn’t frizz, my short straight bangs lined perfectly across my brow, and I had lined my eyelashes with eyeliner and put some lip gloss on.

“Do I look ok?” I asked my dad who was now waiting by the front door. I knew I was fidgeting and needed to stop.

“Of course. Are you ok?” I nodded. “I know you haven’t had much interaction with people and I’m sorry for that. I don’t want you to do something you’re not ready for.”

“I’m fine Dad. Promise.” He nodded seeming to believe me and we left. The entire ride there I was nervous and felt slightly sick as my stomach did flip after flip.

How many people would be there? How many people there would still think Dad didn’t have me? How many people would ask about why I was hidden away for so long? Would they like me? Would I like them? Would I be like Lorain said and be ‘socially inept’? Would I be able to follow everything they said or would I constantly be lost having been raised how I was? I mean yeah I had no problem speaking to people I knew, or giving them a piece of my mind but would that be enough? And then finally the questions running through my mind stopped. Because we were here.

The house looked normal. A little larger than mine. There were plenty of cars in the driveway and lining the street. It was what I had always wanted. To be normal. To hang out with people. So why did I feel like I was going to throw up.

I opened the door and walked slowly to the front door with my father. He rang the doorbell and we waited for it to open.

“Hey Jason.” A blonde boy who looked fairly similar to Loraine stood there with a can of soda in his hand. “Who are you?” He looked at me and raised a brow.

“Simon, quit being a dick.” Loraine said coming up behind him.

“Language!” I heard someone call out. Loraine shrugged and grabbed my hand pulling me into the house.

“Ignore my brother. We may be twins but clearly I got the smart half of the embryo. Cute outfit by the way.” She continued to pull me through the house and up a staircase until we reached a door covered in photo’s. Before I had the chance to really look at any of them she opened the door and pulled me through. Wow. There was a LOT of pink. I had to blink a couple of times. I wasn’t really a fan of pink. It looked like a pepto bismol factory exploded in here.

“Ok. Introductions.” Suddenly I realized there were people in the room besides us. I immediately noticed Tank and Landon and gave them a small wave. “Amy, Dean, Nat, and Charles.” She pointed them out one by one. I tried to burn into memory each face and name. I didn’t want to embarrass myself. Amy had curly red hair and big brown eyes. Deane, like me, had black hair but his was hidden under a hat. Nat had the same golden brown hair as Tank, I now realized that was Tanks sister. Charles’ hair was a deep brown, though not as dark as Landons, and he wore thick black plastic frames.

“Guys this is Beckett.” Everyone was seated in a semi circle on the floor. Loraine sat in between Tank and Landon leaving the only reasonable space for me to sit and not block the door next to Landon. I wished I hadn’t worn a dress. “Here.” She tossed me a blanket. “It’ll make it easier.”

“Thanks.” I pulled the blanket in front of me and managed to sit down without flashing anyone. That would have been a lovely first impression.

“We don’t have much time until the food is ready so I figured we could play a quick game of truth or dare.” Loraine smiled.

“What are we? 12?” Dean sighed. I hadn’t played before and I wasn’t exactly sure what it was.

“Come on. It’ll be fun.” Loraine groaned. “I’ll start. Landon, truth or dare?”

“Truth.” He smirked.

“You’re no fun.”

“Because I know for a fact you are evil with your dares.” Loraine shrugged as if she knew this were true.

“Ok then Landon, if you want to play it that way. What have you been writing in that journal of yours? Not just a simple little answer either. I want specifics.” Landon shrugged and leaned back against the bed.

“A poem about a girl I met the other day.” Could it have been about me? Why was I hoping this?

“Who?” I could tell Loraine more than wanted to know.

“You don’t know her. Neither do I for that matter.” Lorraine rolled her eyes. My heart sank a little. I wasn’t sure why. “I believe it’s now my turn correct?” Loraine nodded. “Beckett, truth or dare?”

“I kind of planned on just watching.” I muttered sadly.

“Nope. You gotta play.” Loraine smiled. Great. I didn’t know her that well but I already knew she pretty much always got her way.

“Truth I guess.” I began to play with my fingers nervously keeping my eyes on them not wanting to face any of these strangers.

“What kind of music do you listen to?” He asked. Wow. I was kind of expecting something about my ‘allergy’, or my family. Something more private. I was glad he went easy on me.

“Maggie makes me listen to a lot of classical music. Sometimes I’ll play my dads cd’s when he leaves for a few days so it’s not as lonely. He listens to a lot of older rock. Other than that I can’t really narrow it down. I guess I’ll listen to pretty much anything as long as I like it. Except for bluegrass. And anything with constant screaming.” I noticed that as I was speaking Landon pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and began writing something down.

“Really, you could ask her anything and that’s what you ask?” Loraine was clearly annoyed.

“I’m sorry. I thought you told me not to scare her away. I could have tried to pry into her life some more like your so fond of but I figured that would be rude.” Loraine rolled her eyes and muttered something. “You’re turn.” I looked up at Landon and shook my head. I didn’t know these people. I wouldn’t know what to ask or if they picked ‘dare’ how to even form a good one. He smiled at me making my stomach flip again and handed me the notebook opened to the page he had written on. I read it over and smiled gratefully at him.

“Dean.” I looked over at the boy with the baseball cap. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” He smirked. My eyes flicked down the page to where Landon had written out a dare for him.

“Ask Amy out on a date.” I read. “A real one.” Dean and Amy’s cheeks both turned a rosy color.

“That shouldn‘t count. She didn’t come up with it.” He said. Amy looked away crestfallen. “Amy that’s not…”

“A dare is a dare Deansy.” Loraine smiled wickedly at him. “And besides, you couldn’t expect her to do it without some help.” I closed the notebook and handed it back to Landon. I suddenly found myself wishing I hadn’t come. I was the reason the girl was upset. I thought this was supposed to be fun. There was a knock on the door and then my fathers head poked through. Maybe he was panicking and wanted to take me home. At least then I wouldn’t upset anyone else.

“Foods ready.” He smiled at me. “Can I speak to you for a minute?” Oh thank you thank you thank you, you over protective man. He stepped into the room and held out his hand to help me up. It made it easier to hold onto the blanket and stand up without flashing anyone. “How’s it going?” He asked when we left the room.

“Fine I guess.” We made our way downstairs his arm wrapped around my shoulders.

“Just let me know if it’s too much and you want to go home.” I nodded. “Also, can you do me a favor and go to the bathroom to make sure your ok real quick?” He must have seen my eye roll because he sighed. “I’m sorry, I just need to make sure you’re ok.”

“Yeah.” Luckily he guided me to the bathroom. I went in and locked the door behind me silently hoping he wasn’t waiting outside the door. Nothing happened when I turned the water on. It hadn’t been that long since I left the tub.

The hall was empty thankfully and I found my dad waiting at the end of line. “All’s good.” I assured him. It took a few minutes in the line before we reached the food. I took a hamburger and put some mustard on the bun making a small mountain of potato salad on my plate. I was a potato salad fiend. I managed to grab my food and follow my father to the living room before any of the people I had been hanging out with came downstairs.

“We’re going to eat outside if you want to join us.” Tank said once I had taken a bite of my burger. “There’s an awning with fans and stuff so it won’t be so hot. It’s in the shade too, away from the pool so you don’t have to worry about that.”

I looked at my dad, wanting him to answer. He made the rule I couldn’t go outside, he could explain it. His cell began to ring and he pulled it out. “Go ahead.” He answered the phone and began speaking into it fully ignoring me. Maybe I had hit my head at some point and I was in a coma imagining all of this.

“All right then.” I stood up and followed Tank out to the table. “They’ll be out in a second, I need to go get some food. Will you be ok here?” I nodded and he turned and left leaving me alone. I looked over at the pool and sighed. Maybe I would be able to start swimming now. I was halfway through my burger when Amy came out.

“I’m sorry about earlier.” I blurted out. “I didn’t mean.. I didn’t know what else to do.” She smiled at me kindly.

“Don’t worry about it. They’ve been scheming to get the two of us together for awhile now. They just decided to drag you into it.” Oh. Well that made me feel a little better. “So what’s it like?” She asked.

“What’s what like?”

“Being so smart. Does that mean you don’t watch TV and just study all the time?” I laughed.

“No, I actually spend a lot of time watching TV.” We spent the next half hour talking about our favorite shows, many of which we had in common while everyone else either added a comment or started their own mini conversations. All of us had finished eating but we all kept talking. If this is what friends were like I could definitely get used to it. I was still slightly worried about me starting to dry out so when Tank asked if anyone wanted something to drink I asked for a bottle of water. Everyone stopped talking and stared at me. I kind of figured Loraine had told them what my dad and I told her.

“Aren’t you allergic?” Charles asked. Maybe I should have taken a less obvious approach but I hated lemonade, and if I kept drinking soda I was afraid I would never stop burping.

“It’s getting to be less of a problem.” They all just stared at me not saying anything. “Experimental treatment.” I offered. Everyone was still quiet. “Seriously. I’ll be fine.” Tank shrugged and walked over to the cooler. “Oh would you quit staring at me like that?” I asked Loraine who looked suddenly panicked. “Go ask my dad if you want. It’s not that big of a deal.” Tank came over and handed me the bottle. I wrapped my hand around it feeling cool drops of water. No absorption. That’s good. I opened the bottle and drank down as much as I could without getting a brain freeze. “See? Perfectly-”

“Weirdo!” I looked over to where the voice had come from and let out an obnoxiously loud high pitched scream. Billy was walking towards me followed by Tyler. He also knew about my ‘abilities’. He was there when the water first clung to me, he was pre med and completely fascinated by it. My father wouldn’t let him run any tests much to his disappointment. Even though they were my fathers friends I considered them mine as well. I could always call and talk to them if I needed to.

I ran over and gave Tyler a hug, he picked me up and spun me around once before setting me down. “That is not as easy as it was 3 years ago Spicket.”

“I see how it is.” Billy huffed. “No love for the man that saved you from a day in the hallway.” I rolled my eyes and gave him a hug.

“I saw you two weeks ago, I figured you wouldn’t mind waiting.” He laughed and looked over at the table of teenagers watching us.

“So I see your father took my threat seriously.”

“Huh?”

“Later.” He ruffled my hair and walked over to the table. Tyler and I followed him. “Friends of yours?”

“I’m Loraine.” She waved at him and introduced everyone at the table. Then she asked who they were.

“We’re her uncles so to speak.” Billy said wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close.

“Wait.” Tank said. “You’re Billy Blitz.” Billy nodded. “You’re a legend!“ Billy was a professional football player up until he messed up his ankle pretty bad on a hiking trip with my father and Tyler. At first he was bummed but then he realized he was ridiculously loaded and decided to open his own restaurant. It’s been doing pretty well.

“Yeah, he is. Don’t remind him. I‘m Tyler.” Tyler said. “I’m also a surgeon.” He grinned at them. I knew that grin. He thought something was funny. “Which means any of you with a Y chromosome lay a finger on her and Billy will tackle you and hold you down while I remove your manhood.” I looked down at my feet. Maybe being cooped up in the house wasn’t so bad.

“So you’re a doctor?” Loraine asked him.

“I believe I just said that.” Tyler nodded.

“Then please explain to me how she’s now able to drink water when only two weeks ago she was allergic.” Maybe we should have come up with a better story to give her.

“That’s easy.” Billy laughed. “Because she’s our little freak of nature.”

“Thanks.” I muttered and walked back to my seat. “And here I thought you actually loved me.”

“Of course I do Moses.” He winked at me and walked away back into the house.

“I should probably make sure he doesn’t go embarrass you some more Spicket. Make sure you eat enough you’re getting blood work done tonight.” He smiled wide.

“Didn’t Dad ban you from anything more than a simple check-up?” I raised a brow.

“That was before I had a medical license.” He shrugged. “Besides we need to see if we can figure out what’s going on.” His eyes flickered to the open water bottle in front of me. “You were able to drink that?” I guess I should have figured Dad would want some answers and the only person he could trust medically was Tyler. I don’t know why I hadn’t seen this coming. Wait. Did he say blood work?

“Yes.” Loraine sighed. “So please tell me how she isn’t dying right now. Because I‘m seriously worried she’s going to start convulsing or something. No experimental treatment can be that good.”

“She’ll be fine.” He assured her. “If nothing has happened by now then nothing should. The treatment seems to be working. You can stay out here for another 15 and then you’re going inside.” He looked at me. “Ok? I‘m not letting you dehydrate.” I nodded and he walked back into the house.

“It’s nice to know your dad didn’t always hide you away.” Loraine said, Landon threw a waded up napkin at her.

“Moses?” Nat asked.

“Spicket?” Dean asked.

“Billy was the one who found me, and when I was a baby I used to spit out whatever was in my mouth on Tyler.”

“Found you?” Amy looked at me confused.

“Really Loraine?” I looked at her. “You choose to tell them about everything except perhaps the most interesting part of my life?”

“I thought the allergy and brainiacness was more pressing. Besides,” she glanced at Landon, “someone said it would be rude for me to just tell your life story to a bunch of people you didn’t know.”

“It would!” He protested. “How would you feel if I just went around telling a bunch of people you didn’t know all about you?”

“I wouldn’t mind. I’m awesome. I know it. Everyone else should too.” She laughed.

“Like when you peed your pants in kindergarten in the middle of recess?” She quit laughing and narrowed her eyes at him. “Or how about last summer when you threw up all over the guy you had been hitting on?”

“What? Jealous I didn’t throw up on you?” Landon rolled his eys. “Please he was lucky I even talked to him. He should be through the roof I emptied my stomach onto him.” Ew. What?

“Beckett?” Tank sounded really nervous and slightly nauseated.. “Do you think I could get Billy’s autograph?”

“Yeah. We have a box full of signed jerseys and footballs in the basement that you’re welcome to. If you want something specific signed just bring it by tomorrow sometime. He should be around all day.” Tanks face lit up.

“Thanks!”

Nat shook her head and sighed. “He is never going to stop talking about this now.”

“Should I call before I come over?” Tank asked. Loraine sat up in her chair suddenly very interested in what we were talking about.

“Yeah, I need your number by the way. I don’t want to have to show up at your house that late again. Your dad may not realize how awesome I really am and make me leave.”

“Oh.” It was stupid and I knew it but I only knew a few numbers. None of which was the one she wanted.

“Just hand me your cell.” She held out her hand expectantly.

“I don’t have one.”

“That makes sense I guess. It’s not like you really had anyone to talk to before.” Three more waded up napkins were thrown at her. “She knows I don’t mean it to be mean. What’s your house number?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged.

“How do you not know?” Loraine sighed.

“I’ve never had to call it. Or give anyone the number to call. You can ask my dad though.”

“Oh.” Her eyes narrowed and she scooted her chair back. “I will.” Then she was gone, into the house and off to find my dad.

“She’s completely insane and a bit of a bitch at times but she means well.” Landon said. I nodded unsure of what to say. “So this isn’t too much for you is it?”

“What?”

“Being around all these people? I only ask because this has to be completely different than that you’re used to.”

“I’m not enochlophobic or anything.” I picked up the water bottle and drank some more just to make sure I was ok. “Though I’m going to develop a complex if you guys don’t stop staring at me every time I take a drink of water.” Landon laughed lightly.

“I think we should go inside.” Tank said looking around. “It’s been 15 minutes and I would prefer not to be castrated.”

“He was kidding about that right?” Charles asked as everyone stood up.

“Probably.” I smiled and walked into the house in search of my dad. If they were worried about it did that mean they liked me?

“Hey.” Simon, Loraine’s brother stepped into my path.

“Uh hi?” He smiled.

“Sorry about earlier. I wasn’t trying to be rude.”

“It’s fine. Have you seen my dad?” I asked him.

“Yeah, he’s in the living room with my sister.” He looked behind me and his stiffened his jaw. “Landon.”

“Simon.” Landon nodded. Nat wrapped and arm around my shoulders and guided me away from the two boys.

“Long story short they hate each other. It’s best to get out of their way when they run into each other.” We walked into the living room. Loraine was still talking to my dad. He looked slightly annoyed while she talked. He smiled when he saw me.

“You ready to go?” He asked. I wasn’t but I nodded anyway. Loraine turned around and smiled at me.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Unless of course you’ve been thrown into isolation again.” She glanced at my dad and then back at me. “I’ll call you after school. Answer the phone k?” She gave me a quick hug and then walked off Nat following her. “Get over it!” I heard her yell from behind me. “It was a long time ago! Quit acting like a couple of three year olds and pull your heads out of your asses.”

“Language!” Someone called out.

“I’m glad your making friends.” He said. “Even if they are highly opinionated.” He laughed and looked around the room. “Go wait in the car. I’ll go get Billy and Ty.” My dad walked off back towards the house.

Apparently whatever this new change in him was had been brought on by Billy’s last visit. He hadn’t stayed long and when he left I knew things were tense between him and my dad. Whatever Billy did I knew I had to thank him. Even if it did mean Tyler was now suddenly allowed to run medical tests on me.

“Bye Beckett.” Amy ran up to me as I opened the front door. “I’m glad you got to come. Now I have someone to obsess over certain shows with.” She smiled quickly and ran back off in the opposite direction.

I had friends. What a happy, happy day. That is until we got home and Tyler pulled out his sterile needles. I had never even had a shot before that I could remember. So naturally I passed out.