Never Too Late

Lucy's Point of View

After Lacey’s freak-out, I went back to my room to try to calm down. What was her problem, anyway? She still had another year to get her shit together and figure out where she wanted to go to school and for what. I’d put everything off and was now in a kind of panic mode, not sure what was going to happen. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if I was actually going to even get into SCAD or RISD – they were super competitive schools, and I was…mediocre at best. It’d be a miracle if I even got wait-listed, let alone accepted at either of those schools. It was a crushing weight to have on my shoulders, and here Lacey was getting upset about me even saying the names of those colleges.

I sat down with my sketch pad and started to flip through all my work. I flipped quickly past the portrait of John and stopped on one that I’d drawn of Lacey and me as kids. I’d used an old picture of us as a reference, wanting to make sure I’d had the details in our faces just right. In the sketch, I’d drawn us on the playground, Lacey on the swings and me pushing her from behind. She flew high, up towards the sun, while I watched from below, grinning proudly. I ran my fingers along the sketch and I could feel myself starting to smile a little.

I set the sketchbook back down and walked over to my closet. Before we moved out of our dad’s house, I’d gone through all of our photo albums and removed my favorite pictures, packing them away with some old notebooks and drawings that I had yet to unearth and place in my new room. I grabbed the box and pulled it down, pushing through everything until I found the pictures, tucked away into the front of a notebook. I kicked the rest of the stuff aside and sat back on my bed to look through the pictures.

The top photo was the one I’d used for reference, followed by one of my sixth birthday party. I chuckled as I remembered that Lacey was upset about it not being her birthday and was jealous of my cake. I’d felt bad and had let her blow out my candles while I stood slightly off to the side, which was what the photo featured. Mom had one hand resting on Lacey’s shoulder and one on my back, positioned between us with a proud grin. Lacey had blown out all the candles at the same time that year and she was so proud of herself that it didn’t matter for the rest of the day that it wasn’t actually her birthday.

I spent the next ten minutes looking through the rest of my stolen pictures and started to recognize a common theme among them – in just about every photo, I was somewhere close to Lacey, usually behind her, almost as if I was ready to have her back at a moment’s notice. A sudden pang of realization hit my stomach. That had to be what Lacey was so upset about. When I went to college, I wouldn’t be a constant physical presence in her life anymore; I’d be the big sister away at school, who started the year off by calling all the time and staying in touch but then got caught up in classes and friends and other things, and pretty soon, the little sister felt totally forgotten. I wouldn’t be around to stick up for her anymore, or share in our resentment of Dad and our stepmom, or even to pick fights and annoy her. That would all be a thing of the past, another huge change that she wasn’t ready for.

As I picked up my phone to call Lacey and try to talk things out with her, I heard a knock on my door.

“Come in,” I called, setting the phone back down. I saw Nathan’s name flash across the screen, but figured his text could wait.

“Hey,” Mikey said and came and sat down next to me. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I assured him, nodding. “I’m fine. I was just getting ready to call Lacey though to try to talk things out. I just kind of realized why she was so upset.”

“Maybe give her a little more time,” Mikey advised. “I’d want some more space to cool off. She’ll understand your side of things soon enough.”

“How do you know?” I asked. I knew Lacey. She felt everything a little too deep and while that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, she could also be a little irrational at times and hold grudges for too long.

“Because I’m also the youngest,” Mikey replied, and then added with a laugh, “Even though I’m an old man now.”

“Shut up, you guys aren’t even old,” I said and laughed a little, even though the joke was dumb.

“Look, I get where Lacey’s coming from,” he continued. “I went through the same thing with your mom and with Gerard. It was worse with Gerard because even though we were all sad and missed your mom when she left the nest, Gerard and I still had each other. When he started school, even though he didn’t physically leave, he was still so busy all the time, and then he just got so depressed and withdrawn. We’d always had each other’s backs and been so close, but then it was like he was ghost. Sometimes it was almost worse than him not being there at all. But we got through it, and no matter where you end up going to school if that’s what you want to do, you and Lacey will get through it too.”

“Thanks, Mikey,” I told him. I knew Lacey and I weren’t the first pair of siblings to go through something like this, but I was still glad that Mikey could relate and offer some good insight. “I appreciate the pep talk.”

“For sure, anytime,” he said, and then sat forward. “In other news, Gerard is downstairs freaking out because he’s not sure where your sister went. Any ideas?”

“Probably with Nick,” I said, grabbing my phone. Where the hell else would she go? “I don’t know for sure, but let me ask.”

I bypassed Nathan’s message again and texted Nick.

Hey, is my sister with you?

He replied almost immediately.

Yeah, I picked her up, She’s spending the night.

Seconds later, I got another text from him.

SEPARATE ROOMS, THOUGH!!!!!

I smiled a little and then turned to Mikey. “Yeah, she’s with Nick. She’s spending the night, different rooms. Totally respectable.”

As I spoke, I tapped over to Nathan’s message, which was clearly one that he’d copied and pasted to everyone in the store.

Hey guys, not sure if you all have heard the news, but I wanted to address everything that happened in the store over the past few days with all of you. The easiest way to do that is with a store meeting, so let’s all meet tonight at the Applebee’s across the street from the store at 9:30. For anyone who can’t make it (I’m looking at you, high school kids with strict curfews), call me at 9:40 and I’ll conference you all in on my phone so that you don’t miss anything. I need a head count on who all will be able to come, so please message me back by 9:00. See you guys there!

I’d worked the day before, but didn’t know of anything going on at the store that would have been meeting worthy. It had to be something serious, especially if Nathan was holding the meeting and not our store manager, Damon. Even though I was a little heartbroken after our talk, there was no way I was missing that meeting.

“Hey Mikey, I just got a text from one of my managers,” I started to explain, leaving the text open on my phone just in case he wanted to see it. I’d never actually asked Mikey’s permission to do anything, only Gerard’s. He was the type to want to verify plans on a school night, and I wasn’t sure if Mikey would be the same. “I guess something big went down at the store and there’s a meeting about it tonight at 9:30. I don’t know how long it’ll be, but probably not too late. Is it cool if I go?”

“Yeah, it’s fine with me,” Mikey agreed easily. “Just be back by like eleven, or let me know if you’re gonna be later than that.”

“Will do,” I told him as he walked out. I texted Nathan to let him know that I’d be at the work meeting and then picked my laptop up to look a little more into the school Gerard had gone to. Everything sounded cool, and I made a mental note to submit an application. At the very least, it could be a viable backup school if SCAD or RISD didn’t work out. Finally nine o’clock rolled around and I got ready to go to my work meeting. I said goodbye to Gerard and Mikey and then drove over to the Applebee’s across from the store. I got there earlier than I’d anticipated so I pulled out my phone to text Lacey and tell her that I understood where she was coming from and that we’d talk about it when she came home.

A few minutes later, I saw Nathan pull into the parking lot a few spaces away from me, followed by a couple of the other people who had closed with them. I followed them inside and Nathan secured a table big enough for all the people who worked at the store. I took the seat between Nathan and Iris, my favorite of the two other girls at the store. A couple other people filed in, everyone except our store manager and Jamie, one of the high school kids, showing up. At nine-forty, Jamie called and Nathan started his little meeting.

“Okay, so I know that some of you already know what I’m about to tell you, but a lot of you also don’t, so I’ll just start with that,” Nathan began, and then paused for dramatic effect. “Damon is no longer our store manager. Jack and I noticed a discrepancy with some money in the safe versus what was written down on the safe’s log, and it turned out that over a hundred dollars was missing. We let the warehouse know and security tapes were checked, and it turns out that Damon stole it, so he was immediately fired. Since someone needed to be the head manager, they asked me if I would do it, and I said yes.”

There was a bunch of murmuring among people at the table, but Nathan ignored it and continued. “Now with that being said, there’s gonna be some changes in the way that we’re running the store. First things first, we’re going to need another assistant manager as soon as possible. There’s a couple people that I think would do a great job, and we’ll talk individually later on. Second…”

Nathan went on for a few minutes very easily, almost like he’d had this rehearsed and was just waiting for the day that Damon fucked up so he could lay it all out. Even though Nathan had sounded very serious while he was talking, all the changes he talked about making were good ones. He wanted to bring the employee hold box back (there were rules that went along with it, but they were more than fair) and promised that he would work harder at getting us raises than Damon did. He wrapped the meeting up by saying that if we had any input about what else he could do to make the store a better environment for everyone to just let him know and that he’d be happy to listen.

“I can finally enjoy working here again,” Iris whispered to me, not even bothering to try to hide her smile. She’d had some problems with Damon; he didn’t seem to like her even though she was one of the hardest working employees and gave excellent customer service. He just seemed to have it out for her for no reason, always looking for something to nitpick and write her up for. “I think things are definitely gonna start getting better now.”

“Certainly sounds like it,” I agreed. This definitely wasn’t the news I was expecting to hear when I sat down, but it was sure to be a nice change. Damon had been nothing but nice to me the few times that I’d worked with him, but just about everyone else seemed to have issues with him.

A couple of people asked Nathan questions and then made some suggestions about the store. He was kind enough to even listen to the stupid ones and good-naturedly joked about them without making the person asking feel bad. Around ten-twenty, I figured that since I had already eaten dinner that I should probably just head home.

“You taking off?” Nathan asked as I started to push away from the table.

“Yeah, I told my uncle that I’d be back by eleven,” I answered, slinging my bag over my shoulder. I didn’t have a very long drive, but I was getting kind of tired.

“Well, let me walk you out,” he offered and stood up before I could protest and tell him that I’d be fine. I said goodbye to everyone and then walked out with Nathan. He held the doors open for me as we exited and walked behind me as I made my way to my car.

“So congratulations on being the manager now,” I told him once we’d reached my car. I leaned against my door, feeling like I needed to say something.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’ve been with the company since I was like, sixteen, so it’s kinda nice to finally work my way up.” He sighed, casting a glance back at the restaurant. “I just hope I do a good job with it, you know? I’ve worked there for four years, but it’s never been my store before.”

“You’ll be fine,” I assured him. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he’d be able to turn the store around. “I mean, morale’s already way up. That’s a step in the right direction. I think if you just keep managing the way you have, things will run smooth. You’re a great assistant manager and you’ll be a great store manager too.”

“Thanks,” he said again. His shoulders drooped as he breathed out a sigh of relief. “I really, really needed to hear that. I wasn’t expecting to just get thrown into this position, so it’s been kind of overwhelming so far.”

“Things will calm down,” I said. “And you and the store and everything else will be fine. I wouldn’t stress about it too much. They picked you to run the place for a reason.”

“Well, I think it came down to the fact that Jack tours with his band and I stay put, but you never know.” He shrugged and smiled a little like he was kidding. God, his smile was so nice. It just put you right at ease. “Anyway, I won’t keep you from getting home. Thanks for talking to me, though.”

“Yeah, of course, anytime,” I replied. We were friends after all, right? And that’s what friends did. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow,” he said. He moved forward to hug me goodbye and I accepted him as he wrapped his arms around me. I rested my head against his shoulder comfortably. He was warm and strong, and I thought about how amazing it would be to stay there with him forever. Just as I thought that, he let go suddenly.

“Hey Nathan, are you coming back or what?” Iris was calling from the door.

I whipped around to look at her, searching her face for any indication that she’d seen us hugging. But what was I so worried about? It was an innocent hug, it didn’t mean anything. Just like that kiss that we’d shared didn’t mean anything.

“Yeah, I’ll be in in a second,” Nathan responded. Iris nodded slowly and then headed back inside. He cleared his throat. “So I guess I’d better get back in. See ya.”

“Bye,” I answered, but he was already walking towards the door to head back in. He didn’t turn back or acknowledge me.

“Oh-kay,” I said to myself slowly. I shook my head and unlocked my car, sliding in behind the wheel. Was I reading too much into things, or was Nathan being as confusing as I thought he was? He’d said we were just friends, but you didn’t hug your friends that way, let alone kiss them. I drove home, trying to figure out what the hell we actually were.