Flood

“My feet are going to fall off,” I groaned as I brought in the last bucket of dishes.

Theresa chuckled. “So get a pair of decent tennis shoes.”

I shrugged. “Don’t have the money.”

“Ask your parents.”

“No,” I said firmly and she looked shocked but I hurried to put my apron in the hamper.

I got my book bag out of my appointed locker. I couldn’t take the car today because it was out of gas and my mom left this morning before giving me some. I walked into the main restaurant and repressed a laugh. Charlie was passed out on top of her business textbook. Her friends had ditched her, something that didn’t surprise me.

I went over and poked her until she woke up.

“Huh?” she said, pushing her hair out of her face. “Where am I?”

“The Southern Belles,” I said, sitting across from her.

Her eyes were cloudy with sleep for a few seconds then she looked panicked.

“What time is it?”

I looked at my phone. “A little after 10.” I looked at her textbook as she rushed to pack up. “Accounting, huh?”

She groaned. “I hate it. I loathe it!”

“Why?” I asked.

“It’s too confusing for this sophomore,” she sighed. “Well, thanks for waking me up.”

“Yep,” I said and headed out down the road.

“Are you walking home?” she asked before she got into her car.

“Yep,” I repeated. “Ran out of gas. See you in class.”

“Do you need a ride?”

I turned and looked at her. She was a little pink in the face and I hesitated.

“Sure,” I said slowly. “Just promise not to stalk me,” I joked as I got into her car.

She laughed. “I’ll try to resist the urge.”

“Hey, I’m pretty sexy.”

She scoffed. “If you say so,” she said.

I pretended to pick at my shirt. “You gotta be confident in this world.”

She shook her head with a smile on her face. “Okay, Mr. Confident. Tell me how to get to your house so I can get back to my dorm and crash on a pillow that isn’t my textbook.”

I laughed and directed her. It wasn’t too far from the restaurant.

She whistled. “This is your house?”

“My parents’ house,” I corrected.

She must have picked up on the tone of my voice because she frowned at me.

“You don’t like your parents?”

I avoided her eyes. “It’s not that. I just….” I got out of the car. “Well, thanks for the ride, future stalker.”

She laughed. “Sure. See you in class.”

I waved good bye and went in through the front door. I yawned and went into the kitchen where my father was whistling to a random song and flipping pancakes.

“Hey there,” he said. “I was getting worried.”

“Where’s Mom?”

“With Lisa and Jennifer having a girl’s night,” he answered with a roll of his eyes. I had forgotten it was Friday. “Pancakes?” he offered.

“Sure,” I said, putting my back down on the floor by the table.

“How were your classes?”

“Decent. We talked about van Gogh,” I added quietly.

My father fell into silence as we ate.

“I miss her, too,” he whispered.

I sighed. “Why did she do it?” I asked, my voice thick.

He put his hand on my arm. “She had a rough life, Spence. After she went back to live with your grandparents….”

I wiped some tears away and put my plate in the sink. “Thanks for the pancakes,” I mumbled. “See you in the morning.”

I hurried up the stairs, getting my homework out of my bag to get my mind off of my aunt. But, as I started an essay about chemicals, I saw her face smiling when she talked about van Gogh. I rubbed my eyes.

-

I was snoring and flopped on my belly when my dad knocked on my door. I opened my eyes.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“You have a visitor,” he said, looking amused.

I frowned and pulled on a pair of pants on, not bothering with a shirt. The only people who come over were Norman, his girlfriend Jean, and Chris. I jogged down the stairs and nearly fell over.

Charlie was in my kitchen, looking embarrassed when she saw me shirtless.

“Uh-”

“It was your turn to leave your wallet,” she said, thrusting it toward me.

I forced a laugh. “Looks like you’ve already started stalking me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sure. Well, I gotta go.”

My mother was smiling and I shook my head with gritted teeth.

“Would you like to stay for breakfast?” she said and I shut my eyes, praying she’d say no.

“Um…. I have a lot of homework,” Charlie muttered, “and I need to find a tutor.”

“Tutor for what?”

“Accounting,” she sighed. “I’m horrid at it.”

My mother laughed. “Well, I happen to be pretty good at it and I won’t charge you.”

Charlie looked hopeful. “Really?”

“Sure. So, do you want to stay?”

Charlie still seemed a little hesitant but finally nodded. I hurried upstairs and threw a random shirt on, putting my wallet on my desk. When I got back down to the table, my mom was putting out plates for waffles, eggs, and bacon.

“You’re the owner of the restaurant, right?” Charlie was asking as I sat beside my father.

My mother beamed. “That’s me!”

“I was looking at those pictures of the people working. That’s pretty amazing.”

She nodded. “It was a very touching time for all of us. The community really helped rebuild.”

“What happened?”

My mother’s smile disappeared. “We had a tornado rip through.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” She cleared her throat and turned to my father. “What do you do, Mr. Vance?”

He laughed. “Call me Ryder. I work over at the hospital United Reach.”

“I volunteered there over the summer,” she said. “It’s a wonderful hospital.”

“I don’t remember seeing you. Who was your sponsor?”

“Dr. Zachary Pipps,” she said and he chuckled.

“Good ol’ Zachary,” he sighed. “He always keeps that stuff to himself. Not that I blame him. I have as much medical experience as this waffle.”

I continued to eat in silence, not sure how to contribute to the conversation. My mom and Charlie started going over times for her to come over for tutoring and I finished my breakfast. I picked up everyone’s plates and started washing them. It was part of what I did to earn my keep. My dad came in to help while Charlie told my mom about her troubles with balancing work books.

“How’d you meet?” he asked quietly.

“She was at the restaurant and left some of her stuff,” I shrugged. “She’s also in my art class.”

He nodded and I passed him a plate to dry. “How are things with Patty?”

I scoffed. “Nonexistent,” I answered. “She keeps texting me but, if she thinks I’m going to get back together with her….”

“What happened?”

“She cheated on me. I was an idiot and tried to give her a second chance. That night I screwed up, she got drunk and told me she was leaving me for the guy she cheated with.”

“I’m sorry, son.” I shrugged again, something I seemed to be doing a lot of lately. “Have you drawn anything recently?”

“Yeah…. I drew Amy last week.” I sighed. “I’m sorry, Dad. I know it’s hard on you.”

“It’s hard on all of us.”

“Well, I’ve got some homework to do before I head over to the restaurant.”

He nodded at the table where my mom and Charlie were now working on her homework.

“Join them.”

“It’s my art homework,” I said.

“Ah. I forgot you don’t like doing that around people.”

“I’m picky that way.”

He patted me on the back and I waved to my mom and Charlie before jogging up the stairs again.