Pine Trees

“Dad, I’m home!” I call as I shut the front door. There’s no response. I walk from room to room looking for him with no luck. I hear the lawn mower start outside and roll my eyes. It’s Sunday, he always mows the lawn on Saturday. I head to the sliding glass door, pull it open and step out into the warm sun. I wave to Dad, who smiles and waves in return. He turns the lawn mower off and walks toward me, stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

“How was babysitting?” He asks casually.

“It was fine, just like normal.” I say then glare at him. “Ms. Sinclair happened to still be very drunk when she came home.”

“Yeah?” He says and avoids eye contact with me.

“You promised you wouldn’t go out with her!” I stomp, pouting.

“It was just one date.”

“Dad, that’s weird. You used to work for her!”

“But I don’t anymore.”

“Please tell me it was only one date.” I say and cross my arms. He shrugs and turns back to the lawn mower, quickly turning it on and avoiding my concern. That of course means they have plans for another date. I stomp away, though I know he can’t hear me.

I go downstairs to the basement-turned-room, my room. I flop onto my bed pouting at the thought of that trashy woman being anywhere near my dad, but I quickly get over it after coming to the conclusion that it won’t last long.

It’s Saturday, the one day I really have to myself, and what did I want to do with it? I could go for a bike ride, maybe take that fancy new camera my father bought me for my birthday out to the woods for some pictures? Yes, that sounds like a good idea.

I change out of yesterday’s clothes, discarding them into the overflowing laundry basket. I slip on a pair of dark blue shorts and an oversized maroon sweater. I run a brush through my messy red hair, and put a little mascara on my eyelashes.

I put on my favorite brown combat boots and slip the camera strap over my neck, heading for the front door. I hop on my bike and start riding down the sidewalk.

“Oh, Logan!” Ellie calls as I reach the sidewalk in front of their house.

“Ah!” I yell as she startles me and I fall off my bike, landing on my butt on the hard cement, my bike landing on top of me.

“Oh you clumsy girl…” She calls, shaking her head. “Go help her.” She says, followed by the sound of a smack.

“Ow, fine!” Jude says before jogging over. “Are you okay?” He says as he lifts the bike off of me and offers his hand. I ignore it, helping myself up off the ground.

“I’m fine.” I say and dust the dirt off of my butt. Jude gives me a funny look, but I choose to ignore it.

“Where were you headed?” He asks.

“To the woods, to take some pictures.” I respond while looking down at my camera to make sure it didn’t get hurt in the fall.

“You take pictures?” He asks, the skepticism is quite obvious.

“You say that like you don’t believe me.”

He shrugs. “It’s hard to imagine someone so clumsy carrying around that expensive piece of equipment all the time.”

“Well, I’ve never actually used it before…” I admit.

“Do you even know how to?” He asks, crossing his arms.

“Well I’m sure I can figure it out! It can’t be that hard.” I respond, glaring at him.

“I can show you.” He says, and flicks a leaf off of my shoulder.

“Why? So you can make fun of me when I don’t do it right?”

“Well suit yourself! I was actually offering help, but I can see my help is not wanted here.” He says with a chuckle before turning around to walk away.

“I mean, if you’re serious I’ll accept the help!”

“Come on, then.” He says heading towards the house. He parks my bike just inside the iron gate before heading upstairs. I follow him, saying hello to Ellie and Larry as we go inside. He heads to the stairs, heading to the bedrooms. I follow him skeptically. He opens the door to what was usually the guest bedroom, but has been turned to his bedroom.

“Was this really some secret ploy to get me into your room?” I ask, arms crossed, from the doorway. He shakes his head as he reaches for a large black suitcase. He sets it on his bed and opens it up. Inside was a mess of unfolded clothes. He digs around through the clothes until he finds his own camera. He pulls it out and examines it.

“So you weren’t kidding. You actually do know how to use it?” I ask as I step into his room.

“Why would I lie?” He asks, flashing a perfect smile in my direction. I shrug and zips his suitcase back up and tosses it to the floor. “How far are those woods?” He asks as we leave his room, him shutting the door behind us.

“I don’t know, a few miles outside of town? It’d probably take at least an hour by foot.”

“I’ll drive then.” He says. I follow him downstairs. He grabs a set of keys from the table next to the front door. “We’ll be back in a little bit.” He says to Ellie as we reach the front porch.

“You be nice to that girl.” She warns and I can’t help but giggle. I can imagine he’s rolling his eyes, but his back is towards me, so I can’t actually see.

“Bye Ellie.” I say before dashing down the stairs to catch up to him. He walks across the street to an older looking bus with dark windows.

“This is your car?” I ask with obvious distaste. He gives me a look of warning to shut up, but I ignore it. I walk around to the passenger side and open the door. I get in and almost immediately feel sweaty. The van was facing the sun and had been sitting out there all day. Jude gets in the driver’s seat and starts the engine, quickly rolling down the front windows to release some of the hot air.

I take a look around the van. There are a few pieces of garbage on the floor of the front seat. An alien head hangs from rear view mirror. I look in the back to see a small counter area with a sink. A bench with a pull out table, and in the very back, what looks to be a bed, which right now is just a messy stack of blankets.

“Do you, like, live in your van?” I ask.

“Not yet, but I plan on spending this summer traveling, and essentially will.” He says, unmoved by the sound of my voice.

“Where do you plan to travel to?” I ask as he starts driving. I put on my seat belt.

“Everywhere,” He says. “Across the country.”

“What are you doing here then?”

“I’m just visiting for a couple weeks. My dad is paying me to fix somethings around there house, and I could use the money.”

“I’ve never been anywhere. I went to the city once, but never anywhere out of the state.”

“If you could go anywhere in the country, where would you go?”

“Probably California. I’ve never been to a sandy beach before.”

“Out of everywhere you could go, you’d want to see California?” He asks and I shoot him a glare.

“What’s wrong with California?” I ask.

Jude chuckles, I think he enjoys my anger. “Nothing. There’s just a lot of better places to go to.”

“Why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“Disagreeing with everything I say.”

“I didn’t disagree.”