Summer of Seventeen (21 page)

“Watch your mouth, kid,” said Flowers. “Now sit your ass down.”

I collapsed back into the chair, only half aware of what they were saying to me now.

I don’t know how long we were in there. My throat was bone dry, and I was so thirsty I could have shit dust.

Eventually Flowers left, and I was moved into a waiting area with Julia and Ben. I guess they didn’t consider me a flight risk.

At least she didn’t look like she wanted to cry anymore. I hated when she was like that.

“How you holding up, bud?” asked Ben.

I raised my eyes to look at him, tiredness turning my limbs into ton weights.

“Can I get some water?”

He nodded and left me with Julia. We stared at each other in silence.

“Is Sean okay?” I croaked at last. “Have you heard from the hospital?”

She pulled a face. “No. I tried, but they wouldn’t give any information to someone who isn’t family.”

“Do you think…?”

I couldn’t get the words out.

“No, I don’t,” Julia said quickly.

I rested my head against the wall, my brain too exhausted to process anything else.

Julia nudged me.

“It’s just us now ... did you do what they say you did?”

I didn’t even lift my head.

“No,” I replied, my voice hoarse.

“You can tell me,” she encouraged. “I won’t be angry. Well, I will … but if you just tell me the truth…”

I started to laugh. I couldn’t help it; the laughter just poured out of me in huge, whooping coughs until I was red in the face and gasping for air.

“This isn’t funny!” she hissed, spitting out her words like bullets. “This is serious! This will affect your whole future, Nicky! I’m trying to do the right thing and look after you like I promised Mom, but you can’t keep doing shit like this!”

The laughter left me as soon as she mentioned Mom.

“Fuck you!” I shouted. “Fuck you! You don’t believe a word I say! I’ve told the truth over and over—to you, to them. I don’t know who Sean got the Molly from. I don’t know when he got it. He already had it when I got to the beach. Everyone saw. I was the last person there!”

But when I thought about it, I wasn’t sure if anybody had seen Sean with the Molly before I got there. Fuck, it must have looked like 20 minutes after I arrived, Sean got sick.
Shit. It looked bad.

My temper surged and snapped, heat shooting through my veins, all of it aimed at my sister.

“My best friend is lying in a fucking hospital bed, and I don’t know if he’s going to live or die and you’re accusing me of all this shit. You’re supposed to be my sister! I’m not a fucking drug dealer!”

I was breathing heavily now, fighting for breath, for the slightest hold on my boiling temper.

“It’s like you
want
to believe I did it. Like you
want
to think the worst of me. You’re just like
them
, Sean’s parents. Poor white trash—that’s what they think I am.” I sat back in my chair, panting. “That’s what they think you are.”

Julia looked stunned.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I…”

I couldn’t look at her, but my voice was weary when I spoke.

“Fuck you.”

She didn’t say anything else, but stood up, straightened her skirt and left me alone.

All the fight had drained out of me and I was just tired. I lay my head back against the wall and my eyes closed.

Someone brought me a paper cup of water and I drank it down greedily.

There was no clock, so I couldn’t tell how long I’d been there. I think I slept a little, but jerked awake when I had a nightmare. Well, more of a memory than a nightmare.

I was about three and I’d gotten separated from Mom in the mall. I was lost, and strangers kept trying to talk to me, and I was afraid, and I was looking for Mom everywhere but I couldn’t find her.

God, I hadn’t had that dream in so long. I rubbed my hands over my face, shocked to see that they were trembling slightly.

Then I looked up and saw Julia.

Dark rings framed her eyes, and she looked as exhausted as I felt.

“They’re letting you go.”

“What?”

I rubbed my eyes again.

“Sean’s awake. I sent Ben to the hospital and he pretended to be one of his brothers. Apparently Sean told the police that it had nothing to do with you, so they’re not filing charges.”

I stared up at her, hope and disbelief waging war in my brain.

“Come on,” she said softly. “I’m taking you home.”

I stood up on wobbly legs and followed her to the front desk.

The police officer on duty returned my phone, wallet and keys, and I was allowed to leave.

Ben was waiting outside, leaning against his car. He took a step forward when he saw me, and I stiffened because I thought he might try and do the man-hug thing. But he draped an arm around Julia’s shoulder and kissed her forehead, then he held out his hand toward me, so we did the fist-bump instead.

“Thanks for finding out about Sean,” I mumbled, as we rode home along quiet streets.

The sun was just beginning to appear behind the ocean, burning away the cool gray of dawn.

Ben’s eyes searched mine in the rear view mirror.

“He’s going to be okay,” he said quietly, “but if you ever do any of that shit yourself, I’ll help Julia kick your ass. Okay?”

I’d never heard Ben say anything like that before.

“Okay,” I muttered, and stared out of the window.

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” Julia whispered.

I nodded, but didn’t look at her.

When I got home, I trudged upstairs. I threw myself face onto the bed, and spiraled down into oblivion.

I slept most of the next day, finally waking about three in the afternoon.

I plugged in my cellphone while I showered, and came back to find that Yansi had just about blown up my phone with texts and messages.

I sent her a quick reply saying that Sean was okay and asking if I could see her today.

She sent an unhappy smiley face with the words,

* Can’t
Family time. Miss you. Glad you’re ok. And Sean. x *

I wasn’t surprised; she was rarely allowed out on a Sunday. Fuckin’ family time.

My stomach rumbled loudly, so I pulled on shorts and a clean tee, irritated that the laundry seemed to have piled up again already. I could have sworn I’d just done a load. I preferred it when Julia had done all that sort of shit. I wondered if I could ask her if she’d start again—make some sort of deal, but I had the feeling she wouldn’t be doing me favors anytime soon.

The kitchen was mercifully empty. I didn’t think I could face talking to anyone right now.

I was surprised to see that my skateboard was propped up in the hall. Marcus must have gone back to the beach last night and saved it for me. I thought that was pretty cool of him.

I shoved some bread in the toaster and slumped at the table waiting for it to pop up. I was surprised when Aidan’s name flashed on my cell.

“Yeah?”

But it was Sean’s voice instead.

“Hey.”

“Sean! Fuck! How are you? Are you okay?”

His voice was subdued.

“I’m okay. Back home. Look, I’m sorry about last night, man.”

“Fuck that, bro, I’m just glad you’re all right.”

There was a long pause.

“I told the police it had nothing to do with you
.”

I swallowed, pushing back the memory of sitting in the cruiser on my way to the police station.

“Yeah, I know,” I said quietly. “Julia told me. Thanks for that.”

“Well, it’s true. That was some bad shit. Got a killer headache,”
he laughed softly.

I grinned into the phone. “I bet it’s bitchin’.”

There was another long pause.

“So, the parentals are freaking out. And I’m grounded. They’re saying it’ll be for the rest of my life. Well, definitely for most of it. Weeks, for sure.”

“Wow, that’s harsh!”
Jeez, it was only the first week in July
. “They really gonna stop you surfing?”

“Yeah, they can try,”
he snorted. Then he sighed.
“But they’ve taken my car keys.”

“Shit!”

“Yeah.”

“Well, um, I guess you’re feeling pretty rough. But, uh, you’re going to be okay, right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,”
he said, although there was something off in his voice.

“I can come over, if you’re up for some Xbox action. Or tomorrow after work.”

He didn’t reply right away, and I had the weirdest feeling, like someone had opened up my head and poured cold water in, filling my body with chills.

When he still didn’t speak, I knew why.

“You’re not allowed to see me,” I said flatly. “They don’t believe you—they think I gave you the drugs.”

“I’m sorry,”
he said, his voice sounding choked.
“You’re my best friend, man. You’re my brother. But they’re being real assholes about this. I told them it had nothing to do with you, but yeah—they don’t believe me.”

I understood, I really did. They wanted someone to blame, and I was first in line.
Blame the kid from the poor side of town. He must be selling drugs, right?

“It’s okay,” I said stiffly.

“Nick, I’m so sorry. I…”

I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me.

“It’s not your fault,” I said tiredly. “They really going to ground you for the rest of the summer?”

“Yeah, I think so. They’re pretty mad. I’m only allowed to leave the house if I’m with one of my brothers. That would be okay if it was Aidan, but he’s going north tomorrow to start his new job. I’ll be stuck with fucking Patrick. He’s such a prick.”

“Shit. That sucks.”

Sean gave a small laugh.
“Yeah, but he hates me just as much, so he hasn’t stopped bitchin’ about it since Mom and Dad handed out the jail sentence.”
He sighed.
“They’ve taken my phone and my laptop. That’s why I’m using Aidan’s. I needed to tell you, man. I’m so fuckin’ sorry.”

Something tightened inside my chest.

“Yeah, me too.” I took a deep breath. “This is so fucked up.”

The silence stretched out before he replied.
“Yeah, really fucked up. Look, I gotta go, man. I’ll call you when I can, okay?”

“’Kay.”

The call ended.

My toast was cold.

I texted Yansi all Sunday, but there was no reply. The silence made my skin prickle.

And when I showed up for work on Monday morning, Mr. Alfaro fired me.

I already knew he didn’t like me much; I never had been allowed back in the truck’s cab, and I was cool with that.

But today he was waiting for me with his arms folded across his chest, a look on his face that told me he wanted to chew me up and spit me out. He always looked pissed, but today it seemed like the supersized version, and all aimed at me. I guessed he’d heard about Sean, although it could have been about Erin. Shit, I hoped he didn’t know
all
the details. I didn’t know which one would make him more pissed. I had a feeling I was going to find out.

His eyes narrowed as I got closer. Yep, this was definitely more than just his usual pissiness. I jumped off my skateboard and flipped it up so I could catch it under my arm. Yeah, a bit of a showy move, but he looked so mad, and it was all I had.