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Elizabeth and I sit on that cold concrete for a full hour, huddled together when the wind picks up, and talk about… well… life. We live such different lives, but we’re still kind of the same. We’re both living with a single parent, and that single parent is too busy for us most of the time. We both go to fancy schools that we hate; I’m pretty sure the army man pays tuition for us both, but at least I get to go home each afternoon. Elizabeth is shipped off to some school far away where she has to sleep during the week and only gets to come home on weekends.
We’re both poor kids being pushed into a family we’re not sure we want a part of, but she’s been here way longer than I have. She’s been here for years. Years longer than I intend to be.
My arms get cold the longer we sit, so Elizabeth leans against me to share her coat.
Her legs get cold, so I tuck them close and push them under mine so my jeans keep her warm.
I don’t like girls. Not really. I’m not interested in kissing them yet, even if most of my friends have, and I’ve never sat with one and cuddled before, but we’re cold, so we do what we have to do and help each other out.
I like sitting with Elizabeth. She’s not judging my stained shirt or my scuffed sneakers. She’s not judging the fact I need a haircut or the weird way my chest caves in a little because it’s too broad and I haven’t grown into it yet. And herthicknessmakes for the kind of hug only my mom can give. Hayes said she and I are family now. I refuse to be family with the sour-sisters, but with Elizabeth… I could get on board with that. Even if Mom and I drive away after this meeting today and I never see Elizabeth again, she can still be my family.
“Do you think you’ll stay here forever?”
“No.” I play with the button on her coat and ignore how numb my butt has turned. “All our stuff is still in my apartment back home. We only came with the clothes we have on, so I think we’re going home in a bit. Mom never mentioned moving, and she would tell me.”
Elizabeth’s dirty green eyes meet mine. “Do you live very far away?”
“Three hours.” I shrug. “And Mom has to go to work tomorrow, so I bet we’ll have to leave soon. I don’t know why they’re talking without me – she said I was meeting my dad today, but I only saw him for a sec, then I was taken to the room you were in, so it’s not like we hung out and tossed a baseball or anything.”
Elizabeth gives a soft laugh and leans closer. “Is that what you wanna do? Play fetch like a dog? Because I can tell you, it’s not as fun as it sounds.”
I smile and lean a little closer, putting all my weight on one bum cheek to help the other feel better. “You have a dad. And I have a mom. That almost makes one whole family.”
“Does that make you my brother, then?”
“Hmm…” I frown and switch butt cheeks. “I don’t think so. I don’t feel like you’re my sister. But I can promise we’ll always be family now, which means I promise to always love you.”
Her cheeks stain a soft pink. “Do you have a cell phone? We could text sometimes when you go home.”
I shake my head and grin. “No way could my mom afford an extra phone. Wait…” I stop rolling from cheek to cheek and look into her eyes. Chubby cheeks smoosh them up so they’re a little squinty. “Doyouhave a cell phone?”
She nods, but it’s not arrogant like how the sour-sisters would gloat. “It’s an old one from when my daddy upgraded. It doesn’t do much else, but I can text and stuff. It’s too bad you don’t have one, because it would have been nice to talk when you leave.”
“Yeah…”
I lower back to both butt cheeks and groan. It hurts no matter how much I move. Picking up a sharp rock from the ground beside me, I angle my torso so I can lean a little under my car, then I start scratching letters into the exhaust pipe. G… U… N…
I murmur each letter as I scratch it in, and when I get to Elizabeth’s name, she leans against me so she can see, and smiles.
“‘Gunner loves Elizabeth’?”
I smile. “For…ever…” I scratch and speak, and let my words stretch out. “It sucks that we have to leave. Maybe we’ll visit more, since my mom decided it would be good to know my dad now. You can tell me if the bitches pick on you some more, and I’ll take care of them when I visit.”
When I’m done vandalizing my mom’s car, I blow on my markings to make sure the dust is gone and I like how it looks, and Elizabeth leans off me to look back to the club.
She studies the darkened windows with narrowed eyes. “We should go back inside. If I’m caught out here, Daddy will get super mad.”
“I don’t want you to get into trouble.” I drop my rock and lift my legs to let her slide out, then I push off the ground with an old-man groan and make Elizabeth laugh. It’s a sweet sound, soft and silly, and nothing like the girls in my school. Reaching out, I take her hand and drag her to her feet.
“Thanks for being cool.” Her voice is barely a whisper as we make our way out of the wind and push through the club doors. “I heard you were coming today, and all I could think wasGreat, another jerk to pick on me while our dads are talking.”
“I won’t pick on you. Never ever.” I turn to her at the bottom of the stairs and smile. “Except maybe about your knees. They’re chubby and cute.”
“I’ll stab you with the letter opener,” she growls. She’s like a little tiger cub, growling and snapping her teeth. There’s no strength behind her threats, no real danger. Just noise. “Take me back to the office, then turn around while I grab it.”
“The letter opener?” I reach back into my pocket. “You mean this one?” I chuckle when she gasps, then slip it back where I had it. “It’s shiny, right?”
“You stole it?” The tiger has turned back into cop’s daughter, and she can’t wrap her mind around a thief. “That’s so naughty.”
