Put It Out There

by D. R. Graham

  Trevor mussed up my hair and said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

  “Do you really think so?”

  He glanced at me and paused, hesitant to tell me what he really thought. “The doctors will take good care of her,” was what he finally settled on. Then he took a handful of popcorn and pressed play on the movie to end the conversation.

  When we finished the popcorn, I moved the bowl and slid down to rest my pillow on his thigh. Having him close reminded me of how empty my life had felt while I was gone. I had assumed all of the void was from not having my dad in my life anymore, but obviously some of the gaping hole was caused by not having Trevor to lean on either. “I missed you last year,” I said quietly.

  He ran his hand over my hair, which felt nice. Eventually, he said, “I missed you, too, Deri.”

  I fell asleep before the movie was over.

  When I woke up in the morning, Trevor was gone and I was tucked under the covers. The book about intuition was on my bedside table. Before I made breakfast for the guests, I texted Steve to see how Giselle was doing. At about eight o’clock, he wrote back: Not good.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Steve missed two weeks of school. His sister was put in a medically induced coma to reduce the swelling on her brain and allow time for her organs to recover from the damage of the Fentanyl-laced cocktail of synthetic party drugs she had taken.

  Even once Steve came back to class, he was a zombie, and he left right after school every day to visit her in the hospital. I checked in with him to see how she was doing. But he didn’t want to talk about it, so I gave him his space.

  Trevor picked up more hours at the dock and couldn’t give me a ride after school anymore. The bus that went to Britannia Beach in the afternoon left every ninety minutes. If I missed the one right after school, I had to find something to do to burn time. One afternoon in October, I stayed late in the art room to work on some sketches for my architecture portfolio. When I left, I assumed the halls would be empty. I was completely startled when I turned the corner by my locker and interrupted Mason Cartwright making out with Lisa Alvarez. They were going at it pretty good. His right arm was elbow deep up the front of her shirt, while her hand moved across the front of his jeans in a very purposeful way.

  “Uh, sorry. Excuse me. Sorry,” I scrambled awkwardly, pointing at my locker, which he was leaned up against.

  Mason stepped to the side and extended his arm straight forward to keep Lisa at a distance.

  I glanced at him for half a second. “I just have to get my coat. Sorry.” I covered the side of my face with the palm of my hand so I couldn’t see them as I rushed to collect my stuff. Because I was flustered and only using one hand, I dropped my books. The sketches slid across the floor. Mason bent to pick them up for me. I stuffed everything in my locker randomly, but then the door wouldn’t close. I had to jam it violently until I could cram the lock back on. Completely mortified, I turned and jogged down the hall away from them.

  The bus was going to be another ten minutes, so I sat on the bench and pulled out a history textbook to read. My head was down when a truck pulled up in front of me. It was the 4Runner. Trevor leaned across the cab and opened the passenger side door from the inside with his trademark grin. “Do you need to help out at the Inn?”

  “No. Not today. There are only two guests.”

  “Murphy and some of the guys are going to Rusty’s to grab something to eat. You’ll be the only girl and you’ll be the only one who doesn’t need a shower. Do you want to come?”

  Sit and wait for the bus by myself as the sky threatened rain, or hang out at a pub with a bunch of rowdy guys. “Sure. Isn’t it every girl’s dream to be one of the guys?”

  He laughed. “I don’t know what girls dream about.”

  I hopped in. He pulled back out on the road, then turned the corner to head to Rusty’s.

  “Call your grandpa and tell him where you are.”

  “Wow. You’re worse than my mother.” I shook my head to mock him and pulled out my phone. After I hung up, I joked, “He said I’m not supposed to take rides from strangers.”

  “Good thing I’ve known you most of your life.” He glanced at me and grinned. “Do you remember the first day we met?”

  “Yeah, you had your red hat on backwards and you hopped out of the moving truck, holding your baseball mitt like you owned the place. You haven’t changed that much—just taller.”

  “I was bummed when I saw you sitting on the deck of the Inn playing Barbies.”

  “Bummed? Why?”

  “I was hoping to move next door to a really cool boy who would want to do things like play baseball, catch frogs, and build tree forts with me.”

  “I did all those things with you.”

  “I know, but—” We parked at the restaurant and continued to talk as we walked across the parking lot. “When I first saw your long, shiny hair and girly, pink clothes, I thought you’d be prissy.” He held the restaurant door open for me. “What did you think of me when we first met?”

  “I saw a cocky looking athletic kid with a smirky smile and I thought, there’s the boy I’m going to marry when I grow up.”

  His eyebrows shot up and his smile transitioned into surprise.

  Air caught in my throat when I realized what I’d actually said. Why did I blurt that out? So embarrassing. My heart seized as I scooted past him through the doorway into the waiting area. Two girls who had graduated in his year were just leaving but stopped to say hi to him and touch his arm unnecessarily frequently. He told one of them he would call her later and they left. The hostess wasn’t at her station, but fortunately I could see on the far side of the restaurant that Murphy was already at a table with his equally muscular older brother and two other guys from Search and Rescue. I made a beeline for them. I didn’t even check whether Trevor was trailing, laughing at me.

  The guys moved over in the booth and made room for us to squeeze in. Trevor was right behind me, which was confirmed when he placed his hand on my waist and let me slide in first. Wedged between him and Murphy, I still refused to look at him. If I had believed, at any point in the eleven years I had known him, that we were in the same league, I would have developed a giant crush on him. Since we were so obviously not even playing in the same sport, let alone same league, I let go my childhood fantasy of marrying him before I even hit puberty. Well, I thought I had let it go, until it shot out of my mouth just to humiliate me.

  “So, you think you can hang with the big boys, eh?” Murphy nudged me.

  I shrugged, not convinced I could.

  “You already know my brother Ryan, and this is Colton and Bobby.”

  “Hi.” I smiled at all of them, glad to be included in their boys’ time. Although, to be honest, it was pretty stinky. I finally looked at Trevor’s face, prepared for him to tease me about the marriage comment. To my total relief he smiled—looking relaxed.

  “How many chicken wings can you eat, Deri?” Murphy asked.

  “Maybe five.”

  They all laughed. “Be prepared to be disgusted,” Trevor said.

  The waitress brought out two huge platters full of wings and placed them in front of Murphy and Ryan. “First one to finish doesn’t have to pay,” Murphy explained.

  I frowned at the heaping portion. “How many chickens had to die for this?”

  “Their deaths weren’t in vain. We’re going to thoroughly enjoy their sacrifice.” Murphy chuckled, then pretended to be serious, “Do you want me to do a little prayer of gratitude first?”

  “I think you should do a prayer that you don’t choke and die,” I quipped.

  “No worries. Trevor knows the Heimlich.”

  “Go!” Murphy’s brother yelled and they dug in.

  Trevor smiled at me apologetically. “I warned you.”

  Yes, he did warn me. I came of my own free will. By the time I finished my salmon burger and all my yam fries, they were still working on the platters of wings. T
he bones were piled up on a third plate like a chicken graveyard. Murphy won by three wings. “Okay, Deri, how much money do you have on you?” he asked.

  “Um, like twenty bucks.”

  “I bet you twenty bucks I can eat one of every dessert on the menu.”

  “That’s all the money I have. I won’t be able to pay for my burger.”

  He waved his hand to dismiss my concern. “Trevor can cover your meal.”

  I smiled because, although Trevor hadn’t intended for it to be a real date, the thought of him paying for my meal made it seem like one.

  “Twenty bucks if I eat one of every dessert on the menu,” Murphy repeated.

  I read the menu closely. There was no way he could eat all eight dessert choices after the platter of wings he’d ingested. I was just about to take his bet when Trevor subtly shook his head side to side.

  “Stay out of it, Maverty,” Murphy warned.

  Trusting Trevor’s subtle caution, I leaned my elbows on the table and stared Murphy down. “How about you give me one hundred dollars if I can eat one of every dessert on the menu,” I counter-challenged.

  “Interesting.” He sat back and stroked his chin exaggeratedly as he considered it. “What do I get when you can’t do it?”

  “I will clean your and Ryan’s house until it no longer smells like a gym locker.”

  The guys all cheered. Murphy enthusiastically swung his tree trunk arm in the air to get the waitress’ attention. She walked over and pulled out her little writing pad. “What can I get for you, Murph?”

  “One of every dessert for the girl.”

  “For the girl? What’s the bet?”

  “A hundred dollars if she can do it, and she cleans our house when she can’t.”

  “Gross.” The waitress wrinkled her nose. “I’ll be right back.”

  “You mean if I can’t, not when,” I corrected him.

  “No, I mean when.”

  The waitress returned a few minutes later with two other servers. They arranged the eight plates in front of me.

  “Hey!” Murphy protested. “Those are small portions.”

  The waitress smiled and shrugged innocently. Even with the smaller portions, I didn’t think I could do it. “Good luck,” she said and pointed across the room. “The bathrooms are over there if you need.”

  I started with the ice cream, so it wouldn’t melt. Then worked my way through a fluffy strawberry cheesecake, a chocolate mousse, Jell-O, pumpkin pie, and apple crumble. The first six actually went down not too badly, but I had a pecan tart and a chocolate-caramel pound cake left. “I made an error,” I moaned. “I should have gone from dense to fluffy.” I rested my cheek on the table.

  “You can do it, Deri,” Trevor encouraged me. “Think about how bad their rooms are going to smell. They’ll probably make it extra rank just for you.”

  I sat up and aimed a forkful of pecan tart into my mouth. Fortunately, the slice wasn’t that big and I finished it in four bites. I had to rest my head back on the table. Murphy’s brother laughed at me. “I’m going to leave my sweaty gym clothes rolled up in a ball in the corner for a week and let food go rotten in the fridge before you come over.”

  I moaned.

  “I’m going to leave dirty dishes in the sink and let meat and fish garbage pile up.” Murphy laughed. “Maybe there will be maggots.”

  “No. Stop talking. I can do it. I just need some liquid.”

  Trevor handed me a glass of water, then rubbed my shoulders as if I were a boxer about to go another round. “You can do it. One more and then you can puke if you have to.”

  The other guys chanted, “Deri, Deri, Deri.”

  The food I had already eaten threatened to come back up. I drank one more sip of water and took a deep breath. The sugar rush surged, but I shovelled the pound cake down in six forkfuls. My throat struggled to swallow the last bite, but I choked it back and said, “I did it.”

  “Let’s see,” Murphy made me open my mouth to prove I actually swallowed.

  They all cheered and pounded the table. I got dizzy and then my stomach churned. “Move, move, move.” I slapped Trevor’s shoulder in a panic.

  He slid out of the booth and I ran to the bathroom. They all laughed behind me. I burst into a stall and puked out every one of the eight desserts. Then the salmon burger and the yam fries. Cleaning their house probably would have been less disgusting. I stood over the toilet for a long time, waiting to see if I was going to get sick again.

  “You okay, honey?” I flushed the toilet and opened the cubicle door. It was the waitress, smiling at me. “Trevor sent me in to make sure you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine. I did it.”

  “I heard. Good job. Murphy is the only other person who’s ever done that. Trevor tried once and puked after four.”

  “Really?” I asked as I washed my hands and rinsed my mouth out with water.

  “Here.” She handed me a piece of gum. “I’m impressed you held your own.”

  “Thanks for the small portions.”

  She winked and went back into the restaurant. I splashed water on my face, also impressed that I held my own. Sophie would have been proud. When I joined the guys back at the table, Murphy handed me five twenty-dollar bills. “There you go. Good job.”

  “I heard you puked after four,” I teased Trevor and needled my elbow against his ribs.

  “She gave me huge portions,” he yelled, so the waitress could hear.

  He stretched his arm along the back of the booth behind me, and we had so much fun laughing about other stupid bets Murphy had done. Hanging out with boys was my comfort zone. Too bad a proper date was a different story. It was almost nine o’clock when Trevor and I got back to Britannia.

  “Thanks,” I said after we got out of the truck. “I had a really good time.”

  He nodded to agree. “I guess their house is going to stay rank. What are you going to spend the money on?”

  I shrugged because I hadn’t actually given it any thought. “I’ll probably still hire a cleaning service for them.”

  “You don’t have to do that. Keep the money and splurge on something you wouldn’t normally buy for yourself.”

  I tried to come up with something I would want to buy with a hundred bucks. After a long pause, I still couldn’t think of anything. “There’s nothing I really want.”

  “A girl who doesn’t like to shop? Weird. I guess you’re officially one of the guys now. Murphy’s going to challenge you to a wing race next time, so be prepared.”

  “I can take him,” I joked, secretly glad he implied a next time.

  He spun his keys around his thumb before he shot me the same smirky smile from the day he moved to Britannia Beach. “So, you want to marry me some day, huh?”

  Damn. I hoped he’d forgotten about that. I dropped my head so my hair fell forward and hid the blush in my cheeks. “I was five. I didn’t even know what I was thinking.”

  “Sure.” He reached over and mussed up my hair as if I were a little kid.

  “Seriously?” I protested and pushed his hand off my head.

  He laughed and turned to walk away. “Night,” he called over his shoulder.

  I sighed. “Night.”

  I watched as he turned and walked up his porch steps. Eventually, I went into the Inn. Being one of the guys didn’t actually feel much more mature than being his little sister, but at least it was something different.

  My granddad was behind the front desk, his head rested in his hands in a depressed way. A letter lay on the desk next to his elbow.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He glanced up at me and took a deep breath before he answered. “The insurance company rejected the claim for the flood.”

  “What?” A million scenarios for what that would mean raced through my head simultaneously. None of them were good. As my mouth dropped open, I mumbled, “Shit.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  I texted Doug as soon as I found out the insurance claim
had been rejected. I asked him to meet me in the courtyard after school. He didn’t even ask why. He just agreed.

  “What’s up?” He sat on the table part of the picnic table next to me.

  Desperate to fix things so my granddad wouldn’t need to come up with enough money to pay for all the renovations out of pocket, I had thought up a plan. Doug had the skills needed to help me with it. The only problem was it could potentially get us both sent to Juvie. “Would you do something illegal for me?”

  “Probably.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” I stood because I already changed my mind about getting him involved.

  “Is that it?”

  I bit at my bottom lip, weighing my options. “I don’t want to talk about it here. Can you go for a drive?”

  “Sure. Sophie has choir until four-thirty. I have to be back in time to pick her up.”

  “It won’t take that long. I’ll explain what I need you to do. You can decide whether you want to be a part of it or not.”

  He frowned, both concerned and intrigued at the same time.

  “Sophie would be so mad at me for asking you to do something that might breach your probation. Promise you won’t tell her”

  “Yeah. Whatever.”

  “Promise not to tell her.”

  “I promise. Geez, what’s gotten into you?”

  “Let’s just go.” I walked with him to his car, feeling frazzled, and determined, and guilty, and terrified. Doug drove an old black Chevy Nova. It was so loud it set off alarms when it passed by parked cars. A little difficult to be inconspicuous in it.

  “Where are we going?” he asked.

  “It doesn’t matter as long as it’s private. How about the old railroad station?”

  He peeled out onto the street in front of our school. But then drove the speed limit once we were on the highway. He knew it bothered me to drive fast. “What is it you want me to do, exactly?”

  “Hack into the computer system of an insurance company and change the file to say the claim was approved.”

  “Is this about the flood at the Inn?”

  I nodded, wishing I wasn’t desperate enough to get a friend in trouble. But I was, if he was willing. “What would happen to your probation if you got caught doing something illegal?”