by Holly Hood
They were just about the same height give or take an inch, I couldn’t tell because Ace was still sitting. He finally stood up and I saw that he was in fact taller, and I was happy about that.
“No, I was just talking to Eve. We met the other day. Thought I would just say hello.”
Gray stared up at me again. “The other day Eve?”
“Yeah the other day Gray. Is that ok with you?” I snapped. I had one father I didn’t need two. Gray looked Ace up and down.
“I’m Ace,” he said, putting his hand out. Gray didn’t accept.
“I know who you are. You’re in my class. You just moved here. And I don’t think it’s that smart to be hanging around here.”
“Gray!” I exclaimed, getting up. I was about to hit him in the head.
Ace put his hand up to let me know it was alright. “I don’t see how it would be stupid to say hello to someone I met. And you are?”
“I’m Eve’s brother,” Gray replied, letting out a long breath. I couldn’t tell if he was upset or intimidated.
“Nice to meet you. I promise you no harm man.”
Gray shook his head looking back at me. “Wait until dad hears about this,” he said, walking off.
“Hears about what?” I yelled, wincing as my head pounded. “Seriously go take your girlfriend to the psych ward or something and leave me alone you overachieving lunatic!”
Ace laughed. Sitting back down, he watched Gray as he pulled down the drive. Gray glared at me with a look of I-will-ruin-you on his face; little did he know I could ruin him faster.
“Why the hostility from your bro?”
“I have no clue, he is always like that, and usually he doesn’t care about what I do unless it’s school, but apparently he has an issue with you.”
“You’ll have that sometimes,” he laughed, leaning back on my porch steps. Apparently he wasn’t worried about anyone else coming out of the house.
“So what do you do here for fun?” I came down the steps and sat next to him.
I stared at his arms and the small part of his stomach that was exposed from the way he was lounging on my stairs- he had nice abdominals.
“Most guys don’t try to get beat up by my brother or father,” I said.
“No one’s going to beat me up; you don’t know how men are. They put on a fake front to like, um, mark their territory or something. That’s all he was doing.”
“Fake is definitely the word for it,” I said under my breath.
“So what do you do here?” he asked again.
“There’s not a whole lot, that’s why you found me in the woods,” I shrugged, looking off at the place I had made a fool of myself. It was still a little embarrassing. Ace stared out into the woods as well.
Mark coughed at the door, and we both looked up. “Who’s your friend Eve?” he asked me, stepping out onto the porch. He made his way over to Ace extending his own hand. If anything Mark was never rude. Annoying, but never rude. He had a very graceful way of approaching things.
“Ace, he just moved here,” I said, trying to push away from it seeming anything more then what it was.
I didn’t know what it was or why he was coming by again but I was thinking maybe it was because he was a decent guy who genuinely was concerned about a girl he’d found drunk in the woods.
“Well hey there Ace, I’m Mark, Eve’s brother-in-law.” Ace complied and shook his hand not looking too concerned with Mark. “Are you in college as well or you working?”
“Both, I go to school and I work on the side when I have time,” he answered, standing up on the porch.
Mark looked him up and down; I was starting to think it was a man thing.
“That’s a good quality to have, especially at a young age. What is it you do?”
“I, uh, take on tasks, sort of like a handyman or something. “He stared over at me as if to say get me out of this. I sighed, thinking of a way to get off the porch without Mark having a heart attack as I was walking off with this new guy in town.
“Uh, Mark? I think I heard Hannah calling you.” I pointed toward the door and when he turned, I yanked Ace by the shirt and down the steps.
I don’t think either one of us had any idea where we were walking. I just kept walking until my house was nowhere in sight.
“Do you have a big family?” he asked as we headed into the neighborhood park. It wasn’t much of a park: wide open spaces, one playground, a running path for joggers, and a few benches dotting the paths.
“I have two siblings, my brother you met, and I have a sister. And I have a niece and a nephew. That’s it.”
“That’s a lot,” he said, sitting down on the bench resting his hands on his legs.
It was hard to figure him out he had a mysterious quality about him.
“I’ve never thought so. Plus, their older so it’s not that fun,” I said, looking at him. “What about you?”
“What is it you want to know?” he asked.
“What’s your family like? Do you have siblings, or a crazy family, or are they normal?”
“I didn’t move here with my family,” was all he said.
“Well, yeah, you’re twenty-two so I wouldn’t think so. Did you transfer schools or something?”
“Yeah, transferred, but we didn’t really have to travel that far to get here. We lived on the outskirts in Jersey,” he said, staring away from me.
“Why were you drinking in the woods Eve, You’re eighteen you shouldn’t be drinking in the woods?” he blurted out.
I stared down at my pink toes, wiggling them one by one, trying to avoid the conversation.
“I don’t know, it just seemed a little odd to me. I’m sorry if that upset you. Just seems dangerous and a little reckless,” he said.
“I wasn’t being reckless I was just getting out of the house. And I wasn’t alone, I was with a friend. She had just left and I was getting ready to go home.”
‘But you didn’t, you fell down into the creek.”
“Yeah, I know, I was going home though,” I said, scratching my arm out of nervous habit.
“You didn’t though,” he said again. I looked up alarmed as I thought back to last night. I had planned on going home, but had ended up walking on the rocks instead for some reason.
“Let’s talk about something else okay? I’d like to know some more about you.” I nudged him with my elbow, seeing that he seemed to have lost his cheerful manner.
It was like a cloud cast over him and he was basking in it. He was no longer in his earlier good mood and I no longer liked being there with him.
“Let’s not. Tell me more about you. What do you like to do? What are you interested in? Uh, what do you want out of life?”
“I don’t ask for anything out of life. I’m not expecting anything, and, to tell you the truth, I am officially sick of this question.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s the same question everyone asks me. I don’t know nor do I really want to right now. I’m eighteen. I just want to breathe,” I sighed.
“You know, I never heard anyone say anything like that before. Seriously, it’s intriguing.” His smile came back.
“It’s not a really good thing to say, but you are honest when you say it, and what more could someone want from you then that, ya know?” He was right, and I couldn’t figure out why no one else got it as he did. “Tell me this, not knowing works for you, but how much not knowing do you feel comfortable with?”
“I like the blind aspect of life. I just feel like, whether we see where we are going in the end or not, we all are going to crash and burn. So why worry about how we are going to do it.”
“Amazing.” He looked at me closely as if trying to see into my soul. “Your parents must think you’re crazy. I really can’t believe you are only eighteen. You have an old soul,” he laughed.
Chapter 4
Hello
A few days had passed and I hadn’t see Ace. I kind of figured he had no reason to c
ome back over. I was fine, he had done his job. But I was still thinking about him. It was a little weird because I sort of felt drawn to the mysterious side of him.
As it turned out, Gray told my dad nothing. He had, as usual, talked a big game and didn’t back it up. He liked to torture me like that, although I did not feel too tortured. He did tell me that he didn’t agree with Ace coming around; he never gave a clear reason as to why. I just thought he was trying to play the older brother role. I didn’t need his guidance; I was a smart person when it came to gauging anyone’s bull.
I went downstairs- it was morning yet again. My whole family sat at the table like usual eating breakfast, just the same as any other day. There was Gray inhaling his food, my father reading his newspaper. I sat down taking a banana; I wasn’t one to eat a big hearty breakfast everyday- it made me sick sometimes.
“What are your plans for the day Eve?” my dad asked, peering over the top of his newspaper at me, my mother looking as well.
“I have no idea, maybe a nap,” I said dryly.
“I found a young man to do some work around here. Mark told me about him,” he said, sipping his coffee.
“Yeah,” I said, not trying to act as if I was concerned.
“He does handy work so I thought I would give him a go, have him clean the eaves and reroof the garage- some of the things Gray doesn’t want to do.”
Gray looked up alarmed. “It’s not that I don’t want to. It would just be easier for you to get someone a little more….”
“Competent?” I asked, smiling at the invitation to insult him. Gray gave me a look of disgust shoving a piece of toast in his mouth.
“No, no, it’s fine Gray. This kid seemed rather willing to get it done; maybe he needs the money or something. Mark said he is paying his way through school I believe.”
“How do you know that he is paying his way?” I asked my dad. He was so quick to assume things about people, it always irritated me. For all he knew this guy could have had a full scholarship and was doing this just for the fun of it. Or out of sheer boredom. He didn’t know, but he always liked to think he did.
“Oh, I don’t Eve. It was just a guess sweetheart.” He went back to reading.
“Why are you so defensive? You worried it’s your little lover boy you had over the other day?” Gray threw his words out like a dagger, grinning with amazement as if he had scored a goal or something.
My parents both stopped what they were doing to look at me.
“You’re a moron; I simply asked him a question. Why do you feel it necessary to share my business, that isn’t even business might I add, with the whole world?”
“You share mine. And besides that, you like to annoy me, so I’m paying you back. “
“Paying me back? You’re ridiculous. What do you think Mom and Dad are going to do? Ground me because a boy came onto our porch and talked to me?” I laughed evilly. “I’ve seen your girlfriend leaving our house after two in the morning.”
Gray slammed his fork down, his face red, his eyes glaring even harder at me.
“Glare all you want it’s not going to do anything.”
“Oh really?” he asked, with his sly smile. He looked at Mom and Dad for a few seconds, biting his lip, I rolled my eyes. My parents stared at the both of us like we were nuts. I don’t think they knew what to say.
“Well, I wonder if telling Mom that you go out in the woods to get drunk would.”
I chucked my banana peel at his face. My mother gasped, clutching her chest. I racked my brain for something more to say about him to outdo what he had said about me, make the sting a little less to my parents, but I didn’t have much. “You watch porn!” I yelled, kicking him under the table.
Gray laughed, shaking his head. “Oh big deal, every grown man watches porn sometime in their life.” He got up from the table taking his plate like a good son.
“Sit down!” my dad ordered angrily.
Gray’s amusement left quickly. I smiled but quickly stopped as my dad pounded his fist on the table to get our attention.
“What is going on with you two?” He looked at each of us. Gray didn’t say anything.
“I don’t do it all the time,” I said, slinking down in my seat. My mother closed her eyes, clutching her head.
“You don’t do it at all!” he yelled, spit flying from his mouth. “You are eighteen. It’s illegal to drink any time. What has gotten into you Eve?!”
I blinked, looking at Gray. This was his entire fault. I didn’t try to explain myself, there was no point. My dad didn’t get it, I wasn’t doing anything crazy, but he would never understand anything I said to him.
“I do not want to ever hear about you doing anything like that again. And what about this guy?” he said, his voice dying down.
“I don’t know what the big deal is. I met him in the woods the other day and he came by the next day to say hello.”
“In the woods. What, when you were drinking? Do you think that is appropriate?” he asked me with a serious look on his face.
“He was just there; I don’t know what you want me to say,” I said. My mother stayed quiet; she let my dad do all the talking.
“You need to be careful about where you hang around. What if this guy had hurt you or lord knows what?”
“It won’t happen again, that’s all I can say.” I got up from the table lingering in the kitchen to hear what the punishment for Gray would be. Or what they would say to him to hurt his ego. My dad was good at that because Gray always wanted to seem good to him.
“I hope you’re not having girls here all night. And if you are, you know …” he trailed off.
“We were studying. It wasn’t anything like that, dad. I have a dorm room, um, well, you know what I mean. I wouldn’t-“Gray bit his lip. I didn’t think that was much of a lecture.
“You know how I feel about that,” my dad said, going into the kitchen.
“I know, Dad. It really was nothing though.” Gray looked at me, shaking his head. Someone tapped on the door.
“Eve, get that will you?” my mother said, looking flustered.
I sighed, walking to the door. I was starting to feel like a maid who got no pay. It took me by surprise to see Ace; he looked at me with an inquisitively. He’d probably overheard the feud. I opened the door letting him pass through.
“What are you doing here?”
“Work. Your dad asked me.”
I nodded, suddenly realizing it was Ace he had been referring to all this time. My dad came quickly into the room greeting him graciously.
“Thanks for coming. And on time, that’s always a good quality to have.” He headed out the door with Ace.
I stared off at them as my dad began talking, scratching his head and pointing at things. Ace calmly listened, nodding his head every once in a while or grinning.
My dad got Ace started on the roof and went back inside. I came out onto the porch. Ace was hammering away on the roof.
He looked over. “Hey there.”
“Hey,” I said, sitting down on the steps.
“Everything alright?” he asked me, putting a nail in his mouth holding it between his lips; he raised an eyebrow at me waiting for a reply.
“My brother has a big mouth. My dad got mad about my drinking in the woods.”
“This is what normal parents would do,” he said, hammering away.
“Yeah to be expected right?” I asked sarcastically.
Ace shook his head. “You’re definitely something else.”
“You seem to think so,” I said under my breath.
“I do. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I never said that did I?” he asked.
“No, you never said that.”
“Well good, just so you know.”
“I know. So what made you agree to do work for my dad? And how did Mark get a hold of you?”
“Your brother is in my class. Maybe he paid enough attention to find my phone number, I don’t know. And why did I agree?
Two reasons.” He moved over on the roof dragging the roofing with him.
I waited for his answer but he didn’t say anything else.
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“What are the two reasons?” He clearly knew what he was doing;
“One: to be polite. Two: to see you again.” He hopped down from the roof. He clearly was hot- his hair was sweaty his face red. I was sort of glad and sort of embarrassed he had said that.
