by Alex Tully
Parker and Meredith just looked at each other, and for once said nothing—they didn’t have an answer.
“Well, how would you like to have a cop for a parent?” Meredith tried, “And my mom is even worse—she would keep me in a cage if she could. I mean I would give anything for her to let loose—just once.”
“Exactly!” Zoe jumped up and started pacing, “Just once! Because if she did it all the time, like twenty-four hours a day, ever since you could remember, you’d want to off yourself! Seriously!”
Holy shit, Zoe was having a melt-down.
“You know what, I’ll take care of this shit,” Meredith might be annoying, but she was one of those friends everybody wanted when something went wrong. She went into damage-control, her thumbs moving frantically on her phone, “I’ll put an end to it. I’ll just send out a—.”
“No!” Zoe reached out for Meredith’s phone. “Don’t! They’ll just come anyway. Let Debbie have her party. I don’t give a shit anymore. I’m not gonna have everybody blaming me for blowing it up.”
Parker hated Zoe’s mom. All she cared about was partying, and everybody knew it. And the reason everybody knew it was because when Debbie-downer partied, she got loud—really loud. And they lived in a trailer park, so everybody heard everybody else’s business.
Things like, “Geez, loosen up Zoe! It’s just a few friends Zoe! You need a drink, Zoe!”
What kind of mom said things like that?
He wondered if maybe Zoe would take out Frankie’s fishing boat later—Parker had seen her do it before.
One night last summer, after a big blowout with her mom, he saw Zoe run out of her trailer and down to the water. He watched her jump into the boat and take off.
He wanted to stop her, he wanted to yell something, but he wasn’t quick enough. And then he couldn’t sleep and spent the next two hours sitting on his porch in the dark, waiting for her. When she finally came back up the hill, he was ready.
“So I saw you take Frankie’s boat.”
“Shit Parker!” Zoe jumped, “What the hell are you doing here?”
“You know, that’s super dangerous, what you’re doing.”
“Look,” she smiled at him, “you’re a smart kid and I’m not going to lie to you. Sometimes things get pretty bad with my mom.” She went on, “I just take the boat out to get away for a little bit. I always stay close and I always take my phone,” she held it up.
“Well, what do you do out there?”
She shrugged, “Just think about things. Look at stars. Not much, really.”
He still didn’t think it was a good idea, “Do you wear a life jacket?”
“Of course.”
“Well, how many times have you gone?”
“A few.”
“Like five? Ten? Twenty?”
Zoe sighed, “I don’t know—like less than ten.”
“Well,” Parker started, “maybe next time I could—.”
“Nope,” she immediately cut him off, “not going to happen.”
He knew she would say that, “Well, I won’t tell anyone.”
“Thanks, bud.”
Parker would never tell on Zoe—ever. But, now as he watched her wigging out, he started worrying about the boat. He grabbed his phone and sent Zoe a text, even though she was standing right in front of him: Are you going to take out Frankie’s boat?
She was still pacing but stopped to look at her phone, “No, I’m not going to take Frankie’s boat,” she said out loud. And then she nodded towards Meredith, “She knows.”
He felt relieved she wasn’t going, but disappointed it wasn’t just their secret.
Meredith was still tapping away on her phone, “Hey, do you want to just crash at my house tonight?”
“Yeah,” Zoe finally sat down, “thanks.”
“Unless…” Meredith looked at Parker with one of her evil smiles, “you want to crash here tonight? Maybe you and Parker could share a sleeping bag.”
He wanted to walk right over to her and smack that dumb smile off her dumb face. But instead, he pulled a pillow off the couch and launched it as hard as he could at Meredith’s head. Of course, it missed.
Zoe wasn’t in the mood for Meredith’s crap either, “Would you stop being such a bitch Meredith?”
He couldn’t help himself, “Yeah Meredith, stop being such a bitch.”
They all looked at each other. It sounded so stupid coming out of his mouth that even he couldn’t help cracking a smile, and then they all busted out with laughter.
CHAPTER 9
ETHAN
It had been over a week since the day at the pool when dock girl spilled Bloody Mary all over herself. He couldn’t risk going back to the pool with Emma always there. He would trust his sister with his life, but not with something as gossip-worthy as him liking a girl.
So every morning he walked past the pool and headed to the Sea-quester—to sweet isolation. Although, he was coming to the realization that the isolation didn’t feel as sweet as it used to. It was surprisingly uncomfortable at times. Often he found himself restless and feeling bored, and this was one of those times.
Maybe Dr. Malone was right, maybe he was improving. Yesterday, he and mom made the hour-long drive back to Cleveland for his appointment. She dropped him off in front of the towering glass entrance of the Cleveland Clinic Mental Health Center, and Ethan took the elevator up to the sixth floor. He walked to suite 605 and opened the brown door with the gold lettering Dr. Elijah Malone, MD. He continued through the waiting room to the sliding glass window and waited for the secretary to open it.
Ethan was no expert, but he would guess Nancy to be in her fifties. She had short black hair, big round glasses, and these ridiculously long nails that were always decorated—trees at Christmas, hearts at Valentine’s Day. She liked to click them against her desk when she talked on the phone—and Nancy was always on the phone.
He stood patiently, waiting for her to finish. Ethan had seen Dr. Malone a shitload of times, and there was not one time when Nancy wasn’t on the phone. The minute the brown door opened, Nancy was grabbing that receiver.
He watched her nails clicking, click, click, click… red stripes and blue stars leftover from Memorial Day. Nancy finally slid the glass over and smiled, “Any changes to insurance, address, phone number?” Same question every time.
“No,” same answer every time.
“Okay, take a seat.”
He didn’t wait long. It was only a minute or two when Nancy slid the glass over again, “You can go on back Ethan.” Dr. Malone ran a tight ship.
Once he got inside the office, things were just as routine—same deal every time. Ethan sat in the chair next to the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked Euclid Avenue. Dr. Malone, an African-American man with slightly graying hair and a beard to match, sat across from him. He wore his customary button-down and khakis.
He smiled, “Could you please remove your cap, Ethan?”
“Oh, sorry.”
Ethan always kept his hat pulled down low over his eyes, creating his own little barrier between him and the outside world. And that was precisely why Dr. Malone always asked him to remove it.
“How have things been with you Ethan?”
“Okay.”
“How has the anxiety been?”
“Not too bad,” he rubbed his palms on his jeans.
“Any catastrophic thoughts?”
He glanced out the window, “Not really.”
These were the same answers he’d been giving Dr. Malone for the last couple of months, but they had always been lies. The truth was he usually felt pretty shitty, his anxiety was still there, and so were the catastrophic thoughts.
But, lately…maybe they had been a little better.
“How has it been at the lake house?” A new question.
“Oh,” Ethan had to think for a second, “It’s been okay.”
“Have you been getting out?” Another new question.
Ethan pause
d, “A little bit.”
Dr. Malone was looking more excited by the minute, “It looks like you’ve gotten some sun. Were you able to use the pool or go to the beach?”
He shrugged, “Um, I went to the pool.”
Dr. Malone’s eyes lit up, “That’s great Ethan.”
Give him a medal—he went to the pool. Once.
“Forgive me, Ethan,” Dr. Malone leaned forward in his chair, “but you look different today—a good different. I see some very subtle changes in your mannerisms, but they’re significant. It’s something that I noticed as soon as you walked in.”
Okay… “If you say so.”
“For example, you usually avoid looking out the window, but today you’ve looked out the window several times as if it was nothing.”
Now that Ethan thought about it, he’d never really noticed the cool mural painted on the side of the building across the street. It said “Come Together” in giant yellow letters, with all kinds of colored flowers around it.
“Has that painting always been there?” Ethan pointed toward it.
“I believe they did that three years ago.”
“Huh.” How did he miss that?
“I think that fresh lake air has been good for you,” Dr. Malone clapped his hands in front of him, “But, we’re almost out of time.” Tight ship.
Dr. Malone grabbed his little blue pad, “Still doing okay with the medication?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, then I say we stay the course,” he scribbled on the pad, “if anything new comes up, you can call me on my answering service anytime.”
And Ethan was done with another session.
Looking back on the last week, he realized things had been better. Was it the lake air like Dr. Malone said, or could it all be because of her—the dock girl?
Ethan thought about her all the time, but he still didn’t know a lot about her. She worked at the pool during the day and walked back to the trailer park in the afternoon, usually around two or three. She’d only been on the dock a couple of times in the evenings, and not for very long.
He wouldn’t dare ask anyone at Crystal Waters about her, so he tried searching online. He tried the local high school’s yearbook, but their website was archaic and no help. He tried searching Sunny Shores online, and all he got was info on George and Peggy Hart, which he would guess were the owners.
The easiest way to find out more, was to go through the kid.
Ethan looked over at the dock again where that very kid, Parker, was reeling in another empty line. He’d been out there for almost an hour and hadn’t caught a thing. Ethan had to go over there—he had to find out more about the girl.
And that’s why he was going to get his head out of his ass, and leave the fricking yacht, and walk over to the Sunny Shores dock. It would be the perfect opportunity to find out something about her—without actually having to meet her. God, he was pathetic.
Parker reeled his line in again, but this time lifting a big fish onto the dock. This was it, the perfect opportunity.
Without thinking about it another second, Ethan stepped out of the Sea-quester and onto the pier, “Wow!” he yelled as loudly as he could, “Looks like you got a big one!”
Parker looked Ethan’s way, “It’s a bass!” he held the catch up high, “You wanna see?!”
Bingo.
Ethan practically ran down the dock toward the shore and quickly made his way across the short patch of beach connecting Crystal Waters to Sunny Shores.
From the Sea-quester, the trailer park’s dock looked old. Up close, the dock looked like a safety hazard. Every board was either cracked or broken. Wood shards poked out everywhere so bare feet would be a definite no-no. He carefully made his way, board by board, toward the kid.
Parker was waiting with a big smile on his face, “Watch your step!”
“Oh, I am!” Ethan got a better look at the fish as he approached, “Yeah, that’s a bass alright. Nice catch.”
“I’ve caught way bigger, trust me.” The kid quickly slipped the hook out and threw the fish back into the water.
Ethan put his hand out, “I’m Ethan by the way.”
Parker paused and wiped his hand on his shorts, “I’m Parker.”
They shook hands and Ethan didn’t waste any time, “So, you do a lot of fishing Parker?”
“Yeah,” he was already baiting another hook, “I’ve been fishing since I was like five.”
“Wow, I think you’ve got me beat,” Ethan said, “I didn’t really start ‘til I was about your age.”
“Really?” Parker cast his line out once again, “So what’s the biggest fish you ever caught?”
Ethan thought about the five-foot-long swordfish he caught on a Bermuda trip three years before. “Well I caught a Walleye once that was twenty-eight inches, I think.”
A big smile broke out on the kid’s face, “I caught a sturgeon that was bigger than that.”
“Seriously?” That was actually pretty impressive, “You caught a sturgeon?”
“Yes!” He whipped his head around, “You could ask my friend Zoe, she was there.”
Zoe?
“So…” Think Ethan! “Did she teach you how to fish—Zoe?”
“What?” Parker laughed, “Yeah right. No, my mom taught me.”
“Oh…”
Luckily the kid was a talker, “I mean, Zoe’s okay at fishing. But she gets grossed out baiting the hook. I always have to do it for her.”
He had to keep the conversation going, “Typical girl.”
“No,” Parker’s smile vanished, “Zoe’s not like a girl at all—I mean she is, obviously—but she’s really cool. She’s like my best friend.”
Keep it going…“Have you known each other a long time?”
“Yeah, like forever,” he nodded back to the trailer park, “we’ve both lived here pretty much our whole lives.”
Ethan’s mind was racing with his next question when he heard something that made his shoulders tighten instantly.
“Hey, Parker!” a yell from the beach.
Ethan felt his breath catch in his throat. It couldn’t be her. She was supposed to be working at the pool—she should be in the middle of her shift.
They both turned around in unison, and there she was—all smiles, waving her arm in the air, her white polo sparkling clean.
“Hey, Zoe!” Parker yelled back.
She turned away and took a few steps toward the trailer park.
Ethan felt his shoulders relax. Thank you, god.
And then, she suddenly did a one-eighty and stepped up onto the dock.
What? No, no…
And then, she started walking toward them.
Holy shit.
He was about to come face-to-face with dock girl and there was nothing he could do about it.
CHAPTER 10
ZOE
Hmmm…that was interesting. Parker had a new friend, a guy she’d never seen before. Definitely not a local—where did he come from?
“Hey Parker!” she yelled, waving her arms in the air. They both turned around and Parker waved back. She only had a twenty-minute lunch break, so she should probably just head to the trailer. But she was curious—really curious.
Screw it.
She turned around and walked up onto the dock. As she got closer to them, she started feeling uncomfortable, only because the guy standing next to Parker was looking uncomfortable. He was all fidgety, looking anywhere but at her.
“Did you catch anything?” she yelled as she approached, trying to break up the awkwardness.
“Just caught a pretty big bass!”
“Nice!”
And then she was there, standing in front of them. And when she saw the new guy up-close, she felt her confidence sink. He was sooo good-looking, and he had money—she could tell by his clothes, his shoes, his haircut. Awkward or not, everything about him said money.
“Hey, I’m Zoe.”
“Ethan,” he finally looked her
in the eyes, and oh my, those eyes!
She quickly had to look away, but luckily Parker couldn’t keep his mouth shut, “Guess who caught the biggest fish, Zoe?”
“Hmm…” she played along, “Ethan?”
“Nope, my sturgeon crushed his walleye.”
“Really?” she directed her question at Ethan, but he just gave a quick nod.
Geez… definitely not a talker.
Thankfully, Parker was very excited about his new friend, “Guess what else Zoe?”
“What’s that?”
He pointed over to the Crystal Waters dock, “That monster boat right there is Ethan’s!”
She glanced over to where Parker was pointing and saw the familiar yacht. It was beautiful, one of her favorites, and she had often wondered who actually owned it. Now she knew, and she immediately had another thought—maybe the guy standing in front of her wasn’t awkward or shy—maybe he was just a major snob.
“Wow, it’s really nice.” What else was she supposed to say?
But Ethan looked even more uncomfortable, if that was possible, “Well that’s not my boat, it’s my parents,” he said quickly.
“Dude, what’s the difference?” Parker shook his head. “Hey, next time you take it out, can I go with you?”
“Oh,” Ethan hesitated, “well we don’t really take that boat out.”
“What?” Parker frowned, “That’s pretty dumb. What’s the point of having it then?”
Ethan looked lost, and she quickly interjected, “Well I have to get going. I’m on my lunch break.”
“You work at the Crystal Waters pool.” It was a statement more than a question.
She hesitated. Had he seen her there? Did he notice her? “Uh, yeah.”
“Your shirt,” he pointed at the Crystal Waters logo on her shirt.
OMG her shirt! “Oh, yeah,” she was stumbling over her words, “um…I’ve been there about a week now.”
Then he smiled for the first time, “Well, maybe I’ll see you there sometime.” Oh my god, that smile—even better than the eyes!
