Untethered

10 | Dueling Hummingbirds

It was barely seven a.m. and Evan yawned for probably the thousandth time as he waited for Ryan to arrive. His breath puffed out in a fine mist, obscuring his view of the street briefly before dissipating again. The cold drizzle falling on the windshield was not unusual for early June, but it was certainly inconvenient for moving a giant hunk of wood.

They arranged to meet early, mostly because he was still avoiding Emma. It was highly unlikely she would be up at such an ungodly hour, and after the dinner he bailed on with his mom, he wasn't really in a hurry to hear "I told you so."

He watched as Ryan finally arrived in his pickup, with the long trailer attached, and walked down to greet him.

"Morning, bro." He yawned again. "So where is this thing?"

"You haven't seen it?" Ryan shot him a questioning glance.

"Nah, I wasn't too sure Emma wanted to see me yet, and I wasn't in the mood for another round." He stifled another yawn. He conveniently didn't mention that he'd been too chicken to come back to the house last night. Instead, he'd driven aimlessly for almost two hours trying to shake the uneasy feeling that had settled in the pit of his stomach. Eventually, he returned to the house, and crashed for a few hours in the car.

"Doesn't look like you slept much." The observation was greeted with a grunt, so Ryan continued, "It's down in the workshop. I don't think it's even bolted down, but it is pretty massive."

"Great." Evan's less than sunny mood turned even gloomier.

"Probably a good thing we're doing this so early. Your sister is definitely not a morning person, in case you haven't noticed... and I'm not too sure she wants to see me right now, either." Ryan chuckled, his green eyes twinkling with mischief. Evan managed to raise an eyebrow at that.

"What did you do to piss her off, now?"

Ryan laughed a little harder. Realizing Evan would probably not appreciate the details, he just shrugged.

"I never do anything," he answered, his expression the picture of innocence, "she's just temperamental."

"Uh-huh." Evan looked at him disbelievingly, letting the subject drop for the time being.

They made their way down to the workshop, and the size of the gigantic piece of furniture elicited a deep groan from Evan. It was definitely going to be tricky maneuvering out of that little room, and up the narrow stairs. Yawning once more, he flexed his shoulders.

"Well, I suppose it isn't going to move itself."

~*~*~

The watcher cursed as the lid on his paper coffee cup, popped off, spilling lukewarm coffee all over his hands and lap. Grabbing a wad of napkins, he cleaned himself up absentmindedly, keeping an eye on the house at the end of the street.

As soon as he had gotten his hands on a new car, he'd decided to keep constant watch. He'd had to drive around and re-park regularly, but so far everyone in the peaceful little neighborhood had minded their own business. Last night he had gone back to his ratty motel room to catch a couple of hours sleep, but then resumed his post again by five a.m.

Nothing interesting happened until the kid pulled up with the trailer. Now what are they up to? He watched interestedly as the two men disappeared into the house after greeting each other, and then waited. Sometime later, they re-emerged hefting a huge wooden cabinet between them. He sat straighter. While he waited impatiently for them to finish loading it, he made a risky decision. As the pickup slowly pulled onto the street and drove away, he started his own car, and began to follow at a cautious distance.