No Thanks, Mate [Completed]

Chapter eighteen

Chapter 18

When Katie left that night at ten o’clock, I went up to my room and was surprised when I heard the door open and my parent’s voices were talking.  That hadn’t happened much since Luke left.  I ran down the stairs and saw my parents shrugging off their coats and kicking off their shoes.

“Well, this is refreshing.”  It really was nice.  I hadn’t seen my parents even talk much in the last few months, let alone smiling.

“Oh, Lainey!  You’re up?  And here?  I would have thought, you probably would have been at Katie’s again or catching up on sleep from the party or something.”  My mom looked almost embarrassed like I walked in on them making out.

“What’s going on?”

“Um, it’s our anniversary, so we took off the day and went to a hotel… and we uh, had dinner, and…”

“Got it.”  I didn’t want to hear the details.  “Well, I think I’ll just go back up to bed then…”

“Actually, Lainey, we need to talk to you.”  That time it was my father.  My mom was the kind to stumble her words, but my dad always got to the point.

I stopped in my tracks and turned around after a minute, cautiously.  “Yeah?”

“Have you heard anything from Luke?  I mean, you two were close.”

Disappointment flooded my spirit.  “Right.  That’s it?  No I haven’t.”  that probably came out really sharply and mean, but I was upset about that.  Mom frowned.

Dad opened him mouth to yell at me for saying that so rudely, but I cut him off.  “You don’t want to hear how I’ve been for the last year?  You guys act like Luke was your only child.  He’s not, you know.  He’s just the only one you’ve cared about for the last year.  Right?  We used to be a family, but now, you haven’t acknowledged my existence for a year!  You aren’t ever home!  You guys are working yourself to death out of guilt.  But let me just say this.  Luke isn’t coming back!  So let me know when you want to get things back to normal with us.”

And then I turned and walked up the stairs to my room.

I didn’t hear my parents talking again before I fell asleep, but maybe that was because I had the Carrie Underwood Carnival ride CD playing loud on my speakers right by my head.

When Just A Dream came on, I smiled and sang along really quietly to my pillow.

“...She had his box of letters in her passenger seat…trying to hide the tears oh she just couldn’t believe it… I can’t even breathe.  It’s like I’m looking from a distance standing in the background, everybody’s sayin he’s not comin home now.  This can’t be happening to me.  This is just a dream.”

“I wish.”

I suddenly screamed.  That wasn’t my voice.  I sat up, turning on my light.  “Is someone here?”

No response, then I heard the voice again, only I recognized it.  “Elaine, calm down.  Be quiet!”

I scowled.  “Kyle, didn’t you get the memo?  I don’t want to ever see you again!”

I turned on the lights and saw him standing right in front of my open window, standing like he was having a hard time standing on his feet.

“I couldn’t leave.  Look, Elaine, we kissed last night!  I couldn’t just get on with my life after that.”

“I was drunk.  I couldn’t control my actions.  It didn’t mean anything to me!”

He looked like I had just slapped him in the face.  “But it meant everything to me.”