Twenty-Two

Josh

Spring break had finally come. Lee and I were going home for the week, and I was pretty damn excited about it. I’d gone overboard with the drinking over the past few weeks, and I’d been feeling like shit because of it. After the late night incident with Garrett, where Jude had to pick us up, I’d been laying kind of low. Keeping myself mostly in my room or the library. It took me two days to recover, and with an overload of schoolwork, I was ready for a break. 

With my bags loaded into the car, I headed toward the girls’ dorm to get Lee. She was still trying to convince Letty to come home with us, but she wasn’t having much success. Letty couldn’t take off work for a week or something. 

Just as I was about to head inside, she walked out. 

“I couldn’t get her to come,” she said as she handed me one of her bags. “She was afraid she’d lose her job if she had to take off for a whole week.”

I grabbed her other bag. “Well then, it’s just you and me, sweet cheeks.” 

“You’re way too chipper this morning. I’m going to need you to tone it down a bit for the sake of my sanity.”

“Your sanity?” I questioned. “Maybe I’m going to need you to tone it up for mine. After all, I’m the one driving this taxi,” I pointed to my car.

“Keep your panties on, Joshua! Thirty minutes in the car with me, and you’ll be wishing we had further to drive.”

I laughed. This thirty-minute drive would be plenty long enough if she was going to be a grouch-o. “Just get in the car.”

After an unscheduled stop for coffee, I drove us straight home. The ride was quiet for the most part. Lee was in a particularly weird mood for someone going home to see her parents. When I tried asking her about it, she wouldn’t explain. Just said she had a few things on her mind. Maybe it was schoolwork, or that Letty wasn’t coming home with her. I wasn’t sure, but I tried not to pry. 

We pulled into her driveway, and for the first time in a while, her eyes lit up. Despite what she says about her parents, she still loves them. 

I helped her remove her bags from the trunk before she wrapped her arms around my waist. 

“Thanks for the ride home,” she whispered into my shirt.

“You’re welcome.”

After a long hug, she pulled away. “Do you think maybe the two of us could go down to the lake tomorrow?” She asked.

I nodded. “Sure, but I’m not swimming. You know that water is freezing.”

“We don’t have to swim. I just want to go.”

“Okay,” I kissed her cheek. “I’ll come get you tomorrow. Then maybe tomorrow night we can have ice cream and an Ice Age marathon.”

She smiled. “YES!” 

There was a loud squeal as she made her way up the front porch steps. 

“I love you,” I called out to her.

“Love you, too.”

Once I was settled in at home, I took a long shower and ate a homemade meal that my Mom fixed. She didn’t know just how badly I’d been waiting for it. Both her and my Dad was at supper, but Dad had his laptop, so getting a word in with him was useless. I did tell Mom about Gwen though. She said I was too good-looking to go chasing after girls. At least we could agree on something. 

After supper, I got a phone call from Garrett while I was in the garage cleaning out my car. It seemed important since he’d called twice before that. 

Setting the used rag on the console, I dialed his number.

“Damn you’re hard to get ahold of!” He answered. No hi or hello. 

“What’s going on?” I asked. It couldn’t have been that big of a deal.

“I’ve been trying to call Paislee, too,” he said through a strangled breath.

“GARRETT!” I screamed, and the phone went silent. “Tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Tex’s house caught fire sometime this morning.”

“What?” 

“I said…”

“No,” I interrupted. “I know what you said. Is everyone okay? Was he there?”

“I can’t get ahold of him, and no one here is telling me anything. I don’t if he was inside or if his parents were. I don’t know anything. I’m just standing here freaking out. The fucking house is gone, Man.”

This was awful. Shit. “Just take a deep breath. Are your parents there?” I asked. He didn’t need to be dealing with that on his own. That was his family.

“They’re on their way. I called them as soon as I found out. I wouldn’t have known if Obi hadn’t called me. He went over there to borrow something from Tex and called the fire department as soon as he got there. It was already up in flames.”

I could hear the distress in his voice, and it was scaring the crap out of me. 

“Listen. I’m going to Lee’s now. I’ll pick her up and we will be on our way.”

“Okay,” He said. “I’ll call you if I hear anymore.”

“Alright.”

I quickly hung up the phone and backed my car out of the garage. In my mind, I hoped that everyone was okay, but I was worried about telling Lee. Despite what she says, that girl really likes Tex. Maybe she’d spoken to him. I needed to know, and quickly.

***

I ran through the front door of her house, and straight up the stairs to her bedroom. She was asleep on her bed, which was why she hadn’t received the call from Garrett.

“Lee,” I said giving her a little shake, but she just groaned lightly. “Lee,” I called again.

“What?” She grumbled, but she never opened her eyes.

I pinched her shoulder. “Wake up.”

“Ouch,” she grabbed her arm. “I’m awake.”

“Get up, and get dressed. We have to go.” I urged her before stripping the covers off her bed. I was about to catch her wrath, but I didn’t care.

“Joshua!” 

“Listen to me, Lee,” I stared into her eyes. “You need to get up and get dressed.”

That look her face was finally something I could work with. She could see that I was concerned, and I needed her full attention. I grabbed her hands and helped her up. 

“You’re scaring me, Josh. What’s going on?” Her fingers gripped mine as she pulled me closer to her. Those big eyes of hers looked even bigger when she was worried. 

I tightened my grip on her hand. “Tex’s house caught fire this morning, and no one has been able to get in touch with him. Garrett called me, and said he’d been trying to call you. I guess he wanted to check and see if Tex had called you at any time. He’s really worried.”

Her shoulders slacked and she sat back down on the bed. She shook her head no. “He hasn’t called me,” she said lightly.

“Are you sure? Can you check again?”

“I’m positive.” Her eyes started to fill up with tears. “The last time I talked to him was the night he picked you and Garrett up from that party.”

Wait. That didn’t make sense. “I don’t understand.”

She stood up quickly from the bed. “I lied, okay!” She yelled. “He’s still pissed off at me over what happened with you I guess. That night that I went to talk to him outside of the barbecue place, it didn’t go well. I tried to tell him the truth about what I was feeling, but he wouldn’t listen. So I kissed him.” She paced harder across the floor. “I freaking kissed him like a crazy person, and he told me to stop. He told me he didn’t want to hear what I had to say. He left me there, and we haven’t really spoken since.”

Her tears were falling harder and faster now. “Why didn’t you tell me, Lee?”

She looked up at me, furiously shaking her head. “Because you would punched him in the face again.”

“You’re damn right I would.” I could feel my blood boiling beneath my skin. “You should’ve told me.”

“I was fine.”

“If you were so fine, then you wouldn’t be falling apart right now.” 

“You just told me he was missing, and that his house caught fire. How do you expect me to feel?” She yelled.

“Come on,” I told her. “We’re going back. Garrett is worried sick.”

“I shouldn’t.”

“Yes, you should. You’re going. Come on.” I grabbed her purse from the floor. “If he’s okay, then I’m going to mess his face up for him.”

“JOSH!” She screamed at me. “Don’t say that. What if…” She started to cry harder.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Come here.”

I pulled her to my chest and held her. Gently I rubbed my hand down the back of her head. I wish she had told me what happened. It was crystal fucking clear how much he meant to her, and it tore me up to see her so upset. 

“I promise you that we will figure it all out. Let’s just go.”

“Okay,” she replied. Her face was splotchy and red from crying and I hoped that nothing serious happened to Tex, even though I wanted to hurt him with my bare hands. I just couldn’t stand it if she had to go through much more. But if I found out he was okay, God help him.