So Your Hometown's Bringin' You Down Are You Drowning In The Small Talk And The Chatter?
Chapter 1/?
Olivia is the perfect stereotype of a southern belle. Born and raised in Alabama, proper with simple dreams and a loving boyfriend and parents, well liked in school, class president and future prom queen. She’s going to graduate the top of her class and get every opportunity and scholarship just handed to her but she’ll turn them all away in order to stay with her boyfriend in her tiny town and get married at eighteen, and have a house and the start of a family by the time she was twenty. It’s what is expected of her, it’s the same path that her mother took and her mother before her and there’s very little she can do about it. It’s not a bad life, it’s comfortable and reliable and something that a lot of people might really want and it is a good thing, if it were true. If Olivia actually wanted that.
She looks so perfect from the outside but on the inside she’s burning. She wants out of the state that she’s called home forever, she wants to have dreams, even if she doesn’t know what they are yet, her boyfriend, is truly far from perfect and far from loving a lot of the time and her parents; her dad is hardly ever home because he works so much and her mother is either planning some kind of social party where she can dress up fancy and drink or she’s pretending to plan and party and drinking on her own. No one at school knows how she really feels, none of her friends or any of her classmates, she doesn’t see any point in telling them because there’s nothing they can do about it.
She’s had seventeen years to accept this kind of life and finally, just as she’s about to turn eighteen and start her senior year of high school, her last year before childhood is officially over and real life and the stress and responsibility or real life begins, she has accepted it as reality.
Lee is the perfect stereotype of a bad boy. He was born and raised with divorced parents, bouncing between his father in Chicago and his mother in Alabama, although he’s been with his father for the past seven years. He drinks and smokes and swears. He screws around and gets in trouble, fights and brushes with the law. He barely goes to school and when he does he doesn’t pay attention very well. He has better things to do with his time. He wants to be famous and he doesn’t see geometry or ancient Greek poetry ever getting him there. He tells his father that he’s going to school but then gets in his car and heads to the local bar where they always let him in and he plays with the hope that he’ll get discovered and he can leave his troubles behind.
But, his actions are starting to get more troubling to his father who has always wanted the best for him. He tells Lee that he has to go to school and graduate or he’s going to end up with a nothing life just searching for happiness that will never come because he has nothing to fall back on. Lee tells him that he doesn’t need a fall back plan and he’s got it all figured out. Which his father comes back with saying that he’s only seventeen and has no idea what the real world is going to bring him and how hard it is to get a job or a future that he can prosper in. Lee tells him that he already has it all figured out and his father tells him that he’s shipping Lee off to Alabama with his mother, Mary, where he can spend the rest of his high school year in a new environment away from the temptations of the city.
Before Lee can even start an argument with him his bags are packed and he’s standing in the middle of the airport with his dad in front of him telling him that this is for the best and he’ll come to understand his actions and know that this is the best for him.
Lee touches down in Alabama and immediately hates it. It’s turning to fall but it’s still hot as hell out and humid and there are still bugs swarming around his head and he awkwardly hugs his mother when she meets him outside the small airport because he still has all his bags and his guitar case in his hands.
“I’ve missed you Lee.” She tells him through a tight hug and he smiles tightly and pats her back.
“I missed you too mom.”
She pulls back from him and puts a hand on the side of his face. “You’re not happy to be here are you?”
“No, it’s okay. It’s not where I want to be but it’s whatever.”
“That’s not very convincing.”
“Well I’m not a very good actor.” He shrugs and shifts the bag that’s across his chest.
“Hopefully you’ll never learn to be a good one. No one likes a liar.” She pats his face like only a mother could. “We better get going, we have a drive ahead of us, and it’s a two hours drive home from here.”
“So you really live in the middle of nowhere?”
“It’s not the middle, middle of nowhere. There’s a bank, a school, a diner, a gas station, there’s a grocery store, we have to stop there on our way home, and a post office. We have things.”
“Yeah, it sounds great.” Lee says sarcastically and his mother rolls his eyes.
“It could be worse Lee, it could always be worse.” She reminds him gently as she starts to lead him out of the airport and to the car.
He sits in the car facing the window and wishing that he could roll down the window a little bit and take a smoke because the stress of the move and the boredom of the town is starting to get to him.
His mom mistakes that feeling for nerves and puts a hand on his arm to get his attention.
“Things will get better Lee.”
“Sure.” He mumbles, the answer sounding weak and his mother sighs and keeps driving without saying another word to him.
When she parks outside of the grocery store she waits for him to get out but he doesn’t move.
“Why don’t you come in with me?”
“I’m really okay.”
“No, come on.” She says with a serious undertone to her happy voice. “There are some kids in there that are your age that I think you should meet, you’ll be going to school with them and I think it would be nice if you tried to make some friends now so you’re not thrown in their knowing no one.”
“I’ll be okay on my own.”
“Nope.” She shakes her head and pulls on his arm and Lee is not used to this kind of pressure. His father used to just leave him alone when he didn’t want to do things. “You’re coming in, it won’t take long, and I’ll just introduce you.”
“I don’t need my mom to introduce me to people.”
“Then introduce yourself, it doesn’t matter to me, as long as you get to know them.”
She gets out of the car and Lee rolls his head back on the headrest and closes his eyes before he pops open the car door and follows her in like a little boy.
He doesn’t pay much attention to Olivia, who’s sitting behind the register leafing through a magazine, trying to get through the boring day, even when she picks her head up to say hello to him, because that’s what she’s supposed to do.
He goes straight to the back of the store to wait by his mom while she picks out what to eat for dinner and then what toothpaste she wants to buy and Lee rocks back and forth on his heels, trying to pressure her to go faster but she keeps her own slow pace, assumingly to spite him.
Lee only notices her when they step up to the register and his mom starts to pay.
She’s got wavy dirty blond hair and green eyes, she’s wearing almost no makeup, just some light mascara to frame her eyes and a pale pink shimmer on her lips.
She smiles widely and warmly at the both of them, not looking for any extended time at Lee.
“Did you find everything that you were looking for?” She asks, her voice is sweet like honey with a thick southern accent.
“Yes we did.” She answers back and elbows Lee to get him to introduce himself so she doesn’t have to do it for him but he shakes his head discretely and his mom hits him harder. “This is my son Lee, he’s suddenly gotten shy.”
“Mom.” He whispers, his face turning red from embarrassment and then even redder when Olivia laughs at him.
“I’m Olivia.” She gives him a small wave and he nods. “Are you going to be going to school with us?” She asks with another smile but that drops when he doesn’t say anything.
“Yes, he will be.” His mom says for him.
“Well if you need anything, or want to know what the teachers or classes are like or whatever just let me know, I’ll help you out.”
“Olivia has her finger on the pulse of this town. She knows everyone and everyone knows her, everyone loves her, she’s a great girl.”
“You’re too kind. Not everyone loves me.” She tells Lee and he still can’t say anything, for the first time in his whole life he’s lost his voice. “Okay.” She says awkwardly and looks back to his mom to tell her how much she owes and then takes the money and makes change. “I’ll be seeing you both around I guess.”
“Yes you will. Hey, is Ryan around here?”
“Uh, I think he is.”
“Ryan is Olivia’s boyfriend.” Mary tells him and he tried to conceal the flicker of disappointment that was sure to cross his face. “He’s your age as well.”
“He might be out on a delivery or something.”
“Well why don’t you two come on over for dinner tonight?”
“Mom.” Lee says a little desperately and Olivia holds back a giggle.
“We could do that.”
“Alright, that sounds great.” She smiles at Olivia and Lee wants to die and when they get out into the parking lot Lee slams the car door.
“I can’t believe that you did that.” He says slowly.
“What?”
“You pretty much set up a play date for me.”
“Well you weren’t doing it yourself so I had to step in.”
“No you didn’t. I can do things myself.”
“You weren’t doing that. I intervened as I saw fit.”
“It sucks and I don’t want to be a part of it.”
“That’s too damn bad Lee because you will be.”
“No.”
Mary shoots him a stern look and Lee backs down.
The house that his mom lives in is really nice. Lee’s room is upstairs and down the hall. It’s big, roomy with his own bathroom and he doesn’t care to redecorate it or anything as he throws his bag down on the floor and falls into the bed.
At six o’clock he hears the slam of a car door, Olivia and her boyfriend show up and at 6:05 his mother calls him down, a call that Lee chooses to ignore and then five minutes later she calls again and tells him not to be rude and he begrudgingly gets up and hauls himself down stairs to meet them.
Olivia is standing with her back to him at the counter cutting up vegetable for a salad. She’s in a cotton summer dress with a yellow sweater over it and her hair is swept off her neck and is pushed to the side over her shoulder. She turns around suddenly to put the bowl on the table and seems a little startled to see him standing there.
“Oh, hey.” She smiles again and he’s starting to think that’s the only thing she knows how to do and he still doesn’t know how to react to her. “I didn’t think you were coming down.”
“Gotta eat sometime.”
“That’s true.”
“I hope you….”
She gets interrupted when a tall blond guy puts his arm around her shoulder and takes the door from her.
“We’re ready to eat babe.” He tells her then nods to Lee. “What’s up man?” He asks before he walks off for the table and Olivia and Lee are left alone again.
“That’s Ryan, my boyfriend.”
“I kind of figured.”
“He’s pretty laid back; I think you’ll like him.” She gets a funny look on her face that leaves as fast as it came.
Lee sits across from her at the kitchen table, his mother sitting at the head of the table and Ryan next to Olivia, his arm around the back of her chair.
“What classes are you thinking about taking Lee?” Olivia asks him as she lays the napkin back on her lap.
“Oh, I don’t know yet, I don’t really care.”
“Why don’t you care?” Ryan asks with an edge to his voice and Olivia puts his hand on his leg to stop him, like that was supposed to offend Lee.
“I just don’t care about school.”
“We’re hoping that will change.” His mother says as she takes a sip of her lemonade.
“But I don’t think it will.”
“You have to make some change Lee.”
“Why? I’m doing alright on my own, doing my own thing.”
“What’s your own thing?” Ryan asks.
“Ryan, stop.” Olivia whispers to him and Lee narrows his eyes at her.
“I just want to get to know the guy.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it.”
“Why wouldn’t he, is it bad?”
Lee’s feeling a little overwhelmed and annoyed and he stands up from the dining room table, leaving his food almost untouched, and walks out the door, the screen bouncing against the frame and his feet pounding down the stairs.
“I’m sorry about all of that.” Mary tells them and Olivia shakes her head.
“It’s really okay, it was our fault anyways.”
“He just……” She takes a deep troubled breath. “He has some teenage angst going on right now or something. Being in a new place, all his friends are back in Chicago and I think he feels a little betrayed and lonely, I thought that you guys being here tonight would be a good thing. Guess I don’t know my own kid very well.”
“It’s his first day here.” Olivia does his best to calm her down and make her feel better. “I think we might have overwhelmed him or something, he’ll get used to it, it’s not your fault. Sometimes you just can’t force friendships.”
“I guess.” Mary stands up and takes Lee’s plate off the table. “I hoped that would end better is all.”
“Maybe we can try again in a few weeks.” Olivia suggests as she too stands with Ryan’s plate then shakes her head at him to get up and help them.
They all clear the table and Olivia keeps thinking about Lee and hoping that he’s okay, keeping one eye on the window looking into the yard for him. She knows she shouldn’t worry about him, he made it just fine in the big city so there’s no reason why he would get into any sort of danger in their tiny little pin prick of a town. She never wanted to upset him, she doesn’t want to upset anyone but she gets the impression that Lee’s had some hard times in his life and she wants him to be happy. It’s just in her good nature and she’s too sheltered to know that she can’t always fix everything for everyone.
Once the table is cleared and the dishes are washed Ryan goes to grab the garbage to take it out to the curb but Olivia takes it from him and says that she needs some air and walks out of the house without Ryan putting up too much of a fight.
She walks slowly down the path that leads to the garage where the garbage cans are. She keeps looking around for him but he’s nowhere to be seen. There aren’t too many places that he could go that he knows of and she half expects him to jump out at her from behind the building just to make her jump and scream to give himself a good laugh, payback for the awful night that he was being put through.
When she closes the garage door after putting the bag in the cans she turns around and jumps slightly when she sees him standing there, leaning against the side of the building. She thought that it would happen but she didn’t really expect it.
The orange glow from his cigarette in his hand, next to his mouth is the first thing that she sees. But then she’s able to make out the rest of his body, his other hand is jammed into the pocket of his jeans and his shoulders are raised up almost defensively, his legs crossed at the ankles and when he exhales the smoke dissipates into the darkness and she holds back a cough because she doesn’t want to seem uncool.
“You want one?” He asks her, holding out the cigarette.
She shakes her head and pulls her sweater tighter around her body. “No. Not right now.” Not ever, she doesn’t smoke, never has and never wants to. She doesn’t know why she’s alluding to the lie that she has. Why didn’t she launch into her tobacco kills and second hand smoke is just as deadly, you’re young, why are you ruining your life and hurting your body with something so stupid and preventable spiel that she always dishes out whenever anyone offers her one or when she ever sees someone smoking.
Lee chuckles, the sound warm and rough. “Alright.”
Olivia matches the way that he’s standing, minus the cigarette and the hand in the pocket. “I’m sorry about what happened in there.” She nods to the house. “It got a little out of hand I guess.”
Lee laughs. “That’s hardly out of hand.”
“You stormed out.”
“Natural reaction to most things.” He takes a long drag and breathes the smoke out slowly and she ducks her head down to avoid it. “So….he’s kind of a dick huh?”
She furrows her brows in confusion. “Who?”
“Ryan.” He stubs the cigarette out against the side of the garage.
“What?” Her voice raises and she steps away from the garage and stands straight up so she feels like she has some power over him. “Why would you say that?”
“I just get that feeling from him. It’s a vibe.”
She studies him carefully, not getting how he could pick up on that so face when Ryan has been fooling the whole town for his whole life.
“You’re wrong.” She snaps out, but the southern twang in her voice makes it sound a lot less severe.
“Hey, it’s just my first impression of him.”
“Well you shouldn’t make snap judgments of people like that. I didn’t judge you when you came into the store and were basically a mute and your mother had to talk for you. I didn’t judge you for that and now you think you know my boyfriend based on one dinner. Maybe if you didn’t act like you were better than everyone else everyone else wouldn’t think you’re such a problem.”
“What makes you think that people think that I’m a problem?”
“Just a vibe that I get.” She says, dropping her accent and trying to pick up his and its adorable and she pushes past him, her shoulder knocking into his as she runs back into the house, only to appear a few moments later with Ryan in tow, totally not understanding why he was just pulled out of a house when he could’ve been eating homemade apple pie.
She gets into Ryan’s SUV and he watches from the shadows as she tries so hard not to look back at him before they drive away.