Young Man, Full Of Big Plans And Thinking About Tomorrow, Young Man, Wanna Make A Stand

[raeghan]

Chapter 2/?


Lee waits a few more minutes before he decides to go inside. Mary is sitting at the kitchen table and Lee lingers at the bottom of the stairs and thinks that he’s going to get yelled at or reprimanded, something for just taking off like that but she doesn’t look up from the paper that she’s reading and that makes Lee feel ever more guilty.

He pads up the stairs to his room and starts to unpack. He lays his guitar on his bed and his closes messily into the drawers of his dresser, hangs some of his things in the closet and kicks his shoes under the bed before he sits cross legged on the bed and drags his guitar over his lap and starts to play something that he’s been working on for the past month.

Olivia spends the whole time in the car with her arms crossed and her head shaking, silently fuming with her whole body.

“Lee seems like a jerk kind of…..right?”

Takes one to know one, she thinks bitterly but swallows her true thoughts down so she doesn’t say it and opts for the lie that’s already been forming in her mind since she stormed away from him.

“Yes. He is a jerk. A big spoiled baby jerk that thinks he can get whatever he wants by throwing a fit or taking off. It’s ridiculous. It’s stupid.”

“Wow.” Ryan laughs and Olivia glares over at him. “You really have a lot of feelings about this guy.”

“They’re not feelings.” She says defensively. “I just don’t like him; he’s not a good guy.”

“Hopefully we won’t have to see him much, he’ll fall into the wrong crowd or whatever in school and get kicked out, do you think that’s what happened to him at his old school?”

“I have no idea.” She mumbles, she feels bad for him again and the desire to help him out comes back.

“He’s going to cause a lot of trouble her ‘Liv. I don’t think you should hang around him.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.” She snaps at him but then relaxes back into her seat. “It’s not like I would want to anyways.”

“Good. I know guys like that. They’re no good, they’ll get you into trouble.”

“You sound like my mother.”

“Did your mother ever say that about me?”

“No.”

Ryan has her fooled ever more than he has anyone else fooled. Ryan can act like a jerk to her and then act totally sweet to everyone else and Olivia can never say anything about it because it’s not like anyone is ever going to believe her. To them Ryan is  an angel who is the perfect high school sweetheart that will make the perfect husband and father for their 2.5 kids someday very soon.

“That’s because I’m not like that.” He says simply as he turns onto her road and then stops in front of her house.

“You’re not going to walk me to the door?”

“Nah, I gotta get up early tomorrow, I have to head to practice before the sun even comes up. The quarterback can’t be late, coach would kill me.”

“It’s just to my door; it’ll take like, a minute.”

“Then why is it important.”

“I just thought it would be nice.”

“It’s not like anything will happen to you between here and there, I don’t want to fight about this.” He leans over her and pops the door open then unbuckles her seatbelt for her. “I’ll talk to you sometime tomorrow.”

“Fine.” She gets out of the car and before she can ever close the door he takes off down the road to his house and Olivia stands on the sidewalk in front of her house trying to calm the anger that’s boiling in her about this whole night before she dares to go inside.

She can practically hear the wine being poured into her mother’s glass as soon as she walks in the front door and sure enough as soon as she turns the corner into the kitchen she’s standing there with a full glass in her hand.

“Hey honey.” She greets her warmly, the smooth wine cutting over her usual bitter feelings. “How was dinner?”

“It was…..interesting.”

“Did you meet that boy?”

“Yup.”

“What did you think of him?”

“I don’t really care for him.”

“Olivia, didn’t I teach you to like everyone, always look for the good.”

“I don’t really want to look that hard at him mom.”

“Well, I suppose that’s a good thing, I don’t want you spending too much time with him.”

She rolls her eyes, what is it with everyone telling her what to do tonight?

“What does that mean?”

“We’ve all heard stories about Mary’s son. Why he’s not down here with her, he used to be, for like a week when he was thirteen but he got into so much trouble that they had to send him back to Chicago so his father could try and straighten him out again. I guess he got too rowdy up there and they sent him down again. I don’t want you getting involved in that.”

“What happened to looking for the good in everyone?”

“I’m sure there’s still some good in him, he can probably…..change a tire or something like that. He’s just not for you.”

“You know I’m with Ryan right?”

“Yes, of course I know that. But I also know that there comes a time in every young girl’s life where she falls for the bad boy. Now I’ve gotten lucky with you so far but I know it’s going to come someday and this boy seems like the perfect candidate. Just watch out for him.”

Olivia sighs and really doesn’t want to get into an argument so she just nods her head and continues up the stairs to the room.

When Lee gets up in the morning he goes downstairs to find something for breakfast because he’s starving from not eating dinner the night before. He finds pancakes and bacon, freshly squeezed orange juice and flowers in a vase in the middle of the table.

“Morning honey.” She says to him as she tops off the glass as he sits down at the table and picks up a fork.

“Good morning.” The whole meal makes him feel extra guilty. “Thanks for all of this.”

“Oh, it’s no problem, I’m happy to do it. Now I need you to sign this.” She slides a piece of paper and a pen across the table at him.

“What is it?” He wipes his hands on his jeans before he picks up the paper.

“Your school enrollment forms.”

Lee sighs and puts the paper back down. “Can’t I just drop out?”

“Not a chance in hell.” She says sweetly as she serves him another pancake.

“But I don’t need it.”

“Yes you do.” She says in a sing song voice and sits down across from him.

“What if I don’t sign?”

“You signing is just a formality, I can get around it, it would just be easier for me if you did it, can you do that one thing for me?”

Lee rolls his eyes. “Was this whole breakfast just a way to butter me up so I would do this for you?”

“Yup.”

“Well played.” He mumbles as he signs the paper, his signature messy and almost unreadable.

“You’re also going to get a job.”

Lee laughs. “Where is there a job opportunity in this town? And I don’t have a car so how am I going to get to a job?”

“The grocery store is hiring, actually they’re not but the owner owes me a favor, I baby sat his son for three weeks last year and he’s a little brat so you’re in there and you don’t need a car to get there, it’s a five minute walk.”

“That’s where Olivia and Ryan work right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s not a good idea mom.”

“Why not?”

“Were you there last night? It didn’t go well.”

“First impressions aren’t everything Lee. You’re going to be here for awhile so you’re going to have to learn how to get along with people and Olivia is the sweetest girl you’ll ever meet, you start with her and then slowly build friends around her.”

“She doesn’t like me.”

“She…..if she doesn’t like you then you have no hope for anything.” Mary reaches across the table and gives her son a reassuring pat on the arm. “She’ll warm up to you; you can be a very charming boy. But don’t get too charming.” She warns him with a small frown.

“I know, I know, she’s dating Ryan.” There’s a thick line of jealousy in his words and his mother raises an eyebrow at him.

“You sound jealous.”

“I am not.”

“It’s okay that you have a crush on her, she’s beautiful.”

“No. She is but there is no crush, I don’t have crushes, not since I was five and I don’t really want to talk about it anymore.” He shrugs and jams a forkful of food into his mouth to stop the conversation.

“I don’t believe you.” Mary says with a small smile, like this is something to be laughed at.

“Wouldn’t matter if I did anyways, she’s with him.”

“Yeah, but still….”

Lee shakes his head and stands up to really end it.

“Oh Lee, come on, I’m just teasing you.”

“It’s not funny.”

“But if you don’t feel anything for her then it is kind of funny.”

“When do I have to start working?”

His mom relents and lets him change the subject. “You can start today.”

“I guess it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up some extra cash.”

“That’s right, because I’m not going to be giving you any, you gotta work for it.”

He gets to work ten minutes after he’s supposed to and when Olivia sees him walk in she rolls her eyes and keeps looking down at the magazine.

“Aren’t you supposed to be nice to me if I’m a customer?”

“You’re not a customer, I know that you’re supposed to be working here, ten minutes ago.” She says dryly as she flips the page and looks up at him.

“Are you excited that you get to work with me?” He hops up onto the counter and she frowns at him.

“No, you’re an ass.” She pushes his hip. “Get off the counter.”

“I didn’t know that you had the ability to swear, you’re wild Olivia.”

“Don’t speak to me and get off the counter.”

“If we work together then you’re going to have to talk to me. I don’t think it’s going to get too busy, there are only like, ten people in this town.”

“Why don’t you leave if you hate it so much? Go back Chicago or wherever you came from.”

“I wish I could.” He sighs. “But I’m stuck here with you.”

She closes the magazine with force and turns to him. “You know what, I was going to say that we got off on the wrong foot and apologize for what I said last night and try to be friends with you but now it’s like, what’s the point, you don’t even deserve it, I’m not going to waste my time with you. I got more important things to worry about.”

“Like what, your boyfriend?”

“Shut up about him.”

“Defensive.”

She doesn’t say anything and he cocks his head to the side.

“You’re not going to play anymore?”

“This isn’t a game Lee.”

“Yes it is. This is not the whole world Olivia, this is just one small town that you have to deal with until you graduate and then you’re out.”

“I’m not going anywhere Lee.” She says coldly, but with a hint of sadness that makes him move off the counter and into the chair that’s next to her.

“You have to be. This is not the place for someone so young to spend the rest of their life, you have to get out and then come back here in forty years when you’ve lived enough.”

“It’s not so bad here Lee and if you would take a second from bashing it to actually see it you might know that.”

He narrows his eyes at her, he’s on the verge of saying something really stupid, like telling her that the two of them should run off together or something, or, he could also see himself just kissing her because she’s so close and her eyes look so bright.

“Liv.” Ryan calls her name from one of the aisles and she leans away from Lee. “Can you come over here and help me for a second?” He questions as he peeks his head around the aisle and gives Lee a dirty look.

Olivia glances over at Lee then gets up and slowly makes her way over to Ryan who grabs her by the wrist and pulls her down the aisle as soon as she gets close to him.

“Why were you talking to him?”

“I wasn’t talking to him. I was yelling at him.”

“You shouldn’t even be doing that. God Olivia, I’m trying to look out for you and you’re just looking for trouble.”

“He’s not trouble, I bet he’s really nice and he’s just acting like this because that’s how everyone expects him to act.”

“You’re too nice Olivia. Not everyone is good.”

“I know that.” She says staring right at Ryan and he looks back at her, offended.

“Is that supposed to be some kind of slam at me or whatever?”

“Do you think it should be?”

“Ugh, why don’t you go flirt with your new boyfriend some more.”

“Fine, I will.” She hates both of the guys in the store right now but she’s not about to let Ryan win the argument or apologize for something that she didn’t even do. She turns around to head back up to the counter but Ryan stops her just as she gets into clearing where Lee can see them.

He holds her by the arm just a little bit gentler than the last time and pulls her into a kiss that last a second longer than Olivia is comfortable with in public.

“I love you, you know that right?”

“Yeah.” She mumbles back to him then turns around to face Lee again and a blush covers her face when she sees Lee look down quickly at his hands.

School starts a few weeks later and Lee can’t ever imagine enjoying it at all. Everyone is so sunny and friendly and the girls are pretty but there hardly enough to keep him coming back to class every day. He does like his math class, but he hates to admit that the only reason might be because Olivia is sitting on the other side of the room away without Ryan. He thankfully doesn’t have any classes with him, spending any extended time with him, he already spends too much at work, would spell disaster for him and as much as Lee doesn’t care about what anyone thinks of him he does care what they think of his mother so he wants to put a good effort into cleaning up his act.

He hasn’t spent a lot of time getting to know Olivia, they barely even talk at work, Ryan keeps a close watch on her and even though he knows she doesn’t really care what he has to say and she’s probably just keeping away from him on her own choice.

He gives in a tries to talk to her in the library during her study hall. She’s doing home work at a table when he approaches her and she stops writing but doesn’t look up.

“Can I sit down?” He asks her carefully.

“What do you want?”

“To talk. I actually have some questions. They changed my schedule all around this morning and I want to know what you think of some of the teachers. You did say if I had any questions about this I could come to you.”

“That was before.”

“Before what?” He plays dumb and she puts down the pen.

“Just sit down. Let’s make this quick.”

“Awesome.” He says quietly as he pulls out the chair and takes a seat. “Now, I have a Mrs. Peters for English.”

“Ha, have fun with that.” Olivia laughs. “She is going to hate you.”

“Why?”

“Because. She just is. You’ll see.”

“That’s great; I’ll just have to skip that class.”

“Don’t do that, you miss one day you won’t make it, she moves on so fast and it’s hard to catch up with her.”

“I’m not really worried about catching up or making it. I don’t need to graduate.”

“Yes you do.”

“No I don’t, dammit.” He sits back and runs his hand through his hair before he crosses his arms over his chest. “Do I need to have this argument with everyone I meet?”

“No. Just with me. Right now.” She gives him a smile and his anger slowly washes away.

“Schools not for everyone Olivia. I’m getting out of here as soon as it’s over.”

“So why not do well in it while you’re here? I bet you’re smart.”

“It’s just easier this way.”

“You know I’d be willing to help you if you ever needed it, like if you need help studying or something.”

“Thanks.” He’s partially distracted by the group of girls that walk into the library. They all look over at Lee and start to giggle and Olivia rolls her eyes deeply at them.

“Don’t bother with them.” She tells him and has to snap her fingers to get his attention. “Don’t bother.”

“Why not?”

“They’re all cheerleaders, which means they’re all dating members of the stupid football team.”

“Isn’t Ryan the quarter back?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not a cheerleader are you?”

“No. What’s your point?”

“I don’t know, you just made it sound like all those guys date are cheerleaders.”

“They normally do.”

“So then how’d you bag Ryan?”

“Luck.”

“Or….you’re really beautiful and amazing.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“I never said that I didn’t like you Olivia.”

She smiles and her face warms. “Thanks I guess. You know I guess you’re not that bad of a guy.”

“I’m really not.”

“You just act like an ass sometimes.”

“Two swears Olivia? Say one more and I’m calling your mother.” He jokes and she laughs.

“I wish you and Ryan would get along better.”

“Do you really?” He challenges her, trying to find some kind of hint that she’s interested in him like he is in her.

But she nods her head. “Yeah, it would make my life easier, especially since we work together.”

“I don’t like him.”

“Why not?”

“There are just certain people that I won’t ever like.”

“Could you try? For me?”

“I guess I could. If you could lay off the ‘you have to go to school crap.’”

She chews on the inside of her cheek and he thinks that’s adorable. “I suppose that’s doable.”

“Then we got a deal. But don’t expect me to hang out with him or anything; I’m just not going to kick his ass.”

“That’s really all that I ask.”

“You’re lucky you’re cute ‘Liv.” He nods to her and she giggles.

Even though Lee stays away from those girls he still manages to create a reputation. Rumors swirl about why he’s here and what happened in Chicago to get him kicked out of his old school and how long it will be until something similar to that will happen here. He’s the most exciting thing that’s happened to the town in years and since everyone is nosy they won’t let it go. Olivia overhears every explanation that they can come up with, ‘I heard he was deep into drugs’, ‘no, he got his girlfriend knocked up and had to leave the city because he didn’t want to take care of her’, ‘I heard he killed a man’. They’re all ridiculous and wrong, Olivia doesn’t know the real answer and she could find out by asking her mother since she knows everything. She doesn’t need to know his back story, she’s curious but she’s not going to pry or snoop into his life. If he wants her to know he’ll tell her.

She’ll admit to being a little bit taken with him. She’ll find herself watching him while they’re at work. There’s not much else to do there besides look at him. The days always seem to drag by but he always finds a way to make her feel better, even though he doesn’t try to. She likes the look of his hair and the way his body looks in old jeans and a t-shirt and the way that he’ll lean back in the chair next to her with his feet on the counter and his head back against the wall and tries to sleep while they’re working. It should annoy her since he’s not working but he’s close to her and she doesn’t tell him to go away or pay attention.

Ryan and Lee ignore each other while they’re around each other but Ryan will rant for ten minutes straight on him when he’s driving her home from work or school and Lee will catch her eyes when they’re at work and shake his head about Ryan when he’s not looking. But no words are said to each other and no one has flipped out on anyone and she can take the ranting and eye rolling.

Ryan hates to leave Olivia alone with Lee, which leads to a fight between them because she doesn’t get how he could still not trust her even though they’ve been together for almost five years. The argument ends with Ryan speeding off in his truck, leaving her with no ride home when she gets off from work.

Lee can tell that she’s upset as soon as she comes back in from her break and fights internally for a moment about whether or not he should say anything to her.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She tells him as she walks past him to the back of the store to get to the break room because she needs more time.

She comes back out around closing time and doesn’t find him and assumes that he already left because he knew that no one else would be coming in and he’s still a slacker. She sighs and feels like she could start to cry because that’s the second guy that has ditched her tonight. She starts to turn off the lights to the store and locks the door, its close enough to closing time and on a Tuesday night no one else would be coming in. There’s still work that needs to get done in the store, the register needs to be counter, floors swept, garbage cans emptied and a list of other chores that would only take her around ten minutes if she has someone to help her but on her own she’s going to be there for awhile. The broom is resting against the wall behind the counter and she grabs it and starts to sweep slowly, not caring enough to grab and dust pan choosing instead to sweep the dust underneath the counter where no one will see it.

She gets bored easily and the silence of the store rings in her ears to the point where it feels a little eerie so she starts to hum softly and then she’s suddenly singing ‘She’s Got You’ by Patsy Cline with all she has, using the end of the broom handle as a microphone. She drops the broom and screams when she’s startled by the sound of knocking on the door and whips around. Lee’s standing on the other side with his hands in the air and a question written all over his face. She puts her hand over her heart and catches her breath before she takes the keys and unlocks the door, opening it just enough to let him in.

“Why’d you lock the door?”

“I thought you left.”

“I just went out for a smoke.”

She huffs out a breath in annoyance. “Well I didn’t know that.” She picks the broom back up and shoves it into his hand. “You can finish this.”

“Should I just sweep under the counter like you were?”

“No.” Her word is punctuated by the sound of the register springing open.

“You know you have a good voice.” He says casually and she looks up at him over the money that she’s counting, losing count of it.

“I do not.”

He stops sweeping. “Yes you do. Do you…..do that somewhere?”

“What? Sing? No, there’s nowhere to do that around here.”

“Not a church or a talent show or anything?”

“Nope.” Her eyes flit down to the money but then back up to him. “You really think I’m good.”

“Yeah.” The broom gets tossed gently back and forth between his hands as he shakes his head. “You’re really good. You have that….innocent but heartbreaking country sound going. You know how to play the guitar?”

“No.” She laughs. “I can’t do anything like that. My parents tried to force me into learning how to play the piano when I was seven but the teacher got so frustrated that she practically threw me out the door.”

“That’s too bad. You and a guitar would be amazing. Unstoppable.”

“Yeah right.”

“I’m being serious. What else do you sing?”

“I don’t sing Lee, this was just me being bored and fooling around.”

“That’s a shame. What a waste of talent.” He gives her a crooked smile and goes back to work and she has to recount the money again, that smile throwing her off.

When Olivia locks up for the night for real Lee lingers by the doors with her, not moving until she does, stopping when she stops.

“What are you doing?” She asks him in the middle of a step.

“I’m walking with you?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m walking you home.”

“You don’t need to do that, it’s in the opposite direction and everything.”

“It’s no big deal.” He steps out in front of her and pulls on the fabric of his jacket. “These streets are no place for a young lady.”

“Do you even know where my house is?”

“No. That’s why you have to come with me. Come on, what’s the harm, I won’t tell Ryan that I innocently walked you home, I’ll keep my hands in my pockets the whole time if that makes you feel better.”

“I can’t talk you out of this can I?” She asks him as she balances on her toes.

“No. I’m walking you home.”

“Fine. I guess I could use some company.” She gives in and starts to walk with him. He stays close to her side on the sidewalk, walking on the street side even though there were no cars on the deserted streets. She keeps looking down at his feet, moving in step with her, his old converse beating against the pavement with a steady and predictable thud every time he puts them down. She follows his feet so closely that she almost walks into a telephone poll, being saved when Lee tugs on her arm to guide her around it.

“You are a dangerous walker.” He laughs and she blushes.

“I wasn’t paying attention.”

“What were you thinking about?”

Your feet, she thinks to herself. “Nothing really. Just nothing.”

He makes this soft humming noise in the back of his throat and she glances over at him. “I know I’m supposed to be trying to get along with him but I think that him leaving you back there was a real douche move.”

“It was. I won’t defend him on that. But he’s under a lot of pressure lately, you know, he wants to play football professionally I guess and he has to practice all the time and he really doesn’t like you and you’re with me a lot of the time so…”

“So he doesn’t trust you? Or he doesn’t trust me?”

“You, he doesn’t trust you.”

“That’s to be expected I guess.” He shrugs.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Don’t get mad.”

“I won’t.”

“What happened back in Chicago that got you sent here?”

He stops walking and kicks at a small stone on the sidewalk before he looks up at her seriously. “I killed a man.”

She leans away from him and bites her lip, he sounds so serious but then he breaks into a smile and she pushes his shoulder. “You heard that rumor?”

He laughs out loud and tips his head to the side. “Yes I did. It’s my favorite one.”

“So what did you do really?”

“Just…..stupid shit.” He looks over at her fast, prepared to apologize for the curse but she doesn’t look offended. “You know, skipping class, some stupid fights and stuff like that. Bad grades.” He starts to walk again and she falls into step next to him. “I guess it was just too much for my dad to handle and he had to pass me off.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that easy for him.”

“No, I know. And it could be worse, I could be in jail. At least I got out before that happened.”

“So you admit it, this town is better than jail.” She teases and he tips his head back with a laugh.

“Would you come visit me in jail?”

“Nope.”

“Then this place is better than jail.” He says and she tucks her chin into her shoulder so he can’t see how much that made her smile in a really weird way.

They walk in silence for a few more roads before they get to her house and she stops walking on the sidewalk in front of it.

“This is my house.” She nods to it and he starts to walk towards the door but she grabs his arm. “You don’t have to walk me to the door.”

“Sure I do. What am I supposed to do? Just stand here while you walk off? I can walk you to the door, it’s not a problem. I actually insist.”

“Okay.” There’s another stupid smile on her face as they walk up the path into the front door and she plays with her keys for a moment, like she’s waiting for him to kiss her after a date or something and she feels like an idiot and sticks the key into the lock. “Thank you for walking me home tonight.”

“You’re welcome. Now I just hope I can find it back to my house.”

“There are only eleven streets in this town, I’m sure you’ll run into it eventually.”

“Did you just make a joke about your hometown?”

“Lovingly.” She shoots back as she opens the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

“I’ll be there.” He says with some playful dread in his voice and she laughs as she goes into her house, closes the door and then leans back against the door, like it was a first date and she can’t get over how great it went.

But then her mother comes around the corner with a frown on her face.

“Who was that? Why didn’t I hear Ryan’s car?”

“Because Ryan didn’t take me home.”

“Where was he?”

“He left. He got mad at me and he left.”

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything. He was just being a jerk and tried to get back at me by taking away my ride home. He was being stupid.”

“You had to have been doing something to get him mad. And who was out there with you?”

“Lee. Lee walked me home.”

“Lee? That’s why he’s mad at you. You’re hanging around with that boy.”

“I’m not hanging around him; he walked me home because my stupid boyfriend left me with no way home.”

“That’s too much contact.”

“Ugh, there was no contact. I can have friend’s mom.”

“Not a friend like him.”

“Fine, whatever, I won’t be his friend or his girlfriend of whatever you think is going to happen, would that make you happy?” she says sarcastically.

“Yes, if you can do that it would make me happy.”

Olivia doesn’t say anything else and storms up to her room and slams the door hard.