For My Aching Soul

Chapter 5

The next day, post slap, I rode my bike to Chris and Junie's house for dinner with a swollen cheek.

"Mash potatoes?" Junie was doing an awful job at pretending not to stare at my face.

"I fell off my bike," I lie, taking the bowl from her hands, acknowledging her concern but not making eye contact.

"Does that bike of yours go by the name Richard?" Chris asked this, his heavy grey mustache wiggling as he takes a bite of his BBQ  Pork chop, making a low grunting sound as he swallows.

I avoid answering and turn my attention to the the documents smack in the middle of the dining table,"What's this stuff?" I nod my head toward them.

"You should eat your carrots, they're good for you," Junie ignores my question, I don't pry.

After dinner Christopher goes up to bed, he's always tired these days. Junie and I go out to sit on the porch as we usually do after Sunday dinner.

"How's school?" She asks with one leg crossed lazily over the other, her hair pulled back into a ponytail making her slim face appear thinner in the dim evening light.

"Schooly," I reply nonchalantly, swinging in the hammock Chris had struggled with for days to get up, preoccupied with the bracelet on my right wrist.

"I'd like to believe an English major can do better than that," she laughs, it sounds sad.

I look over at her with a half-smile,"You look after everyone else but who's looking after you Junie?"

She lets out a loud laugh,"I don't mind being the caretaker."

"That sounds just like something my moth-" I stop myself from finishing the sentence. A somber silence falls between us, only the sound of the hammock swinging can be heard.

I break the silence after a while,"I know I tell you this all the time Junie, but thank you."

I don't have to look at her to know she's smiling. Just then a car pulls up, I sit up to look. After the bright headlights go down I realize it's my father. Junie gets up and heads inside, returning a short while after with the documents I saw on the table earlier.

My father walks up the creaking steps leading to the porch. "What are you doing here? I can find my own way home, I rode my bike here," I spit at him.

"I'm well aware, I just came to pick something up from the Mrs Stanley," in the same breath Junie hands him the documents and he smiles at her.

"What's going on?" I get up from the hammock and cross my arms.

"Oh nothing Nicole, your father just found us a little place to expand the studio. This is the paperwork," Junie replies too quickly, as if she's rehearsed for this very encounter.

Richard nods his head in agreement, "You want a ride home? I can pop the bike in the trunk."

I look between the two of them one last time before shaking my head and walking down the steps. I grab my bike and leave, "I'll see you in the week Junie!" I call out as I hop onto my bike and ride away.

I didn't know if I believed Junie, though I could think of no reason for her to lie.

Looking back at that moment, I was a stupid girl for not realizing.