Dragonfly

Chapter 11

Mom had left early for work the next day and being alone in the house was simply too much. I was exhausted and worried, and I decided to head over to Julian’s before school. He was in his studio holding a piece of scrap metal when I got there, and he looked like he hadn’t slept either.

“Hey,” I said. “You staying home today?”

His face relaxed when he saw me, and I went over to hug him. He stood, folding me in his warm embrace, and I held him for a several moments, feeling myself finally calming down. I took in a deep breath of ocean air, and with my eyes closed, it was hard to tell who was comforting whom. It felt really good, and I was sad when we let go.

“Sorry for scaring you like that,” he said. “Your number was the only one I could think to call.”

I rubbed his shoulder as we sat beside each other. “Are you kidding? I’m glad you called. I can’t imagine what you were going through.”

“I never thought she’d do something like that.”

“What happened?”

“She called and wanted to come over, so I said sure.” He looked down, rubbing his thumb across the little dragonfly on his hand. “She was real upset talking about her father and William and how they were forcing her to graduate and move to New Orleans. I guess it was wrong, but she looked like she needed a drink. Brad left his fifth from the other night, so we polished it off. Then she started talking about us running away together.”

He stood and walked to the other side of the garage looking out. The sky was grey and the wind had picked up. “She was saying crazy shit. I thought she was joking. I told her I wasn’t running anywhere.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said, going to him. “She’s just, well, she’s been through a lot, you know?”

“She’d already taken something, more of whatever it was before she got here. I didn’t know or I wouldn’t have let her drink so much,” he looked at me, and I hated the pain in his eyes. “I’m sorry for her, Anna. I don’t want her hurting, but I can’t fix what’s wrong in that house. And I can’t risk my plan on shit like this.”

He looked down again, and I could tell he was still processing.

“You did the right thing, though. You got her help, and I could see you were worried about her.”

“I like Lucy. But we’ve never even been on a real date. I’ve never been to her house. When she called last night, I was actually thinking of…” His eyes flickered to mine.

“What?” I frowned.

“I just had other things on my mind.”

I nodded. We leaned against the door, watching the storm roll in. The air smelled heavy with rain. He let out a deep breath, and after a few minutes, he propped his wrist on my shoulder.

“Thanks for coming. Last night, today.”

“Couldn’t let my favorite artist suffer alone,” I smiled.

“Suffering’s good for art.” He stood up and walked to the back of the garage.

“What’ll you do today?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Head down to the water. Might as well take advantage of the weather.”

“I hate it when you surf in this. It’s so dangerous.”

He hauled out his board, grinning, and walked back to where I was standing. “I’ll be fine. It’s the only time the waves are big enough to ride. You’d understand if you’d let me teach you.”