Secrets, Lies and Love

(18) Secrets, Lies, and Love

Chapter 18

            Lucinda got out of the hospital the following Wednesday but was told that she had to take it easy for a few days. She wouldn’t be in school for the rest of the week. I volunteered to pick her up from the hospital because her mother was at work. I needed to have some time to just talk to her before I wouldn’t see her for nearly a week.

            Lucinda lived right in Melrose so it was no hassle to bring her home. We got to her house and I helped her into her house and to the kitchen where I proceeded to make Mac ‘n’ Cheese with hot dogs for us to eat. We ate it up and when we were done I washed the dishes and had to go back to school. After making sure that Lucinda was okay, I got in my car and made the short drive back to school.

            Chris and I both had an hour of detention for skipping out of the last twenty minutes of school on Friday. In truth, we should have had more time for our punishment but Ducky was sympathetic to my reason for skipping. I was going to fulfill my obligation today. Chris did his on Tuesday because he was busy today.

            I got all of my homework for Thursday done during my hour long detention and I even got ahead on the work that I would miss from being gone Friday and then on Monday. When I got home, I ignored the guys playing video games and went to my room to finish my homework and got all of my things for the weekend together. I had to work Thursday night and our flight left from the airport at 3:00 Friday morning.

            Drew and Stefan were going to drive us to the airport and we were leaving at 11:00. It would take about two hours to get to the terminal and then we would have enough time to get our tickets, go through security and make it to the gate before the plane left.

            I finished getting all of my clothes together into one bag so I went downstairs by the group of guys that were huddled around the television. I sat down on the couch in between Drew and Stefan. The latter was playing a game against Jordan while the former was just sitting there watching.

            “Hello brother,” I said to him.

            “Hello sister,” he said back.

            “Are you going to miss me this weekend?”

            “Hell no! I am finally going to have the house to myself and not have my nagging little sister around to bug me.”

            He said it so seriously that all I could do was stare at him.

            “Andy, I am just kidding. Of course I am going to miss you.”

            With our parents always gone, Drew and I had formed a very strong relationship. Sure we had our minor arguments but that didn’t affect anything. In all our lives, we had never really spent more than two days apart. Even if we did spend nights staying at a friend’s house, we still saw each other during the day. This would be a good practice to start getting ready for next year.

            “Good. I will miss you too,” I said to him.

            “I sure hope so. Just promise me that you won’t do anything that you aren’t ready for,” he said quietly, but seriously.

            “You know me Drew. I promise that I won’t be pushed,” I said strongly.

            “Good, that’s my little sister. By the way, you got a letter today. It’s on the table.”

            I got off the couch and walked into the kitchen to see what this letter was. On the table was a white envelope with a red flame insignia on the top, left-hand corner.