Sparks Fly

Chapter Eleven

Luke

On the afternoon of visiting day, Luke met up with his sister outside of the Mess Hall, and they walked over to the parking lot together. Lucy kept up a steady stream of chatter about her friends while he skimmed the incoming vehicles. When he caught sight of their mom's car, he nudged Lucy. She followed his gaze, and started towards the parking stall it turned into, all without missing a beat in her story.

He was content to follow his ever-effusive sister through the lot as their mother climbed out of her car, and then, a beat later, their father stepped out of the passenger side, still engrossed in a paper.

Luke stopped in his tracks. His dad was actually here? Even if it was only for Lucy, he took time away from whatever huge case he was working on to show up. He was giving up an entire afternoon and evening for this. It didn't add up. Even when he was younger and things were good between them, his father never made it to anything as trivial as talent shows. Or sports games. Or awards ceremonies. Luke- and probably Lucy- had gotten used to the good luck note taped to his door on the mornings of important games, to his mother sitting alone or with her friends in the bleachers, and his father holed up at his office. The fact that his dad was here today probably should have been exciting or impressive. Maybe even touching that he was making any sort of an effort. Instead, it was nerve-wracking. The man had never seen him make a basket, hit a home run, place at a track meet- all things he was actually good at. How was he supposed to go out there and be mediocre at dancing at the first event his father had ever bothered to show up for?

By the time he and Lucy reached them, their mom had convinced their dad to leave his sheaf of papers in the car. Luke hugged his mom first, while Lucy greeted their dad. The awkwardness hit in full when they switched, and their mom wrapped Lucy into a hug and his father refused to make eye contact before offering him a hesitant nod. He returned it almost as reluctantly.

As they started back towards the camp, his mother fell into step with him. "You need to point this girl out to me."

"Girl?" Lucy leaned in from behind them. "What girl?"

"It's not like that." Luke protested. His entire body heated up with embarrassment.

His mom smiled smugly. "Our new neighbour- Natalie, right?"

Lucy started to laugh. "No way! Not Natalie Natalie? My roommate?"

"Wilson's the only Natalie I know." He muttered.

"Josh's almost stepsister," his mother confirmed.

"She has this incredible curly red hair- you won't be able to miss her." Lucy assured her.

"She'll probably have it in a bun or something," Luke corrected before he thought better of it. He should just ignore this entire conversation. If he had any sense of self-preservation, he would. Even after recognizing that, he kept talking. "She always has it up when she dances."

"Ooooohh." Lucy crowed. "Someone's been paying attention."

"Our group is doing a dance for the talent show." He defended. He definitely should have kept his mouth shut. He slowed down slightly, and let Lucy take his place next to their mother.

Just as they reached the gathering area, Josh caught up to him, with Natalie about a foot behind him- sure enough, her hair was in one of her complicated-looking braided bun things, because that was exactly what would make this moment even more mortifying.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor." Josh said automatically. "Did you see my mom and David on your way?"

"I don't even know what David looks like." Luke replied.

Josh sighed. "Pretty safe bet that he'll be the white guy with my mom."

He snapped his fingers and pointed at him. "Smart."

He shook his head and muttered "I hate you so much," just loud enough for Luke to hear, then smiled and turned back to Luke's parents. "I'm sorry, I almost forgot to introduce you. This is my stepsister- well, as of two weeks from now, anyway-"

"We've heard so much about you," Luke's mom beamed at her. "Natalie, right?"

Kill me now. Luke looked desperately from his mother to Lucy as he silently begged one of them to change the subject, or at very least, not completely humiliate him. To his astonishment, it was his father who came to the rescue.

"Nice to meet you, Natalie." He said. "Lucy, would you and Luke mind giving me and your mother a tour? It's been awhile since I was here last."

"Sure." She chirped, and bounced off towards the Mess Hall.

He didn't miss the knowing look that his mother sent her husband before she followed.

He slowed his pace to walk with his dad behind them. "Thanks."

His father refused to even look at him, let alone smile. He just shook his head slightly. "Anything you tell either of them can and will be used against you by both. You should know that by now."

The world isn't a courtroom, Dad. He replied silently. He shouldn't have expected anything else, though. His new (well, new-ish) role as the family disappointment had probably set him up for a lifetime of similar comments.

Natalie

Natalie was a bundle of nerves, and her dad hadn't even arrived yet. She still had no idea how he would react to her dance. Best-case scenario- he'd realize that not dancing wasn't an option for her and that she didn't have to choose between her health and her passion. Worst case- he'd be so pissed over her dancing when he told her not to that he would not only never let her dance again, he'd try to send her away for a longer-term treatment center, and she'd have to choose- really choose- between her parents. If she moved in with her mom over this, it would hurt him, but if she had to give up dancing, it'd break her heart. 

 "Hey," Josh pointed to the familiar car pulling in the parking lot. "They're here." 

 "Right." She took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves. 

"You still dancing in the talent show?" 

 "Yes." 

 "You going to give your dad a heads up?" 

 She scoffed. "So he can keep me from going through with it? No thanks."

"What could he really do to stop you at this point?" Josh asked as he waved their parents over. 

"Pull me out of camp and send me for more inpatient treatment." She answered immediately. "And then I'd miss out on even more school and might not graduate on time- bonus." 

 "Don't they homeschool you there?" 

 "Yeah, but not really. The focus is more on health and recovery than academics- shocking, right?" She said. "I'd have to redo everything to get high enough grades for college. I already have to retake tenth grade English to make up for last year." 

 "Nat!" Her father exclaimed as he wrapped her in a hug. "Sorry we're late." 

 "It's fine. It was only a few minutes." Thirteen, to be exact. Not that she had been counting down out of anxiety or anything. 

 "How have you been eating?" He asked quietly. 

 She held back her sigh. At least he had waited until after greeting her to ask. "Fine." She pulled the strap of her tank top aside. "See, no protruding collarbones. Still normal sized." 

 His expression tightened, but he forced his smile to stay on. "And what about dancing?" 

 Her heart skipped. She tried to keep her expression neutral. "What about it?" 

 "Have you been dancing?"

"I told you I was choreographing. I wasn't about to leave everyone hanging." 

 He rolled his eyes. "Of course." 

 "Hey, we should probably get going," Josh said. "Talent show prep stuff and everything. I'm sure Natalie wants her group to perfect their dance one last time." 

 "Yep!" She chirped and sent Josh a grateful look for giving her the escape. "See you guys at dinner after!"