A Fabrication of the Truth (15 page)

I got my coat while everybody waited outside, discussing who was driving with whom.

“This seems odd,” I told Rick.

“No, it’s protocol, but right now I’m off duty. I’m just doing the family a favor by helping them locate their son.”

“Can he really go to juvie for this?” I asked as we all stood around in the driveway.

“Like I said, that’s for the court to decide – but it is one of the possible outcomes.”

“Stupid, Dalton.”

Rick laughed. I was starting to like him.

“It’s for his own sanity, I think.”

“Running away?” Rick asked.

“He didn’t run away. He’s just trying to breathe.”

My grandma and I rode with Rick, and the rest of Dalton’s family followed in Kristin’s rental car.

“Where to?” Rick asked.

“Have you heard of The Empty Door?”

“That club?”

“It’s not a club per se. It’s a music venue.”

“He snuck off to a concert?”

“Pretty much. I just hope we make it in time.”

There was absolutely no street parking, so we had to park in a lot down the block. We met everybody else on the sidewalk. The night was cold, and I pulled my hat down over my ears.

“C’mon,” Rick said, leading the way.

“Why did you have to come with?” Gloria asked.

“Because I really wanted to see this,” I said. I took a step to the side to let a couple of people pass, putting me behind Gloria and in front of Hailey. A lot of pedestrians were out so we walked in one long line. I don’t know why Dalton’s whole family had to come.

“You want to see us dragging Dalton out of there kicking and screaming?” Hailey asked, zipping her jacket up to her chin.

“No, I shouldn’t have let him being mad at me stop me.”

“What does that have to do with any of this?”

“He asked me to come before, you know.”

“Let me guess,” Rick said. “Another probation violation?”

“He invited you to a club?” Hailey asked, her nose all scrunched up.

I sighed. “Not a club, not really.” I wanted them to see for themselves, so I didn’t elaborate.

“Okay, bar then. Are we going to be pulling him from there drunk off his ass?”

“You don’t know him at all, do you?” Hailey seemed pretty clueless as a sister.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It just means he’s pretty awesome.” Soon they would see a part of that awesomeness.

“Let’s just hurry this up,” Hailey said. As we got closer, the crowd on the sidewalk grew. The marquee lit up with bands’ names and teens milled about everywhere. “Lexie,” somebody called. I held up a hand and gave a wave in the general direction of the voice. Music blared from inside. A train from the “L” tracks rattled by; cars passed on the street; buses honked; people who lived in the neighborhood walked around, enjoying the cold air, maybe going across the street to the taco place or the noodle joint next to that.

Once inside, we were blasted with music and a voice that made my heart race.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I shouted as everybody tried to make their way through the crowd. “Stay back here for now. I want all of you to look at the stage.” It was so loud in there, I wasn’t even sure if they could hear me, but then I saw them all look toward the front.

I looked up at the stage and smiled. Dalton was totally in his element. The place was packed – mainly teens, but some in their twenties too, and a sprinkling of parents. It was an all-ages local band showcase. I could tell everybody loved Macaulay, and I was quite certain they loved Dalton. It was almost impossible to take your eyes off of him. He was totally sweaty – his forehead glistening, his t-shirt clinging to him, and it only increased his hotness. But it wasn’t just his looks—he had stage presence. The way he sang into the microphone and played his guitar, made everything seem right in the world. He stopped playing his guitar, grabbed the microphone with both hands, and sang so close into it – closing his eyes then slowly opening them and looking out onto the crowd to sing one more line before crashing into a guitar solo. I was mesmerized, as was his whole family.

My grandma grabbed my elbow. “Wow, kiddo.”

Rick nodded, looking impressed.

“Can you just let him finish, or at least get in another song or two?” I shouted.

“Okay,” Rick said.

Kristin looked at me. “I had no idea. It’s just...amazing.”

“It’s his way of taking a breather.”

They let Macaulay play a couple more songs, but I started making my way up front before then. He hadn’t the slightest idea we were there. I watched from the sides, so close. I wanted to go up there and grab him, keep all his wonderfulness to myself. Just as they finished a song – I think they almost completed their set – Dalton’s face fell and he looked absolutely mortified. I probably would have been, too. Coming straight at him through the crowd was pretty much his whole family, including his mom who was supposed to be overseas, led by his probation officer. Dalton’s mouth dropped open and he slowly took off his guitar.
It looked like he wasn’t even aware of his actions. He then dropped it and ran. Shit. He darted off stage and into the crowd—his bandmates calling out to him.

“Dalton,” I shouted, but it was too loud – he’d never be able to hear me. I pushed and shoved my way through, being shoved back and squashed between people, almost tripping over something. Music played from some speakers – the filler music for the set change. I wanted out of there as bad as Dalton did. After what seemed like forever, I finally made my way through the crowd and saw a sliver of light from a door that was ajar and followed it.

I pushed open the door, the cool night air entering my lungs as I took in a breath. I walked all the way into the alley and just about fainted. Dalton was curled up on the ground clutching his thigh, only wearing his jeans and t-shirt. Some guy crouched next to him, talking on the phone.

“Dalton!” I ran to his side and collapsed to my knees. It was suddenly so hard to breathe. The dark, narrow alley seemed to close in.

Dalton winced, lost in his own world of pain.

“What happened?” I screamed at the guy on the phone. I immediately thought of Dalton’s heart.

He got off the phone and slid it into his pocket. He looked pretty frantic with his bulging eyeballs, bouncing in his crouched down position. He answered me by pointing at his car.

“Jesus Christ.” I had never felt so relieved to have somebody get hit by a car before. “Dalton, baby.”

“Oh my god, it hurts. I’m trying my best not to scream and cry,” he whispered.

“It’s okay to scream and cry, no matter what,” I said, sniffling back tears.

“Lexie,” Dalton said softly.

“Yes, Dalton.”

“I love you,” he said, closing his yes.

“Dalton, Dalton!” I put my hand on his cheek. “I love you, too.”

Everybody came bursting into the alley through the side door – a sudden barrage of family members, questions, and screams.

“Oh Jesus Christ,” his mom yelled.

“What did you do?” Hailey said. Man, I didn’t like that girl.

Rick ran over, and the frantic guy twitched with tears running down his face. “I called 911,” the frantic guy said. “It happened too quickly. I – I couldn’t stop in time.”

“Dalton,” Gloria called.

“I think he passed out. He seems to be breathing okay,” I said, noticing the rise and fall of his chest.

“Dalton, baby,” Kristin cried, squatting down next to me.

Frantic Guy mumbled to himself, and a few other people came out the side entrance. “Everybody, we need some space,” Rick said. He then looked up at me. “What happened?”

“Uh,” I said, swallowing some of my tears. “I think,” I took a deep breath, “he got hit by a car.”

Kristin swallowed. “We’re here, Dalton. Help is coming.”

Still holding his hand, I bent over and gently rested my forehead on his shoulder. “Remember – I love you, Dalton,” I said softly. “You can’t leave me now.” I felt a hand on my back. I sat up and sniffled, looking at Kristin.

“Thank you for being here for him, Lexie – and I don’t just mean now.” She wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I looked up and saw my grandma hugging Gloria. I guess in times of crises it didn’t matter who was next to you – you just need their support. Rick talked to the guy who hit Dalton and Hailey had her arms wrapped around her waist crying, letting the tears roll down her face. I closed my eyes and squeezed Dalton’s hand. Seeing him like that was almost unbearable for me. I kept flashing back to the day he got shot, all the blood. I opened my eyes, trying to will myself to believe this was a different day – not anywhere near as much blood, only on his face, coming from a wound on the top of his forehead. One of his arms looked raw and bloody, but other than that, he just lay there curled up.

“Lexie,” somebody said, snapping me out of it. “Lexie, honey, the paramedics are here.” Kristin gently took my elbow and guided me to the side. I rubbed my hands over my face, and my grandma came over and embraced me a bit too tightly. “He’ll be okay,” she said.

“But how do you know?”

“I just feel it.”

Rick came by and put his large hand on my shoulder.

“What’d the guy say?” I asked.

“Said he might have been going a little too fast down the alley and the back door flung open and Dalton ran out.”

“God, Dalton and his bad timing.”

“Yeah,” Rick said.

The paramedics loaded Dalton into the ambulance, Kristin standing next to him. A large crowd gathered and watched. Some tacky people took pictures. Kristin threw them a mean glare and came over near me.

“Lexie, do you want to ride with him?”

“I think he’d like if it was you.”

She nodded and went back over to Dalton, climbing in the ambulance.

“Come on, let’s follow them,” Rick said.

We were all in the waiting room, biting our nails, bouncing our knees, and checking nothing important on our phones, just to keep us distracted. The doors swung open, and a doctor called Dalton’s mom. They disappeared behind the doors, which clicked shut and took some of the available air in the waiting room away with them.

“I can’t wait any longer. I want to know how he’s doing,” I said, taking in a deep breath as my lungs searched for accessible air. My chest hurt and I felt exhausted.

My grandma reached over and squeezed my knee. “We’ll know soon enough.”

I closed my eyes and unintentionally fell asleep. The only part of my dream that I remembered was that it was right before Dalton got shot, and he reached his hand out to me. I took it and told him I would never let go. I blinked my eyes open and sat up. Upholstered chairs with polka-dotted material lined the room, outdated magazines were strewn everywhere, and the fluorescent lights above seemed so bright – but the waiting room was almost empty. Everybody but Hailey was gone. “Where’d everybody go?”

“To get some coffee, food, make some phone calls,” she said from her chair across the room.

“Why didn’t anybody wake me?”

“It looked like you could use some sleep.”

“Dalton, how is he?”

Hailey smiled. I didn’t know she was capable of such a feat. “He’ll be okay, for now at least.”

“Oh thank god,” I said, placing my hand over my heart. “Wait, what do you mean for now?” I asked, sitting up straighter.

“He’ll have a bit of recovering to do, but nothing too serious.” Hailey got up and sat in the chair next to me.

“What exactly – his head?” I asked, touching my forehead in the same spot Dalton bled from.

“He has a concussion, some stiches, and a broken femur.”

“But he’ll really be okay?”

Hailey nodded. “In the scheme of things, yeah. They’re doing surgery on his leg tomorrow morning.” Hailey took in a breath and her eyes grew wet, which confused me. Then she licked her lips and went on, “They have to stick a steel rod in his leg, but they mainly worry about after.”

“After?”

“The doctors, Mom, Lolo, Lola, and I – we’re just all worried about infection. Surgery holds a pretty high risk for him.”

I let out a deep sigh. “Could they fix his leg without surgery?”

“Possibly, but he’d be in the hospital for months and no matter what, there’s always a risk of infection.”

“Um.” I couldn’t find the right words to sum up how sucky I felt that was.

“Yeah, but there was no internal bleeding, no brain swelling, so he got very lucky. He actually woke up on the way to the hospital. They said he was responsive and stuff. We’ll be able to see him soon.”

I took in a deep breath and let it out.

“Lexie?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry about thinking you had something to do with it. I just kind of freaked out, seeing him lying there like that. He looked so limp, so lifeless.” Hailey blinked and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Yeah, it’s okay.”

Then I got the surprises of all surprises—Hailey hugged me. I hugged back, and we held each other for a couple of minutes until Hailey pulled away, wiping at her eyes with the heel of her hand.

“All we ever wanted to do was keep him safe.”

“You guys might have gone a little over board.”

“You think?” Hailey said, laughing.

I smiled at her.

“He’s so stubborn sometimes.”

“Just sometimes?”

“You really do know my brother, huh?”

“I’d like to think I do.”

“I’m glad he has you.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, you two,” Kristin said, entering the waiting room. “You can go up and see him now. One at time for now. He’s a bit out of it, though.”

“All right, thanks. Go on, Hailey, I’m gonna go find some coffee.” I seriously needed a pick-me-up.

‘Okay, see you in a bit,” Hailey said, giving me a small smile as she walked away. Kristin gently placed her hand on my shoulder before she followed Hailey out of the waiting room.

***

Before I entered Dalton’s room, I had to sanitize my shaking hands. All of me shook.

“Dalton?” I said as I walked in.

His mom sat by his bedside. She smiled and stood up. “I’ll leave you two. He’s still pretty groggy and confused from his concussion.”

“Okay,” I said.

His mom didn’t say anything for a moment and just stared at me. She then took a couple of steps forward and reached to touch my shoulder, but then dropped her hand to her side and sighed. “You’re a good girl,” she said. She nodded and walked past me out of the room.

“Hey,” I said, standing at Dalton’s side.

He rolled his head in my direction and opened his eyes with a lot of effort. “Lexie.”

“Hi.”

“Hi,” he said, his lids falling to half-mast.

I tried to smile at him, but it was so hard. What his sister said really had me worried. Looking at him, I saw so many opportunities for infection. He had a row of stiches across the top right side of his forehead and a bandage on his cheek with a sprinkling of road rash creeping out of its edges. His right arm was covered in bandages that concealed another dose of road rash.

I wanted to take his hand, but I feared my touch would do some kind of harm. I looked down his body to his leg, set up in a large splint waiting for the morning. As if he read my mind, he lifted his left hand to me. I hesitated and then felt bad because I was probably further hurting his feelings.

“We don’t have to talk,” he said. “Please just hold my hand.”

I nodded and took his hand. Within seconds, Dalton fell asleep.

***

I found my grandma sitting in the cafeteria with Gloria and Dave. I turned to walk away because I didn’t want to get in the middle of whatever they talked about, but my grandma saw me and waved me over.

“Gloria and Dave want to ask you a few questions. If that’s okay.”

“Um…,” I said trying not to look at them, instead focusing on a doctor in scrubs while he ate some soup in the corner. I wasn’t in the mood to talk, and talking with Gloria and Dave just didn’t sound like fun.

“I’m sorry, Lexie,” Gloria said. “I’ve treated you so unfairly, and I’m sorry it took Dalton ending up in the hospital again for me to see that.”

She got my attention. “Thanks?”

“Have a seat, honey,” my grandma said.

I slid into a red plastic chair opposite Gloria and next to my grandma, bouncing my knee under the table. “What do you guys want to ask?”

“Dalton was in our care, so we are responsible for reporting any probation violations. The family isn’t supposed to hold anything back, so we wanted to ask you, besides that day we found you two in the basement, did Dalton sneak over on any other day?” Gloria asked in a gentle tone — a tone I had never once heard her use before.

“Uh….” My tongue glued itself to the roof of my mouth. What should I say? Would he get in more trouble if they found out? Would he get in more trouble if I lied and they found out? I didn’t know how to answer. I wanted to stop lying so much, but that was not the moment to start. The situation called for it. Was it the right thing to do? I don’t know, but I said, “Um, no. That was the only time. I saw him at school, mainly.”

Gloria smiled, reached across the table, and patted my hand. “That’s what we thought.”

Dave nodded and got up. “Thanks for being honest,” he said. He then gave me the okay sign with his fingers.

“I’ll see you two,” Gloria said.

My grandma waved, and they left.

“You’re lying aren’t you?”

“Me? Lie? Never,” I said, running my finger over an old coffee ring on the table top.

“You’re a good girl.” The evening was turning out really weird. That was the second time somebody said that to me.

“Thanks.” What else was I to say?

I went up to see Dalton one last time before I left. He was sleeping and looked so peaceful, Kristin asleep in the chair next to the bed. I gave him a kiss on the cheek, and Kristin stirred in her chair.

“Hey, Lexie,” she said, her voice heavy with sleep.

“Hi, Mrs. Reyes.”

“Please, call me Kristin.”

“Okay. I wanted to spend the night, but my grandma is making me go home.”

“He’ll be okay, sweetie.”

“I know. It’s just...” I sucked on my lower lip and blinked, trying to keep in my tears. “After he got shot, I never saw him again until he showed up in the hallway at school.”

“Oh, baby.” His mom got up and hugged me. “He’s not going anywhere, okay. He’ll be here tomorrow waiting for you.”

“You promise?”

“I do.” Kristin took a deep breath. “We should have let you see each other. We were just so mad and upset. You just got stuck in the middle of it all, and that was wrong. You were just a child.”

I nodded.

“I can’t even imagine the pain of seeing that – how scary it must have all been.”

I nodded again. She really had no idea, and I was quite sure it was best that way. “I think about it, about him, every day. He’s been with me every day since then.”

Kristin placed her hand on my cheek. “You two are good for each other.”

“We really are.”

She smiled at me. “I’ll text you tomorrow as soon as he’s out of surgery.”

“Thanks, I’d like that. I have to go now. Stupid school. My grandma is making me go.”

Kristin gave me one last hug and my grandma and I drove home. I crashed on the couch in the front room – didn’t even make it to my room or the basement.