Haeven (33 page)

"Here big fella' what's wrong?" he asked as
he took Ares face in his hands and studied his eyes. "Just need a
little love, is that it?"

Ares gave him a tremendous kiss and spread
himself out near Evan's feet. Evan kicked off his shoes and rubbed
his belly with his toes and that was the last Ares bothered us
until we were both stretching and yawning and anxious for bed.

It was Ares' and my custom to take one last
trip outside before calling it a night but Evan offered to do it
for me so I could head up and get ready for bed and I gladly
agreed. They hadn't come back by the time I was finished so I left
my bedroom door open so Ares could come in and sleep with me if he
wanted. I started to drift off but just as I did Evan crept into my
room.

"Em? Em, are you up?"

"Yeah. I'm awake. What is it?"

"I'm not sure. Ares and I were walking and
there was this strange..." he seemed to pause, "man."

"Oh, my!" I laughed. "That is strange!"

"No, seriously, Emily. I think he was...it
seemed like he was pacing...back and forth...in front of our house.
Look and see if he's still there...No, don't turn the light on!
Just peek."

I grumbled and moaned but threw the covers
off and went to the window. I eased the blinds back and looked as
far in one direction as I could then went to the other side of the
window and did the same.

"There's nothing out there," I shook my head
and crept back to my bed.

"Are you sure?"

"Damn it, Evan! That's not funny!" I thought
he was teasing me and I was very angry for it.

"What? No! Em! I would never do that. I'm
sorry! I didn't mean to freak you out."

Ares apparently didn't like the way we were
speaking to one another and anxiously hopped up on the bed then
started licking my face. He was relentless until I started to laugh
then he triumphantly flopped down and laid his chin on his
paws.

Evan started scratching his back, "I'm sure
it was nothing. I just...I worry about you and it's hard not to
think the worst. It was probably just someone getting an earful on
their cellphone," he chuckled. "Or maybe he was sneaking a
cigarette or something."

I ruffled the loose fur on top of Ares' head,
"Yeah, I'm sure that was it. Nothing to worry about."

"Well, I've gotta get to bed. I'll see you in
the morning."

"Night."

"Night."

Though I had some trouble falling asleep by
the time morning came both Evan and I had completely forgotten the
incident. I made him breakfast to welcome him home and later we
took Ares for a nice run together. We spent more time catching up
and it was so nice to have someone closer to my own age to talk and
laugh with that the day just seemed to fly by. We did pause in our
newfound camaraderie an hour or so after lunch so he could take a
nap but other than that we were together nearly the entire day.

I was amazed by how much he ate and slept.
When we weren't talking or playing games or exercising he seemed to
be doing either one or the other. Thankfully it began to wear off
after about a week and a half and he soon became restless and
determined to find things for us to do. He started out by asking me
what I would like to do but I still seemed to have very little
knowledge of the area and what it had to offer. Besides I had been
so limited by my lack of companionship that so far I hadn't gotten
to do much or been given a chance to discover what exactly it was
that I liked to do.

"Wow!" Evan exclaimed. "You sure are
boring!"

"What? No, I'm not!"

"Alright. Maybe you're not boring but you're
not much of an adventuress are you?"

"I...I..." I didn't have a witty comeback. I
hung my head, "I'm sorry," I mumbled. "I just don't know what there
is to do...what I would like to do."

Evan took a deep breath and realized how
harsh he was being considering my circumstances. "Don't be sorry,
Em. That was kind of thoughtless of me wasn't it?"

We were both quiet for a number of
seconds.

"Hey, maybe we should just look at this a
little differently. I know! Let's make a bucket list for the
summer. We'll pick out a bunch of things that you would like to try
and we'll do them all together and maybe get Mum and Dad to join
us, too!"

He was so bright and enthusiastic! How could
I say no? "OK!" I beamed. "When do you want to start?"

"How about right now?"

I smiled deeply then Evan hoisted himself
from the couch and ran off to fetch his laptop so we could start
planning our activities.

It took a day or so before the list began to
take shape. I didn't really know where to begin and though Evan
offered a number of suggestions the most I could commit to was
making a dutiful note of them. Then my mother and father learned
what we were up to and they began submitting their ideas as well.
I'm not sure why but despite my initial enthusiasm I was reluctant
to agree to any of them once Evan was ready to start executing some
of our ideas.

"C'mon, Em! You have to pick something.
There's got to be at least one thing on this list that sounds a
little fun!" Evan insisted.

"Well," I looked it over and sighed, "which
do you like the most?"

"This isn't about me, it's about you."

I shrugged, "Yeah, but I don't know. I really
don't know."

"Fine, I'll pick!" Evan was obviously
frustrated, "Let's go skydiving," he said quite
matter-of-factly.

"What? No! Absolutely not!"

"I'll take that as a yes. Besides it's on the
list," he challenged.

"Yeah, I put it down but only as a
suggestion. I never meant to actually do it!"

"Why not?"

"Why not? Why not?! I...I..." I started to
smile. I thought I had him, thought I knew what he was trying to
do. He wasn't about to go skydiving any more than I was. He knew I
would say no and was just using it as a means to get me to choose
and insist on something else. "Alright. Skydiving it is," I said
completely confident that he would renege on the plan.

Much to my surprise and completely to my
dismay he pulled his cell phone out and immediately made the
reservation.

"There! That's that," he said. "What
next?"

I was too discomfited to speak.

He scrolled through the list, "Ah, yes, rock
climbing. There's an indoor facility not far from here. Let's see
if they're open." He tapped the number into his phone and after a
brief conversation ended the call and said, "Let's go!" Evan tugged
me to my feet, "I'm not taking no for an answer! You are not going
to waste a perfectly good summer sitting around the house feeling
sorry for yourself!"

"I don't feel sorry for myself!"

"Oh, then what do you call it?"

"It's...I..."

"Yeah, that's exactly what it is. Get
changed. Wear something comfortable - your running clothes should
do. I'll let Mum and Dad know and I'll wait for you in the
car."

"But..." I stuttered and sighed then trudged
upstairs to do what I was told.

Several minutes later we were in the car and
on our way. Evan wouldn't look at me or talk to me and though I
tried to breach the gap with whatever nonsense came to mind he
wouldn't take part in the conversation with anything more than one
or two words.

Once we got there we had to fill out a bunch
of paperwork and sign a waiver stating that we accepted the
assumption of risk and a release and promise not to sue. They asked
for our ID's since they required proof of age and that neither of
us were minors. I confessed that I didn't have one and before I
could explain why Evan stopped me.

"She lost it and hasn't gotten a replacement
yet. C'mon buddy, she's my sister, surely you can tell that she's a
few years older than I am."

I tried not to be offended while the staff
member eyed me up and down for a moment then reluctantly agreed to
provide us with the day passes Evan had signed us up for. We were
given a series of brief instructions and fitted with harnesses so
we could use the auto belays while we climbed. I paid close
attention to everything we were told but Evan seemed to be more
than bored by the various speeches.

"Finally!" Evan huffed once we were ushered
into the climbing area and told to have at it.

There was a multitude of walls one after the
other each covered with hand and foot holds and seeming to reach
dozens and dozens of feet from floor to ceiling.

"Here," he stood me in front of one of the
walls. "The holds are color coded, see, and the routes are marked
with tape. We'll stick with the easy ones for now and see how well
you do then if you want to try something harder we'll move on."

"You've done this before?" I said more to
myself than to him.

"Yeah, a few times. It's a good workout and a
lot more fun than chasing after Ares while he's galloping down the
greenways! Here, I'll hook you up."

I was very intimidated at first but once I
reached the top of the first climb and slid down the rope like some
ungainly action hero I knew I was hooked and anxiously begged to do
it again. Evan laughed at my sudden zeal and though he graciously
gave me far more opportunities to exert myself than he took I knew
he had been more than the few times he had confessed.

After a couple of hours he reminded me that
it wasn't just fun but exercise, too, and that if I didn't take a
break my body would resent me for a good number of days to come. I
knew he was right and that I had used muscles that I probably
hadn't used in years. We turned in our gear and when we got to the
car Evan looked at me funny.

"So," he seemed to just be figuring something
out. "No license, huh? I guess you don't know how to drive, then do
you?"

Sadly I shook my head, "No. I don't think I
ever learned."

"Would you like to?" his face lit up.

"Just like that?"

"Sure. Why not?" he dangled the keys.

I shrugged, "OK. How hard can it be?"

Evan helped me into the driver's seat and
showed me how to adjust it along with the steering wheel and
mirrors. Once he was satisfied that I had made all the appropriate
changes he climbed into the passenger's seat and made a great show
of buckling himself in.

"Gee, thanks! As if that wasn't very
suggestive."

"Safety first!" he said somewhat mockingly.
"Your brake pedal is on the left, gas is on the right."

I put my left foot on the brake and my right
on the gas.

"No, no, no..." Evan shook his head. "Right
foot for both." It seemed odd at first but Evan assured me I would
get used to it. "Good, now hold your foot down on the brake and
start the car."

Step by step he guided me through the process
and within a few short minutes I had backed out of the parking
space, made it to the exit and onto the main road. I was terribly
nervous and drove at a snail's pace for as long as Evan could stand
it.

"Do you think you could speed it up a
bit?"

I laughed out loud but glancing in the mirror
noticed the line of cars that seemed to be piling up behind us.
"Oh, um, maybe we should finish our lesson some other time."

Evan just shrugged, "They'll get over it."
Thankfully, though he casually added, "But I guess we should get
home before Mom starts to worry. We can try again when there's not
so much traffic."

"Right." I smiled then eased the car to the
side of the road and stopped.

I got out and walked around the back of the
car while Evan scooted over from the passenger's seat to the
driver's. Just as I was about to get in a racy car with darkened
windows drove by and it gave me a terrible sense of déjà vu. I
stood there in confusion for a long moment until Evan, full of
curiosity, rolled the window down and asked me if I was coming.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," I laughed, "I forgot what
I was doing for a moment there!"

He just rolled his eyes and shook his head,
"Get in," he groaned.

Now that the first activity was out of the
way and it had been such a success it was easy to choose our next
and our next. My parents joined us on many of our tamer outings and
Evan and I did the more demanding, adventurous ones on our own.
Evan continued teaching me how to drive, usually when we happened
to be on one of the more lightly travelled roads and by the end of
the summer I grew to be pretty comfortable behind the wheel.

Throughout all this I had managed to
completely forget about our skydiving reservation and more or less
still believed that Evan had no intention of going through with it.
I was sure he had used it as a motivational tactic and now that we
were well on our way to making it a memorable summer the plan had
fallen to the wayside.

Then early one morning he came into my room
and after encouraging Ares to wake me reminded me of our
appointment.

"Guess what time it is?!" he smiled down at
me as Ares nudged his nose under my chin.

"Ugh! Sleep! I need more sleep," I mumbled.
"Go away," and I halfheartedly swung my pillow at the two of
them.

"Uh, uh! We have a long drive ahead of us.
You need to get up, have some breakfast and we need to get
going!"

I stretched and yawned, "Where? We don't have
any plans today," I flopped back down and clenched my eyes
closed.

"Ah, but we do!" he wiggled his phone in
front of my nose. "See," and on the screen was a reminder from his
calendar with our appointment. "Up you go," he grabbed my arm and
pulled me to sitting.

"I thought you cancelled that! You don't
really think I have any intention of going through with it do
you?!"

"Indeed I do! C'mon, c'mon," he got up and
started towards the door. "You know you want to. Deep down inside.
How many people can say they've jumped out of a plane? It will be
fun! I promise!"

Though I was still very much against the idea
I was well awake by then and dutifully got ready and met Evan
downstairs. He was in the kitchen making us breakfast and after I
took Ares out for our morning walk we sat down together and quietly
discussed our day. Evan was so buoyant and enthusiastic about our
prospects that despite my reservations I couldn't bring myself to
disappoint him. Besides he had been patient and indulgent all
summer long letting me choose our activities whether they were
enticing to him or not.