Starburst (12 page)

Alley
put the phone back in her pocket and turned to him. He held onto her and kissed
her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Thank
you for this Trevas,” she whispered.

“You
are welcome, I love seeing you happy.”

“I’m
happy because I am with you and I love you.”

“And
I love you too and you stop getting so serious on me.” He demanded.

“Come
on,” he said, taking her hand. He sat on the bike and scooted back.

“What?”
she asked, looking dazed.

“You’re
driving.”

“I
can’t drive this thing.”

“I’m
going to teach you.”

Alley
took a deep breath and moved in between his legs.

“This
is your clutch,” he explained, pulling her left hand in. “Your back brake,” he
added, moving her foot to the pedal.

“What’s
this one?” she wanted to know what the other lever was.

“That’s
your front break, don’t touch that one. You will throw us off.”

She
turned to look at him with a serious look, and he kissed her cheek. “Don’t
worry, I’m right here, just don’t mess with that one.”

“This
is your gears,” he continued to explain. “One down is first,” he told her and
started the bike. He held his hand over hers and pulled in the clutch.

“One
down,” he said and she pushed the gear down.

“This
is your throttle, give it a little gas and slowly let out on the clutch.”

Alley
did and took off perfectly without jerking or stalling and he made a surprised
expression.

“One
up,” he told her in her ear, and she switched gears. “Again,” he said when the
engine was at its peak. “Again.” She got the hang of it rather quickly, again
surprising Trevas.

“Gear
down,” he told her when they were nearing a T in the road, and he didn’t have
to explain to her how to do it.

Alley
drove him around on the back roads for over an hour, and he relaxed and didn’t
even have to help her. They stopped before they got to the main road, and he
made her let him take over against her will. His mom was gone when they got
back to pick up the car, and he parked the bike back in the garage.

“We
have to do that again before we go home,” she told him in the car.

“You
liked that uh?”

“I
loved it. I think I might need to buy one of those.”

“Please
don’t,” he begged and she laughed. “Do you have your driver’s license?” he
asked.

“Yeah,
I got them when I was sixteen.”

“But
you don’t drive?”

“Yeah
I do.  Well sort of. I got a new car for my sixteenth birthday, but I kind of
drove it into the Pacific Ocean.”

“You
drove it into the ocean?”

“Yes,
I was either going too fast, or the ocean was closer than I thought. I went
over this little bank, and it was just there.”

Trevas
shook his head, but wasn’t really surprised.

They
spent the next couple of days together alone at the cabin. Trevas took her
fishing, and although he had to do all the work, she did reel in a few nice
small mouth bass. She had the time of her life. Trevas also had a great time,
watching her enthusiasm when she would get a bite. They built a fire and drank
a few beers late at night, and of course she had to roll a joint, and they
shared that as well. He made love to her every chance he got and even though he
didn’t think it was possible to get more wrapped up in her than he already was,
he did and so did she. They did say I love you to each other but never talked
about what was to come.

On
Saturday morning, he went outside to find enough service to make a call.  Alley
came out looking for him as she heard him tell someone thanks and he would see
him in an hour.

“Who
was that?” she asked, yawning.

He
met her on the porch and kissed her. “Good morning, beautiful,” he whispered to
her lips. “Get dressed. I have to take you to my mom’s for a little while.”

“Why.”

“Because,
I have to run into town, I won’t be long.”

“Why?”
she asked again.

“Get
dressed,” he demanded.

Trevas
didn’t go in and Kay met Alley on the porch wearing a robe and slippers.

“I’m
going to get dressed, I made coffee and tea. I wasn’t sure which one you would
want.”

“Do
you know where Trevas is going?” she called to her as she poured a cup of
coffee.

“Yes,”
she called back but didn’t say where.

“I’m
not allowed to tell you,” she told her coming in to sit with her.

“Oh,
great,” she replied. “I’m not riding a horse, or something today, am I?” she
asked, and Kay laughed.

“Something
like that,” she said, and Alley groaned. “Oh, I almost forgot, I got you
something.”

“You
did?” Alley asked astonished.

“It’s
nothing really. One of the girls I work with makes this really neat jewelry,
and she was selling some at work.”

She
gave her the plain white box, and she opened it and pulled out a plain looking
thin black leather string. It was long and tied in the back with a small knot.
The pendant was silver and black and shaped in an oval about a half an inch in
size. In the middle of the pendant was a Chinese symbol. Alley knew that it was
a sign for obsession. Because of the A+ she had just gotten in her Chinese
foreign language class. She read it easily and thought it was perfect.

“Pull
it apart,” Kay told her.

Alley
pulled the oval, and it was magnetized, and there was a place for two pictures
one each side.

“I
love this Kay,” she told her and put it around her neck. It was long and hung
half way down her chest. “She makes this stuff?”

“Yeah,
I will give you her website if you want.”

“Yeah,
totally.”  

“You
just have to promise me that you won’t put any pictures of Trevas in there, not
yet anyway. I wouldn’t want your parents to see that.”

Alley
nodded with a smile. That was exactly what she was going to put in there, the
one with him sitting on his bike and the one of the two of them together in
front of the big rocks. She wasn’t worried about either of her parents seeing
it. She didn’t have those kinds of parents.

They
talked about Trevas being in the army and how scared she was while he was in
Afghanistan.

“What
would make him want to join the army?” Alley asked.

“You
better ask him that question. It’s really not my story to tell,” was Kay’s
reply and it made Alley even more curious.

“Where
is his dad?” she asked, and then wondered if she was being too nosey when Kay
didn’t reply right away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s
okay. I’m just trying to figure out how to answer it without you thinking ill
of me.”

Alley
studied her face as she searched for the right answer.

“I’m
really not sure, and honestly, I’m really not sure who he is myself. I was
pretty wild back then. But if it’s any help, I did marry Anna’s dad,” she
added, “and divorced the drunken bastard three years later.”

“I
would never think badly of you for that. I couldn’t tell you how many men,” she
stopped. “Friends,” she corrected, “that my mother had spend the night when I
was growing up. You can’t sell that to the tabloids though,” she joked.

“I
promise,” she smiled, crossing her heart with her index finger.

“Do
you have someone now?” Alley asked, and Kay smiled at her boldness.

 “I
can see why my son has fallen in love with you,” she stated, and Alley smiled.
“I do have a
friend,”
she said emphasizing the word friend and using her
fingers to make quotation marks in the air. “He is just a convenience if you
catch my drift,” she joked with a wink.

Alley
laughed. “I read you loud and clear.” 

They
both looked up in awareness when they heard a horn blow.

“I
think your ride is here,” Kay said with a big smile.

“Oh
God,” she exclaimed, and they walked to the front porch.

Alley
screamed, unable to contain her emotions. She put her hand over her mouth,
jumped up down, and then fell to the ground and covered her head shaking it in
total disbelief. She stood up and walked to Trevas.

“You
are un-fucking- believable,” she told him and kissed him. She didn’t care that his
mother was standing in the yard with a bigger smile than hers.

“Come
on, you don’t want to be late now, do you?” he gestured toward the entrance of
the big yellow school bus parked on the curb. He got in and sat in the driver’s
seat, and she was still unable to climb aboard.

“Get
in here,” he scolded, and she stepped up.

“My
name’s Forest, Forest Gump,” she teased before moving on and he laughed.

“I
love the shit out of you Alley Fletcher,” he replied, and pulled the swinging
arm, closing the door.

“What
are you doing way back there?” he asked when she plopped to the very back seat.

“Isn’t
this where all the cool kids sit?” she called up the long isle, and he laughed
again.

“No
the cool kids sit up front and flirt with the bus driver.”

She
moved up behind him, and he smiled back at her in the oblong rearview mirror.

“I
can’t believe you did this Trevas,” she said.

“You
told me you have never ridden a school bus.”

“I
did, but I didn’t think you would remember that, let alone do this,” she
replied, still unable to control the ridiculous smile plastered on her face.

“I
remember everything that comes out of your mouth,” he replied, and their eyes
lingered full of emotion, through the square mirror, briefly.

They
didn’t go far and only rode around for about half an hour because Trevas’s bus
garage mechanic could get into a lot of trouble for letting him take the county
vehicle out. Trevas drove it back to the bus garage and backed it into the
empty spot that had the bus number painted in white on the blacktop. He stood
up and took her hand and walked to the back of the bus. He stopped and let her
get in first, and they sat about three rows up from the back. He held her hand,
and she kissed him.

“You
do know that you are making me love you don’t you?”

“I
am
making you?” he asked.

“Yeah,
you are. I’m astounded that you did this for me.”

He
touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “I’m glad you liked it.”

“Tell
me why you joined the army,” Alley said, with that still on her mind.

“You
have been talking to my mother too much,” he accused.

“I
love your mom. Look what she got me,” she said and pulled the magnetized locket
out of her shirt.

“Pull
it apart,” she told him when he picked up the pendant to investigate.

“Alley,
don’t put our picture in here,” he demanded as the two pieces separated and
then snapped back together.

Alley
smiled. “Yes master.”

“I’m
serious, you can’t put our picture in here,” he demanded again, but knew that
she would anyway and was mad at his mom for buying it for her because he knew
her all too well.

“Answer
my question,” she told him again, not wanting to discuss the pictures that she
was going to place in the locket.

“I
had to join the army. It was either that, or go to prison for eighteen months,
and have a felony record.”

“What
did you do?” she asked shocked that straight laced Trevas Evans could do any
wrong.

“I
got messed up with the wrong crowd and got into drugs. I was with three other
guys one night, and they decided that they were going to rob a convenience
store. I refused to do it, but because I was in the car, I was an accomplice
and went to jail too,” Trevas explained as he traced her fingers with his. “My
Aunt Fay worked for the prosecuting attorney and got me a deal and as soon as I
was clean enough to pass a drug test, I enlisted. It was the best thing that
could have happened to me,” he admitted.

“Trevas,
you should have told me. I wouldn’t have made you smoke pot with me.”

Trevas
laughed. I smoked pot here and there before you. You don’t need to feel guilty
for that. I was into things a lot worse than pot, and I haven’t touched any of
it since.”

“Like
what?” she wanted to know.

“Coke,
pills, crack, but mostly meth,” he told her honestly.

“I’m
glad you went to the army too.”

Trevas
just smiled a warm smile at her as he reflected on that time of his life.

“Hey
Trevas,” she said with a peculiar look.

Trevas
turned to look at her without speaking.

Are
your grandparents in California your mom’s parents?”

“Yeah,
why?”

“You
said your aunt Fay right?”

“Yeah,”
he asked not sure where she was going with this.

“Your
grandmother’s name is May, your mom’s name is Kay, and her sister’s name is
Fay?”

Trevas
laughed. “Yeah and they have a brother too. Do you know what his name is?”

Alley
thought about it and ran boy names through her mind, trying to come up with
something that rhymed with Kay.  “JAY!” she yelled excited, knowing that, that
had to be it.

“No,
it’s Harold,” he laughed.

“You
fucking idiot,” she said and punched him in the stomach.

“I’m
going to start carrying a bar of soap around with me,” he chastised.

“Sorry,”
she apologized.

Trevas
made Alley give him her phone, and he took a picture of her on the school bus but
refused to let her take his. They sat on the empty school bus and talked for
over an hour and went back to his moms and had lunch. Alley stared at him with
her sexy wicked look the whole time at the table, and it was driving him crazy.
She slipped her foot out of her untied high top sneaker at one point and ran her
foot up his leg. He moved his hand down and ran his hand up her leg with a
seductive glare back.