At first his question puzzled me. Then it startled me. It’s not that I had forgotten about our date per se; time had just crept up on me. I was looking inward and it was marching on.
“Sure,” I said, suddenly worried about Dad’s reaction when I told him.
“Seven o’clock,” he said with a wink as he turned to walk away.
My mind raced for a way to avoid the confrontation with my dad that I knew dropping such a bomb would incite. Then it hit me.
“Stephen,” I called. He turned to look back at me. “Could you pick me up at Leah’s? We’re uh- uh, we’re going to get ready together.”
Lying didn’t come naturally to me. Mostly, I was glad about that. I hated doing it. But it seemed that lately I was encountering more and more occasions where lying was becoming almost necessary. Or at least that’s what I kept telling myself.
Stephen shrugged. “Alright. Where does she live?”
I explained that she lived seven houses up from me and he agreed to pick me up there instead. I felt a little better, having averted a disastrous run-in with dad, but the lie I was going to have to tell him was already giving me indigestion. I pushed my tray aside and started planning out the details.
Later, when the sixth period bell rang, I ran out the door in hopes of catching Leah. Ryan had driven her home again yesterday and I could only assume that this would be the new norm. I knew I had to get to her before they left the lot.
But I was too late. They were already gone. My only other option was to stop by her house on my way home. Hopefully they’d beat me there.
And they did. Leah was still sitting in the car with Ryan when I reached her mailbox. I waved to get her attention and, when she waved back, I made my way up her driveway.
She must’ve said her goodbyes because Leah got out and shut the door. Ryan was backing out just as I reached her.
Leah’s cheeks were flushed with color and her smile was so big I bet her face hurt. She radiated sheer bliss.
“He didn’t have to leave. I just needed to ask you something real quick,” I said.
“It wasn’t you. He had to go. He was actually supposed to go straight home from school, but he wanted to take me home first.” I could see that she was positively thrilled over the fact.
“Good. Hey, I’ve got a favor,” I began. I could tell that, mentally, Leah was still with Ryan in the car, but I figured that was about as much of her attention as I was likely to get. “Can Stephen pick me up here tonight?”
I saw her focus return to the here and now then her eyes widen with excitement. “Yes! We could get ready together,” she said eagerly. Then, with a dramatic gasp, she said, “Why don’t you just spend the night? We can stay up all night talking about the party.”
That sounded like such a normal girl-thing to do, I immediately consented. “But what if we leave at different times?”
“Whoever leaves the party first should find the other before she goes. How about that? Then we could both leave at the same time.”
Sounded simple enough. “Alright.”
I told Leah I’d be back right after dinner then I hurried home to tell dad. He was waiting for me in the garage, as usual. I saw his dirty shoes, this time sticking out from behind the open driver’s side door.
Without preamble, I plunged right in. “Dad, can I spend the night with Leah tonight?”
I thought he would come out of the car with both barrels loaded and ready to go, but he didn’t. In fact, he didn’t even answer me for the longest time. When he did, it wasn’t what I expected. “Carson, is this about your mother and sister?” His voice was soft and sad. Dejected. I guess he thought I blamed him and wanted to curtail my time with him as much as possible.
Truthfully, I wasn’t sure how I felt about any of it. I hadn’t given it much thought since I found out. I’d stayed busy and during quiet moments I’d purposely avoided thinking of my myriad troubles. Too much was happening too fast. I couldn’t seem to get my bearings and it felt better to just ignore it all, focus on what few good things I