Chapter 13

Two hours later, we were full of food, even though my mom tried to offer us dessert. She had strawberry pie and brownies. Adam accepted the offer of pie, and Maddie rolled her eyes as she watched him eat it.

   My parents had drifted inside, leaving the four of us alone in the yard. Maddie put some music on from her phone and flopped onto one of the deck chairs.

   "Finally," she breathed out. "Summer."

"You girls are so lucky you don't have to work like a sucker," Adam laughed, then looked at Parker. "You working too?"

   Parker nodded. "Pool boy."

   "Oh, Wallace Maintenence? That's at least a sweet job. You get to be outside all day," Adam went on. He liked to talk. "I have to work at the stupid dealership."

   Parker glanced at me, but I shrugged. I wanted to know if he was feeling the very same feelings that I was at that moment. I felt happy to be there, with Parker and my friends. I was so glad he was there. But our almost-moment had been ruined and two hours had passed.

   Adam finished his piece of pie and then sat beside Maddie, leaning in to kiss her. I watched, and I knew Parker was looking, too.

   "My dad said we can go to the trailer next weekend," Maddie began. She was telling me, but the boys were listening, too.

   Adam hollered in excitement. "I'm off Friday!"

   "Yeah, we can go Friday. I'm going to ask Teah, too," Maddie went on.

   I nodded, but looked over at Parker. He was standing, leaning against the deck rail. He was too close to the gate. It almost felt like he was trying to take off.

   "You should come, Parker," Maddie said to him. "It's on the lake, and though the trailer's pretty shitty, we have the best times. And no parents this year!"

   Parker looked uncomfortable with the invite. "Oh, uh, I have to work."

  "Dude, your boss is your girlfriend's dad. You can get Friday off, right?" Adam spat out.

   It was strange that suddenly Adam was being so friendly with Parker. Maybe it freaked Parker out, too. And, wait, did he say girlfriend?

   Parker cleared his throat. "I think I should get home."

   Maddie smacked Adam's arm, so he laughed obnoxiously. "What?"

  "I'll walk you to the front," I said to Parker, standing up.

  "Bye, Parker! Hope you can come camping!" Maddie called after us.

   In his front yard, Parker went up the porch, leaving me on the driveway. It was sort of crazy how I felt this strong desire to be touching him again, yet he seemed like he just wanted to get away from me.

   "Sorry... about that," I said, my voice quiet.

   "What?" he asked, shaking his head.

  I knew he was upset about the girlfriend comment. He looked over at me, annoyed.

  "Parker -"

  "I have to go in," he interrupted, nodding at his house.

  "Will you just talk to me, please?" I yelled, annoyed that he was trying to run again, again. "I want to talk to you."

  He took a breath, but then said, "Tell your parents I said thank you for dinner, okay?"

  "Parker, please," I begged.

  "Night, Becca," he finished.

  I watched him go inside and not even look back. I waited a minute, hoping he would change his mind. But then I went back to my back yard, where my friends were waiting.

  I watched Parker leave the house the next morning, and hop into my dad's truck beside him. I was inside, and he didn't even look my way. He didn't know I was watching him. We were in this weird spot now, where friendly texting through the day seemed wrong, and talking on our phones while I was in bed was all I wanted.

  At 4P.M., I sent him a text anyway.

  COME OVER WHEN YOU GET HOME?

  He didn't reply, and at 5:30P.M. when my dad came in, Parker wasn't with him.

  "That kid is such a hard worker," my dad told me, dropping his bag by the door. "Not like Connor, man. He's always on his phone, or skipping tasks."

  I smiled, because I had no idea what to say to this. I knew my dad liked Parker. I could tell by how he talked about him. I was happy about that. But talking about Parker with my dad was weird.

  "He mentioned camping next weekend... he asked about having Friday off?" my dad went on.

   I looked up from my phone. "What?"

  "You invited him to Maddie's trailer?" he asked back.

  "Uh, yeah, Maddie did," I answered.

  Now I watched my dad carefully. He was considering this. Once he smiled, I relaxed a bit.

  "What's going on between you and Parker..." It wasn't exactly a question.

  "We're friends," I said quickly. "That's okay, right?"

  He nodded. "Of course. I told him that Friday was fine. Uncle James will be back-"

  "So he can come?" I asked, trying to keep a straight face. I couldn't believe it.

  "If his mom allows him. One night, you both come back on Saturday." My dad nodded again, approving.

  "Okay, yes," I said, already jumping up.

  I hadn't felt excited - mixed with nervousness - in a long time. I slipped on my shoes and opened the front door, practically slamming right into someone. Parker.

  I stepped back, eyes wide. I had not been expecting him to be there.

  "I was coming to see you," I told him. "You didn't text back."

  "I... Becca... I really like you. I know I've been weird. But I'm trying to... hold back."

  "Hold back?" I asked, shaking my head.

  "Getting too close to anyone for me is not a good idea," he said, looking so serious.

  "Why?" I wanted to know.

  "Because, Becca. We leave. That's what we do. Usually in less time than we've been here," he spat out, then looked sorry for saying it.

  "But you're working... things are okay, right?" I said, still just standing there in the doorway.

  He looked away. "Helping my mom with bills is good. But it's not helping Aidan. My mom will drop everything on a moment's notice if... there's a possibility he'll get better somewhere else."

  "So... you might have to leave anyway?"

  "Right now, I don't know. The specialist here found a new drug for him, but it's hard on him... my mom doesn't want to continue it," Parker said, keeping his voice low.

  "Oh, Parker. I'm so sorry," I answered, closing my eyes for a second.

  I took gave him a second and then I was hugging him. Our bodies were against each other, touching for the first time. My head was on his chest, listening to his heart beating. Just as I was about to step back, his arms came up and wrapped around me, keeping me there a bit longer.