Chapter 17
“Iwant to watch the game when we get there.”
Mel glanced over at Denny. “As long as no one else is using the television, I don’t have a problem with you casting your phone to it. I never do.”
“After the way you treated Rhys, I wouldn’t be surprised if you did have a problem.”
Mel sighed as they parked behind the center. “Just because I don’t think he’s a good role model for you doesn’t mean I’m going to keep you from something you love. Just remember even people you admire are still human.”
“Maybe you should remember that,” Denny said before slamming out of the car.
Mel pressed their fingers to the bridge of their nose. They could have handled that better. Sonia leaned forward and put her hand on Mel’s shoulder. “Denny isn’t angry with you. Mom was on them this morning about their attitude.” Her face twisted up.
“Why? What happened?”
“What always happens. Mom expects Denny to act a certain way, and when they don’t, Mom gets upset. She won’t see it won’t ever be the way Denny is, and that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with them.”
Shit, shit, shit. It didn’t matter how many times they spoke to their parents, it wasn’t sinking in that their children were actually individuals. Trying to talk about it would simply be wasting their breath, but Mel had to do it.
“I’ll talk to Mom.”
Sonia gave them a long look. “How many times have you already done that?” Then, she was out of the car as well.
Damn, how had their siblings gotten so wise? It didn’t matter, Mel needed to make sure both of them got the support they needed. They would keep banging their head against the brick wall of their parents’ expectations until they managed to make a dent.
Those concerns blew away when they saw the figure hovering around the corner of the building. “Go inside,” they told Sonia, not taking their gaze off Liam’s bruised face.
“Why is he here again? He never actually wants to come in. Does he hate us for existing too?”
Mel didn’t comment on this being the first time Sonia grouped herself with the other kids who came to the center.
That was something they could deal with later.
“I don’t think he does.” This wasn’t the first time he'd shown up looking like that. He just didn’t stick around long enough for Mel to ask him. “Just go inside. I’ll talk to him.”
Or at least try. If he didn’t run away. Mel waited until Sonia had gone inside before slowly approaching where Liam stood. His shoulders remained hunched, hands shoved deep into his pockets. His eyes followed them, until they were standing a few feet away.
His shoulders straightened and his fierce, stubborn gaze met theirs directly, but his hands stayed in his pockets. Mel could see the bunch of his fists through the thin fabric of the shorts. “I didn’t do it,” he said, the words garbled around his puffed lip, then he darted away.
Mel thought they could have caught him. Usually he was fast, but he seemed to be moving with a slight limp today. Someone had definitely hurt him. Mel didn’t even know where the kid lived, or anything beyond his first name, so they couldn’t call for a welfare check.
Sometimes that would make things worse. Especially if it was those he lived with who had put him in that condition.
Still, Mel would have gone after him, if Denny hadn’t shouted from the doors of the center. Mel turned and saw the pale look to their sibling’s face. They looked toward Liam, but he was already turning the next corner. Too late to catch up to him now.
Mel headed for Denny. “What’s wrong?” they asked. “Television not working?”
“He trashed everything. Must have broken in through the back door. Every room is wrecked. Why didn’t you stop him?”
Their bottom lip was trembling. Denny could be a bit overdramatic at times, but this seemed to be more than that. What would they find when they stepped into the center? “Why do you think it was him?” They put a hand on Denny’s shoulder.
“He was right there. Just waiting to see our reaction. I told you. He’s a menace at school.”
Mel was sure the principal, and some of the teachers, would say the same thing about Denny.
“I didn’t do it.”
He had known something had happened. He certainly wasn’t here to help them clean it up. Mel closed their eyes when they saw Sonia with ripped books in her hands, tears rolling down her face. “Why would someone do this?”
From the words scrawled across the walls, Mel knew only too well. “Go wait in my office,” they said. “I need to make some phone calls.
“Tell us what happened here.” The police officer hooked his thumbs through his belt loops as he stared Mel down.
Mel wanted to reach up and tug on their hair. How many times were they going to have to go over this? They kept their hands at their sides and somehow managed to keep their voice calm. Nothing would be solved by them losing their cool on the responding officers.
“I told you. I wasn’t here. It was like this when we arrived.”
“What exactly were you doing here?”
They had already explained that as well. “I came to open up the center for the afternoon. Usually there’s a volunteer here in the morning, but no one was available today. I wanted to get over here and open so the kids would have someplace to go.”
Mel ignored the man’s derisive snort. They’d dealt with plenty of people like him when they’d gotten this started. They wouldn’t be too surprised if he’d been one of the ones to sign the hateful petition which tried to keep them from opening in the first place.
“Where were you?” the officer asked.
Mel sighed. They couldn’t quite hold it in. They’d answered this question as well. “I was at the Rise & Grind since six this morning.” They’d already offered to give him Frank’s number to confirm that.
He hadn’t seemed interested.
“And them?” He nodded to where Denny and Sonia stood against the building, clasping each other's hands.
“They were with me the whole time. I picked them up from our parents’ a little after five-thirty so I could open the shop at six. My boss, Frank Sheridan, came in at seven. You’ll have to take the word of our clock-in system before that, I suppose.”
He glared at them. Okay, so their temper slipped out a little. They were tired of being made to feel like the criminal here. They’d been the one to report the crime.
“We will be looking into that.”
“You should look into Liam Sutton.” Denny stomped over to them. “He was here, waiting to rub our noses in what he’d done.”
It didn’t matter how many times Mel reminded Denny there was no proof Liam had done this, they weren’t going to believe it. Like this cop didn’t seem to believe Mel wasn’t behind the destruction.
Why would they have done that when they’d worked so hard just to get it open? He didn’t seem to care.
He scribbled something down in his notebook. “Do you know where we can find this Liam?”
Mel was going to say no. They hadn’t known what his last name was, let alone where he lived. Denny spoke up again. “He lives on Spruce Road. The house on the corner.” When Mel looked at them, Denny shrugged. “He gets dropped off before we do. I’m not stalking him or anything.”
This time Mel groaned. Not something they should have said in front of a cop. He put his notebook away. “We’ll look into this and get back to you, Ms. Garcia.”
Mel flinched but didn’t correct him as he strode away. Sometimes it wasn’t worth it.
Mel was exhausted. Some of the kids had shown up at the center before they’d headed to the coffee shop.
Mel hated disappointing any of them, and they’d seen that exact look on most of their faces as they’d had to turn all of them away.
It was better than them seeing the words that had been scrawled across the doors.
Then they’d had to call the directors and write up a report on the damage for them.
“I didn’t even get to watch most of the game,” Denny said as Mel headed for their car. Everything took a lot longer than they’d expected and it was nearly dinner time, and Frank was closing the shop. Plus they needed to get the twins home. They’d have to take care of the rest of it later.
Mel pressed their fingers against their eyelids. “I’m sorry. I was busy dealing with this mess.”
“I told you that you should keep Liam away from here. He’s nothing but trouble.”
“You still don’t know that he had anything to do with it. You shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions. You wouldn’t like it if someone accused you of something you didn’t do.”
Denny let out a huff. “Happened every day at school,” they muttered.
Mel took a deep breath before responding to their sibling. Things weren’t always easy for Denny, and this attitude wasn’t about missing the game. Mel needed to remember their siblings weren’t going to process what happened quite the same as they did themself.
They were only sixteen after all. Even if Sonia acted older than that. Denny… did not.
“How did the game end up?” Mel asked as they climbed into the car. “Is it even over yet?”
“They lost,” Sonia said when Denny didn’t respond, just sat slumped in the back seat.
“Because they didn’t put Rhys in. I don’t understand why he isn’t playing. He’s not on the IL. That would make sense, but why have they just benched him?”
At one time, Mel wouldn’t have known that IL meant injured list, and sometimes they missed those days. Back when they could still be ignorant of all sports. “I’m sure there’s a reason.”
“Doesn’t make it a good one,” Denny said. “He’s their best catcher, and he usually plays in most of the games. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Mel didn’t know enough about the sport to argue that with Denny. “I doubt the others would be on the team if they were terrible.”
“I didn’t say they were terrible,” Denny said, “but they aren’t as good as Rhys. He would have stopped those runners from stealing second. And wouldn’t have let that pitch get past him in the ninth.”
“I didn’t think you were able to watch the game,” Mel said.
“I caught the highlights on the app,” Denny said as if Mel was stupid to not have thought of that. As if they knew everything about how that worked.
They didn’t say anything as they pulled into their parents’ driveway. When Denny was in a mood like this, sometimes it was better to let them work through it. They could talk to their sibling tomorrow about how hurtful that felt.
Why hadn’t Rhys played? He seemed perfectly fit to them when he’d been in the coffee shop that morning. Damn fit.
It wasn’t worth thinking about.
Mel wanted to stay in the car, but when their mother flashed the porch lights, they knew that would get them a talking to. As if Mel was still a teenager living under their roof. With a sigh, they stepped out of the car and followed their siblings up to the house.
Their mother reached out toward Denny, maybe to tuck a strand of hair behind their ear or something, but Denny ducked away, stomping into the house. Their mother turned to Mel. “You got them back here late tonight. Dinner’s cold now.”
“They’re both perfectly capable of heating it up for themselves,” Mel said. “and I’m sorry. There was an incident at the center. It took a while to handle it. I could have called you to come pick them up, but I wouldn’t want you to have to go out of your way.”
Their mother waved that off, apparently not catching the sarcasm in Mel’s voice. She was the one who insisted Denny and Sonia couldn’t be left on their own for even an hour, but she certainly wouldn’t be the one to chaperone them.
“You shouldn’t take them to that place. They’re both so impressionable.”
“What is that supposed to mean, Mom?” Mel asked. “What do you think is being impressed on them at a drop-in center for queer youth?”
“I didn’t mean that.” Their mother flicked her fingers as if that would brush everything away.
“Then, what did you mean?”
“Mel, you don’t have to take everything so personally. No wonder Denise can’t let anything go.”
“Well, if I’m a bad influence on them, why do you insist on hanging all their care on me?”
“I never called you a bad influence. If they’re such a burden to you—”
“I didn’t say that.” Mel should not let their mother drag them into one of these passive-aggressive arguments. “It’s been a long day, Mom. Did you need anything else?”
Their mother’s mouth pursed, but she shook her head. “You’re still picking them up tomorrow morning, right? Both your father and I have to be at the university early.”
Mel didn’t bother to sigh. Their mother could never decide whether to treat their siblings like they should carry the responsibilities of adults or like they couldn’t handle anything on their own.
“Yes, Mom. I don’t have to be at the cafe until 8, so I’ll pick them up at 7.”
“I don’t know why you continue to work at that place. If you would have stayed in school—”
“I’m going home, Mom. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Mel did not want to get into how cut out they weren’t for college, or the fact they liked both of their jobs. Their mother would not understand. Mel didn’t have the energy for it tonight. Not when they still needed to deal with so much else.
That certainly did not include thoughts of a cocky catcher. They had enough on their plate without adding him to it. No, that would topple everything over, and they could not afford that.