Chapter 5
FIGHTING JUST LIKE OLD TIMES
Thane
Heavy clouds roll in overhead, and although I know the sun has a few more hours until it sets, everything else about the sky insists it’s nighttime. Sera has been watching her weather app religiously since we left Philadelphia, and the worry lines that form on her forehead concern me.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, nodding toward her phone.
“I’m not sure. I know Hurricane Dylan got downgraded to a tropical storm, but it’s still pretty scary-looking. Winds are getting up to fifty miles per hour in some places, and the amount of rain expected on our route is three to five inches.”
I laugh. “You missed your calling as a weather girl.”
She doesn’t laugh. In fact, she doesn’t even look up from the weather report at all. She just keeps zooming in and out on the storm. After a few minutes of silence, she finally snaps back to the present.
“I wonder how things are going in Amethyst Lake,” she says, tapping her mother’s contact info and turning the speakerphone on.
“Oh, Serafina, are you two okay?” Mrs. Spencer’s voice drips with worry.
“We’ve slowed down quite a bit because of the wind, but so far so good storm-wise. That stunt you and Vivian pulled with the rental car is another conversation altogether, but we’ll discuss that later,” Sera says flatly.
“It was pretty clever, if you ask me.” Mrs. Spencer’s amusement is clear.
“I wouldn’t exactly use that term to describe this… spectacle.”
I flip on the windshield wipers and take the car off cruise control as the rain starts coming down.
“Where are you?” Mrs. Spencer asks.
“Somewhere between D.C. and Richmond. But the storm is picking up quite a bit here. How is it at the lake?”
“Well, we’ve been without power off and on throughout the day. Your father got the generator running for the refrigerator, though, so the food won’t spoil. We’re just making the best of it by playing Sequence by lantern light.”
“Don’t you guys ever get sick of that game?” I chime in.
“Not when you have as much fun playing it as we do!” Mrs. Spencer quips. “Speaking of which, it’s my turn. I’m glad you’re safe. Is there anything else you were calling for, Sweetheart?”
“No. Just checking the storm there. We’ll probably be arriving later than we planned. We’ve hit a few snags already today, and now the rain is forcing us to drive slower,” Sera says with a sigh.
“That’s okay. Just get here safely, and don’t forget to iron out your issues, you two! Love you, Sweetheart. Bye!” Mrs. Spencer says, and hangs up the phone.
“I’m glad they’re so concerned about us,” Sera says, turning off her phone’s screen.
“Well, they know we’re together. Which used to be a bad thing when we were kids, but I think they have confidence in our ability to stay somewhat out of trouble now that we can go to jail,” I joke.
“Have you ever been to jail?” Sera asks.
“There was this one night in Peru…”
“For real?” she interrupts.
“No! Come on, Fina.”
“Well… what do you expect me to think?”
“About what?”
“About your incessant traveling and sowing your wild oats.” She shrugs.
“You can think whatever you’d like to about it.”
“So take it all at face value? I think you’re the only person on the planet whose Instagram isn’t a facade, then.”
My heart rate surges, and my palms begin to sweat on the steering wheel.
I’m not prepared to tell Sera the whole truth.
Not yet. I need more time to see if I can trust her, and how much information I’ll give her—considering the circumstances.
But as much as my mind screams at me to keep my secrets, my heart begs to be let free.
I take a deep breath, ready to throw out a softball truth to get the ball rolling.
“You wanna know the truth about my travels?” I ask, my shaky voice betraying the faux confidence I put on.
Sera nods. “Of course I do.”
“The truth is,” I begin slowly, “I…”
When the ringtone on her phone interrupts my confession, I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed.
That’s the closest I’ve ever come to telling anyone except my parents the truth about my life abroad.
It scares me to death, but deep down, I’m proud of myself for getting that far.
Maybe I’ll get another chance later, and it won’t be so terrifying.
“Ugh. Bradley again,” she groans, and declines the call.
My stomach twists. I want to ask her more about him, but I also don’t want to know. It’s easier for me to pretend that she never stopped loving me when I imagine she’s never fallen for anyone else.
“What’s that all about? That’s not the first time you’ve sent him to voicemail,” I say with hesitation.
“He’s nobody,” she says, fidgeting with her seatbelt.
Suddenly there’s a time clock on my chance to repair things with Sera, because although she seems to want nothing to do with him, this guy is a threat until I can confirm that he isn’t. One thing I do know for sure: nobody will ever be good enough for Sera, especially Brad.
Especially me.
For some reason, the idea that she gave him her attention and affection for any prolonged amount of time makes my chest tight.
I hung around with a lot of women on my travels, but never for more than a few days.
The more I tried to fill my life with expensive parties and cheap thrills, the emptier I became.
Toward the end of my time away, I couldn’t even fake it anymore.
I was miserable—though I never posted any of those photos.
“How did you meet? Let me guess, at the gym?”
“Yep.”
Her clipped answers give me pause, so I push harder.
“Why do I get the feeling that you don’t want to tell me about him?”
She throws her hands up in the air in exasperation. “I don’t know, Thane! It’s weird!”
Interesting…
“Why is it weird?”
“Because… oh, I don’t know. It just is, okay?”
“We’ve known each other our whole lives, Fina. What is it about him you don’t want me to know?”
“Nothing. I just know you wouldn’t approve of him anyway. He could’ve been the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and you would’ve hated him.”
She’s right. I already hate him and all I know is his dumb name.
“What makes you think that I’d hate Brad? We’re adults now. I’ve met a lot of different people on my travels; maybe I’ve grown up.”
“You may be adult-sized, but you have definitely not grown up.”
“I resent that,” I reply, grasping my chest. “How do you know that I haven’t?”
“Thane, your last Instagram story was a video of guys trying to light their underwater farts on fire.”
A fit of laughter bursts out of me. “Yeah, that was pretty funny,” I say between breaths. “I didn’t think it would actually work!”
“Point proven. You are, and always will be, a fifteen-year-old boy.”
“I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, Fina—most of us are.
Some are just better at hiding it. Besides, everyone farts.
If you don’t laugh about it, you’re missing out on an opportunity to laugh, instead of just having lots of farts in your life and no humor to go with it.
I choose to laugh. It makes life more enjoyable. ”
She shakes her head and fights a smile tugging at her mouth.
“See? I knew it! You’re just as immature as I am!”
She smacks my arm. “I have too grown up. I’m just trying not to laugh at how lame you are, defending your stupid fart video.”
“But you’re not too old to hit me like you used to.”
“Only when you really deserve it.”
“Fighting just like old times,” I say gently. “That’s what we do best, remember?”
“I’m not sure I want to remember.”
I never want to forget, Fina. Ever.