Lover's Journey Series Books 1-3

Dawn-3

“Nothing. Just sitting here waiting for all the other lazy asses to wake up.”

“Get down,” Tatiana demanded, her hands perched on her hips and her bottom lip pushed out. She hated when we climbed the trees and stayed there. She couldn’t follow.

“Fine. Want some cherries?” She nodded and clapped her hands, so I picked up a few, cradling them in the lower side of my T-shirt. That would make my descent a little harder, but we’d all share the fruit. It was worth it.

I landed right on the bench, then slid down to a seated position. “Come and get’em.”

Tatiana snatched most of the fruit and I offered the few left to Robert.

“Don’t you want any?” he asked, although he’d already taken them all.

“Already ate some. I didn’t climb the tree for nothing.”

Robert laughed and ruffled my hair, then pulled me into a half hug. “Smart boy.”

I knew he was teasing me, but the praise still sounded good. I didn’t know why his approval mattered, I didn’t normally much care for what people said. You had to stop caring after your parents divorced. Otherwise, all the comments about the cheating, the mess at the trial, and the rare visits with your father got to you. The pity in people’s eyes always made me so angry, I wanted to punch them and run away.

“What grade are you in, squirt?” Robert asked, smirking at me.

“Fifth.”

“You’re older than you look.”

“You look stupid,” I snapped without thinking.

Robert laughed, but punched my shoulder. “A little respect for your elders.”

I stared into his green eyes, getting angrier at the humor in them. “What grade are you in, old man?”

“Ninth. High school student, not a little boy like you.”

So what if he was four years older than me? He didn’t look it. He was only a little taller than me, I reached all the way up to his chin. I snorted and looked away from him.

Tatiana looked between us, then shrugged and returned to her cherries. Once she was done, she wandered off along the sidewalk, chasing butterflies and picking up flowers.

“What do you usually do in the mornings around here? Seems kinda quiet.”

I turned to face a now serious Robert. He was swinging his legs, looking a little restless.

Mornings were my quiet time. I stayed up in a tree, sometimes played cards with Tatiana. Most times, I just went all the way to the creek. Instead of walking along the stream, I went up the side of the canyon that was outside the village and walked along the edge. It gave me something to do. I wondered whether to take Robert with me today. I was a bit reluctant about sharing my routine, but I also wanted him to like me.

“Play cards, ride my uncle’s bike, or go to the creek,” I said in a meek voice. I was remembering how unimpressed he was with the whole expedition of the previous day.

“Yeah, let’s go to the creek. I am bored with looking at this empty road.”

Robert was right, it was all looking kind of empty. Usually there were more carts and bikes going by. Sometimes even a car or two. It was all eerily quiet today. “Sure, let’s go.”

I jumped to my feet and started walking, dragging my feet through the grass as I crossed it from the sidewalk to the dusty edge of the road. Robert followed me in complete silence and fell into step next to me. He kept quiet all the way to the left turn we were supposed to take to go down to the creek.

“Are we walking along the water again?” he asked. I looked at him to see if he looked bored or anything. He arched a brow at me and tilted his head expectantly.

“Nah, we’re not. Just follow me.”

We crossed the creek by jumping from stone to stone, not bothering to go to the wooden bridge the cows used when they were taken to the pasture. It was further down the creek and it was full of cow s**t anyway.

The climb up was a bit steeper than our descent, but still pretty easy. Robert kept looking at the canyon walls, all furrowed brow and thin lips. “We really should climb up those walls,” he said, and I nodded in agreement. That did sound like fun, even if it scared me a little.

As we walked all the way to the railway, he kept asking me about school and my friends back home. I answered, but didn’t volunteer too many details. Especially not after his stories from Bucharest. Apparently there were all-out fights with chains and sticks and stuff. And he’d been in some of them with his huge gang of friends.

I didn’t know if I believed him, but I sure knew my own adventures at home weren’t that impressive. What was there to tell? That we played on the construction site of a school, running through blocks of concrete, climbing unfinished stairs, and hiding in the basement after squeezing through some holes that led down there? Or about the stray dogs that followed us everywhere? Or about my best friend who was a girl that lived next door?

When he started talking about girls, I mentioned Evelina. I called her my girlfriend to impress him. Robert’s vicious smile told me that had been a wrong move. Besides, Evelina would kill me if she knew. She liked this older kid who lived in the apartment building next to ours.

“So do you kiss your girlfriend?” Robert asked, leaning over to bump his shoulder into mine.

“Eww, no!”

He laughed and hit the back of my head. “Then she’s not your girlfriend, dummy.”

“Is too! We hold hands and stuff.” That wasn’t a complete lie, we did hold hands when we had to because our parents forced us. She’d also held my hand when my dad had cleared the house of his things, his books, and most of our good furniture.

“Ha, you baby! Holding hands doesn’t count. What are you, three?”

I stuck my tongue out at him and started walking faster. He was so all mighty and annoying. Brat!

“Definitely three,” he said when he caught up with me. I ignored him and continued to ignore him as we crossed the railway and walked along the bridge across the creek.

By then, he was a few steps ahead of me, following the road as we’d done the day before.

“Hey, bozo! We’re not going that way.” I didn’t stop to see if he heard me or if he followed. I crossed the railway again and walked back on the other side of the canyon. I only knew he followed later on, when the sound of his steps through the thick grass reached me.

“Are you still upset?” he asked when we’d reached the school’s back yard which ran along the edge of the canyon all the way to the road we’d taken.

“Shut up, you’re annoying.”

“Okay, big baby. I won’t make fun of you anymore. Better now?”

I shrugged like I didn’t care, but I was happy. I hated it when he made fun of me.

“Where to now?”

“We jump the fence and go through the school yard.”

Robert did as he was told, but he didn’t look too pleased. He probably didn’t want to get his clothes dirty. His displeasure only grew when he realized we’d have to jump another taller fence to get out of the school on the other side.

We made it back just in time for lunch. We said our goodbyes and decided to meet outside after our meal. Excited to continue our day together, I ran inside and went straight to the kitchen.

“Where have you been, you menace?” Grandma scolded. “Your mother called.”

“At the creek.”

“Did you go there alone again? I told you that’s not safe. What if you fall and break something?”

“I wasn’t alone, Robert went too.”

“Tatiana’s cousin from Bucharest?” she asked, sounding less upset.

“Yeah, him.”

“Good, he’s older, he can take care of you.”

I rolled my eyes and sat at my usual spot at the table. “Sure he can.”

Grandma pulled my hair a little. “Don’t be rude.”

I shrugged and bit into a piece of her homemade bread. The kid didn’t even want to jump fences. How was he supposed to take care of me?

Twenty minutes later I was out the gate and at the bench in front of Tatiana and Robert’s house. There was no sign of Robert though, so I stood there and waited for what seemed like forever. When he finally showed up, I was worked up something fierce.

“What did you do? Wait for your food to grow, then cooked it, then ate?”

Robert gave me a puzzled look and came to sit next to me. “So you’ve been waiting for me?”

“Yeah, like for a whole week. Do you have trouble chewing or something?”

“What did you do, inhale your food in one go?”

“No, you dimwit.”

“Was it that you only ate a slice of bread?”

“Who would be full after that? I’m a growing boy,” I said, patting my now full and round belly. “I had soup, and then stew and French fries. Oh, and some cherry pie. That’s to die for!”

Robert looked at me like I was insane. “I had some omelet and it took me a lot longer than you to finish.”

I shrugged and relaxed against the fence that doubled as the bench’s backrest. “I should have known. You are so lazy!”

Just as our fight died down, Traian and David showed up. They usually only played with us in the afternoon, as they had to go with their grandpa out on the fields in the morning. My uncles and older cousins worked our fields, but Grandma never made me go. She said I was too young and I should do my homework. Which meant playing all day.

The moment the siblings arrived, Robert became a lot quieter. He laughed occasionally, but not as much as he did when it was just me and his cousin with him. Like the day before, he took his time analyzing the two boys and avoided them as much as he could in a group that spent time together.

I honestly didn’t get it, the other two boys were older, so closer to him in age. I’d expected him to choose them over me, not the other way around. It made me happy though, that he saw me as a better friend then them.

***

Over the following few weeks, Robert and I fell into a sort of routine. We’d spend the mornings taking long walks to the forests on either end of the village or to the creek, and we’d meet again after lunch. Most afternoons we’d play games with Traian and David, and sometimes Robert’s cousins would join us, Tatiana more often than Nicu. Robert was still cold around the siblings, but it didn’t interfere with our having fun. The only noticeable thing was that he always picked me for any teams, Traian had tried to change that a few times when he was fighting with his brother, but Robert always refused.

One afternoon we were sprawled on the grass, enjoying the cooler temperature under the sour cherry tree in front of his house. We were too lazy to sit on the bench, so we’d brought an old blanket out and were dozing off, exhausted after a particularly long walk through the woods.

“Hey guys!” Traian yelled. I could hear his voice but couldn’t really see him. I pushed myself up, leaning on a bent elbow, and squinted a bit. There he was, leaning over his fence and waving at us.

“Go see what he wants,” Robert muttered.

I wanted to argue, but Traian kept calling our names and it was a bit loud and annoying. I ran all the way to his gate and looked up at him. “Why are you yelling? Come outside and talk to us.”