Rocket Car

Chapter 8

Author's Note: I realized that the format has (unintentionally) been a series of vignettes in each chapter. Then this chapter happened and there was only one really brief one. Huh. Thank you for reading up until now and I hope you continue to read in the future as I work this out.

Rocket Car

A few weeks ago I never thought I'd be sitting at Willie Waechter's house, watching the Seattle Mariners win a baseball game, while helping a five year old kid play with building blocks. All three of those options simply did not exist in my head. Somehow, I'm comfortable with it. I'm sure it's because Davis is here; watching him interact with Edgar warms my heart in ways I never thought possible.

A foot gently nudges my back. I'm sitting on the floor, so I turn to glance over my shoulder and find myself unable to dodge a foot to the face. The laugh that follows reveals the owner of the toe that nearly enters my mouth. Just as I'm getting out of the way, I hear Davis.

"Knock it off, Barnum. You're being obnoxious," he says. I want to say I agree, but I keep my mouth shut. Barry just laughs and takes another drink of his beer. How many of those has he had, anyway? I'm too focused on him to hear what Davis says next. Suddenly, Davis and Edgar are up off the floor and moving into another room.

Barry soon takes the spot that Davis once held on the floor. The older he's gotten, the lighter his hair has turned. Now it's nearly the same shade as his brother's. He may be thirty, but the grin he had as a teenager is still present. He asks, "So, I heard you left the bar with him last night. You guys do it?"

Do it? What are you, fifteen? "No," I tell him honestly.

The beer is set down and he leans back onto his hands. "That's too bad," he says. When all I do is stare blankly back, he explains, "You guys would be good together. I mean, he's a good guy. He just needs to mess with someone besides that Alexa chick." For some reason, I'm surprised to hear this out Barry of all people. It must be written all over my face because he leans over and nudges me, then with a wink says, "He's only been with one girl so he's probably kind of boring. If you want some fun tonight I'm still single."

"You'll always be single," I lamely retort.

"Are you harassing her again?" Davis's voice calls out. I find him standing above us, his hands on his hips like a nagging mother.

Edgar comes running up from behind him, a binder in his hands. Barry nabs the child and pulls him into his lap. As he tickles the youngster relentlessly he says, "Just two consenting adults having a safe conversation. Wanna join?"

Davis sits next to his, crossing his legs in the process. He adjusts his glasses and sighs, "Nothing is safe with you."

Barry laughs, "Yeah, that's probably true." His attention turns to his nephew and he asks, "Whatcha got there, kiddo?"

Edgar holds up a scrapbook, his smile bigger than necessary. The picture on the front pocket is that off Davis, Alexa, Willie, and myself. It's from our senior year of high school, and it's odd how much we've changed in ten years. Davis explains, "He was asking about you. I figured a walk down memory lane and some storytelling would be okay."

"Sure. I feel like that's what we've been doing since I ran into you at the game anyway. God, can you imagine what embarrassing stuff is in this thing?" I ask, a small giggle threatening to leave. Davis is just as nervous as I am if his laugh is any indication.

"Let's open it up!" Barry yells, clearly too excited.

The first page is littered with picture of Barry and Willie in their youth. Pictures of the two brothers in Little League uniforms, shooting hoops, catching fish, and enjoying life as brothers are layered on top of each other. All of them were taken in a town the others had never been to, so it was like looking at a duo we've never seen.

On the second page we are witness to Willie's first year in our small town. The first friend he ever had, fellow baseball player James Ochoa, is represented in a coffee stained photo taken during school hours. Next to that is the first photo of Willie and Davis, both at the age of thirteen.

"Look at this dweeb, huh? You were a lanky asshole back then, weren't you?" Barry teases, nudging Davis. I see Davis blush and even shrink a tad, but at this point we're so used to Barry's antics he's able to mostly ignore it.

"Hello!"

The voice that calls out to us is one I have never heard. The sing-song nature of its call is pleasant to my ears, the tone and octave of the voice higher than anyone else present. The four of us glance up to find a petite woman, her dark hair in a high ponytail, her small frame clad in a cute summer dress. Any doubt I would have that this is Willie's future wife is dispersed the moment he appears behind her and gently wraps his arms around her waist.

"Let me introduce you two. Jolene, this is Kristy. Kristy, this is my fiancée, Jolene," he says. There is so much pride in the way he introduces us; there is so much affection and love in the way he says her name.

Jolene is all smiles as she takes a seat next to me and offers her hand. We share a brief but friendly handshake. "I'm happy to finally meet you. I've heard plenty of stories from the guys!" she says. It's genuine. She's genuine. It's refreshing.

Willie takes a seat next to her. Now we're sitting in a circle around this old photo album and Edgar, watching as the child flips through the pages. Occasionally he'll stop and look at a photo longer than others; a few times he asks questions about who is who or what is what.

I want to strike up a real conversation with Jolene so I ask, "Do you guys have a date set for the wedding?"

The way her face lights up melts my heart. There is no doubt she is totally in love and completely devoted to him. Pride is evident in the way her eyes glow. She answers, "No. But we're thinking middle spring. You'll be there, won't you?"

Jolene briefly looks to Willie as though she's asking permission to invite me. All he does is shrug, as though he couldn't care less one way or another. When she turns back to me, her smile is as big as it could be. I nod and say, "Yes. If you'll have me."

"Definitely!"

Barry's laughter breaks up our conversation. He pulls out a photo and holds it up. Crinkled edges and a crease near the bottom slightly distort the image. Willie and Davis are the subjects of the photograph. Clad in their dirtied baseball uniforms, they look exhausted from a hard game played. Next to them stands Jeep, his uniform still white as the day it was purchased.

"That little s**t never played a game, did he?" Barry asks.

"Jeep? No, he wasn't very good. He did play some basketball, though," Willie says, not sounding remotely interested in the topic of Jeep. He slowly took the photo album from Edgar and went a few pages forward, eyeing many of the pictures for the first time in years. Edgar climbs into his lap and tries to take a peek at the pages.

"He was your roommate in college, right?" Jolene asks.

"Hm? Yeah, he was an ass, though. I didn't even know him that well, except we played ball together and he'd always be around Kristy," Willie explains.

"Hey, remember when we visited you guys and those kids got shot outside your place?" Davis asks.

"Holy crap, yeah. We were weirdly calm about it," I add.

Willie chuckles lightly and says, "I feel bad laughing about it, but we were really calm."

"What happened?" Jolene asks.

The three of us look between each other, wondering who will relate the story. Somehow, it falls on Davis, since he's the one that brought it up in the first place. After taking in a deep breath, he tells it, "Kristy and I had driven there in her car. We parked in in the paid lot across from where they were staying, but Seattle has free parking after seven at night, so we went to move the car. Their apartment was located between a street of bars and a street of drug dealers, so it was packed on Saturday night. We ended up moving it all the way to the waterfront, and had to walk the several blocks back."

"Yeah, and Jeep had worn his girlfriend's flip flops," I say. The three of us smile, the memory of Jeep complaining as we treaded up hilly streets giving us reason to grin. Those sandals were way too small for his feet.

Willie decides to jump in, "So, anyway, we get back to our place and we're about to enter, and there was a bar underneath the apartments, right? Well someone had gotten into an argument, and it got way out of hand. We heard these loud gunshots and people screaming. We look over at the bar entryway and this group of kids have scattered, but there's two bodies lying on the sidewalk."

"We must have been, what? Fifteen feet away from this?" Davis asks.

Willie nods, "Yeah. And we just kept moving, like nothing had happened."

"You weren't scared?" Jolene questions.

"No, not really," Willie shrugs. "So we get inside. And to get inside you needed a special key. Then you checked in with security. Then you needed a key to use the elevator. So we were pretty secure, right?"

"But we get inside the apartment and Jeep's girlfriend is freaking out," I say, a hint of amusement to my voice.

Davis can't help but laugh out loud. "She honestly thought we were going to be shot next! And she kept saying we didn't care because we didn't live there! She didn't even see it happen!"

"I didn't care and I lived there," Willie adds, deadpan. He shuts the photo album and says, "She was crazy, though. Worse than Alexa. Alright, Gar, time for bed."

My attention turns to Davis after that last remark. I don't even notice Willie physically picking up Edgar and taking him away. All I can focus on is how Davis turns his head slightly away, his cheeks burning red and his brows furrowed. He won't say anything, but I can tell that Willie's remark about Alexa was more than a little irritating and hurtful.

"Babe, give me a hand!" I hear Willie's voice cry out.

Jolene gets up to help but stops to snatch my arm. "Are you staying here tonight? You should tell me stories about Willie!"

How the hell many women want to hear stories about their future husband by his ex? It's such an odd request but she says it with such sincerity. I can already tell why he fell for her. She's exactly like him. Confident. Sweet. Real. If I ever doubted my decision to tell him no all those years ago, I certainly don't anymore. She'll complete him completely; they'll last forever, and their family will be built on a foundation of love and understanding few achieve.

Finally, I smile. "Yeah, I'd love that."

That seems to make her very happy as she nearly giggles before she takes off to help Willie put Edgar to bed. Back with just Davis and Barry as company, the atmosphere changes. It's less energetic, more tranquil. Barry must have noticed that the Alexa comment was upsetting to Davis, because he gives him a gentle shove.

"You kind of make yourself a target, you know that, right? Being with a girl that played you like that for so long," Barry says.

Davis says nothing. He merely tries to shrink into a ball and disappear. It's my turn to lightly shove Barry. "Dude, no. Just because he has the ability to be loyal doesn't mean you should dog on him. What are you, jealous since you've never had a relationship last longer than a week?"

"Are you lecturing me?" Barry inquires. I can't tell if he's teasing or serious. I don't give him an answer. He continues, "The chick broke his glasses because he looked at another girl. And not even in a s****l way. She tried to prevent him from hanging out with you guys. Remember when you guys didn't talk for like half a year because of her? She's a bitch."

Willie's returned by this point, and the glare that he sends his brother is telling. "Hey, watch your mouth. Why don't you guys go outside for a bit so we can get the kiddo to sleep?" he requests.

"Hell yeah, drunk stargazing!" Barry shouts. Drunk? He's the only one that's been drinking.

I hesitate to move. Davis is sluggish, too. We probably would've stayed on that floor all night had Barry not made an incredible amount of noise running to the kitchen, opening the refrigerator, and grabbing all the beer he could carry. He ran back to us, waiting patiently for us to move.

The first to even twitch is Davis. I watch as he starts to stand and soon I'm following his lead. Silently, the three of us leave the house and make our way to the old baseball field.

August 13th, 2006

"Why do you stay with her?"

"Because she's hot."

The question was posed by Kristy; the answer was given by Dee. All eyes turned to Dee and she briefly looked up from the comic she flipped through just to shrug. It was probably an accurate answer. Davis didn't want to say a word so he simply didn't. His eyes stayed focused on the scuffed up softball in his hands. Where did that ball come from, anyway?

The group was inside Kristy's bed room, Terror of Mechagodzilla on the TV, and a competitive game of Egyptian Ratslap happening on the floor. It was a typical night of everyone hanging out just to enjoy each other's company. Somehow, it turned into an intervention for Davis. After all, it was easy to talk about Alexa since she was never around. She despised the group. The feeling was mutual. After she'd cheated on him several times, they had enough.

"Let the guy make his own decisions. He's grown man," Jeep said. He wasn't really paying attention to Davis, he was more interested in winning the card game. Unfortunately, speaking made him miss a pair and Kristy slapped them away. He cursed, "f*****g bitch."

"Hey, say that again," Willie dared.

"What're you going to do about?" Jeep snarled.

Kristy ignored them. Michael spoke next when he said, "But really, dude. She don't deserve you."

"It's not like he's going to get anyone else," Jeep said. This time, the entire group was sending him glares and growls. The game was halted and even Dee stopped reading her comment. No one ever spoke that harshly about anyone before. Jeep immediately defended himself, "What? It's true. Don't look at me like that! Alexa is way out of his league already. He drops her and then he gets what? No other girl even wants to give the guy the time of day. Plus, you know, we go to a school of like a hundred people. No girl wants to bang him and get on Alexa's bad side."

"So he should just stay with a girl that already doesn't give him the time of day?" Lorie asked.

"Do you want to f**k him? Because he's right there," was Jeep's nasty retort.

"f**k you guys."

That did it. No one had ever heard Davis curse in his life, much less curse at them. The softball that was in his hands was dropped unceremoniously to the floor with a loud "thud." Without making eye contact, he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Silence stayed in the room for a few moments after that. Everyone needed to get their hearts beating again and return to their breathing to normal. Again, their attention turned to the catalyst, Jeep. Like always, he found a way to ignore it all.