Secrets in A Small Town

11

Cade comes out looking like he is trying way to hard to be causual. The wet patch is hardly noticeable and looks like he splashed himself with water more than anything.

"Come out with me, Cade. I will show you how the grill master cooks a steak." He drags Cade onto the deck. Her mom follows thier lead and they sit on the patio chairs to watch.

Cade looks puny and terrified standing next to her beefy, 6-4', 300 pound dad.

"You know they say girls are attracted to men like thier fathers, so what happened to you?" Her mom asks. They're far enough away the guys can't hear them, especially over the sound of the grill brush charring away.

Brooke shrugs. She can tell her mom was actually kind of being serious. Not that she has a problem with her not liking a running back, she is just trying to find the back story.

"Really though, Brooke?"

Brooke smiles at the ground. There is no need to hide anything from her mom. Especially knowing the bomb shell she is going to drop on them later.

"I don't know. We met at the Hardware Store and I dropped some potting soil and he helped me clean it up. We talked for a while and...I apologized for never standing up for him in school. He said that was the nicest anyone has ever been to him. He didn't- doesn't have any friends to speak of. Or family. He just really looked like he could use somebody."

"You're playing with fire here, sweetheart. He is a sweet kid, but I dont know that you know what you're getting yourself into."

"What do you mean?" She asks, suddenly very very worried.

"He has never had any friends or family. Abused, bullied, bounced back and forth from home to home. What makes you think you can handle that. You guys have been here for an hour and I can already tell he doesn't know how to function without you."

That hits Brooke like a shot in the chest.

"What if you decide you want something else? Where does that leave him?"

This is probably the most serious conversation she has ever had with her mom and frankly she is right.

"I can't just let him live like that. Nobody should have to live like that."

"And I do love him." It sounds like a confession.

Her mom strokes her arm.

"I am so proud of what you're doing for him, Brooke, I am. Just be careful."

She leaves the conversation at that.

Just as she says that, the guys are walking to the other side of the porch from the grill.

"Hey, B, your man here actually knows what he is doin'." He squeezes Cade's shoulder. Cade laughs, blushing.

"Sit down." She pushes the chair out between her and Brooke.

"So Cade? What made you move out of Aniston?"

"New start, I guess."

"You move there after graduation?"

"Nah. Just about a year ago, actually."

"Alright. You live on your own then?" She tries to disect him.

"Yeah."

"Bachelor pad, huh?" Her dad jokes, clearly not knowing Cade, at all.

"Something like that." Cade laughs.

"Why don't you guys stay here tonight? You can come to the market with me in the morning. Oh Cade, babe, you'd love it!" She says like Cade didn't live here for 22 years.

He looks over to Brooke who shrugs. They won't stay, but they can pretend to think about it for the next few hours.

They sit around the table for another half an hour while their dinner cooks.

She notices Cade is starting to glance at her. 's**t' she thinks, looking at the clock.

"Card can you come help me with something really quick?" She gets up, pulling him by the wrist through the sliding glass door into the house.

She walks him to the bathroom where he slides in, already unbuttoning his jeans. He comes out two minutes later, looking proud.

Brooke kisses him on the cheek. When they come back outside there are 4 plates with steaks the size of thier heads, along with 4 tall drinks her mom must have whipped up while they were outside. She can smell the alcohol from here.

They sit down and enjoy thier dinner. Cade has sucked down 75% of the oddly addictive fruity drink. Brooke is getting a buzz just off the scent.

Her dad leans back in his chair, rips a giant burp and says "Well? Should we start up a fire?"

She turns around when she sees car headlights coming down the desolate driveway. She recognizes the car immedietly. A navy blue Chevy impala with 'BABYBRI' on the licence plate.

As it comes closer she can see it's filled with at least 4 other girls, all close cheerleader friends of hers from highschool.

She looks at her mom.

"I may have put on f*******: you were coming today." She smiles apologetically.

Cade is gripping his chair so hard his knuckles are turning white. When the car stops he runs back inside to the bathroom and slams the door.

"What's wrong with him?"

Brooke doesn't answer. She debates what to do but runs out of time when she is pumbled by five screaming girls.

An array of "Oh my God" I missed you!" "Where is your boyfriend?" Come out in unison.

She hugs all of them one by one.

"I missed you guys too!" She says, feeling way more excited than she meant to.

"So I heard a rumor you're going out with Caden Belmount?" One of the girls, Leah, says outloud.

Brooke nods. "Uh, yeah. He has changed a lot since highschool." She tries to cover up, well, whatever she is trying to cover up because nothing has changed since highschool.

"What like he doesn't pee his pants anymore? Oh my God!" Bri, her best friend from highschool practically screams.

"No. No. He has grown up and I actually really like him. So please be nice." She isn't all that worried about them being nice, really. They were never bullies to Cade. He was just a stand out in a socially lower class that they tried to avoid at all costs.

That really doesn't make her feel any better.

"So where is he?" Leah asks.

"I don't know. Let me go find him." She slips through the door and barges into the bathroom.

Cade is standing in the middle of the room, sobbing.

Brooke slams the door behind her and presses the lock. She grabs him and pulls him in.

"I swear I didn't invite them."

She isnt sure weather he chooses not to respond or he is crying to hard to be able to. She holds him tight and puts her hand on his crotch.

"You're dry. You're fine. We'll hang out with them for half an hour tops then leave."

Cade doesn't have much of a choice. Brooke takes a tissue and dries his face.

"This isn't highschool anymore. You're with me. Okay?"

Cade doesn't respond. He trails behind her as they walk back out onto the balcony. She pulls out a chair for Cade to sit down. He does and she promptly tosses herself onto his lap, wrapping an arm around his neck. She puts on her flirty smile.

"Cade this is Bri, Leah, Celeste, Amber, and Audrey."

Cade nods. "Cade." He waves with the one hand not wrapped around Brooke's waist.

"He did get hot!" Audrey yells.

"I think I am going to go watch the game." Her dad says, getting up and going into the house. Her mom takes the hint and follows along.

"How long have you two been like a thing?" She adds, once her parents have left.

"Five months now." She says.

"Brooke says you've changed since highschool, huh?" Amber, the bitchiest of the group says.

Brooke looks down.

"Does he put out?"

"Amber!" Celeste, the other 'mom' of group yells.

"What!? We all know he was a prude! I just wanna make sure my little Brooky Brat is at least getting some."

Celeste smacks her arm. Cade's eyes are the size of saucers. His body is shaking. Brooke squeezes his shoulder.

"Not everyone made it their goal to sleep with everyone in the school, Amber." Brooke snaps back.

"I never did make it to everyone." She winks at Cade.

Cade shudders.

"Be nice, Amber." Audrey finally speaks up.

Amber rolls her eyes and makes her way to the tiki bar. She mixes up seven of her 'speciality' drinks. Basically watermellon pucker, probably still there from highschool, sprite, and cocktail cherries. They could probably handle more now, but the taste is pure nostalgia.

"We used to think we were so cool." Leah laughs, swishing her glass.

"Brooke's mom would buy us this s**t and we could get hammered off one drink. I think I could drink the whole bottle and get not even get a buzz."

The rest of the group laughs in agreement.

They talk for quite a while. Brooke realizes pretty quickly that they have all grown up too. Except Amber, that is.

They switch from Watermelon Pucker to Jack on the rocks. Cade sucks them down one after another. He eventually starts to feel a little more comfortable with the situation. Except...well. He is definelty drunk.

Brooke finally has to speak up when Amber pulls out the Turkey.

"I think you've had enough." She says.

Though Amber ignores her and hands the shot glass to Cade. Cade sucks it down quickly. The girls all clap in laughter.

"You know what, he is alright." Audrey says.

Cade starts to shift. She had almost forgotten about he was underneath her.

Even drunk she knows Cade would never speak up in front of six girls that he has to pee.

Brooke tries to think of an excuse, but she isn't exactly sober herself.

"Can you come here?" She says, sliding off his lap. The other girls are too drunk to really know or care when they slide through the door. The lights are off, her parents had gone to bed. That's when Cade made a terrible realization.

"We can't stay here tonight." He says sounding like he just ran up ten flights of stairs.

Brooke shrugs.

"Why?" She is swaying a little and holding back from Cade. Her mind knows why but it's so far back, like how something gets stuck on the tip of your tongue and she hasn't been drunk in years.

Cade is holding himself, face twisted into all kinds of desperation.

"Go, honey." She pushes him towards the door. He doesn't argue, since he really does need to go.

Brooke leans on the door after she shuts it. Her head is already starting to pound, like she is on the hungover side of drunk instead of the fresh, relaxed, let go feeling she should be having.

"Let's be real though, that feeling is never a feeling with Cade." She says outloud, replying to the thoughts in her head.

"I will stay up." She says after.

"No, no." She says, knowing she is going to pass out as soon as her head hits that pillow.

"Alarm clock!" She blurts out, like it had been some big, brilliant idea no one had thought of before that moment.

She is too lost in her conversation with herself to notice Celeste is standing in the doorway, hearing everything she just said.

"You okay, sweetheart?"

Brooke doesn't know what to say. She knows what she is supposed to say. 'Yes, of course. Every thing is fine.' But as the old saying goes, drunk talk, sober thought.

She slides down the bathroom door.

"What's wrong?" Celeste, still smelling of nothing stronger than Watermelon Pucker asks.

"I don't know if I can do this."

"Honey, what are you talking about?"

Brooke stands up, walking to the couch, Celeste following close behind.

"Cel," she tries to sound as sober as she can, but honestly, she is the furthest thing from it.

"Cade," she tries again.

"Girl, spit it out." Celeste snaps.

Brooke huffs, laughing.

"I just...I feel like I am always babysitting." Is what she manages to spit out.

"Like...your boyfriend...?"

Brooke nods her head, laughing again.

"Yeah. I know that probably doesn't make any sense. I just...he is always..." she stops herself.

"He still wets himself, doesn't he?"

"Yeah." Her smile fades.

"It's not just that. He has no one and now he has this trust in me he has never had in anyone before and..." She trails off.

"What if I mess up? I am all he has."

Cel puts her hand on Brooke's arm.

"Is this what you want?"

Brooke shakes her head.

"I don't know. Listening to you girls tonight, partying every weekend, one night stands, bar hopping. It's like I have a child all of the sudden."

Again, everything is crystal clear in her head, what she is trying to say.

"And---I love Cade. I do. I just wish it was more like a boyfriend and less like a responsibility."

Cel is at a loss for words too.

"Well, you know we are always here to fall back on." Is what she ends with, leaving Brooke alone on the couch. Her head falls into her hands.

It takes her a while to muster up the energy to move.

"I can do this." She says outloud.

"I can do this."

She peeks back outside. Cade is absent from the deck. The bathroom door is still shut.

"Shit." She thinks. She knocks on the door, there is no response. She lets herself in. She hastily closes the door behind her. She turns around but the room is vacant.

"What the?"

She notices the large window is wide open, thrown out. She looks out. The screen is propped on the side of the house.

She looks around, but it's dark and she cant see any further than the trees twenty feet from her.

She walks outside, informing the girls she is going to bed. Cade probably had an accident and didn't want to walk through the house, in risk of someone seeing him.

The girls dispurse pretty easy, giving wobbly hugs and goodbyes.

She waves them out, telling them Cade fell asleep. They're too drunk to care for the most part.

The house is eerily quiet and Cade still hasn't made a reappearance.

She walks out to the car, which is still locked and vacant.

She makes her way through the house, tiptoeing up to her old bedroom.

There is a spare set of sheets on the bed, like her mom knew they were going to be staying there. She must have had a slight idea about Cade.

She peeks in every room in the three story house, but find they're all vacant as well. She glances onto the porch again. The alcohol is running through her quickly and she manages to walk a little straighter.

She walks back into the kitchen, where her phone had been charging. She turns it on, about to call him when she sees his name already on the front screen.

From: Cadeeee ❤

Received at 12:21 am:

I am not a job, Brooke. I am not a responsibility. You dont want to do "babysit me", fine. You're not different. You're exactly the girl thought you were. We're through.