Painting Sky (30 page)

I left their house without another word. I didn’t want to go home, but it was cold and I hadn’t picked up a coat. I went inside and told my family I was going to lie down for a while and didn’t feel well enough to eat.

I didn’t want to miss the last meal with my family, but I couldn’t face anyone, as angry as I was. Our families were too alike. My parents didn’t bother to look past Ryan’s actions, or Matilda’s: they just wanted good grades and good behavior, or, at least, whatever made them look good to the world. They didn’t care about what really made us happy.

I stayed lying on my bed while they talked downstairs. The view from my window was just black sky. I missed my bed, with my view over the forest. When I had bid them goodnight, I’d promised my parents to have breakfast with them before leaving. I still had to talk to Keith about the trip. It was going to be really uncomfortable to be in the car for hours, just the two of us, after what had happened.

I dragged my feet to the house next door. I probably wasn’t welcome there, but I had nowhere else to stay. If they hadn’t mentioned the argument to my parents, they wouldn’t have a problem with me staying there.

The living room light was on, as well as the TV. It was getting late, but I guess Samantha had felt too guilty to sleep peacefully.

“I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow,” I said, poking my head in the living room. She just nodded and kept sipping her tea.

I went to spend time in Cody’s room, waiting for Samantha to go to hers before switching. Midnight rolled around, however, and Keith was still absent, which probably meant his mother was still awake. I went downstairs to her.

“He’s still out. What did you mean by what you said?” I asked, leaning against the door.

She answered me by shrugging. “It’s… nothing.”

My feet moved by themselves a step closer. I could feel the anger boiling up again. “It’s not nothing, Samantha. You meant something. He was hurt when he left. Do you even think he’s coming back tonight?”

Samantha’s sad and tired posture changed and she leaned over her knees. “You have no idea what kind of trouble that boy stirred over the years. He’s disrespectful toward us and I can’t let Carl be subjected to that.”

“Carl? You’re worried about your husband? What about your son? It’s past midnight and it’s freezing outside. He didn’t even have a coat with him when he left. Do you care?” I was the one being disrespectful in her house, but I was beyond worrying about that.

“He’s my son, Jane, you—”

“That’s right: he’s your son. I’m going to look for him.” I turned to pick up my coat from the hanger, as well as Keith’s.

Samantha followed me to the door. “Jane, you can’t. It’s late, and it’s not unusual for him to do this. You’ll have no idea where to look.”

I turned to her, gathering the courage to say the next words, which would come back to bite me later. “If you spent less time berating Keith and looked more closely at Cody, you would see he’s not as perfect as you think he is. At least Keith says exactly what he thinks about people. He doesn’t deceive anyone.”

I turned the doorknob and stepped outside, leaving Keith’s mother standing on her doorstep, looking astonished.

I
t was cold, and any place that came to my mind wasn’t within walking distance, so I went to my house and quietly took my mother’s car keys.

I spent the next half hour driving through our relatively small town. I covered all the places he could be. I’d tried calling him as soon as I left my house, but, of course, he wasn’t picking up.

After visiting a couple bars, I started wondering if he’d just left me here and went back to his house.

Either that, or he was with a friend. I didn’t want to call Ryan to ask who he thought would be on that list, because my brother would just send me home and get pissed at Keith for worrying me.

I was starting losing all hope of finding him when I remembered a place he’d used to go with Ryan. It was almost out of town, but lots of people went there, as it was between three towns that had a relatively younger population. It had always been too country for me, with wood walls and one or two animals hanging on them, but they had refurbished it four years ago to attract high school students with a mixture of country and rock appeal.

As soon as I opened the car door, I could hear the music coming from inside. A dozen people lingered at the door, smoking and laughing with each other.

A couple of pick-up lines were directed at me, before I got inside. This was definitely not my type of place. It took around two minutes to spot Keith, sitting on a stool, sipping a drink. He had a barely-dressed girl hanging all over him. Some of the anger I’d felt toward his mother diverted to him and I stomped in his direction.

“Keith,” I started. I had no idea what I could say to make him leave with me.

He slowly turned to me, not letting go of his drink or the girl’s waist. She stopped ogling him and turned a snide frown on me.

“Well, if it isn’t Janey, here, slumming with the crowd,” Keith slurred, confirming that he was drunk. It would probably make it easier to get him away from here.

I tapped a foot on the floor and put one hand on my hip. “Let’s go,” I ordered, which got a good laugh from Keith. The girl looked uncertain for a second, but, after hearing him laugh, she joined and snuggled closer to him, thrusting her cleavage toward his face. He didn’t look down.

“Get lost. He already has company for the night,” she warned.

This just pissed me more. Here I was, worried sick about him, and he’d just wanted to go to a bar, get shit-faced, and sleep with a random girl.

“Whatever, Keith,” I mumbled, as exhaustion got to me. He left me feeling like I’d been on a rollercoaster of emotions. One moment, I wanted to protect him and show him he was a good person. The next, I wanted to knock him in the head and tell him to grow up.

Our staring contest lasted for a minute before I turned to leave. I hurried outside, trying to keep my presence as least obvious as possible to the guys at the door. As soon as I reached my car, another thought popped into my head: what if he drove drunk? He could get into an accident and kill himself or someone else. I rubbed my eyes, not believing I was going back inside.

I heard the same pick-up lines as I went back inside. Either they didn’t have any imagination, or they didn’t even notice I was the same girl.

I was three steps into the bar when I almost collided with Keith as he was coming out.

We had another staring contest, but, this time, he was the first one to speak. “Why did you come looking for me?” I couldn’t understand if he meant right now or earlier, so I stayed silent. “It’s late,” he continued. “You should’ve stayed home.”

I bit my lip, searching for an explanation. I didn’t want to flat out admit that I was worried about him. It looked like he wasn’t as drunk as I’d thought.

“I was worried,” I admitted, fidgeting. The girl caught up to him and latched herself to his side. He shrugged her off, never taking his eyes off me.

He looked confused or pained—I couldn’t figure out which. “Why?”

It was my turn to be confused: why wouldn’t I be worried about him? We lived together, he was Cody’s brother, and he was my brother’s best friend. I’d known him for so long and was just now understanding the kind of feelings he could inspire in me. Some of it scared me to death.

“Can we go now?”

He just nodded, shrugging the girl off, once again. Some people couldn’t take a hint.

As we were opening the door, a group came inside, making us take a step back.

“Jane Keaton? What are you doing here?” I knew that voice. It was the queen bee, my fake friend through high school. She’d gotten especially fake after I started dating Cody.

“Courtney,” was my only greeting. I didn’t want to chat—I just wanted to leave this place.

Of course, Keith couldn’t go by unnoticed. As soon as Courtney and the three girls she was with noticed him, sighs and moans reached my ears. How he could inspire such sex-driven desires everywhere he went was beyond me. Sure, he was hot, but couldn’t they keep themselves in check? We weren’t animals, for God’s sake. We had to have some self-restraint, right?

“Keith.” The snarky tone Courtney had while greeting me was gone and she purred all over Keith. I had to give him some credit, as his bored expression didn’t change while he nodded at her and her friends, who had probably warmed his bed at one point or another. A shudder went through me at the thought of him with one of these brainless girls. He should have had more respect for himself, too.

“I didn’t know you were back.” She stepped closer to him, stretching her back like a cat in heat.

“I’m not. Skylar, let’s go.” He grabbed my elbow to sidestep the girls and head for the door.

Courtney didn’t hide her sneer, an expression I’d witnessed on a daily basis in high school. I just waited for the punch line.

“Where’s Cody? Does he know you’re here with his brother?” She leaned back, swirling a strand of her long blonde hair between her fingers.

I didn’t bother answering: her only goal was to get on my nerves. When the chilling cold from outside hit my body, a shiver ran up my spine; Keith pulled me against him. I remembered the jacket I had in the car.

“I brought your jacket. It’s in my mother’s car.” I started in that direction, feeling him behind me. “It’s better if I drive us home. Tomorrow, we’ll get your car.”

After we’d gotten into the car and turned the heating system on, Keith leaned his head back. “Can we go somewhere else before going home?” His voice was low and soft, as if he was tired and the night was catching up with him.

“What do you have in mind?” I asked. Now that he was with me and the worry was out of my mind, I was kind of tired. I didn’t, however, want to go home just, yet, either.

“Don’t know… maybe the park? I haven’t been there in years. I’ve missed ice skating in sneakers.”

I smiled and drove to the park on the outskirts of town. I’d used to play there all the time when I was younger, and, after that, I’d walked with my friends or Cody there. Maybe going to the park wouldn’t be the best idea if I was going to be assaulted by memories.

After I parked the car—the only one in the parking lot—we got out and zipped our jackets closed to keep the chilling wind away.

“Come on.” He tugged at my arm and pulled me in the direction of the frozen lake. I wondered how thin the ice was. In fact, a couple of years ago, a girl who fell into the water had to be taken to the hospital with hypothermia. I wasn’t keen on going anywhere near it, much less even step on the ice to skate. I’d seen other kids do it, and it seemed fun. I’d even seen Ryan and Keith do it a couple of times.

Keith let go of me before we reached the lake and stepped on the ice. I held a breath, he was still drunk, didn’t matter how much drunk. If he fell I would never be able to pull him out.

“Keith,” I warned, “This is dangerous.” I looked around to search for help, if needed, but we were completely alone.

He just threw his head back and laughed. He smiled and raised his arms out to the sides, while clumsily skating away. His sneakers didn’t work very smoothly.

“That’s exactly why it’s fun! Come on.”

I was shaking, not only with the cold, but with fear. I stepped on the ice, anyway. After a couple of steps, I got the feel for it and skated toward Keith.

“So, what’s the verdict?” he asked.

I mimicked his smile. “It is fun.” I twirled around him and he pulled my hand to him. His hand was freezing, and so was mine. “We should go. It’s cold—we’ll get sick. Race you back?”

We were thirty feet from the edge of the lake and racing back was kind of stupid, but I was having a good time, and it seemed like the best way to end the night.

I was completely beat by Keith, obviously, but that didn’t change my determination. A couple of steps away from the end of the race, my foot slipped forward and I ended up on my butt on the ice. I was starting to laugh it off when pain erupted in my left hand.

“Skylar.” I heard footsteps hurrying to my side and Keith slouched in front of me, reaching for my hand. I protected it against my body with wide eyes warning him to keep away. “It’s probably not broken, but it may be sprained. You need to go to the hospital.”

I whined all the way to the car, but the half of my brain that could still think beyond the pain remembered that Keith was drunk—or at least he’d had too much before I’d picked him up. I struggled with the driver’s door.

“You’re drunk: I’ll drive. I can drive with one hand.”

Keith seemed to think about it for a couple of seconds before giving up. He knew we would get in trouble if someone at the hospital noticed he wasn’t able to drive.

After what seemed like an eternity, we were out of the hospital. The conclusion was that it wasn’t broken, but they wrapped it and gave me ice. I guess it could’ve been worse: it could’ve been my right hand, which would have made it impossible for me to draw for a few days.

Now I just needed to find an excuse to tell my parents as to why I’d been out in the middle of the night in a park with Keith, of all people. It wasn’t going to fly well with my father—not at all.