Almost Perfect // l.s

chapter two

"Mom! I'm home!" That was totally unnecessary for me to say. When you live in a single-wide trailer, it's pretty obvious when someone comes in.

As far as mobile homes go, it wasn't too bad. We had nearly an acre of land, which I kept neatly mown. Whoever had owned the lot before us had built a nice outbuilding, I kept my weight bench out there, along with my mower, weed eater, and snow shovel. During the summer and winters, I'd pull in about a hundred bucks a week cutting grass or shoveling driveways.

I found Mom in our living room/dining room/kitchen. She had already put on her waitress uniform, ready to work the night shift at Ron's Grill, Boyer's only nonchain restaurant. As long as I could remember, my mother's nicest clothes consisted of sturdy shoes, black pants, and a top with her first name stitched on it.

Mom smiled when she saw me.

"Hey, honey, how was school?"

I shrugged. "Dinner shift again? That's, like, the tenth night in a row."

She frowned, and I felt a little guilty for bringing it up. When she worked evenings, I'd only see her for about half an hour.

"I'm sorry, Harry. They've been shorthanded since Dori quit, and . . ." She left the rest unspoken. We could really use the money.

I couldn't remember a time when we couldn't have used more money. I'd been four years old when Dad peeled out of our gravel driveway, headed for the green pastures of New Mexico or Utah or somewhere. All I knew was that we'd never seen hide nor mullet of Dad again. Mom was left with me and my older sister, Gemma, to take care of.

Mom searched for her keys. "Do you have any jobs tonight?"

I plucked the keys from the bowl by the front (and only) door and handed them to her. "It'a a little late in the year for mowing. Pray for a long winter." The snowplows didn't scrape the dirt roads that ran around Boyer, and a heavy snow could trap people on their homes. During especially bad storms I could make a killing shoveling driveways, provided I was willing to work fourteen-hour Saturdays, Maybe that's what had given me my powerful chest.

Mom smiled. With most guys my age, an after-school job meant gas money, maybe a date now and then, I knew better. I spent some money on clothes and school supplies. The rest I turned over to Mom. It had bothered her at first, but we could really use the money.

Mom picked up her jacket. "Can I fix you some dinner before I go?"

I pecked her cheek, "You're already running late. Bring me back some hot wings." It was an empty gesture anyways. Mom used to leave me a meal every night, but eventually stopped. I think she got tired of fixing me a casserole only to find me eating cold SpaghettiOs right out of the can.

She grabbed her purse. "Don't stay up too late. And no girls in the house." She was through the door before I could answer.

Mom didn't intentionally try to rub it in; she knew Brenda was history. But like Liam, she just though I was nursing a broken heart. I'd dated Brenda since our freshman year, after all. I needed a few weeks before I was ready to find someone else.

That's what everyone though, Everyone but me.

I plopped onto the couch too exhausted to get up and turn on the TV (the set was so old it predated remote controls). I stared at the imitation-wood-paneled walls. It was about five-thirty. I'd go to bed in six hours. And I couldn't think of a damn thing to do in the meantime.

I didn't have a car, so I couldn't go hang out at Mr. Pizza or cruise what passed for the main drag in Boyer. I couldn't drive out to Columbia, the only sizable city within a hundred miles. And I didn't want to sit in a garage and huff paint like so many other people in this town.

I wished Gemma still lived at home. She was a lot of fun, even if she did hog the bathroom. We'd talk, go for walks, and eat fast food together. But the year before, she got a scholarship to the University of Missouri in Columbia. It hadn't really bothered me when she left. I missed her, but I still had Brenda. I thought I'd always have Brenda.

And now I had jack shit.

Massaging the hand I'd punched the locker with, I thought back to the past Fourth of July. Brenda and I had gone to "downtown" Boyer to watch the annual Independence Day parade: the mayor and aldermen in some not-quite-classic cars, the Boyer marching band endlessly bellowing "Louie Louie," two tractors, and an unshaven clown. Afterward, I'd invited Brenda to the trailer for lunch.

Mom had barbecued some chicken (the one time I'd tried to be manly and run the grill, I ended up using my entire supply of driveway sand to douse the flames). Gemma was still living at home then. She'd tried to engage Brenda in conversation.

My girlfriend had sat on a plastic lawn chair, listening to my extroverted sister but not saying much, She was almost painfully shy, especially around loud, friendly people like Gemma or Liam. When my sister had gone inside for a drink, I asked Brenda if she wanted to go for a walk.

We didn't say anything as we walked down the dusty gravel road in front of our lot. She was wearing the Boyer High T-shirt I'd given her. Her slender, pale arms stood out starkly against the dark blue of the school colors. Though hardly a breeze stirred the air that day, her long black hair always seemed to blow into her face.

I smiled as we paused in front of Scott Henderson's cornfield. That was where we'd made out for the first time.

The first time either of us had made out with anyone

I was about to ask Brenda if she'd like to revisit that old memory when she suddenly turned and hugged me, burying her face in my shoulder. I stood there, enjoying the moment. She didn't usually care for public displays of affection. When she pulled away, I noticed the glint of tears in her eyes.

"Brenda? What's wrong?"

Brenda snorted. then wiped her eyes and gave me a real smile. "Nothing, Harry. Just, um, girly stuff. I'm okay."

Hand in hand, we walked back to the trailer. I'd smiled inside, thinking that Brenda had teared up because she was just so overjoyed to have a boyfriend like me.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

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Please share this story with others! I would greatly appreciate it. (:

Some chapters will mostly seem like filler chapters but it will soon get to the drama etc.