The Rockmore House

40 | Sunrise

I didn't see Pete for almost two days. On Wednesday, I had to go straight to the Shipyard after school. On my break, I texted Eric to ask how Pete was doing.

Eric: He's still here and still going through ice packs and ibuprofen

Vanessa: Okay, I get that his ribs are still broken, but what about emotionally? Does he seem ok?

Eric: idk he seems the same? I'm not qualified to give him a full psychological evaluation. Do you want to talk to him yourself?

Vanessa: No, that's ok. I have to get back to work.

On Thursday, I had to stay after school to work on a group project that was due the next day and it dragged on longer than I expected. I went home for dinner and planned to go to open mic night at Lou's that evening. I texted Eric to ask Pete if he'd be willing to come along. He wrote back to say that Pete would meet me there.

But it was Eric who was sitting alone at a table when I arrived at Lou's cafe. Lou's was inviting and cozy all year, but in the winter it was magical. Icicle lights and glittering paper snowflake garlands were strung back and forth across the entire ceiling, the fireplace radiated warmth, and the combined scents of coffee and fresh laundry evoked home.

"I came early to save a table," Eric explained. "Everyone else will be here in a few minutes."

Unlike most open mic nights at Lou's, that night nearly every table was full. There were some people I recognized who were home from college mixed in with the regulars. Kaitlin was going to be performing, and I spotted her across the room with her parents and Emily.

"You seem nervous," Eric observed.

"Pete hasn't met anyone other than your family yet. So yeah, I am pretty nervous."

"Well, you should be. He's totally clueless. We had guacamole at dinner and he'd never seen an avocado before. You've gotta give him a tutorial on life in 2016 before he starts sounding like my grandpa."

I gasped. "Oh no, what did he say?"

"Nothing yet. But I'm holding my breath every second, afraid he's gonna say something that'll make everyone cringe."

"It's overwhelming. If I was going to give him a crash course on everything that's happened in the last sixty years, the wide availability of avocados wouldn't have even crossed my mind."

He laughed. "You gotta start somewhere. You can skip teaching him about the internet. Owen already took care of that."

"Oh no."

"Don't worry, I think they've just been on YouTube watching guitar tutorials. Owen doesn't have classes this week and while we've been at school I guess they've been having jam sessions all day."

Sophie, Laura, Owen and Pete all arrived around the same time and descended on our table. I introduced Pete to Sophie and Laura, and Kaitlin came over to sit with us. Lou's daughters were home from college and they got things started. The noise in the room quieted as they got situated near the front window bordered with big vintage-style colorful bulbs. One of them sang while the other played the ukulele, then our middle school art teacher recited a poem about glaciers. A cute sophomore couple I recognized from school sang a duet of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." They were pretty good, and they really elevated the mood after the melting glaciers poem. It would have been a perfect night if I wasn't feeling as tense and as full of potential energy as one of those guitar strings.

Kaitlin sang one cover and one original song, and collapsed into the chair next to me with a satisfied sigh when she was done. There was a short break and I started to sweat. Pete hadn't said one word to me, or even looked at me, and now he'd probably be expected to talk.