what was i made for, walker

026. under the bleachers

Stella parks at school, Todd sitting outside and he waves when he spots them. Stella smiles and waves back at him.

"Wearing mom's necklace again?" August notices Stella fiddling with the piece of jewelry.

"Yeah, um... Colton found it." Stella says, smiling. The younger two share a look at her big grin.

"You got to tell Todd." They declare.

"What?" Stella asks.

"Come on, you said Colton's name, and you did that thing you do with your-- your face, your cheeks or whatever." August says.

"Smile?" Stella chuckles.

"You don't smile like that with Todd." Janie states.

"I smile how I smile. This is just the way my face moves." Stella argues.

"No, you have different smiles. You have the giddy smile, the sad smile, the, uh, hiding your pain smile, uncertain smile, little siblings are annoying smile, "I'm about to kill you" smile. You have a lot of smiles." Janie states.

"What's this one?" Stella asks before smiling.

"That would be the "I'm about to kill you" one." Janie states.

"Look, it's not fair -- to either of you." August says.

"I know. It's just... it's not that easy." Stella says.

"Just rip it off, like a Band-Aid." August says. Todd walks up and stands in front of the car. August and Janie get out. "Good luck."

+++

"Hi." Janie grins at Lucas, meeting him under the bleachers.

"Hey." He smiles, hooking his finger into the hem of her skirt and pulling her closer, the girl giggling as he immediately starts kissing her. "Haven't seen you in a few days." He mumbles against her neck."

"Mm. Yeah. Dad's been a little extra annoying." Janie sighs.

"That sucks." Lucas says. "Hey, uh... you ever done it under the bleachers?"

"Wha-- are you nuts?" Janie scoffs. "What if we get caught."

"Nobody's out here unless there's some sort of practice. There's none." Lucas assures, his hands slipping under her skirt.

"What about, like... people who paint the field or whatever?" She asks.

"It's fine." Lucas assures. "You wanna do this or not? I won't do it if you're not comfortable. I'm not your shitty therapist."

Janie hesitates, glancing between him and the field, trying to find anybody.

After a moment, Janie grabs his face and pulls him into a kiss, Lucas smiling into it, his hands gripping her waist.

+++

"Geri, hey." Cordell greets as he walks into the Side Step. "Uh, have you seen Augie around? He-- he said he was coming here after school."

"Yeah, he's in the back washing dishes." Geri informs.

"All right." Cordell mutters.

"Hey." She stops him from leaving. "Um..."

"Yeah?"

"I saw you... here the other night with Twyla." Geri states.

"Ger..." Cordell starts.

"No, Cordi, I'm not jealous." She states.  "But why would you go back to that? It was such a dark time in your life, Cordi. Everything that she represents, to you and... yeah, to me, too, okay?"

"Geri, I hear you, but it's not like that, okay? A-and she's... she's not like that." Cordell says.

"Mm-hmm. Does your family know?" Geri asks. Cordell glances down. "Right." She nods. "Do your kids a favor. Don't let them get caught off guard by seeing you two together." As she talks, Cordell notices August walk out from the back, the bucket for dishes in hand. "All your history undercover... you know? Okay?"

Cordell looks back at her and nods.

"I mean, you owe them that much." Geri says. "Especially Janie. Right now, the last thing that girl needs is another thing to knock her down further." She says before walking away.

+++

"I don't know. That's a real nice ski mask." Cordell says, him and his son laughing. Janie rolls her eyes, taking a bite of her food, being in a terrible mood all day and especially since Cordell told them who they're meeting.

"Oh, my gosh. That's funny." August laughs.

"All right, guys, uh, she-- she's here." Cordell says, the two kids following his gaze to the blonde woman as she walks over. "Hey." He greets her, standing up.

"Hi." She says. "Hi." She greets the teens. "I'm Twyla."

"Yeah, we know." Janie says, giving the woman an annoyed smile.

"Please. Yeah." Cordell motions to the free chair.

"Okay." Twyla says, the two sitting down. "What you two don't know is... how sorry I am. I feel awful for all the hurt I've caused you and your family. Look, I wish I could undo it all, and I know that I can't, but... I can do everything possible from here on out to make amends."

August sighs after a moment.

"Look, you, um... you told my dad where Clint West was, and that saved my sister, so... thanks." August says.

"It was nothing." Twyla says.

Twyla glances at Janie, Cordell and August looking at her.

"I'm... not in a mindset to forgive anybody or care about anything." Janie says. Cordell gives her a look and she shrugs.

"Uh, so your dad told you... we've been working together over the last week or so?" Twyla asks.

"Yeah." August nods.

"Yeah, yeah, a-and now that the case is over, Twyla is thinking about sticking around for a while." Cordell says. "Uh..." He inhales, looking at the woman who looks between the teens. Janie's just zoned in on smothering her fries in BBQ sauce, genuinely not caring about any of this.

"That's it?" August asks, chuckling. "I'm sorry, I thought you guys were gonna say something completely different. Like you were dating. And, Twyla, I really like how you're turning your life around, but our family is-- is kind of... okay at the moment, you know?"

"Yeah." Twyla nods.

"Uh, w-well, actually, Augie, I'm gonna tell you guys that Twyla and I, we, um... we-- we talked about, you know, dating, and-- and-- and we, uh, we decided..."

"Uh, we ultimately decided against it." Twyla says. "Yeah, um... you know, I like your dad a lot. But I think we can all agree that... there's just too much history."

"Perfect. Hopefully he doesn't try to go after the former Mrs. Green next." Janie remarks. "I'll be in the car." She gets up and leaves.

"Yeah, uh, me-- me too." August says, following his younger sister off.