Road to Someplace

Chapter Thirteen

 I cringed at his words, realizing I had picked the worst, most personal question out there. I was beginning to think there really was validity to Raveena's argument that I was an idiot.

Stewart tapped his slender fingers on the counter as he leaned against it. When I glanced up, I saw that his eyes were focused on nothing in particular, lost entirely in his thoughts. Perhaps he was retelling the story of his first meeting with Ace to himself, reliving it in his mind.

I stood up fully and shut the dishwasher, the dishes and glasses clanging around as I did so. I wiped at my forehead, which was coated in a thin layer of both nervous and heat-caused sweat. I flexed my fingers a bit and swayed back and forth, trying to formulate a way to escape from the conversation, which was nothing less than doomed.

Stewart seemed relatively unfazed. In fact, he continued to speak.

"So, were you interested in the story, or just makin' conversation?" He asked. He had a light smirk on his face. I shrugged. "If you're all right with telling it," I replied. I noticed that I was already starting to lose the g's in my speech. I cleared my throat and rubbed at my neck, kneading at my skin. Stewart raised an eyebrow at my response, but went on nonetheless. He began his story.

"I was 'bout seventeen or so at the time. Hailey was still a kiddo, probably around seven. I think Sophie was still at college, so she wasn't around. We still lived in Birmingham at the time, though we came here pretty often to visit our Aunt Susan, who used to live right here. Anyway, I was ridin' my bike around. I was on this road, and there weren't many people out. The road was on a cliff. The cliff area was fenced off though, and there were a few trees here and there near the edge. I was on the opposite side of the road, so I wasn't that close. When I was riding along, I spotted a guy near the fence, all on his lonesome. He was far up the road, so I could barely see 'em. He looked jumpy and nervous, maybe even a little crazy, don't really know what I was thinking at the time. Anyway, 'for I knew it, he was trying to climb the fence! At first, I thought he was just screwin' around, but when he started walking closer to the edge, I got this feeling. I threw my bike to the side, and was rushin' over. Hell, I nearly got hit on the way over," Stewart let out a small chuckle, a smile on his face, which was small. When I glanced up at his eyes, I could see sadness swirling in them, a strong, bittersweetness buried deep in his eyes, conveying a lot more feeling than his words could.

"I was right up against that fence. I could barely see Ace at the edge through the trees and bushes, but he was there. I saw 'em looking down. He glanced back and saw me, and his eyes went wide. He started shakin', think he started crying a bit. He started to take a few steps towards the drop-off. I was over the fence in an instant, practically tackled him to the ground. He started screaming and crying. I dragged him away from the cliff. He clung onto me, still rasin' cain. He kicked at me, though eventually he stopped, sobbin' into my shoulder. I just let 'em cry for a while. I whipped my phone out, tryna call or text my mama. 'Course, it was a flip-phone, and it was a while back, so I couldn't get to her. So, I sat there for what seemed like forever, havin' people staring at Ace and me like we were crazy. Eventually, I dragged Ace out of the bushes, basically carried him to the nearest payphone, which was impossibly far away. I called my mom, Ace still clinging onto my arm," Stewart said.

There was a very long pause, the silence between us unbearably long, seemingly and insufferably stretching on for the longest time. Eventually, Stewart broke the grim mood with a tiny chuckle, scratching at his tanned neck.

"Y'know, I never did get my bike back,"

It might not have been all that funny, but I snorted pretty hard, probably due to the change of pace in the conversation. I was relieved that the overall tone had changed from depressing to awkward.