I Was There

Chapter 2: Skipping the First Day of School

Chapter 2: Skipping the First Day of School

      After I piled on the makeup, I started the car and pulled away in a hurry. The gates were already opened and I drove through skilled and still speeding. I took a left to Ty's house. When I realized that my speedometer was exceeding eighty in a forty-five speed limit zone, I slowed down. I wouldn't do much good to Ty if I was dead or paralyzed. As I slowed, I noticed the small suburb was full of SUVs and several neatly mowed lawns. Ty's house was the same as them all; uniform, homely, and simple. The only difference was the inside...his was filled with hypocrites and lies.

      Tyler Stone hated his father and mother. They didn't know about him being gay and he didn't plan on telling them. Ty planned on being my "boyfriend" until he moved out. Then, he would never have to worry about what they thought...or about me. They all had secrets that they attempted to keep secret but none could, well except for Ty. Ty had figured out his parents secrets the hard way. Ty's dad, Jason, was an alcoholic. He couldn't refuse a drink if his life depended on it. He was never really drunk, "Just buzzed," as Jason would say. But he was always very mean to Tyler. Ty's mom, Amelia, was a church-going gossiper who didn't accept any opinion other than her own. That was one of the many reasons that Ty never told his parents anything. He knew there would be major consequences for being the way he was.

      Ty came out of his front door in a hurry wearing the normal: his letter jacket over top of a plain white tee, a pair of very acceptable jeans, and a pair of crazily colored high tops. His eyes glimmered when he looked up to meet my eyes. It looked as though he was maybe crying...Ty rushed to the door of my mustang and thrust it open. Before he was even sitting, he yelled at me, "Go, go, go!" I hesitated only momentarily, right before I saw his dad close behind him, yelling. I threw the gear shift into reverse and screeched backwards. I heard sounds of disapproval from the people walking on the sidewalks but I drove on. After fish-tailing out of the suburbs, I knew exactly where to head. Instead of taking a right towards the high school, I took two left turns onto the highway and pulled off to the exit that held an old gravel road. Ty and I had gone through these types of mornings before and neither of us wanted, or even had to explain anything to the other. I could already smell the fresh air and wildflowers that filled the meadow that surrounded our old tree house. We built it when we came along it about five summers ago. It was a big deal to us then, and now, close to five years later, it still brought a certain sense of comfort and tranquility.

      When I finally pulled up beside the old beech tree in the middle of the wildflower meadow, we glanced up to the branches that held so many precious memories of our childhood. I stopped the car and killed the engine. We sat in silence for what seemed like centuries, but I knew was only a few minutes. Finally, Ty turned his head in my direction, looking at what I thought was my knees or the door handle, knowing his eyes were unable to meet mine. But it was clear by his body language and the silence that still filled the car, that he felt dejected and humiliated by his father's actions. He seemed like he was about to say something when he looked back to the windshield and opened the door. He jumped out and headed for the trunk of the tree. I quickly followed him, knowing he wanted to be alone, but refusing as I had so many times before...but at least I'm consistent. When I had almost caught up to him, I realized that instead of climbing the old, rickety ladder, Ty had paused and was staring at the steps. His eyes slowly traced up the trunk to stare at the ever-expanding branches and the tree house nestled at the base of them all.

      "What are you doing?" I asked exasperatedly; Ty continued to stare upwards.

      "Ally, have you ever noticed how much this tree means to us? I don't mean just you and me, everyone. This is a unique, beautiful, strong tree...and we just take it for granted. When we first found this tree, we both felt right away how perfect it was, now, we just, feel it. It has become a part of me and a part of you."

     "Yeah, sure. I still don't understand what you're trying to say." I moved closer to see Tyler's face. It was still blotched red and wet from the trails of tears. I felt a pang of guilt, there was nothing I could do but be there for him. This was something personal, something you have to deal with on your own. Ty kept talking, despite all the cracking in his voice.

      "This tree is so unique. Its bark is so smooth and looks almost silver in the sunlight. Its branches reach out to the meadow that has also always been there. Did you ever realize how much time we spend out here? Half the time we go to the tree house just to sit in the field and talk. I never realized how much I really depend on these. I don't know if you feel the same, but I almost feel like this tree house is more like a home than my own house."

     "Is this one of those introspective homosexual moments?" I said playfully.

     "No, really. Would you just look?" Following Ty's gaze upwards, I noticed what he was saying when all the memories started to flood back into my mind.

     The time when we first started building and we had to spend all of Ty's allowance along with some secret petty cash from my dad to buy the supplies. And how we asked my uncle to help us deliver but refused to let him help us make it. All the memories of splinters and smashed fingers from hammers, all the pain was worth it to build our sacred haven to get away from all the fuss of the outside world...and the greatest part of all of this was that no one would even know it was here...except for my uncle who was sworn into secrecy...which wasn't hard seeing as he hated my father and aided me in anything that went against my dad. That was another thing, I was the biggest tom boy when I was a-well, nothing's changed, but I was always a tom boy and that drives my father crazy. He thinks I'm not much of a lady, and he's not wrong. I love my uncle, he always loved that I was so tough. Through the years, he'd been more like a father to me than my real dad. He believed it was the only thing that kept me together after my mother died. My uncle actually calls me "Captain" as a nick name.

      Thinking of all these made me gaze into the sunlight streaming through all the thousands of branches. I only came back into reality when I heard Ty hollering my name.

     "Ally! Hello, back to planet 'Now'." Ty was waving his hand in front of my face and I smacked it away.

     "Would you just stop? I was just looking like you told me to." Ty was smiling his cheesy, white smile that showed his true happiness. It made me smile to see it; I hadn't seen it in a really long time.

     "Are we going to go up or not?" Ty asked me, gesturing towards the tree house.

     "No, I think I just want to sit down here." Ty put on a pathetically fake confused face.

     "Is this one of those introspective heterosexual moments?" I playfully punched his arm and then walked around the trunk to sit on the shady side.

     "No, but you did start the wheels turning in my mind. So are you going to sit down over here in the shade and hang out with me or stand there and get heat stroke all by yourself?" Ty was laughing a lot now but he still followed behind me and threw his arm around my shoulders. We sat down at the base of the trunk and I leaned over to rest my head on Ty's reliable chest. He stroked the back of my head and smoothed my hair. I heard his heart beat slow and steady. I had almost fallen asleep when I heard a bird chirping close above our heads. We both looked up to search for the nest, and I pointed to it.

     "There," Ty traced my point and laid eyes on the blue mocking bird. I stood up and grabbed Tyler's hand. I tugged him to his feet and made him follow me to the ladder. I held my first finger to my lips to tell him to be quiet. He nodded and trailed in my wake.