A Necessary Struggle: Spring Semester

Chapter 40: Explanation Needed

Lela and Trevor didn't go back to Austin right after leaving Nantucket. He made an impromptu stop in NYC. He told her it was to take care of business and as she sat in the passenger seat of a rental, she wondered what kind of business he had to tend to at Lachlin Bank & Trust. A half-hour later, he exited the tinted glass doors with a black duffle bag on his shoulder.

Trevor slid into the driver's seat and tossed the bag in the back seat, "Where to next?" He dropped his head against the headrest with a sigh of satisfaction as if he finished his last mid-term for the semester. Lela's eyes traveled to the backseat as he slung his arm around her back, "I'll explain later."

"That's what you said when we left Nantucket and I'm still waiting." Lela sat up twisting her body completely towards him. The traffic jammed street, a symphony of honking horns and people busily trekking up the street didn't call her eyes away from his face. "What's in the duffle bag?"

Trevor pulled back his arm and then rolled his next from side to side trying to relieve the tension from his muscles. He planted his sight on the luxury car parked in front of them, "Why do you need to know what's in the bag? It's not drugs and it's not illegal." He rubbed his hand down his face.

Lela's head tilted to the side as her braids fell over her shoulder. She studied him like he would be the next topic in her Monday morning lecture. "Don't answer my question with a question." Lela slapped the back of her hand in the palm of the other one. "Answer the question I asked you?"

"I'm not having this conversation with you..." Trevor rested his hand on the steering wheel as his eyes drifted to the side mirror and then to the red traffic light. "In a car...on the side of the street anyway..." He lazily shrugged, "It doesn't concern you and you should just let it be."

"Is that how it is...." Lela nodded to herself as she took one long look at him before facing forward. "Cause whenever something is going on with me." She pointed to herself. "You want to be Betty Boo all in my business but when your issues come into play you don't want to talk. That's fine, though." She unbuckled her seatbelt and unlocked the door.

Trevor quickly hit the button on his door locking the doors back, "What are you doing?"

"You don't want to be upfront with me and I don't want to be in a car with someone that's keeping secrets."

"So what are you going to do march up and down the sidewalk until you find someone to drive you back to Texas."

Lela leaned back with her hand to her chest, "Is that a dig because I'm afraid to fly."

"I'm not..." Trevor stopped with a frustrated shake of his head, "Shit!" He punched the steering wheel; the screech of the horn started a jogger on the sidewalk.

"That better be the only thing you punch in the car," Lela growled glaring at him.

"You'd think I'd hit you." He flicked his reddening hand. "I'd have to be out of my mind."

Quietness claimed their lips as music hummed from the speakers and the world around them remained rambunctious. Lela watched the time change on the clock in the console and when 9:23 am changed to 9:27 am she regained her voice.

"I'm perceptive." Lela folded her arms as she rested her back against the tan leather seat. "I picked it up before I left the kitchen." She could feel the heat of his eye on her face. She humphed as her lip quirked up somberly, "The twitch in your mother's mouth and the worry lines on your dad's forehead." She faced him; "I know it wasn't because they caught us in a compromising position." He faintly nodded as he bit his bottom lip. "You brought home a girl with melanin and they didn't accept that."

"Fuck them." He sneered with smugness cloaking his face. "If they can't like you for who you are then they can go to hell."

Lela gripped his arm reading the pain lingering in his eyes, "You can still love your parents even if you can't stand their ways." She pulled his hand off his knee and locked their finger, "I still love mine."

"I don't want to talk about them." He slipped his hand away from hers. "If they can't accept you that means they don't want me." He pulled the seatbelt out and wrapped it around his body; "Let's get out of here so we can be home before classes start."

Lela stopped his hand before he shifted gears, "What's in the bag?"

"I'm cut off." He let out a deep breath before placing his eyes on her. "A hundred and fifty thousand is the most I could get off my trust without parental approval."

Lela's hand fell off his, "Are you sure you want to do that...sever ties...leave everything you know."

"I'm not leaving everything I know," He shifted the gear into reverse and slid the car back a little before shifting to drive. He drank her in, "You wanted me to be a man well...men make hard choices and they do what's best for them." He caressed her face. "And you're what's best for me." She smiled as she placed her hand on his. "Plus, I've got tuition money..." He used the side mirror to study oncoming traffic. "I'll be alright."

Will Trevor be alright without his safety net of wealth?