JULY, 1987, Aberdeen WA
SUMMER, IT TURNED out, was an entirely different season when it had Kurt in it. Lindy had spent nearly every summer of her life living in dread, confined to her home and tasked with making sure it was spotless when Lee arrived home from work. But with Kurt, it was very much a different experience.
Almost every day Lindy continued to scuttle out of the house, offering excuse upon excuse to her father. Dodging any sort of drawn out conversation with Lee had been her priority since May — he still did not know of her plans to attend to UW, and he certainly could never know about her relationship with Kurt.
There were, of course, many questions on Lee's end. He would suspiciously scrutinize his daughter over breakfast, examining her tired eyes before he would gruffly demand to know why she was so exhausted all the time. Little did he know, Kurt had been sneaking Lindy out of the house every night for their mischievous adventures.
Lee never knew Lindy to have a large collection of friends, but every day she proclaimed to be visiting someone else's house, listing off another random name that Lee has never heard her speak of in the past.
And then there was the obvious subject of school. Lindy had seemingly distanced herself from the argument of college, which struck Lee as unnatural due to the fact he'd imagined her to argue with him every day that summer over his wishes to send her to community college.
It was all very, very strange behavior, at least to Lee.
On the evening of July Fourth, Lindy had once again prepared to meet up with Kurt, her brother, and the rest of their small group of friends. Dressed in the only pair of denim shorts that she owned along with a red tank top (her half-hearted attempt to patriotic), she casually strode through the living room, avoiding Lee's following eyes.
"Going somewhere?" he asked scathingly, a note of hinted sarcasm in his voice.
Lindy paused by the kitchen's entrance, fingering the loose string of fabric at the hem of her shorts. It wouldn't have been the first time that Lee had stopped her in her tracks for questioning.
"My friend Jessica's house," she lied, attempting to sound sure of herself. She did not even know of a Jessica. In fact, she wasn't even sure if a Jessica her age lived in Aberdeen
"I hope you know," Lee began, "that I am smarter than you make me out to be."
Lindy felt a small patch of sweat begin to bloom at the base of her neck as she stared obliviously at her father.
"What do you mean?"
"You and I both are well aware of where you've been running off to these past few weeks," Lee scowled, slamming down the remote and rising from his chair. Lindy nearly tripped over her own feet as she stumbled backwards.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she stuttered. It was already too late. Lindy did not have to see her reflection in a mirror to know fear had flashed through her eyes.
"Don't act like you haven't been gallivanting around with your brother Lindsey."
Lindy swallowed, hesitant. "I . . . I don't understand."
"That's where you've been every single damn day and night. Off with him, I know it. And you think I'd stop you, which if I had any sense I would, so you've been hiding it from me."
Lindy had to admit, she was surprised. She'd always managed to roll her eyes at her father behind his back and assume that the majority of his brain was filled with hot air, but this had been cutting it close. She found herself full of gratitude that Trae had assumed the position of a crutch in her lies.
