The Boy in the Gray Hoodie

TWENTY-TWO | Secrets

Lisa's hands balled into fists as she turned to face Chuck. "My what?" she said, voice higher in pitch than she'd intended. She wasn't scared. In fact, the heat rising in her cheeks was from anger.

Realizing what he'd said, Chuck waved his hands emphatically. "No, no not like that!" he said and took a step back. "I just meant that I wanted...I kinda need customers at the moment. I got a big one the other day, but I could use a few more to make the rent, you know?"

Lisa shook her head and squinted at him. "What are you talking about?"

Chuck blinked. "I'm a driver. You know, like a taxi. But local, and...there's just me, not a whole fleet of cars or anything."

"Like Uber?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah...but not, because I charge more."

"Really?" Lisa scoffed and crossed her arms, shoulders relaxing a bit. "I thought you were going to rob me."

"I don't charge that much more," Chuck laughed. "Just enough to keep ol' Rusty running like she does." He jutted his thumb over his shoulder once again. Lisa followed it with her eyes this time. A filthy brown truck sat in front of the bait shop, taking up two-thirds of the lot. It had one blue door on the driver's side. Around the back, duct tape held a busted taillight in place.

Lisa's eyes widened. She recognized that heap of metal. "You gave my dad a ride," she stated. "In that hunk of junk!" Laughter burst from her chest and she covered her mouth to cut it short. Chuck smiled despite his confusion.

"I knew I'd seen you before!"

"You didn't see me," Lisa insisted, swallowing the last of her amusement. "I wasn't out there."

"You were at the window, watching. I saw you from the front seat of my truck when I picked up that prickly older guy."

Lisa smiled wryly at his description of her father. He was prickly.

Like an angry cactus.

"I know everybody around here, but I sure as heck didn't know who you were. I wanted to," he added, kicking a rock. "Hey, what's your name? I know it's not 'nobody' like you said in there."

She watched his movements, the way he stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned on one leg. Very casual and confident in a way that she wasn't used to. Chuck seemed comfortable in his own skin, and that was a rare thing to see in someone their age. Then again, maybe he was older than he looked...

"How old are you?" she asked.

"You first," he nodded at her.

"I'm eighteen," she lied.

"Same."

A pause.

"Did my dad have fun in that thing?" she waved a hand at the truck. She hoped Chuck had played country music on full-blast and hit every single pothole in the road. "Doesn't look like it'd be a smooth ride," she noted, amused.

"He didn't seem to mind it the first time, but he wasn't too keen on it last night."

Lisa jerked around to stare at him. "You took my dad somewhere last night?"

"Yeah. I picked him up someplace down the road...not too far from here, actually. Then I brought him to your house. I guess you were asleep or something."