Reliving Yesterday ✔

Chapter 24.

I could feel myself groan. There was something off about where I was and I was pretty sure that there was a crick in my neck. I groaned again, this time on my own volition and turned over. However, instead of happily being perched on my side, I fell to the floor with a thump and yet another inadvertent groan.

"Whoa! Whoa! Are you OK?" I could hear, from almost far away and I reluctantly opened my eyes to see nothing, but darkness and I panicked. I started thrashing around trying to get whatever it was off of me.

"Whoa! Dude, chill!" I heard again, "Calm down for a second so that I can get to you. Stop shoving me, you moron!"

I could hear, but I was pretty sure I wasn't paying any attention. Finally, like the light at the end of the very long, very dark tunnel, I could see daylight. With it, came Parker's - albeit, slightly concerned looking - face.

"Jeez, Alex. Are you OK?" He asked.

I was breathing a little heavily, so I nodded. Then I gave him a confused look. Why in the world was Parker in my room?

I looked around to see whether my entire house was flooded by the leaky tank, but I wasn't even in my house. I was in Parker's turquoise painted room. I gulped.

"Parker," I said, unsure of my own voice, "Why am I here?"

He wrestled the covers off of me and pushed them on to his bed, kneeling down with me. "You fell asleep over coffee last night, which is so idiotically characteristic of you, and so I put you on bed to sleep."

I nodded. The events of last night slowly trickled down into my conscience. My eyes slowly fell onto Parker's bare chest on his left side. My bandaging was still there, looking a little neglected. I sighed. Parker was still watching me.

"Sorry I stole your bed," I told him, pathetically.

He pulled me to my feet and brushed off my comment. "Get cleaned up. There's breakfast."

"I can go home," I said, feeling a little awkward.

He stopped on his way out of the room and turned to me. "No, let me," he said, his voice lowering, "As a thank you." I nodded. "There's a new toothbrush in the cabinet behind the mirror," he added, nodding towards his bathroom and left.

I walked in, feeling a vague sense of nostalgia.

Twelve Years Ago

My mother looked over at Parker's mother, both of them smiling knowing smiles. They did this often when Parker and I were being equally challenging. We were sitting opposite them, with our hands crossed over our chests, looking equally defiant.

"What do we do about this?" My Mom asked Parker's Mom.

"I don't know," she replied, "Do you think we should tell them the secret?"

I stole a glance at Parker who shrugged at me.

My mother feigned a gasp and looked our way before turning back to Parker's Mom. "Maybe we should."

Parker and I were well aware of our mothers' tactics and feigned disinterest, but we were quite intrigued to say the least. Pride, however, was something neither of us lacked, so we went on obstinately refusing to succumb to their incentives.

They sighed together. "OK, you kids are too smart," Parker's Mom said, finally.

"Yeah," my Mom agreed, "We were trying to trick you guys into brushing your teeth, but I guess we aren't as smart as you two."

Parker and I smiled.

"Can you please brush your teeth?" My Mom asked and we both nodded, getting up to go.

We went into Parker's bathroom and opened the cabinet behind the mirror and pulled out our toothbrushes - Parker's was blue and mine was purple - and brushed our teeth together, all the while not knowing that making us feel smart was our moms' whole strategy.



I opened the cabinet behind the mirror and looked in the toothbrush holder. There was one blue and one purple; just the way we used to have when we were kids, but they were bigger. I pulled out the new purple one and brushed my teeth. I opened the cabinet to put the toothbrush back and way in the back, hidden behind everything else Parker had stuffed in here, I could see the small holder with a handle shaped like the tail of an alligator, which still held two small toothbrushes; one blue and one purple.

I pushed the reminder from my mind and walked downstairs. Parker was standing at the stove in the kitchen, making his usual: bacon and eggs. I didn't know whether to help him or just wait for him to finish. I decided on the former and buttered some bread and put it into the toaster. He looked up at me, but didn't say anything. He took two plates down from the cupboard and divided the eggs between them the two plates and put the pan of bacon on the counter for us to eat. When the toast popped, I put them on to the plates and went to sit at the counter.

We ate silently for a while. "Thanks for this," I said, in a small voice.

Parker nodded to me and offered me a small smile which I returned. "Do you know when our dads are getting back?" He asked, smoothly changing the subject.

"My Dad told me he's coming back tomorrow," I replied, "Your Dad's probably coming with him."

Parker nodded. He seemed to lapse into thought.

"Why?" I asked softly, "Is there something you need to take care of before he does?"

Parker's head shot up to look at me. His green eyes were wide with astonishment. I leaned back in my seat, away from him. "Whoa! It was just a guess."

He returned his attention to his plate. "A damn good one," he mumbled.

"If you need help sorting anything out, I could come with you," I offered.

Parker's face clouded over. "That won't be necessary," he said, sharply.

I retracted into myself and we continued breakfast in silence; the only sounds being our syncopated breathing and the cutlery hitting the crockery.

"Do you think you'll be OK tonight?" Parker asked, breaking the silence.

"Why?"

"Because of what happened last night?" He stated.

I looked back at him, into his deep, bright green eyes, seeing the boy who had vowed to protect me all those years ago.

"I'll be fine," I replied, completely unsure of whether I would be.

In my peripheral vision, I could see Parker nod. I finished my breakfast and took the plate to the sink. While I washed up, Parker cleaned the surfaces. When we were done, I turned to him.

"Shall I change that?" I ventured, motioning to the old bandages covering his deep scratches and black and blue bruises.

He eyed me wearily for some time before carefully nodding. "If you don't mind."

I made a gesture which said that I wasn't opposed to the act. He got the first aid kit from the cupboard in the hall and came back and sat down on the island and leaned against the kitchen counter. I walked towards him and opened the first aid kit, while he started peeling away the bandages. When he had cleanly taken them off, I tossed them in the trash and examined his wounds.

"Parker, were you scratched by metal?" I asked.

He seemed thoughtful for a moment. "Why?" he asked.

"If you were, there's a chance that the metal was rusted, so then you need to get a shot," I said.

"No, I wasn't scratched by metal," he said resolutely.

I sighed. "OK."

I patched him up again. His wounds were slightly healed and he looked much better than yesterday. I finished up and stepped back.

"I'm going home now," I told him. "If you find yourself injured again, just holler."

I left him alone, but smiling.