Lover in the Window

Old Foundations

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

― Rob Siltanen

It was just half past three the next day at the Wells House, the sun hunkered just behind a thick roll of hunched over pine, and the grass had grown out of control on both sides of the driveway. Eli stands kicking gravels in front of his Lincoln, picking dirt out of his nails, and waiting for Eve, Ocean, and Luke to come outside. They'd considered taking a ride in the mountains again but Eli hadn't even thought of pulling out that shit bucket on four tires even for a second. He hadn't wanted to face the memory of it. The ghost of her. Even if he didn't think about her, there were always reminders. Tracy's room where they'd slept for one night. The guest House where they slept in the floor all night like old times sake, and having felt her body against his under the cloak of warm shower water. The photos that he ripped down from the cork board because she mentioned them, and the New Jersey plate he tossed in his tub with all the other ones.

This is without mentioning the balcony where they watched a beautiful sunset, or the Gazebo where they had sex for the first time. Eli walks around his land, feeling like it belonged to Raven. Even the sun belonged to her at this point. A moment passes and Luke from the bar strolls off the steps, throwing awkward glances at Eli. He raises a hand to wave, as he continues to his car. Eli did not raise to wave back but he just stares blankly and spit on the ground. Luke from the bar backs up the driveway and disappears into anonymity from which he came.

Eve busted through the screen door on the house making a huge crack against its siding. Ocean was behind her chasing her down the steps, screaming at her loudly. Eve runs behind the Lincoln looking at Ocean from over the hood.

"What did she do?" Eli says amusingly.

Ocean was nearly out of breath and didn't want to chase her around the car, "She put shaving cream in my coffee. The asshole. I thought it was whip. She told me it was whip."

"Oh, shit. Eve?"

Evelyn was laughing at Ocean and once again the pursuit starts. Eve sprint off but instead of whipping around the house where she might have been able to get away, she kept going straight into the field of knee-high grass. Ocean being much taller very easily caught her. They tussled like school girls before falling over across the ground. From Eli's point of view, he can only see the occasional leg shoot out of the grass as they rolled around. Eli sparks a cigarette just watching the train wreck unfurl in front of him. Boy. You don't get good entertainment like this every day.

When they return to Eli, both girls had straws of grass with mixed debris across their clothing. "You guys good."

"Yeah, she's just a pecker head." Ocean japes. "I'll get you back."

"In your wet dreams." Evelyn says. "I want one."

"A cig?" Eli says curiously.

"No, a wet dream you moron. Of course, a cigarette."

"You've never smoked. It's a filthy habit."

"Soooooo?" She holds up her hands sarcastically.

Eli hands her one from his pack and lights it for her.

"Eli always lights his bitch's cigarettes," Ocean pushes Eve on the arm almost dislodging the butt from her mouth.

"It's funny but Rave-"

"Oh my god - Son - not this again," Eve says with her hands over her ears.

"It's just one more story. Anyway, Rave tried to hide that she smokes from me, which was funny because I tried to hide it from her. Until we were at the lake and it came out."

"We love your stories big brother but you have better ones," Eve leans against him with a huge hug. "You know what I mean. Aye, you had fun last night. I bet you have good stories there."

Ocean marvels over Eve's statement, "What did you get into?

"Mandy," Eve says and starts to laugh. Eli just blushed momentarily.

"Well, not exactly."

"What do you mean," says Ocean.

"Her mouth counts right?" Eli jokes and shakes his head.

"Ewww," Ocean darts a look at Eve. "That's not a healthy way to cope either. You see the best way to cope with any memory is to not subject yourself to it anymore. Get rid of the problem areas all together. Honestly, I bet you thought about that girl the whole time you were at the bar, yeah?"

"I guess so. It's like I know I was there to not think about her but every time I thought about why I was there - I remembered why I was there. One of those vicious cycles."

"Ignoring the pain isn't healthy. Finding another bad habit is not how to get rid of a bad habit." Ocean sways on her feet, one hand up, like she's giving a lecture to class. "If you want my option you might have to just stay away from where all your memories of you guys are. Dislocate yourself to new surroundings. Make fresh memories. It's hard but if you really are having this much trouble with it, it might be a good idea."

Eli nods with piercing eyes, absorbing her opinion like a dry sponge. Inside an idea is brewing, a next step in the long line of steps, that might get him out of this rut he's fallen into.

"Thanks Ocean, for the advice. I'll seriously think about dislocating myself or how to do that."

"You're welcome. It's all about being a little silly, and not taking life to serious. You're a good man, I know that. I'll be honest with you about that girl. She lost an amazing thing when she left. Now, I understand the other life part too. Don't get me wrong there but misleading is one of the worst things one can do. I probably wouldn't forgive her for that. Just takes this expedience, use it as a filter to make future decisions, and all be will better for having gone through it in the first place." Ocean closes her statements.

Eli should have been taking notes by the looks of how hard he listening.