back where you belong

"So.. you, and Carson.. moved in here?" Dewey walked around the old house as if he wasn't sure he should even visit here.

"Temporarily." Brittany smiled as she did her best to take care of the left overs of the picnic.

Dewey nodded. His hands were in his back pockets.

Brittany didn't want to bring up mom, just yet.

"We are gonna do it for a month." She told him.

Dewey was mute on the subject. She was certain now, he had no say in anything, when it came to Mom. He always did what he was told. Perhaps, it was like that when you were the only boy in an all girl family.

"Anyway, you can finish school out, at your old school." She told him.

"Really," He winced as if that didn't sound right.

"Do you want to?"

"I don't care." He told her.

"Yes, you do." She looked at him bright eyed. "If you don't care about your education, who will?"

Dewey sighed, but then winced tears.

She put everything down on the kitchen table and went to him. Her little brother was taller than her, bony too, but he need a good hug.

"I don't even know what I did." His voice was muffled, with his head bent down, on her shoulder.

"Its not your fault." She told him. "I want you to be OK. And..and I hope..you'll feel safe with us."

Finally he stood back up and nodded. "This is your house, and you should live here." She told him. They walked down to his room. The door was shut.

She could imagine it piled with old clothes or something. But it wasn't. The thin bed was made. His desk neat, next to it. The old wooden floor were  a bit dusty.

"Maybe, if we got you a rug. A new comforter." She suggested.

"No..no..its fine. This..this is just the way I left it." His smile was small, but she knew he was glad to be home, but he was missing Mom, too.

Angie felt she'd been under house arrest before Prom. Of course, it was her own doing. She didn't go to prom with Sawyer. He'd found somebody new. Someone, he worked with at the movie theater.

Perhaps it was bound to happen. Maybe they were bored with each other. She thought of all those times she thought they would be over and she'd be glad of it. She wanted to be. But of course, when he broke up with her face to face on one of their routine nights..Angie was so numb. She couldn't think what to say. And then she cried until she fell asleep, just to wake and cry some more.

What was she to do?

1. She cleaned her room. Put all the things he gave her in a box. Sealed, and promised she might look at it 10 years from now. Maybe.

2. She found out Roman went to London. She didn't think he was coming back, but then he showed up one day at Oliver's. He sounded like he'd gotten married, but he was only engaged to that young Asian woman he worked with.

3. She found out from Syreeta, that she'd be getting a 4 year scholarship at some music University in Iowa. Of course, Syreeta had another year of high school to go. Angie wanted to know how she did it. So with a little help from her friend to find all the connections she could now with nearby colleges, Angie decided she would study harder, instead of being that middle of the road student.

And that's how Angie got over Sawyer. But she hadn't exactly said it, out loud. And then she got a text.

She couldn't explain it, but a smile surfaced when she looked at the words.

"I thought you'd ran away." She texted back. After all, it had been a bit of a secret. Her silent correspondence with a guy she only had study hall with. She'd let Dewey listen to some of the indie stuff she downloaded on her phone, the third week of study hall. Suddenly, they were the best of friends.

Funny, it was never really a romance. But they'd hangout together that last period before school was out. It was the best hour of the day. Of course, she knew it would come to end that first semester. Unfortunately, their time together only lasted maybe 21 days.

He texted he had gotten his phone back.

Angie direct dialed.

"What happened?" She yearned to hear his voice. She wanted to know where he'd been. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too." Dewey's voice was tender and sweet. Couldn't they meet up at the comic book place? Angie couldn't wait to see him.