Please bear in mind that I'm starting with a new character, that I made up, but don't worry, there will be a lot of Hank and Evan. I tried over and over again to start from their perspective, but honestly this story is from my characters perspective and it just wouldn't work. I hope you enjoy this, as much as I enjoyed thinking about this for weeks before actually putting it on paper ;)
Olivia stared across the beach, looking at the waves, but not really seeing them. Her best friend Ava had run quickly to the store to grab them some lunch and Olivia found herself sitting on the beach and thinking over how she had gotten to the Hamptons. She hadn't even told Ava yet, though Ava knew something was going on. She was, however, patient enough to wait for Olivia to tell her. It was not a normal occurrence for them to spend the summer together, they normally only saw each other at school. However, Olivia had called Ava in June and asked if she could spend the summer with her in the Hamptons. Ava had been ecstatic; summers were hard for her. Her parents were barely around and she spent most of her time trying to distract herself until school began again. Olivia had been relieved and had left on the first bus to see her; that had been nearly two months ago.
Olivia dug her toes in the sand; she didn't want to think about home, just to focus on the warm sand between her toes. She had spent her time in the Hamptons refusing to think about the spring, refusing to think about what she would do after the summer. She didn't know where she would go. Ava would go back to school and Olivia wouldn't; she couldn't. It was easier to think ahead, in some ways, to try and plan her next move, but sometimes it allowed her mind to drift back to why she was worrying about the future in the first place. Sometimes the memories came unexpectedly, a smell perhaps or maybe a song and they would hit her with such force that she forgot her surroundings entirely and be transported back home.
She let out a slow shudder and buried her face in her bent knees, pulling them tightly to herself. She was glad Ava was gone for the moment, as she was struggling to gain control of herself. If she cried now, she might never stop. She had cried a couple times and felt her whole world collapsing in on her; she hadn't been able to gain control for hours. She wouldn't let that happen now.
"Hey you," a voice spoke from behind her, snapping Olivia back to reality. She let go of her death grasp on her knees and turned toward Ava.
"I brought you your favorite sub," Ava was saying, a cheerful expression on her face, "hopefully once we get some protein in you, you'll feel better."
Olivia had told Ava that she needed to sit down, because her blood sugar had dropped suddenly. She was normally better about keeping it consistent and so she felt irritated with herself. It was then that Ava had volunteered to get them both some food. Olivia had felt bad, but she let her go, she needed the food after all.
Now Ava was fixing their towels and setting the food out, she paused in her efforts and looked at Olivia, her blue eyes piercing, "What are you going to do when school starts? We only have a month left."
Olivia stared at her a little surprised, but not very much so. Ava knew her very well, better than almost anyone and she had evidently connected all the dots.
"I don't know," Olivia said.
Hank heard his phone ring, breaking him from a rather deep slumber. He searched blindly for the annoying sound, 'who would be calling at this hour?' he wondered.
"Yes," he said, answering in a scratchy morning voice.
The voice on the other end spoke hurriedly and Hank listened closely, slowly coming to full attention,
"No, it's good that you called. It doesn't sound serious," he answered and then continued, "but I'll head over to check it out, just in case. No, no problem Tucker. Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can." Hank hung up hurriedly. He had meant what he said when he had said that he didn't think it was serious, but he needed to see for himself and so he hurried to get ready.
When Hank pulled into Tuckers driveway, he saw a couple cars parked near the entrance. Tucker had informed Hank that he had a couple friends over to hang out and it seems one of them had gotten hurt somehow, though no one was really sure what happened.
He pulled in and Tucker, who was probably waiting near the door, hurriedly walked over to meet Hank.
He falls into an easy stride by his side, "She's in the sitting room," he says, "I feel bad for calling you out here, she says she's not really in pain, but it looks horrible and I wanted to make sure."
"It's okay Tucker," Hank says, "You did the right thing."
Tucker looks relieved as he hurriedly brings Hank inside.
Hank notices some guys playing Ping-Pong, as they walk in. Tucker acknowledges them briefly before ushering Hank down a long hallway.
Olivia fidgets, worried about Ava. Her arm looks terrible; she wonders when the doctor will arrive. Tucker had gone outside to wait.
"It's okay Olivia," Ava says, "he won't even think twice about you."
Olivia looks up surprised, "I wasn't even thinking about me," she says, her expression hurt, "how could you think that? I've been worried this whole time about you."
"Calm down, Olivia," Ava quickly interjects, her look apologetic, "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to imply that you didn't care, I just didn't want you to worry about that on top of this."
Olivia looked sheepish.
"I know you better than that," Ava finished, squeezing Olivia's' hand with her good arm.
Just then Tucker and the doctor walked around the corner and into the room.
"This is Hank," Tucker said, " and Hank, this is Ava and Olivia," he said introducing him to the two girls.
Hank stopped dead in his tracks, his expression completely nonplussed, "Olivia?"
Now it was Olivia's turn to stare, her look confused, "Do I know you?"
"Gosh, no, sorry… I," he shook his head, as if to clear it, "Sorry, let me start over, but I should probably examine Ava first," he said, still reeling, not really sure what he should do.
Ava stopped him when he approached, "My arm can wait. What's going on?" Her look was worried.
Hank sat down, "let me see your arm first and if it isn't serious, I'll continue what I was saying," he said, suddenly professional.
Ava reluctantly agreed. It took some minutes and to Olivia who wasn't sure if she should run or wait, it seemed like an eternity.
"Well, it's not broken and it's not a sprain," Hank said, "but it's quite discolored and swollen. It could be a number of things. You'll need to see some specialists to get to the bottom of this," he said, "but it doesn't appear to be anything serious."
The kids all look relieved.
Once he was finished putting things away, he sat on the couch across from Olivia and Ava; Tucker joined him, "I'm not too sure where to begin. I only just found out this summer," he said, "I got a phone call from social services," on these words Olivia got up as if to run, "Wait," he said, getting up quickly to blocking her exit, "they called to tell me that I had a sister that I never knew about," he inserted. Olivia's eyebrows rose in surprise and she paused, "they then informed me that she had run away from foster care. They sent me her information, Olivia; your information."
Now Olivia looked shocked, she sat down, her expression confused, "My mom never told me I had a brother," she said.
"Two actually," Hank clarified, "and I'm not sure she knew. You see we have the same Father, but different mothers."
"That makes sense," Olivia said, "He didn't stick around for too much of my life. He left when I was three, so I 'm not sure how much she knew about his life before us."
"But," Olivia said, her face troubled, "what does this mean for me?"
"Well," Hank said, "I talked it over with Evan and we had agreed, that if we found you, Olivia, you would live with us. If you want to, that is," he said.
Olivia looked surprised and Hank continued, "I know this is a lot to take in and Evan and I have had a couple months to adjust to the fact, but I'm afraid your options are limited and we would love to have you."
"Um, who's Evan?" Olivia said, her mind snagging on that one detail.
"Sorry, Evan is my brother, well your brother too," he said, still shaking his head as if to sort things properly.
Olivia was quiet for a minute, mulling things over, "I don't really know either of you, but you're right, I don't have much in the way of options and it is not everyone who would take in a complete stranger, " she said, "plus, I've gotten to know Tucker some this summer and he speaks very highly of you," she glanced over at Tucker when she said this.
Tucker, who had been silent this entire exchange, spoke, his expression thoughtful "Yeah, Liv, Hank is a good man."
"Thanks Tucker," Hank said, quietly; touched.
Olivia looked at Ava, "Well, I guess I don't need to worry about the school year anymore."
Well, I'm sorry if it was corny or choppy. I swear it will get better, as the part of the story I've been impatient to write is coming soon! Any comments on how I can improve this and on how I'm doing are most appreciated. This has been written and re-written over again 6 times, so I realized I just needed to get it out there.