To Family
Tucker Bryant watched as the sun sat over the ocean, taking in the chilly air and exhaling shakily. He wasn't feeling well-mentally, not physically. Libby was leaving tomorrow for camp, he had to deal with his family's finances, he was all alone, and he was extremely stressed out, his lack of sleep not helping much, either. He ran a hand through his hair, thinking about what he should do.
Divya sighed as she watched the young boy on the beach, looking more distraught than she had ever seen him. She had been walking up and down the beach for a few hours, aimlessly throwing her feet in and out of the sand as she tried to figure out what to do. She didn't want to leave HankMed, but she knew that she couldn't stay. She brushed off the thoughts, though, and decided to focus on the boy. He walked up to him before plopping down in the and next to him.
"Hey Divya." Tucker said, his voice low and distant.
"Hey yourself." She offered the boy a small smile; she had the feeling he needed one right about now. "What's troubling you?"
"Funny- I could ask you the same thing." Tucker interjected. He didn't say the words with anger or annoyance, rather he said it with understandment, as if he knew she was facing inner turmoil. "I won't ask, though, because I already know."
"I didn't come here to ask you for advice." Divya responded, rolling her eyes playfully for Tucker's benefit. She was trying to get the boy to smile, but so far, she was failing miserably.
"Yeah, I know." he said, finally looking up at Divya.
"I figured as much; you're a smart kid." Divya said. Then, she mumbled under her breath, "Unlike a lot of people as of late." Unfortunately, Tucker overheard her, anyways.
"Yeah, family." Tucker snorted disdainfully. "If there's anyone who knows how to screw you over, it's them."
"I wouldn't go that far, but I can understand your point of view. They can be a pain, but they always mean the best." Divya argued. Tucker just stared at her, his face showing his outrage and confusion about that statement. Then it finally hit Divya why she was receiving such a reaction from Tucker. "I''m sorry Tucker, I wasn't thinking-" she started, but he cut her off.
"It' okay." he sighed. "I understand. It's just...Never mind."
"Yeah, family can suck, but you can't let them get you down. If you do, you'll never be able to smile again. Trust me, I should know." Divya said sternly.
"Well, trust me, I know that by now."
"Hmm, maybe we should call Hank-tell him we've got a bad case of family blues." she joked.
" 'But doctor, it only hurts when I laugh.' " a voice from behind them marked. They both turned their heads to see who it was. "Come on Gloomy Guses, not even a smile?"
"What do you want, Evan?" Divya glared.
"To see if I missed a memo or something. I mean, why else would you two be on the beach?"
"To talk?" Tucker supplied, not a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Well, sorry party poopers." Evan muttered.
"We're just...not in the mood Evan, okay?" Divya sighed.
"No, not okay! You two are in one of the most beautiful places in the US and you're just sitting there like bums moping around. I won't stand for it!"
"Please, Evan, leave us alone." Tucker begged, his sad, glistening eyes turning back to meet Evan's own eyes. "Just give us time to think."
"I will if you come with me. If you want to think, how about we go for a car ride? Maybe even stop for an ice cream...?"
"Will you leave us alone afterward?" Divya asked, glaring.
"Yes." Evan said, nodding his head.
"Then fine."
"Aw...I knew you'd come along in the end." Evan cooed. "Now come on; let's go..."
A few minutes later, Evan had their car parked outside of a well-known ice cream shop ran by a family from the West Hamptons. Divya and Tucker shared doubtful looks, but they went along with Evan's game.
"I'll have a large cone-Neapolitan ice cream, kind sir." Evan ordered. He then pointed to Divya, obviously expecting an answer.
"Um, medium ice cream with the vanilla raspberry mix."
This time, Evan pointed to Tucker. "Medium pop, please." His answer earned a glare from Evan. "What?" he said innocently.
"Seriously dude? You just have to kill the buzz, don't you?" Evan sighed before over-dramatically wiping his forehead with his hand.
"I don't think Libby would approve," he muttered, "and I don't really care for ice cream all that much."
"Don't worry Tucker," Evan paused to put his hands on his shoulders, forcing Tucker to look at him, "I'll fix you." He patted the young boy's shoulders before facing the clerk again. "My insane friend here would like to try the..." Evan didn't finish the sentence. "Excuse me a second."
"Of course." the older clerk smiled, obviously amused.
"Dude, we totally need to get to know each other more." Evan said.
"What? Why?" Tucker asked.
"I can't read you! I can always tell what type of ice cream people like, but not you! Like, I knew that Divya would go for the flamboyant but classy raspberry and vanilla; Ms. Newberg's a cookie dough; Boris is a straight-up French vanilla; Hank's a mint chocolate chip. But you, my fine young rich friend, have not been flavortized yet."
"Flavortized?" both Divya and Tucker said.
"It's like filing, but with more personality and fat." Evan quickly explained. Then, he turned his attention to Tucker. "Stop by tomorrow night-we're going to fix this." he muttered.
"Would that be it?" the clerk finally asked.
"No, could you throw in a cookie?" Evan replied.
"Which one?"
"The chocolate one." Evan handed the man the correct change before beckoning his group to a corner booth. Once seated, he threw the cookie in front of Tucker. "You're eating that cookie if I have to shove it down your throat while you're sleeping." he warned.
"Funny, I thought that was called murder, not force-feeding." Tucker mumbled as he unwrapped the cookie.
"Ha, funny!" Evan replied sarcastically. He then turned to face Divya. "How is your homemade ice cream, Divs?"
"It's great, just like I told you last time you forced me here." Divya said between licks. "Why are you being so forceful, anyways? Er, I mean, more than usual, that is." she added.
Evan looked from Tucker to Divya- both of whom were looking at him. He just shook his head, a frown on his face. "You know, this may be the last time we'll be able to do this."
"Do what?" Tucker asked.
"Eat ice cream together- the three of us."
"Evan, I'll come back to visit you and your brother. I just won't see you as often." Divya sighed, not in annoyance but in realization that he was right. How would she be able to sneak out of the country without someone asking questions? Truth be told, she'd visit the Hamptons one a year...if that.
"Alright," Evan mumbled, obviously unconvinced. "What about you, Mr. I'm-17-and-will-be-graduating-next-year-and-leaving-the-Hamptons? You gonna visit during college break? Are you going to take time off from corporate America to take a day trip to New York?"
"If this is you trying to cheer us up, I'd hate to think of you aspiring to be a clown." Tucker muttered, running a hand through his hair.
"I'm sorry." Evan sighed. "I guess we're just a bunch of party poopers today."
"At least we have comfort food." Divya noted.
"True-that." Evan agreed. Tucker didn't say anything; he just kept his eyes on his cookie, which he hadn't ate yet. "Something wrong with it?" Evan asked.
"No, I'm just not hungry right now." Tucker answered.
"That seems like a cock-out of an answer." Evan muttered,unsatisfied with the answer.
"Not all of us seek refuge in junk food when we're down." Divya noted.
"Yeah, just look at Libby." Tucker commented. There was something in his voice that sent alarms to his older friends.
"Something going on between you two?" Evan asked.
"It's nothing, really. She's going away for the rest of the summer to some camp." Tucker sighed. "It'll be our first summer apart."
'Well, at least she's not moving oceans apart.' Evan said in his head.
"It'll be fine, Tucker. I'm sure you'll keep busy." Divya reassured. Tucker nodded, not finding it appropriate to respond. "Are you going to eat that cookie?" she asked after a few minutes.
"No, do you want it?" Tucker asked.
"No, but I do have an idea..." Divya trailed off, reaching over for the cookie. She ripped it into three pieces and passed one slice to everyone at the table.
"Whatcha doin' Divs?" Evan asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Just watch." she said as she searched her purse for a specific object. Finally, she pulled out a pack of tooth picks and gave one to Evan and Tucker. Seeing the confused look on their faces, she explained. "Well, it may sound a little lame, but I think it just might work." she started with a small, sad smile. "It's obvious that we all have some sort of secret. I think we should scratch a word to symbolize it into the cookie and exchange it."
"Ooooh, kinda like Secret Santa?" Evan asked with childish excitement.
"Yeah, but instead of sharing gifts and joy we're sharing secrets and gloom." Tucker smirked.
"That's one way to look at it." Divya admitted. "Are you guys in?"
"Sure, what could it hurt?" Evan said. Tucker nodded in agreement.
Divya, Evan, and Tucker thought over their own dilemmas before picking up the tooth picks. The cookies were soft enough that the toothpicks wouldn't break, but not so soft that you wouldn't be able to read it. After a few minutes, everyone sat down the toothpicks. With a nod from Divya, they passed around their cookies.
Divya's cookie went off to Evan, who read the word 'Forced' and passed it on to Tucker. Tucker's cookie ended with Divya. She read 'Family' before she handed it to Evan. His cookie traveled to Tucker. He read the word 'Idiot'. Everyone sat their cookies down and arranged them to make a whole one. The shared sad looks before their settled back down at the table.
"And now, the question we've all been waiting for." Evan sighed.
"What do we do now?" Divya finally voiced the unsaid question aloud, gathering a series of head nods from her friends.
Tucker studied Divya and Evan's sad looks. He guessed that his facial expression was just a mere mimick of theirs. He glanced down at his shaking hands, trying to will them to stop, as he thought about the question. Then, he finally spoke up. "I guess this is when faith comes in handy, because I'm pretty sure that this is out of our control."
"I couldn't have said it better himself." Evan agreed, nodding his head.
Suddenly, Divya reached for 'Forced' and raised it in the air. "To faith." Tucker and Evan picked up their rightful pieces and joined Divya's toast.
"To faith."