Davy didn't say anything as we made our way up the beach together. He'd let go of my hand as we started walking, and I walked beside him,
feeling awkward, and embarrassed. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, exactly. He probably thought I was a real kook. Maybe he'd only been being kind
before.
As we were almost to the bottom of the stairs, I found my voice.
"I should go on home," I said, giving him the opportunity to tell me to go, if that's what he really wanted.
Davy didn't stop walking. He didn't even slow down. He gave me a look.
"Don't be daft," he said.
I wondered just what he meant by that. What was daft?
"I don't want to be a bother," I said then.
That did make him pause, there on the bottom step.
"Friends aren't a bother," he told me.
He gave me a long look, almost a sad look. If not sad, then very serious.
"Are we friends?" he asked then. "Cause I kind of thought that we were."
I felt even more embarrassed. I bit at my lip.
"Well?" Davy asked, obviously waiting for an answer.
"I'd like to be your friend," I said, quietly.
"Alright, then," Davy said, as if that answered everything. He gave me another soulful look. "We'll talk later, alright?"
I wasn't so sure I liked the sound of that. I mean, having to come clean and tell them everything? That was scary.
"Come on," he said, and turned to go up the stairs.
I followed, and when we stepped inside the sliding door, it was almost like coming home.
Peter appeared from the direction of the kitchen, smiling at me as if he hadn't just found out earlier that day that
I was a liar, who wouldn't even tell my real name.
"Hey," he greeted me.
"Hi," I said.
"You're just in time to help me," Peter said.
"Okay," I said, and followed him back towards the kitchen.
He told me he was attempting to make stew, and when he asked me to, I poked at the stuff in the big pot on the stove.
"It's been cooking for an hour," he said.
"The vegetables aren't done," I told him. "Maybe if you put some more water on it, and turned it up a little-"
Peter added more water to the pot, and I turned the knob on the stove to heighten the heat.
I heard Micky and Mike come in, arguing, though it seemed like a good-natured type of argument.
They both said hello to me, and after that, the four of them started messing around with the guitars, sitting on the couches. Micky got a pair of drumsticks
and started drumming on the arm of one of the chairs.
I watched them from the kitchen, sitting on a chair, until Micky looked up and saw me sitting there.
"Hey, come over here and listen," he invited.
I got to my feet, just as Mike said, "Yeah. We need a new set of ears to listen to this, Sasha."
Well, time stopped there. I stopped walking, and even though I didn't want to, I looked towards Peter and Davy. They obviously hadn't
shared their discovery of my lie about my name.
Into the sudden silence of the room, Micky looked puzzled, and Mike said, "What?"
Peter looked kind, and gave me a half-smile. Davy nodded at me a little, and I straightened to my full height, gathering my nerve.
"My name is Beth," I said, quietly. "I lied before. About it being Sasha, I mean."
"Oh," Micky said, still looking puzzled.
Mike was looking puzzled, too, but he didn't say anything.
"I said that because-well, I didn't know you guys," I said, stumbling over my words.
Mike nodded, but Micky didn't let it drop there.
"I dig it. At first, you didn't know us. But how about after that? When you'd hung around a few times? Why didn't you tell
us your real name then?" he asked.
"I don't know," I said, feeling my face turn warm. "It seemed weird. I wasn't sure how to go about it-"
My voice trailed off, and just as I thought things might get even more uncomfortable in the room, Mike said, "Beth. That's a real
pretty name."
He smiled at me, and it was like watching the sunrise. I'd never seen him smile like that before. And he was sending that smile my way!
I found myself smiling back.
Mike patted the spot beside him on the couch. "Come on," he told me, and I went to sit beside him.
DMPM