Chapter 7: Twists and Turns
"You look beautiful." Luke was waiting for me outside the stadium at Stars Hollow High. Somehow he had convinced me to tag along for his sister's graduation. He pulled me in quickly for a delicate, peck of a kiss. "Hi," he said quietly.
"Hi," I said equally quietly.
People were streaming past us into the stadium for graduation, but we just stood there for a moment gazing, dreamily into each other's eyes. It seemed to me like we were doing that a lot lately.
Finally he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the stands. "Okay. Come on," he said. "I want to introduce you to everyone."
We wove through the crowds at a nauseating speed. Luke finally stopped and caught me before I completely tripped all over him. I looked down the row we had stopped at. I recognized his uncle, and some of the other people from seeing them around town.
Luke cleared his throat a little to get their attention. "Everyone, this is Rachel. I managed to convince her to come out today. Rachel, you remember my Uncle Louie; these are my cousins Fran, Paul, and Jim; and this is Buddy and his wife Maisie, they're friends of my parents."
I gave everyone a shy wave. The cousins and Luke's uncle grunted a hello before going back to their conversation. Buddy nodded hello with an approving grin at Luke. Maisie reached over and held my face in her hands.
"Buddy, look how beautiful. It's so good to finally meet you Rachel. I barely managed to get Lucas to admit he was seeing someone. He hasn't been very talkative lately"
"Lucas has never been very talkative," Buddy chimed in.
"Oh hush," she pushed him playfully. "It is nice to meet you dear," she reiterated.
"It's nice to meet you too," I told her.
I could hear the strains of the marching band starting up. Luke squeezed my hand. "It looks like we're getting started," he said, trying to disengage Maisie so we could all sit down.
"Oh, oh, okay," Maisie, said settling in next to me as we all took our seats. "I am just so excited for our Lizzy. She's all grown up. I remember her toddling around this town in diapers. It seems like yesterday."
"She hates when you call her that Maisie," Luke told her.
"Bhah," she said playfully, patting my leg in her excitement.
The music started up officially now and the class started processing in.
"Do you see Lizzy?" I heard Maisie whisper to Buddy.
"Nah," he whispered back.
I couldn't see Liz either, but I just figured that was because they were all dressed alike with those gowns and crazy hats. The principal was blabbering on about the future and responsibility. "Your life will not follow the path you've laid out for it," he said. "I can guarantee that. There will be twists and turns that you cannot fathom right now. Be responsible with your lives. Take care of the people around you."
I thought about the morning after I'd gone to the hospital with Luke and his father. After a good night's sleep I had explained everything to my dad over breakfast. I think he was proud of me for supporting a friend. I couldn't express to him the other thing I had realized that night- how lucky I was, to have my father, happy and healthy and here for me whenever I needed him. He was all I had.
I looked over at Luke and smiled. He was listening intently. I squeezed his hand. He looked over at me and smiled back. I didn't know how long it would last, but, I realized, I had Luke in my life now too.
"I can't believe it," Luke fumed. He paced back and forth in the living room of his family's house. "What's wrong with her? Where was she?"
"I'm sure she had a good reason for not being there, Lucas," Buddy tried to calm Luke down from the armchair he had settled into. Luke's uncle and cousins had fled the scene after it became clear that Liz had not shown up for graduation. Maisie, Buddy, and I had followed the seething Luke back to the house.
"What good reason could there be? It was her graduation. How could she not be there? What did she have to do that could be more important than that? When you finish school you go to graduation, that's what you do."
"Hush now," Maisie pressed a cup of tea into Luke's flailing hands. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Why don't you go sit down next to Rachel." Luke followed her orders, momentarily soothed by the warm mug in his hand. I brushed my fingers on his knee briefly, trying to feel like there was a reason for me to be here in the middle of this awkward family drama.
"Lucas," Buddy started in an effort to change the subject. "Your father and I were looking at 'Field and Stream' yesterday when I was at the hospital. He wants to go fishing again, as soon as he gets out."
"I'm not really sure that will be possible. The doctor said even when he comes home he'll probably be on bed rest for awhile."
"Well humor him, son. You know he just wants to spend time with you; do something you both enjoy."
"I know," Luke said quietly.
We all sat with our own thoughts for a few moments, the silence broken only by the ticking of a grandfather clock. As much as I enjoyed being with Luke, I was trying to figure out a way to escape this evening.
My thoughts were interrupted by slight creak of the front door. Liz tried to sneak in unnoticed, but quickly realized she should have tried another way. Luke was up before the door was even all the way open. His tea ended up, miraculously, in my hands. I took a sip and tried to dissolve into the couch.
"Where have you been?" Luke demanded of his sister.
"Hey bro', what's up?" she said coolly.
"What's up? What's up? I'll tell you what's up. We were up. Up in the stands at what was supposed to be your graduation. Where were you?"
"I had some things to do," she said, her voice still calm.
"You had some things to do? You had-"
"Would you stop repeating everything I say?" She was getting agitated now.
"Please," Luke gestured to all of us. "Please, tell us. What was so much more important than your one and only high school graduation?"
"I just had some things to do, okay. And you're not my mom or my dad, so why should you care. I don't need to justify myself to you Luke. Not to you, not to Maisie and Buddy, and especially not to her," she eyed me angrily and I remembered why I had been reluctant to come to her graduation in the first place.
"I don't understand you Liz. I don't understand you at all."
"Well that's fine, because you know what? I'm outta here. I just came home to get some stuff. I've got my degree and I don't need this town anymore. I'm sick of it here; sick of everyone always being in your face and in your business. You fit in perfectly," she yelled at her brother.
"Liz, you can't leave. What about Dad? What about..." he stammered, not sure what else to say.
"What about what, Luke? Dad has you to take care of him. He has you to take care of the business. You can take care of everything Luke. He's never needed me. Never cared about me the same way he did about you. I don't do sports. I don't care about fishing or hardware or whatever crap you two talk about together. It's time for me to get out of here and make my own life. I'll be fine. I don't need any of you."
Luke was quiet, in a state of shock. "But Liz..."
"But nothing Luke. I'm already packed. I just came to grab my bag."
"Where are you going?"
"Why do you care?"
"You're my sister. I love you," he said quietly.
"Meh. Family is over rated." She stormed up the stairs.
Luke stalked out to the front porch with Buddy following along behind him. Maisie made herself busy in the kitchen. I took another sip of Luke's tea.
Liz bounded noisily back down the stairs with a duffle bag over her shoulder. She stopped before walking out the door to stare at me for a moment. I sat there frozen on the couch, trapped by her intense stare. She huffed. "Be good to my brother," she said and then she was out the door.
While I tried to figure out where that last comment had come from, I could hear Luke through the open windows. "Liz, come on," he pleaded. "Don't do this."
There was no answer from Liz, only the sound of an engine revving up and her car squealing out of the driveway.
