Cary woke up early the next morning and quickly swept off the ashes left behind from the night before that they missed not seeing it in the dark. He was used to it, almost an annual thing for him. It wasn't even 7 A.M. yet. Something unusual about Cary, he always woke up early no matter how late he went to sleep. He didn't like it himself, and unfortunately no matter how long he laid awake in his bed waiting to fall back asleep it just wouldn't happen. He then started the habit of simply playing his electronic football in the morning until everyone else woke up. No way was he making four people breakfast (well in this case seven).
By the time he was done with the ashes it was time to get in the shower and pretend he had just woken up. By the time he was dried and dressed and brushing his teeth everyone was in the kitchen for coffee. Cary was the only one who didn't drink it (as the last thing he needed was caffeine). His mother gave him a side hug once he walked in,
"And there is my little ball of sunshine!" he must've gotten his early morning 'spirit' from her,
"Morning." He rubbed his eyes, he didn't fall asleep until one the night before, meaning he literally only had five hours of sleep. Mainly due to the loud chit-chatting of his relatives outside in the living room and his brother and cousin still awake in Nathan's room right next to his, (Cary wasn't a night owl…)
"Where's Nathan and Caleb?"
His aunt pointed to the front door, "They're outside, Nathan had something to show Caleb or, something." she waved a hand, obviously not an early bird. He walked out to see Nathan doing something irrevocably stupid. He was in their aunt and uncle's car, trying to back it up as Caleb watched.
Nathan could drive…but he shouldn't. He may have passed his driving classes but there was no chance Cary would get in a car with him driving after their 'race' with one of Nathan's friends.
"Ok slow…slow…" Caleb was calling, Cary was on the front steps of his house watching Nathan back it up, nearly into a tree near their driveway, driving crooked for some reason,
"What are you doing?" Cary called walking up to Caleb,
"Just giving him a driving lesson."
Cary was confused, "But he has his license."
Caleb made a face as Nathan skidded the car into the tree, Cary watched, not truly caring as it wasn't their car, "Trust me, he needs all the lessons in the world." he smiled at Cary as he laughed, getting his joke. Suddenly they heard the loud engine as Nathan screamed through the window, "LOOK OUT AHEAD!" He speeded the car up towards them as Caleb grabbed Cary, who was laughing, onto the front steps. He stopped, an inch away from the house. He turned off the engine and stepped out the car,
"And that is how we Scotts park a car."
The door opened behind them, Sherri confused, "You going somewhere?"
Nathan casually walked up to her handing Caleb the keys, "No ma'am. You have a beautiful engine." He always considered himself smooth with any lady.
She scoffed, "Thank my husband, he paid for the damn thing. I can't stand that car."
"Give the car a break it looks…new." Cary joked, Caleb smirked nudging his shoulder. The car was built in 1949, 30 years old. It looked like it belonged in the fucking 30s. Sherri was like Cary in a way too. Although neither one of them knew it. Cary had her dry sarcasm, and were both teases. She let his comment slide,
"Oh well find something better to do, two weeks isn't that long." She walked inside the house leaving the three outside once again,
"What do you guys do for fun anyway?" he held Cary close in a side hug, which weirded him out a bit. He slowly slid out of his arm only to be grabbed back, the hold tighter than before.
"Well aside from fireworks, Cary and I usually do some skate boarding."
Cary freed himself from Caleb agreeing with Nathan, "Yeah. There's an awesome skate park not too far by. My friends and I go all the time."
"Yeah…" Nathan folded his arms, "Why don't you invite some of your friend-"
"After spending pretty much a whole school year making a movie with them? I could use a break." Hell could he use a break. The two smirked,
"Alright. Sounds like a plan."
"Fuck, I need to show you the skate shop downtown first it is sick." The two rushed inside, leaving Cary again.
Feeling let down a bit once again. He felt weird being the 'young' one out. Nathan wasn't an adult either though. But why was he treating him like an adult? It didn't feel fair… He walked inside only to go and peek into Nathan's room again, to hear the two chatting now about skate boards…how the hell do people talk about skate boards? Instead of joining in, Cary went into his room and plopped onto his bed, waiting for when Nathan and Caleb were ready to go.
…an hour and forty five minutes went by and they just then decided to head out the door.
Caleb was driving thank god otherwise Cary would've threatened to bike next to the car. Cary simply listened to the conversation as he was too tired to think of anything to say. They seemed to be acting like he wasn't in the car. At times talking about their families like no one else was supposed to hear them.
They even talked about sex stories and they're high school scandals, loud and enough for all of Lillian to hear.
Cary felt somewhat special…as if they wanted him to hear their opinions and stories. He may not have been talking but he sure was interested in what they were saying. When they finally reached the bigger part of the town Nathan started giving him direction to the shop as Cary joined in,
"You know this summer my friends and I killed at a film festival!" he bragged.
"Oh yeah, aunt Amy told me…you were a…Frankenstein?"
Cary lost his smile, "A zombie."
"Right." he half-listened, coming to a stop sign. Cary bit his lip, continuing,
"It was about this disease going around that was supposed to be for military use that turns people into zombies and this dete-"
"Brace mouth, later."
Cary was a little shocked on his sudden interruption seen in his eyes. Nathan seemed to be as well…he was just better at holding it in, he slowly sat back,
"Oh…k." he'd get over it, but it hurt him that Caleb wasn't interested into what his 'baby cousin' did over the first half of summer.
Hey Caleb! I helped defeat a fucking alien creature over the summer! And what did you do? Oh right! Get addicted to drugs!
Cary felt heat in his stomach as he stayed silent the rest of the way.
The shop was pretty big. Bigger than the mall in Lillian itself which was pretty sad. The three exited the car and entered the building, Cary having gotten back into his spirit, the they entered the building, their regular cashier greeted them, familiar with Nathan.
"No way, the Scotts!" he exclaimed, Nathan walked over,
"Haven't seen you in a while." he pointed to Caleb, "This is Caleb, our cousin."
He shook his hand, "Well I'm Johnny…any thing you want I can get it." he leaned in to whisper, "Some pot perhaps?"
The two laughed as Cary looked around to see if any new boards were in, Johnny grabbed a new one out from under his desk to show Nathan, "Dude you have to check this out, I got it in two days ago; brand new!"
"Hey Caleb go hang out with Cary while I look at this beauty…" he waved…not even kidding about what he said. Caleb proceeded to follow Cary around the store, just looking at everything he saw,
"So how tall do you plan to get?" Caleb mocked, Cary smirked,
"Six foot five." Caleb laughed, Cary was joking himself, "Realistically, five eight maybe…remember that growth spurt I'm supposed to have?" he said air quoting on 'supposed'.
"Well your gonna be tall don't worry." He grabbed Cary into a forced side hug as they walked, his arm wrapped around Cary's neck.
"Why are you doing that?" He tried to pull his head free, but Caleb started giving him a noogy,
"Because you're my baby cousin." Cary was starting to get tired of it, "Aw, my little baby cou-" he yanked himself from his arm,
"Dude stop…I didn't like it when you did it this morning either." Caleb's smile faded,
"Calm down I'm just playing, you know I think you're pretty mature for your age right?"
He walked off, Cary followed, "..No."
"I've seen boys your age do some pretty stupid stuff in high school." Caleb reached to look at a rookie's board,
"Like what?"
He looked down at Cary, "Like you'll see." he put the skate board back. Cary wanted to go look around on his own, not feeling like being around anyone for just a minute.
"Hey, I'm gonna go look around I'll meet you back at the entrance?"
Caleb got stern, "Absolutely not." Cary then got confused,
"Why not I'm not gonna buy anything my boards in the car-"
"Your not going anywhere alone."
Cary laughed, "Dude, I know everyone in town, no one's gonna snatch-"
"Cary…no."
He was now more weirded out than this morning, he stood next to him in silence for the next minute or two until he felt something…
"Well, I have to use the bath room," he began to turn to the back of the store where the restrooms were and walk away, "I guess I'll just-"
"I told you NO!" Caleb suddenly yelled.
Cary was caught off guard and that's when out of no where, maliciously, painfully, Caleb grabbed Cary's hair, yanking him back to over to him,
"OW! THAT HURTS!"
He still had Cary's hair, tightly gripping it, "I said your not walking around alo-"
"Caleb! I have to pee is all!" he breathed, brought to nervousness at how low Caleb's voice grew…his expression suddenly changed, loosening the grip and letting him go,
"Ok go."
Cary took three steps back, holding his head where Caleb had pulled him, he hesitated for a second…not sure what had just happened, he heard Nathan's voice,
"Hey guys, are we going or what?"
"Uh yeah!" Cary called.
"I thought you had to pee-"
"Uh-not anymore." he explained, lying. Nathan observed Cary's position, upper body leaned back a bit, legs straight up as if he wanted to run…
"Everything ok?"
Cary swallowed, "Yeah." he was still so confused. And the part where his hair had been pulled still hurt.