I sigh and rub my hands together. I glance over at Camri and notice that she is wringing her hands with her lips pressed in a thin line - scared.
We have been sitting in the waiting room for almost an hour without any news about our families.
My brother and his wife burst into the waiting room; Camri and I both stand up. My sister-in-law rushes over and hugs me. She turns and hugs Camri, too. My brother just nods at me then walks over to the emergency room desk.
He and I have never been very close. And he most likely blames me for the accident.
Tesa, my sister-in-law, on the other hand, is searching me all over for injuries.
“Are you hurt? Does anything hurt?” she asks.
“Tesa! I’m fine,” I inform her.
“And what about you?” Tesa turns to Camri. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Tesa. Logan’s sister-in-law.”
“Camri,” Camri nods at Tesa.
My brother walks back over to us.
“Alright. Let’s go,” he says.
“What?!?” I cry.
“What about you?” he stares at Camri. Camri looks down at her feet. “Do you have any family nearby?”
Camri shakes her head.
“Hmm… guess you have to come with us. Let’s go,” Caleb turns toward the door.
“We’re just going to leave our family here?!?” I ask my brother.
“You already heard them. Our family isn’t going to wake up for almost a week. Staying here is pointless and a waist of our time.”
“How could you be so heartless?”
“Me? Heartless?” Caleb huffs and takes a step closer to me, threatening. “You’re the one who-.”
“I didn’t mean to do it! It was an accident!” I cut him off.
“Oh right,” he throws his arms in the air. “Things like that just happen by accident.”
“Guys!” Tesa steps between us. “Are we seriously going to do this here?” She motions to the stares from others around us.
I grit my teeth and look away from Caleb.
“Logan. Come with us. Camri, you too,” Tesa holds her hands up to Caleb and me, blocking us from each other. “And for one week, can we just forget about that incident?”
“Fine,” Caleb wheels around and strides toward the door.
Tesa nods for us to follow her then she goes after Caleb.
I look over at Camri. She looks back up at me. It was weird. Her eyes held no emotion or feeling. I smile sadly at her then head toward the door with Camri following me.
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The next morning, I head upstairs. Caleb and Tesa’s house has two guest bedrooms. I took the one in the basement while Camri took the one upstairs.
Nobody talked much on the ride home from the hospital. Tesa’s trying, but the heat between my brother and I is way too strong for small talk. And Camri’s too scared to do much of anything.
By the time I got to the kitchen, Tesa was already making breakfast.
“Good morning! I’m making eggs. Would you like something?” she turns to me.
“No,” I sit down on the bench at the island.
“Yeash. Goodness. You Lockmans are so grumpy in the morning,” Tesa throws a towel at me.
I catch it throw it back at her. “Is Camri up yet?”
“Not yet,” she replies. “She must be really scared.”
“As someone should be when this happens. Not that that would matter to Caleb.”
“Your brother is scared, too. He just doesn’t show it like others do,” Tesa says.
“Where is he anyway?”
“He had a meeting for work this morning, so he’s already out,” she replies.
Camri comes around the corner. I move down on the bench for her to sit next to me.
“Good morning! I’m making eggs. Would you like some?” Tesa asks Camri.
Camri shakes her head.
“Oh, wow,” Tesa stares down at her eggs. “Everybody hates you,” she tells them.
“Is there a place I can charge my phone?” Camri holds up her phone.
“Um… yeah. It’s down by Logan’s butt,” she points with the spatula without taking her eyes off her eggs.
“Here,” I offer and hold my hand out. She hands her phone to me and I plug it.
“Can I get you anything, Camri?” Tesa asks as she takes her eggs off the burner.
“Water?”
“Yes, that’s what the transparent liquid is called. Would you like some?”
Camri nods slowly.
Tesa stares back at Camri. “Ok, I’ll get a glass.” Tesa turns to the cupboard mumbling “teenagers.”
I lean over to her. “Ignore her. She just excited to have guests. After living with the grinch for the past year, I would be, too.” I grab an orange from the fruit basket and start to unpeel it.
“Logan!” Tesa reprimands me.
“What?”
“He is not the grinch!”
“Coulda fooled me.”
“Logan Lockman!”
I look up at Tesa.
“For the time you are in this house, you will not be calling him names! Or anyone, for that matter.”
“Oh, he’s the innocent one now?” I question.
“Logan! How immature can you get? Act your age for just one second, will you? What did he do to you?”
“Nothing. Except, oh wait! Hold a grudge against me for something I did when I was ten!” I huff.
“And what did you do?” Tesa stares at me. Camri starts to swirl her water in her glass.
“I didn’t mean to do it!”
“You know what? We’re not going to talk about it anymore,” Tesa turns back to the eggs.
Camri’s phone starts to ring.
“Josh Scoff,” I read off of the screen then start to unplug it to hand to Camri.
“No! Don’t answer it!” Camri screams.
“Um… ok,” I set the phone back down.
“Who is Josh Scoff?” Tesa inquires.
“Nobody. I mean, he’s somebody, but he’s a nobody. I mean, he’s nobody to me, you know…” Camri goes back to staring at her water. The phone stops ringing.
Minutes later, Josh Scoff calls again.
“Just ignore it,” Camri says, “He’ll give up in about 20 minutes.”
“Honey, stop scrutinizing your H2O and tell us who this man is,” Tesa pulls Camri’s water away from her, forcing her to look up.
“I already did. He’s nobody.”
“Camri, while you are living under this roof, I am your legal guardian. Therefore, I deserve to know who this man is,” Tesa looks at her straight in the eyes.
“He’s Josh Scoff. A nobody.”
“Camri!”
“Fine! He’s just a guy at my school. He’s a 12th grader so I don’t run into him much. But he keeps asking to go out with me. And I keep telling him no. His dad is super rich, so Josh isn’t used to not getting what he wants. He is also a computer whiz, so he keeps hacking into my phone and putting his contact in it, no matter how often I delete it. I’m lucky he just put himself as ‘Josh Scoff’ this time. Sometimes he’ll do ‘Babe’ or ‘Handsome.’ There, happy?”
“Wow. That’s rough,” I say.
“Does your family know about it?” Tesa questions.
“Of course. They say to just keep doing what I am doing. And soon he’ll give up and start picking on some other girl,” Camri sighs.
“Why won’t you go out with him?” I ask.
“Logan!” Tesa scolds me.
“What? I’m just asking.”
“Cause Josh is a jerk and a spoiled brat,” Camri supplies.
“Nice,” I chuckle at Camri’s sudden boldness.
“Ok. I will take that,” Tesa says then looks at Camri and I. “You guys are going to need to do something with yourselves. Camri, what do you like to do?”
“Um, write?”
“Are you asking or telling me?”
“Um, telling you…” Camri goes back to her insecure self.
“I’m kidding. Do you write stories?”
“Yes, but nothing has been published.”
“Cool. What else do you like to do?” Tesa inquires.
“Well, sometimes my parents will drop me off at the stables nearby. If I volunteer there for a couple hours, I can get a riding lesson.”
“Why can’t you just buy the lesson?” I ask her.
“My family doesn’t have enough money. They are too worried about the food on the table,” Camri calmly informs us.
“So, dating Josh might do your family some good,” I resolve.
“Logan!” Tesa scolds me again.
I hold my arms out as if to say- what?!?
Camri silently chuckles.
“Then go there,” Tesa grabs a pair of keys off the wall. “You can take my car. Go there, work, and get yourself a horse-riding lesson. I’m sure Caleb will have some news when you get back.”
Camri looks at me. I raise my eyebrows at her and shrug.
“Umm…ok,” Camri takes the keys and walks downstairs to get ready.
“And what are you going to do?” Tesa asks me.
“Probably work out and try to forget the complications of life.”
“Ha! You are so much like your brother,” Tesa laughs.
I stand up suddenly. “I am nothing like him!”
“Whoa! Calm down. But you are more like him then you think,” Tesa turns and starts to clean the kitchen.
I look down and notice Camri’s phone still charging. I hold it up to show Tesa.
“You can take it to her, but you’ll have to wait till Caleb gets back so you can use his car. He’ll be back in half an hour.”
I nod then turn and go upstairs.
I’m worried about my family. And the fact that Caleb doesn’t care isn’t helping. I’m also worried for Camri. At least I still have some sort of family.
Even if he is a jerk.
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