“Yeah?”
“Be careful,” I said.
He gave me a reassuring grin and pecked me on the lips one last time, then stripped out of his shirt and started running barefoot for the pond. I glanced over my shoulder once, only to see him wading into the water that quickly met his waist, then raced home as fast as I could. I skirted the woods, not wanting to bump into whatever asshole hit-and-ran like the one did back at the scene.
When I finally entered my house, I was covered in dirt, my hair was a mess, and I was out of breath. As I heaved over my knees, my father and mother jumped at the sight of me, clearly startled.
“What on earth?” my mother cried.
My father turned red, stalked over to the door, and peered out as if he might catch someone hot on my tail. “What is going on, Virtue? Did something happen? Are you hurt?”
“Call…9…1…1. Wreck. Ruin.” I said, working hard to catch my breath, but each inhale stung like someone had stuffed ice into my throat and lungs. My mother paled, and my father somehow turned even redder.
“I told you, Maggie. I told you she was with that little piece of…” My father paused before allowing himself to swear. “It doesn’t matter. We are leaving tonight.”
I twisted my head to look at my father and noticed something I had been too busy in my panic to notice in the first place. The house was all boxed up. My parents must have just been waiting for me to turn up, as the house was empty save for a few bags of trash and some packed luggage in the center of the entry.
“What’s going on?” I asked, another form of panic filling my already overworked chest and head.
My mother stepped closer and helped me to stand. She took my hands in hers, which were cold but smooth. “Honey, your father has accepted a new position within the company. It’s really quite the accomplishment, and I am sure we are all so very proud of him.”
I looked in horror between them and shook my head, not accepting this turn of events. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Virtue Avalee Sumter! Don’t you dare talk to your mother that way. Now, go get in the car. We have several hours to put between us and Tennessee. New Haven, Mississippi, has some of the finest schools and, best of all, no bloody Ruin Lautner and family,” my father said, spittle forming around his lips by the time he got to Ruin’s name.
My mouth fell open, and I looked at my mother, pleading. My heart fell into my stomach as I stomped out of the house. For a moment, I thought my legs would carry me back to Ruin and the wreckage. The wreck!
“Mom, please. We have to call the cops. There was an accident. Someone got hurt. Maybe Ruin is hurt by now. He went in to try to save them. We were walking by the road, and this car came, and then another car came.” My words were just strung together as I ran out of breath.
My mother nodded, her blond hair pulled tight into a high bun like always. As I tried to tell her the story, she scrunched up her face, but she didn’t speak. Finally, she held up her hands to stop me. “Stop, Virtue. Stop. I can’t make sense of what you are saying. Take a deep breath and start over. You were walking with Ruin, and then what happened?”
“Ugh,” I groaned and raked my hands through my hair then stalked into the house and over to the landline, but it was no use. They had already disconnected everything, and I knew they wouldn’t let me use their cell phones. They had already taken away mine weeks ago when they thought it would keep me from seeing Ruin. I slapped the wall and yelled a curse that turned my mother even paler, and my father threw up his hands.
“We are leaving. Whatever you were doing with Ruin this late at night, whatever trouble he has gotten you both into, it’s over. Finished. Now, go get in the car!” my father yelled.
Hot tears traveled the path my happy tears had made not even an hour prior when my entire future seemed mapped out before me. Ruin would start college next fall and work part time while I finished high school. Then I would join him, we would announce to my parents that we were engaged after I was well and truly out from under their thumb, and that would be it. Just Ruin and Avalee, the future Mr. and Mrs. Lautner. We would reimagine the possibilities that his last name could hold—forgetting the ones who had sullied the name before us. It was all such a silly thing to have imagined, but it was my dream. And now, that dream was fractured and uncertain. My future map, ripped in half and unclear.
I cried myself to sleep in the back of the car and didn’t speak to either of my parents for a week. I tried calling Ruin’s house a few times, but it would just ring and ring. I wrote him letters, but I never received any replies. He didn’t have a computer in his home and he wasn’t interested in social media, so I really had no way to reach him. Days slipped by into months, and eventually, my parents were satisfied, thinking they had kept me safe from becoming another teenage statistic. And I didn’t see Ruin again…
I wake up, panting and out of breath. I glance around the unfamiliar room, and my memories stitch themselves together.You’re with Ruin. At his place.Sure enough, when I look to my side, there’s a snoozing Ruin with his back to me. My breathing and heart rate slowly return to normal as I trace a finger over his shoulder blade, which makes him toss in his sleep. My mind wanders back to the dream that was a memory, and I realize I never found out what happened that night—after Ruin ran into the pond. What happened to the driver? What happened to Ruin?
Twenty-One
Avalee
For the rest of my weekend staycation with Ruin at his place, I can’t help but think about that night after the accident. I later discovered my father had accepted the job in Mississippi months beforehand; he’d just kept it a secret from me. He knew I had been growing close with Ruin, and I suppose he assumed we were officially dating behind his back. Taking the job and moving us as far away from Tennessee as possible was his only solution to the little problem.
Father never let me forget that he moved us to Mississippi to ensure I had a bright and happy future. What he didn’t know or couldn’t possibly calculate was that my bright and happy future is right here, by Ruin’s side. No, my life doesn’t just revolve around Ruin. But we grew up together. We know each other better than anyone. So, why, even now, do I feel like Ruin is still withholding something from me?
I’m sitting on the couch in the living room, the television is playing some show I always thought about watching but never seemed to have the time for. It’s really just background noise to help me think. Ruin is cooking us breakfast, and the smells make my stomach grumble. Sitting in a completely different room from him won’t bring me the answers I am so desperately in need of.
I stand and stretch my hands to the sky, yawning as I do. In the kitchen, I find Ruin by the stove with a pan, and it smells as if I just walked into a bakery.
“Cinnamon rolls,” he asks.
“Mmm, did you make these from scratch?” I ask, looking at the tray of damn-near–perfect cinnamon buns.
“Yeah. It’s the one thing my mother taught me before she bounced.”
