“You two. Be quiet. I need to focus on driving and I can’t with you two jabbering,” Dean snaps.
“No,” Sierra says. “Tell me more about you, Madeline.”
“Well…” I start, thinking about what on earth I’m going to tell this young girl about myself that I don’t also want Dean to know. “I’m from York Falls.”
“Oh, that’s where Dean just moved.” She says. “Are you guys, like neighbors?”
“No,” Dean answers. “We are not.”
“How do you know each other then?”
Both of us pause. Are we going to stick with the story we planned on, re: reaching for the same cereal box? Or are we going to give the truth? “We met online,” Dean says after a tick of time, and this clearly tickles Sierra.
“Online? Like a dating app?” She asks, laughing like we’ve just told her the funniest thing on the planet, and I don’t know if it’s because it’s actually funny or because she’s just drunk. “You guys are just like, hooking up?”
“Not really—” I start as my face twists into confusion.
“No,” Dean grits his teeth. “Enough.”
“What app did you meet on?” She asks, turning back to me.
“Tinder?” I throw it out there, and this sends her into another fit of giggles, this was clearly the wrong answer because Dean groans.
“You guys!” Sierra laughs. “I’m not stupid. You’re totally hooking up. Mom is going to kill you, too. You dumped Eliza for a hookup.”
“I’m not just a hookup!” I defend myself. “I’m?—”
“Be quiet. Both of you.” Dean says through clenched teeth. “Please.” He says exasperatedly.
I cross my arms, getting irritated the more Sierra laughs. “You don’t have to worry about me.” I say finally, smacking my head on the back of my headrest, closing my eyes again.
“It’s just funny how Dean and Eliza—” Sierra laughs again.
“Sierra. For the love of all that is holy, shut up,” Dean interrupts her, and this gets her to be quiet.
“Fine,” The back of the van is lit up by her phone. “But when Mom sees her, and hears that you brought a hookup to the house, I’ll say I told you so.”
Two hours later after fielding drunk questions from Sierra, who has since passed out, we pull down a long gravel driveway, up to a small two-story house. It’s a quaint house, but it’s hard to see in the dark. We’re surrounded by woods, and it’s terribly quiet. I can hear an owl hoot somewhere and I can see so many more stars in the sky than usual.
Dean gets out of the car first, pulling the door open for Sierra. I get out next, and I follow Dean up the steps of the porch. While he’s digging for his key to open the front door, I turn to watch Sierra pull some icicles off the porch covering.
“Wait, Madeline,” Sierra grabs my shoulder, turning me side to side to get a better look at my face in the porch light. “Are you…MadelineMcKinney?”
Fault Line by Andy McKinney
We’ve been living with my kind
And it seems like we’re running out of time
And it seems like there’s not much left to fight
I know I can’t make it quite right
We’ve been living on a fault line
You don’t really seem to mind
It’s no one’s fault
