The truth was that we simply didn’t care about the trip. The travel was
worth the unique experience each voyage to the farm, and we were both
excited by the improvised visit.
My aunt nodded as she heard our time. “Well I already made
dinner. Jethro had off today, but goes back tomorrow. I doubt he’ll be
up much more than two hours. He usually goes to sleep at eight or nine
when he has to get to work early. Have you boys had dinner or thought
about where you’re sleeping?” Jethro, my mom’s brother, had lived just
across the soybean field for as long as I could remember.
“Ah, well, we ate on the road, so we should be fine until morning.
And for sleeping, well I think we’ll just wing it however we can for a
night or two.” I looked to Eric for verification. His cheeks rose as he
grinned and gave me a slight nod of agreement. He looked a whole lot
more relaxed now that we had actually gotten out of the car and moved
around again. Actually, Beth seemed to be relaxed, as well. She was
probably glad to be away from her old duties of constant babysitter. Or
maybe it was the pot. She may have just been relaxed from the pot. I’d
really only heard rumors of my cousins going to her house to see her
smoking weed. It fit her personality too well to not be true.
We decided to leave Aunt Beth and the ghost-white home she
inherited from her father a month prior, to walk down the road to my
Uncle Jethro’s house. As the screen door snapped shut, Eric took the
liberty of skipping every step in one leap from the top. Soon after he
landed in a thud, he said without looking at me, “You lied.”
It took me by surprise. I simply didn’t know what he meant. I gave him a
puzzled look. “What do you mean?”
“You told your aunt we were friends.”
I felt the guilt of what he said slap my face has I turned to walk
down the driveway. He reminded me of my lie, one that I hadn’t even
thought twice about saying. Perhaps my lack of conscious thought made
the weight of his accusation heavier on my mind. I couldn’t again look at
him and deny I knew what he was talking about. But I still could feel his
speckled grey eyes watching me. “I’m sorry. I guess I at least should have
told you I have no intention of telling them now.”
His silence relayed everything he wanted to say, but was too nice
to. Be stronger. Be brave. Be yourself, Seth. But at least he respected my
choice. Unlike him, only a handful of my acquaintances people knew we
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