Overcome (4 page)

Chapter 6

Parker

Confused, Parker looked from Spencer—who shrugged with his usual smirk—back to Carly—who glared at him like he broke her best friend’s heart. Her slate-gray eyes shooting daggers at his face.

“You
are
him!” She shot a finger out, pointing straight at him. Parker’s first instinct was to hold his hands up in surrender.

Spencer chuckled and strolled through the room like it was everyday a girl rushed into his room while he’s half naked, accusing him of something he doesn’t know anything about. “Dude, what’d you do this time?” Spencer slugged Parker’s shoulder as he passed.

“I didn’t do anything.” Parker glared at Spencer.

“You’re Bree’s brother.” Carly’s arms flailed through the air like two deranged birds.

Parker froze and his heart plummeted into his gut.

He didn’t hear what came out of Spencer’s mouth, it was a blur, but he was sure it was something along the lines of a sarcastic comment adorned with a curse word or two.

Carly’s hands began to sway and swirl around at the same time her mouth started to move again.

“No,” Parker shook his head and though he wanted to say something more, that was all he could get out.  He turned his face back to his bag, searching for his athletic shorts, but his mind wasn’t there.

“What are you talking about, dude, you
did
have a sister named Bree.”

“Don’t you have a party to go to?” Parker mumbled, keeping his head down.

Parker spent years in therapy trying to get passed what happened. He had to work to forget his neglectful mother who left him with his little sisters before he was even in kindergarten.

It wasn’t Bree’s fault, but she was part of what he wanted to forget. He still periodically dreamt about her and Maggie, his other sister. He’d always wondered what happened to them, but his therapist helped him work through the guilt and worry he carried. Somehow, even at five, he’d thought it was his fault. If only he was better behaved, if only he didn’t have that speech problem, maybe his mom would’ve cared more.

“I’m good,” Spencer eased into a chair.

“She’s my best friend,” Carly stepped further into the room. Parker noticed her bare feet and only one foot with painted toes.  “I can take you to see her. She’d …”

“I don’t want to see her.” Parker looked up at her face, which fell from a smile like she’d found her long lost friend, into that snarl.

“Why wouldn’t you want to see her?” Her hands landed on her hips and hair covered her eyes as she bobbed her head.

“Yeah man,” Spencer chimed from his perch. He propped up his feet and crossed them on the table when Parker glared at him.

Parker turned back to his bag and grabbed the first shirt he could find. He shrugged the fabric over his head as his audience waited for an answer.  “Because I don’t.”

“You’re a jerk,” Carly spat at him.

“You’re no bag of peaches either, Snarly.” Parker grabbed his hat from the night stand. He shoved it on his head with both hands, one on the back and the other on the bill, making sure it covered his face. He swiped the keys from the dresser, where he’d just sat them and was thankful he hadn’t taken the time to kick off his boots yet.

“Whatever. Bree’s really cool and I know she’d wonder what hap …”

“I don’t want to hear about her.” He held his hand, palm up, toward Carly’s face as he stalked out the door.

Carly swatted it away, but he didn’t stay for any further reaction. He hurried to the Jeep to escape.

    *****

The wind blew and the brown pigtails swung.

"Parker, will you swing me?" Bree's thin legs dangled from the rickety swing hung up on the old tree. Her hands wrapped around the fraying rope.

Parker bounced over to her, taking his attention from the toad he'd been poking at.

"Yesssh," he had a little bit of a speech delay at five years old.

Parker pushed on his sister's back. She giggled and sang "Wee." The bottoms of her bare feet were dark with dirt.

Parker chuckled and he pushed her higher and higher.

Bree leaned her head back and stretched her legs in front of her.

He held his hands out, ready for one more push, to keep her going, when the next thing he knew, she was falling toward the ground without the swing.

He wasn't sure how it happened, and it scared him when her body hit and cracked on the ground.

Bree screamed and jolted up, gripping her elbow.

Parker ran to her. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he didn't want mommy to come outside.

She told Parker and Bree they had to stay out and play until she came out to get them. It was normal for them to play outside when their baby sister was napping.

But the door opened and Parker began to cry along with Bree.

"What did you do to her?" His mommy shouted. Her eyes looked red and watery like Bree's and her hair was messy. She stomped to the tree they sat under.

Bree gasped for air in between cries.

"Mommy, I didn't do it, she felled."

"It's fell, are you stupid?" She snapped at him as she picked Bree up.

Parker's heart hurt and he sniffed, trying not to let his mom see him cry.

"Quit being a baby, Parker. Do I need to go get you one of Maggie's binky's?" She slurred as she looked at Bree. "Let me see."

Bree sniffed and her whole body shook as she patted her elbow.

"That's it? When are you two going to grow up?" His mom's voice was tired and grumpy and she sat Bree back on the ground.

Parker would have cried, too, if he were Bree. On her elbow she had a red bump.

"You two need to play quietly," she spoke as she placed a cigarette in her mouth and lit it.   "I don't know what I did to deserve this." She staggered back in the house.

Bree curled her legs up against her and lean on the tree. She buried her face in her knees.

Parker scooted to her as she sobbed.

"I want my daddy." Bree cried.

Parker wanted Bree's daddy too. He didn't have a daddy. But Bree's daddy helped things get better.

"It's okay Bwee." Parker patted her on her back, remembering that was how her daddy made her happy.

*****

“So that’s it?” Parker froze when he heard the voice behind him.  His shoulders stiffened. Just five minutes sooner and he would have been gone before she could catch him. He’d hoped he’d successfully avoided her all weekend as he slipped in and out of the hotel. He turned from the Jeep.

Spencer whistled a slow whistle behind his reflective shades, a Styrofoam coffee cup in his hand. The morning had already been a challenge, with getting Spencer’s hung over butt out of bed.

Carly’s hands were shoved in the pockets of her super short shorts. Her hair was like a curly fountain on the top of her head.

“I’m here for your twin, Casanova.” Her lips remained flat when she replied to Spencer’s whistle. She glared at Parker.

“Daaaannngg.” Spencer let out a low drawl when he climbed into the front seat.

She rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re just going to go.”

“It’s none of your business, Snarly,” he looked back at the Jeep where Spencer awaited him, now alert and giving him thumbs up.

“She has a baby, you know.”

“What?” Parker whipped his head back toward Carly.

“Bree, she just had a baby. You’re an uncle.”

Despite the pang in his gut, Parker held his poker face. “Well, I hope things work out for her.”

“She’s sixteen with a baby. She needs all the support she can get right now.”

“What about, say,” he shrugged and tipped his head to the side, “the baby’s father?”

“He’s around.” Carly’s smoky eyes were narrow. “I know she’d want to see you.”

“Well there’s a lot of people in the world that want a lot of things.” He turned away from her and lifted the hatch on his Jeep, hoping she would take the hint.

“Nobody gets away with hurting Bree.” She was in his face pointing her square, purple finger nail at him when he turned from tossing his bag into the back.

Parker leaned back like he was playing a game of limbo. “Nobody’s hurting her. She doesn’t know I’m here and she never will.”

Carly’s lips pursed and her hands moved around like a fish. “I can’t even believe this. Bree’s awesome, why wouldn’t …”

“I have my reasons, Snarly.” He grabbed her wrist that she was swinging wildly in his face. A light fruity smell wafted from her.

When Carly wretched her hand from him, her little body bounced, “You’re reasons are stupid.”

He didn’t know what came over him, but something about her firecracker attitude made him crack a smile—which rewarded him with another one of those scowls.

“You’re such a … a … a …”

“A stud?” he finished for her, with the crooked grin he tried to press back. 

Instead of responding, she
growled.
And it matched her snarl before she stomped away. Her fountain-ponytail bouncing as she went.

Spencer whistled slowly again. “Your twin, ha, I don’t look anything like your fugly butt,” Spencer said as Parker climbed in the Jeep. 

When he pulled out of the hotel, he glanced back into his rearview mirror; Carly sat in her car looking down at her phone. He wished he didn’t feel that heavy rock of guilt settle in his stomach.

Chapter 7

Carly

Carly stared at Bree’s number. She wanted to call her and tell her. She probably would have right away if it wasn’t for the baby. Now how could she tell her when Parker was gone?

Her door swung open and bounced off the wall with a loud crack. She jumped, nearly losing her phone.

“Hudson!” she shrieked.

Hudson sauntered into her room and waved an envelope in the air, “Your final report card.”

Her eyes widened and she jumped off the bed. Hudson dangled the mail just high enough she couldn’t reach it even hopping on her tiptoes.

“Almost had it,” he chuckled. “Don’t figure you want mom and dad to see.”

“Mom and dad already know,” she snipped back. Unless she aced her finals—which she knew didn’t happen—summer school was in her near future.

He continued into her room, touching the plum fabric she had slung over her walls and the picture frame she had with a photo of her and Bree before he finally planted himself in the white desk chair. Turning it backwards he straddled it like they were close and he was going to stick around for a good ole’ fashion sibling heart-to-heart.

“Give me my mail.” She stomped behind him.

He lifted an eyebrow and looked down at it, “Awe, but its addressed to
The Parents of Carly Ley
, so it’s not your mail. It’s mom and dad’s.” 

“How long until you leave for college again?” She reached around him. He made her stretch as far as she could before she was able to snatch it from his hand. Of course he found this funny and his loud, annoying laugh filled her room.

“Get out!” She shuffled to her bed and shot her finger toward the door.

“I’m bored.” He sighed and tilted forward, so that two feet of the chair came up off the ground. “Let’s see that report card. See, I was thinking the number of failing grades you get,” he cupped his chin like he was in deep thought, “… I’m going to have that many shots tonight.”

“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the amount of courses that I had won’t be enough to get you drunk.”

He reached for the phone in the middle of her bed and she hurried to pull it out of his reach. “Who you textin’, Bree or Khloe?”

“Get out!”

He chuckled and stood. “Khloe got hot.”

“Just go.”

He reached over and pushed on the side of her head, nearly knocking her over in the process. Carly righted herself and began to rise off the bed to retaliate, but he was already making his way out. Brothers—even at eighteen, an age he was supposed to be an adult. He still acted like a little kid.

Carly lifted the white envelope with the little silver and black crest in the corner addressed to
The Parents of Carly Ley.

She didn’t understand why the school even bothered sending it. They all already knew she failed. Unfortunately, she hadn’t followed through with her plan to bring her grades up. It wasn’t like her parents paid attention either. 

Why she ripped open the letter and read the words confirming her failure, was a mystery to her.

Algebra 1          F

History               F

General Science F

English 10         C

At least she had one passing grade. She didn’t even go onto her electives.  The math, history, and Science were enough to gain her summer school admittance.

She could take comfort in knowing that she didn’t have a friend to hang out with this summer anyway, Bree was busy with her baby.

There was a bang on her door. “How many F’s?” Hudson shouted from the other side.

“Shut up!” She shouted over her shoulder.

*****

Carly felt like something was missing without having Bree with her constantly.  Last summer, they were inseparable, going to the lake, staying up late watching movies and texting guys together. 

This summer was already starting out lame. Carly waltzed into Bree’s home—where she lived with her youth pastors.  “Hello?” Carly called out, shutting the door behind her. It was almost too quiet. She stepped through the dark wood kitchen. Maybe she should come back later.

“Hey,” Bree whispered. She wore a smile as she rounded the corner, coming into sight. An oversized tee shirt hung on her frame and her dark hair was jumbled on top her head. “Bailey’s asleep.”

Carly couldn’t deny she was a little relieved about that. She wasn’t sure what to do with a tiny baby. Should she lie and tell Bree she’s cute? From the pictures, Bailey looked like a wrinkly alien. “Oh, bummer,” Carly whispered back.

Bree shuffled toward the refrigerator. 

“Where’s Nate and Lexi?” Carly couldn’t deny she wasn’t disappointed that Bree’s foster parents weren’t there. Sometimes they seemed a little too nice to Carly and that was when they weren’t trying to convert her.

“Working.” Bree pulled a water from the fridge. “What I wouldn’t give for a Mountain Dew.” She twisted the cap off her drink.

“I can go get you one.” Carly pointed to the door.

Bree shook her head, pointing her pinking finger from the bottle as she drank. “First of all, I have baby weight to lose. And second, I can’t drink caffeine. Everything I eat goes into Bailey when I feed her.”

“Oh.” Carly looked down at her purple toes. She and Bree seemed to be in two completely different worlds. Bree was worried about drinking caffeine and not waking a baby. Carly just wanted them to still be sixteen together.

“Do you want some water?”

“Nah,” Carly picked at her purple nails. She wasn’t sure she could do this, talk to Bree without mentioning Parker. But she didn’t want Bree to know he was that close and then ran away.

Bree let out an exaggerated sigh after pulling the water bottle away from her mouth. “Let’s sit. I’m exhausted.”

“I feel like it’s been forever since we hung out.” Carly followed Bree under the archway into the living room. She was happy for Bree, finding adults that actually cared about her. Her mom was worthless in the parental department and Bree’s dad kicked her out of his house when she told him she was pregnant.

“Did you get to see that food truck guy anymore?” Bree curled her feet under her as she sat down on the couch.

Guilt twisted in Carly’s chest. She didn’t want to tell Bree what she’d learned about Parker.

“No,” Carly lied.

Bree tilted her head before taking another drink of her water. “It really was sweet what he did for Bryson.”

“Yeah, well, how’s mommy life?” Carly sat down beside Bree. She picked up the
Baby Mama
Magazine
sitting in the middle of the dark coffee table. It was slightly deceiving with the picture of the smiley mom and the chubby baby cuddling on the front. She wrinkled her nose at the article about breast milk. It definitely wasn’t her
Sweet Sixteen Magazine
.

“Exhausting,” Bree sighed, taking another swig of her drink. Carly finally decided it was best to put the magazine down when she skimmed an article about caring for your stitches in an awkward place. She squeezed her legs together and vowed never to have a baby.

“Do you think we could maybe hangout sometime soon?”

“What are we doing now?” Bree motioned around the room with her hand. A pink baby swing sat in the corner, an egg shaped device with a speaker sat in the middle of the coffee table right beside the magazine she’d just sat down.

“I mean like take a trip to the mall or maybe even the pool if that’s possible between summer school and you taking care of Bai-” before Carly could finish her sentence, a small cry sounding like a little kitty came from the monitor.

Bree laughed. “It’s like she knew you were talking about her.”

“Yeah,” Carly lifted her eyebrows and nodded.

Bree unfolded herself off the sofa and held up a finger toward Carly. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay …” Like Carly didn’t expect her to come back or something.

Carly crossed her legs then her arms. Then she uncrossed her legs then her arms. She sat up and reached for the magazine again, but caught herself. Finally, she pulled out her cell phone. Her thumb hovered over Jake’s name. They still hadn’t hooked up. Every time he messaged her, she’d been working.  Bree told her when she began flirting with Jake, it was a bad idea and it would only lead to someone getting hurt. That was the whole point. She
wanted
Khloe to get hurt.

Bailey’s cries stopped as soon as Bree’s voice spoke, soft and gentle through the monitor. Only a few weeks as a mom and Bree was already wonderful at it. Carly stared down at her hands. She scraped at the chipped polish on her nails.

Bree’s words faded from the speaker and rose in the hallway as she made her way back to Carly.

“Aunt Carly’s here.” Bree spoke low and squeaky as she talked down to her bundled baby when she stepped into the room.

Without even asking Carly if she wanted to hold her, Bree handed her over. Carly stiffened and Bailey looked up at her with blue eyes and puckered lips.

Carly’s heart warmed. Bailey didn’t look all scrunched up and pink like her picture. Her cheeks were chubby and her eyes bright—almost clear blue as she stared up at Carly. A tiny hand with itty fingers the size of a baby doll’s wrapped around Carly’s pinky. “She’s adorable.”

Bree eased beside Carly and leaned over her shoulder. “I know right.”

Bailey made a squeaking noise sounding like a mouse. This made Carly giggle, making Bailey’s arms shoot straight out and her eyes pop open before she belted out a cry.

“I scared her,” Carly said with a quiet-squeak.

Bree laughed and dipped her hands down, retrieving Bailey from Carly’s arms.

“Shhh,” Bree said. She placed Bailey on her shoulder and patted her back. The cries turned into little whimpers. “I should feed her,” Bree spoke over her baby’s noises.

“Oh,” Carly looked down at her nails again and stood up. “Um, I probably should go anyway.”

“No, you don’t have to leave … I didn’t mean …”

Carly looked toward the exit. “I have to go anyway … got a lot to do before summer school starts.”  She threw on her plastic smile.

Bree bounced Bailey on her shoulder. “Call me and let me know how it goes for you.” The disappointment in Bree’s voice was not lost on Carly.

Chapter 8

Parker

The shade provided by the canopy was sufficient to cool them from the blaring sun. Parker sat between his mom and his sister, Kamberlee. His father was at the end of the table and his oldest brother, Owen, and Spencer were on the other side of them.

Sunday morning brunch was awkward. Parker couldn’t figure out what exactly was off. The gentle breeze blew in the faint scent of his mother’s prize flower garden. Their backyard was high on a hill, overlooking acres of evergreen trees and a quiet pond sat secluded at the bottom of the ravine.

Parker’s mother’s hair was growing back in quick and gray. She already had enough to style it in a trendy spike. The strange silence and avoidance of eye contact made something in Parker’s gut twist. She stared down at her plate, pushing her food around. His dad drank from his coffee mug and had little to say as well.

It was like he was the only child that noticed, because Owen, Spencer, and Kamberlee continued to pick on one another. Owen was loud and jeering saying something about Spencer at the party last night.

Parker stared at his dad. Nothing. He normally made a comment about how it isn’t the time to talk about their night life.  Kamberlee’s face was tilted down toward the phone in her hand, which wasn’t normally something he tolerated either.

“Dad, I saw there’s an empty space on Green Street. It’d be a prime location for a tattoo parlor.”

Parker rolled his eyes. All Owen seemed to care about, still after four years of college, were parties, girls, and tattoos. 

But to his surprise his dad nodded, swallowing the coffee in his mouth before responding.

“Let’s set a time and take a look at the numbers. We’ll see if it’s a good business move.” His dad glanced at his mom.

“Seriously, dude what do you know about tattoos?” Spencer shook his head and drank from his coffee mug.

“I got a few of ‘em. We don’t have anything like that around here. I had to drive all the way to Indian Acres to get mine.” Owen rolled up his sleeve exposing the giant blue skull taking up most of his shoulder.

“That thing’s ugly.” Kammie’s nose crunched up, her face finally off her phone. It wasn’t the first time she’d expressed her disdain for Owen’s taste in body art.

“That’s cause you’re a little priss.” Owen rolled his sleeve back over his skull.

“Am not.”  She stuck her tongue out at him like she was six, not fourteen.

Owen shook his head and went back to his breakfast. Parker wished he could eat. His parents were acting the same as when … right before they told them about the cancer.