Bird Song (46 page)

“Well now that was stupid.”

My head whipped back to face him, my mouth open in shock.
 
“Thanks,
best friend
!”

He shrugged his shoulders.
 
“What?
 
It’s the truth.
 
You told him you never wanted to see him again, yet you take him up on his offer to drive you to school and bring you home?
 
Talk about sending mixed-messages, Grace.
 
He’s in love with you, and yeah, he was stupid for saying what he did, but he did it because he loves his sister.
 
You need to apologize to him, Grace.”

I slouched beside him and stubbornly folded my arms across my chest.
 
“He hasn’t apologized either.
 
What he said was wrong, Graham, and it hurt because he should have known better, he should know
me
better.”

Graham nodded in agreement.
 
“Yeah, he should have, but so should you.”

“What exactly does
that
mean?”

“You know exactly what that means.
 
You of all people know how overprotective Robert is when it comes to his sister—I’d probably think it was
kinda
creepy if I didn’t know how much he loved you—so you should have known that he’d assume that if she was upset by something, it would be because of me.
 
He was simply reacting the way a big brother would.
 
Give the guy a break.
 
He’s only human.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Graham,” I huffed.

“I know more than you think,” he retorted.
 
“I know that sometimes I do and say some pretty boneheaded stuff, but trust me when I say that I know a lot more about being a guy than you do, Grace, and Robert was being a total
guy
.
 

“I also know that what you said to Robert was you running away from the argument, instead of dealing with it like you’re supposed to when you love someone.
 
I ran away from our friendship, Grace, so I know what running looks like.
 
I know that it doesn’t have to involve anything but words, and that it can hurt you just as much as it does the person you’re running from.

“You love Robert.
 
He makes you happy and he loves you, so stop being stupid and just apologize to him.”

I wanted to scream at him that he didn’t know what he was talking about, that he was just as wrong as Robert was but there was no point.
 
He wasn’t wrong.

“Grace?”

“Yeah?”

“Hate me?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me, too.”

***

I was in the middle of washing the dishes after dinner when the doorbell rang.
 
“Grace, Stacy’s here,” Dad called out from the living room.

I placed the last dish in the drying rack and wiped my hands on a dish towel as she walked into the kitchen.
 
“Hey, Stacy.”

“You didn’t show up to practice.
 
Again.”

I grinned nervously at her stern expression.
 
“Um…I’m sorry?”

“Can we talk-” she looked through the kitchen entrance at Dad, who was too engrossed in whatever it was he was watching on the television to notice us “-somewhere private?”

I pointed upstairs and she nodded.
 
I placed the dish towel onto the counter and turned off the light as we headed towards the stairs.
 
“I’m going upstairs, Dad,” I called out.
 
His hand waved at us casually; he was too involved with his show.

As we passed Dad and Janice’s room, I could see Janice laying out some clothes on the bed.
 
She lifted her head from her task and smiled at me.
 
I smiled in return and then headed to my room.

“How goes the wedding plans?” Stacy asked once we were seated on my bed.

“They’re going, I guess.
 
I asked if I could help, but Janice said that she didn’t have anything for me to do and that she’d let me know when she did.
 
She and Dad don’t talk about it much in front of me for some reason.
 
I think that they feel I might not be ready to deal with it.”

I looked at Stacy, who was dressed in a sports bra and what looked like gym shorts, and asked her what it was that she wanted to talk about.
 
I should have known as soon as she started.

“Do you know when Lark is coming back?”

I shook my head.
 
“I told you, Stacy.
 
I have no idea.”

She clenched her teeth, my answer obviously not to her liking.
 
“You’d think that with all that money she’d at least carry around a cell phone that worked or something.”

I laughed softly.
 
Though Lark carried around one of the latest model cell phones, it wasn’t operational, merely decorative.
 
“Well, she does have something far better than a cell phone,” I replied.

Stacy huffed.
 
“Fat lot of good that does anyone when she treats that gift like people do cell phones; something she can just ignore when she doesn’t want to be bothered.”

“So what makes you think she’d be any different if her phone actually worked?”

“I don’t know, but at least it would give me another way to get in touch with her without having to go through Robert.”

I tucked my head down and asked in a low voice, “So you’ve asked Robert to try and get in touch with her?”

Stacy nodded.
 
“Yes, and he said that he wasn’t about to bother her for my human whims.”

I glowered at the idea of Robert being so callous.
 
“That doesn’t sound like him.”

“I know.
 
He apologized immediately of course, but said that he still wasn’t going to bother her.”
 
She started to rub her arms as the breeze that blew through my window took a sudden chilly turn.
 
“I asked him why he was so agitated, but he wouldn’t say.
 
He just kept looking at you and then told me to leave you alone.”

“Me?
 
When did you ask him these questions?”

She looked out of the window and struggled with what she wanted to say, but finally turned her head to respond.
 
“Just before I rang the doorbell.
 
He was sitting on his bike and staring through the front window.”

I leapt off the bed and ran to my window, sticking my head outside to glance up and down the street.
 
I pulled myself back in and sat on the edge of the bed when I was convinced that there was no one there.
 
“Did he say anything else?” I asked expectantly.

She shook her head.
 
“He waved when I said bye, but that was it.
 
What’s going on, Grace?
 
You two have been acting very weird lately.
 
The only one who’s been semi-normal is Graham, which means he’s told me absolutely nothing.”

“It’s complicated, Stacy.”

“I’m sure that this wasn’t too complicated for Graham,” she replied sulkily.

“I’ve known Graham since we were kids, Stacy.
 
He lives with me.
 
He’s my-”

“Best friend—I know.
 
He told me the same thing when I called him up at work to find out what’s going on; he said you would tell me when you’re ready, that you don’t know any more than I do about what’s going on with Lark, and that I should just leave you alone.
 
Why is everyone telling me to leave you alone?
 
What’s the deal, Grace?”

“I think you should leave Grace alone, Stacy.”

Stacy and I turned to see Robert sitting on the ledge of my window, the inky color of his clothes blending in with the darkening sky outside.
 
Stacy looked at me with wide eyes.
 
“Does he always do this?”

I nodded.

“Well,” she began, turning to speak to Robert, “I’d say that was romantic, but seeing as you’re probably not here in any romantic capacity, I’ll just say that you’re being incredibly rude, which is pretty ironic considering that you’re supposed to be an angel.”

Robert stood up and moved very quickly, his body turning into a streak of black before disappearing near the closet.

The knock on the door caused both Stacy and I to jump.
 
“Hey girls, we’re heading off to bed now,” Janice said from behind the door.
 
“Stacy, don’t stay too late, alright?
 
I’d rather not be woken up again at midnight by your mother looking for you.”

“Okay, Miss
Dupre
,” Stacy called out.

“Alright.
 
Goodnight, girls!”

“Night, Janice,” I replied loudly, my eyes growing wide as Robert appeared again, sitting on the sill as though he had never left.

Stacy eyed Robert and waited until she heard the bedroom door across the hall shut before she launched into Robert.
 
“What was
that
about?”

“It’s one thing to have her friends know that I am in her room; it’s another thing entirely for her parents to find me in here, alone or not,” Robert answered woodenly.

“You couldn’t just pop out of the window or, I don’t know, disappear into smoke or something?”

“Hey,” I whispered.
 
“Could you two quit with the bickering?”

Stacy and Robert glared at each other but nodded, each one curt and matter-of-fact.
 
“Thank you,” I sighed.
 
“Now, why are you here?” I said as I turned to give Robert my undivided attention.

Robert looked at me, his face still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
 
I caught the flicker of something in his eyes, a slight softening that gave me a glimmer of hope that I didn’t know I had needed or wanted.
 
His mouth twitched and he quickly covered it with his hand, blocking the smile I knew he couldn’t keep from appearing.

Stacy coughed, a rough, disturbing sound that caused the both of us to turn our attention to her.
 
“I’m okay.
 
Just a bug.
 
That window needs to be closed.”

Robert stood up and pushed the window down, leaving just a small sliver of space between it and the sill.
 
“Is that better?”

She nodded and then dabbed at her eyes with the back of her hand.
 
“So, before you and Grace start making up, could you please tell me when Lark is getting back?”

“No.”

Stacy turned her head to me, her eyes wide with suggestion.
 
I sighed and looked at Robert as I, too, asked him the same question.
 
His answer was no less firm, although the look in his eyes had softened some more.

“I understand you’re doing the whole big-brother-protective thing, Robert, but I really need to talk to her,” Stacy insisted.
 
“And
don’t
try reading my mind to find out why.
 
I don’t want her learning why through you.
 
That’s not fair to her
or
to me.”

“Stacy, reading someone’s mind isn’t something that is done by selection.
 
It just…is.
 
I can ignore most of it, but I cannot stop it from happening
anymore
than you can stop yourself from blinking.
 
Also, I resent the notion that I would listen to your thoughts in an attempt to undermine your right to divulge your little secret to Lark yourself.”

“Alright.
 
I’m sorry for that.
 
Now, will you tell me where she is, or get in touch with her for me?”

Robert shook his head.
 
“No.”

“Well, what about for me?” I asked.
 
“Will you tell me where she is?”

“I’m sorry, Grace.
 
The answer is the same.
 
Lark made it clear that she was to be left alone; I promised her that she would and that she could return on her own time,” Robert insisted.

“Robert, I know that this phrase probably means absolutely nothing to you, considering that you’ve never had to worry about it or anything like that, but time is of the essence here,” Stacy broke in.

“Perhaps Lark doesn’t understand that your time doesn’t quite flow in sync with our time,” I added.

The softness that I saw hinted in Robert’s face dissipated and was replaced with a new cold bitterness.
 
“I’m very well aware that my time doesn’t quite flow in sync with yours, Grace, and so is Lark.”

“Okay, good.
 
Could you please tell Lark that I need to speak with her then,” Stacy interrupted, moving to stand between Robert and I.
 
“This is important, Robert.
 
I’m asking here.
 
Please?”