My Life With the Walter Boys (24 page)

“So what do we do now? I can call my mom again and ask for someone to bring us an umbrella,” he suggested.

I shook my head no. “I’d prefer not to give Cole that satisfaction. It’s only water and we’re halfway wet already. Besides, you still smell. A shower would do you good.”

“But my cell phone.”

“Just leave it in the truck,” I said, opening the door. “You’re not going to die without it.”

As we walked up the driveway toward the house, the rain let up. Giggles filled the air as we approached the front porch, and I looked up to find most of the Walter boys sitting under its shelter.

“What are they doing?” I asked Alex.

“Watching for a thunderstorm,” he answered. “Haven’t you ever sat outside during one? It’s really peaceful.”

“I lived on the top floor of an apartment building,” I told him as water squished inside my flats. I should have taken them off before getting out of the car, since they were ruined for sure, but the gravel on the driveway was sharp and I didn’t want to cut my feet.

“Oh right,” Alex said. “Well, we do it all the time.”

“Enjoying the weather?” Nathan asked when we reached the house. Alex gave him the finger, and everyone burst out laughing as we trudged up the steps.

“Jackie, you cold?” Isaac asked. “Your headlights are on.”

Resisting the urge to cross my arms, I answered him. “Actually, I am. Maybe a hug would warm me up?” I took a step toward him with my arms wide open. Isaac backed away quickly, not wanting to get wet, but Alex ambushed him from the side.

“Dude, really?” Isaac complained. “Now I’m soaking.”

“That’s what she said,” Lee said, making all the boys laugh.

“Not
soaking,
” Alex answered Isaac, shaking his head in disagreement. Isaac had splotches of damp on his clothes, but it was nothing compared to us. “Let me fix that for you.” With one quick push, Isaac was out in the rain. Danny gave Alex a high five as Jack and Jordan stepped out onto the porch.

“What’s he doing out there?” Jack asked as he wiped his already foggy glasses on his shirt.

“We don’t like him anymore,” Danny said. “He was voted off our island.”

“Really?” Isaac demanded from out in the rain. “Who’s going to read lines with you then?”

“Definitely not you,” Danny said, rolling his eyes. “You’re terrible.”

Isaac smirked as he climbed up the steps. “‘O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?’” he called, descending upon his cousin.

“Stay back,” Danny said, jumping up out of his seat. “I don’t want to get all wet.”

“Too bad,” Isaac laughed and pushed him off the porch.

Lee burst out laughing. “Hey, look! Romeo’s all washed up,” he said, pointing a finger at his cousin. In response, Danny yanked him out into the rain. “What the fudge?” Lee demanded.

Benny, who had been standing next to me quietly, tugged on my hand. “Jackie, can I go out in the rain too, or does someone have to push me?”

I broke into a grin. “If you want to play in the rain,” I told him, “go for it. I’ll even play with you. First one to jump in a puddle wins?” I asked.

Benny’s eyes lit up, and he bounded off the porch in his yellow rain boots.

“Care to join me?” I asked, grabbing Alex’s hand.

“It would be a pleasure,” he said, grinning at me, and we both stepped back out into the rain.

The cool water felt relaxing as it ran down my back, and I ran my fingers through my soaking hair, lifting the new weight off my neck.

“Jackie! I beat you!” Benny called.

“Did you, now?” I responded, splashing toward him. “Well, guess what? You’re it,” I said and tapped him on the shoulder. It only took Benny a moment before he was chasing after one of his older brothers in a game of tag.

“You know what this weather reminds me of?” Jack asked his twin. “That pirate movie we watched last night, where there was a sword fight in the middle of the storm.”

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Jordan asked, picking up a broom. He swung it at his brother’s face. “En garde!”

Jack grinned and swiped a stick out of the flower bed. The two started to sword fight across the slippery wooden porch, pretending it was the deck of a pirate ship.

“I get to be the captain,” Jack called.

“You have glasses,” his double said. “That makes you a loser. Captains are never losers.” With that, he pushed his brother off the steps with a quick jab of his sword. Jack fell back into a puddle of water and sprayed mud everywhere. When he stood up, his pants were covered.

“Looks like you shit your pants,” Lee teased.

“Well, it looks like you shit your face,” Jack shot back. He scooped up a handful of mud and threw it at his cousin, splattering brown muck on Lee’s face.

“Oh, hell no,” Lee said, wiping the mud off. He bent down and grabbed his own handful. “You’re gonna regret that.” He sent the mud flying in Jack’s direction, but he ducked and it sprayed across Nathan.

“What the…?” Nathan said in confusion.

“Mud fight!” Jordan shouted, throwing a goopy fistful at Danny. Everyone joined in quickly.

“Jackie!” Alex called, dark sludge oozing out from between his fingers. “I’m going to get you!”

“Please don’t,” I said, backing up slowly. “This is a nice shirt. You’re going to ruin it.”

But Alex was still advancing on me, an evil grin on his face. Spinning on my heels, I dashed off in the opposite direction. Water splashed up to my knees as my feet pounded across the sopping grass. I could feel the exhilaration pumping through my body, and I stole a quick glance over my shoulder to see how close Alex was.

“Jackie, look out!” Danny called.

I turned in time to see Zack standing in front of me. His neck was craned up at the sky, his tongue stuck out to catch the falling raindrops. I nearly crashed into him, but I managed to dig my heels into the ground seconds before we collided. Alex, on the other hand, wasn’t so quick to react and smashed right into me. We both toppled over, sending mud in every direction. On top of me, Alex winced.

“Crap, I’m sorry, Jackie,” he said.

I chose not to respond as I let everything sink in. The mud had splattered across my face, and I knew that my top was covered in it too, completely ruined. Part of me knew I should be mad because that was how I normally would have reacted, but something about playing in the rain was so completely freeing that, for once, I didn’t care.

“Well,” I finally said, digging my fingers into the ground. “You’ll just have to pay.” I smeared a handful of mud on his cheek. He blinked in surprise and then we both burst out giggling.

“This is the most fun I’ve had in forever,” Alex said. He bent down and pecked me on the lips.

“PDA alert,” Isaac shouted from across the lawn, making us both glance up. “You two are disgusting. Get a room.”

Alex rolled his eyes, and when he turned back to me, I knew he was going to ignore Isaac and kiss me again.

“Oh no.” I pushed him off me. He looked confused for a moment, but then he saw me scoop up another handful of brown slime. “Isaac is
so
asking for it,” I told him.

“Well,” Alex said with a huge grin on his face. He stood up and held a hand out for me. “We should give him what he wants.”

***

As we filed into the school auditorium Monday night, the lights started to dim. We were running late, as usual, since it was nearly impossible to tear Katherine away from the kitchen. Given that she was such as amazing cook, she’d decided to prepare all the food for the reception instead of paying for a caterer who she said couldn’t possibly make as good a meal as her. The result was that, for the past three days, there had been a tiny tornado in the Walter kitchen as Katherine rushed about kneading bread, mixing sauces, and chopping up different roots, vegetables, and fruit.

Occasionally she would run out of an ingredient or realize that she had forgotten an item on her grocery list. Then she’d panic until someone jumped in the truck and rushed off to the store to pick up whatever she needed. The wedding was still two weeks away, but with so many people to cook for, she had to start early.

When we needed to leave for Danny’s play, Katherine was still at the sink, unconvinced that her kitchen was clean. Quite the opposite was true; I had never seen the place so sparkling. George was finally able to pull the rubber gloves from her hands and drag her to the car, but as soon as we pulled out of the driveway, Jack and Jordan realized they forgot the tripod for their camera, which they needed to film the play.

Five minutes later, Nathan remembered that he left the iron on and we had to turn back around again. When Parker noticed that she was wearing two different colored socks, everyone groaned in frustration. But this time, George told her to suck it up, and we continued on our way to the high school.

Only the row in the very back of the auditorium had enough empty seats for our entire group to sit, but we had to scoot by a family to get to the middle.

“Ouch, that’s my foot,” someone hissed as the curtain opened.

I sat down, Alex on one side and Nathan on the other.

“Up,” Cole whispered to Nathan.

Nathan leaned forward and saw that Zack and Benny had taken the seats after Cole. He shook his head. “No way, dude, I’m not sitting next to those two monsters.”

For that I was thankful. Since the party, Cole was different. Instead of his cocky obnoxious self, he was withdrawn and spent most of his time out in his garage. As a result, the dynamics of the Walter household had changed drastically. Without his outgoing attitude, which was the glue that got all of the guys and their different personalities to stick together, the house was silent. Everyone did their own thing—the days of baseball games and movie nights were fading.

On a rare occasion when I ran into Cole in the hallway, he would smile. However it was never a real smile, because it didn’t reach his eyes. I almost missed the smug smirk that was normally on his face. Alex on the other hand, was his happy-go-lucky, clueless self when his older brother was around. He flirted and laughed, acting like life couldn’t get any better. I tried to tone down the happy-couple vibe whenever we were around Cole, but Alex seemed to think that since his brother wasn’t acting mad, everything was fine.

It was a struggle for me to be around both of them at the same time when I could see so much happiness in one of them and so much hurt in the other. Knowing that I had caused all this didn’t help me feel any better. I didn’t want to feel the awkward tension of sitting between both boys for the entire play, because I wanted to focus on Danny’s performance.

“Too bad. I’m older than you, so I get to pick where I sit.”

When Nathan laughed, a woman sitting in front of us turned around. “Would you both be quiet?”

Cole glared at Nathan for a moment longer before giving him the finger and dropping into the only open seat next to Zack.

“Hey, Cole?” I heard Zack whisper. He held his finger an inch away from Cole’s cheek. “I’m not touching you.”

“Boys!” Katherine hissed at her younger twins. “If you don’t behave yourselves, then no dessert at dinner.”

They didn’t take their mother’s warning seriously because as the first actor stepped out onto the stage, I heard the twins’ evil giggles.

***

“Danny, that was amazing!” I exclaimed, pulling him into a hug. He had joined us outside the auditorium after the show, and he was still in his Romeo costume.

“Truly a heart-wrenching performance,” Isaac said, wiping away pretend tears. “Can I have your autograph?” Danny rolled his eyes and gave his cousin a small shove. They both laughed. “Really, dude,” Isaac said, getting serious. “It was great.”

“Thanks,” Danny responded, nodding his head. Doing one of those silly man hugs, they clapped each other on the back.

“Danny Walter?” a woman asked, coming up to our group.

“Yes?” He turned to look at her.

“Hi,” she said, extending a business card. Danny took it from her outstretched hand and quickly glanced over the tiny text. “My name is Jillian Rowley, and I’m a talent scout from the Starlight Group. We’re a theater company in New York, and I was wondering if you had a moment to spare.”

“I—um, yeah!” Danny said, looking back up. His face was neutral, but I had come to learn that Danny was very good at masking his emotions. The small stumble in his sentence said it all: he was ecstatic.

“Wonderful,” Jillian said and led him away from our group.

“What was that all about?” Alex asked, joining us. One of Kim’s sisters had been in the play, and after it was over, he’d gone to find Kim to talk about the latest
GoG
news.

“Danny told me about a potential talent scout attending the play this year,” I explained. “It was why he was so anxious about auditions. He wanted to make sure he got the male lead in case the talent scout came.”

He hadn’t said it, but I knew Danny thought his future depended on tonight’s performance. He hadn’t applied to college, not only because his parents couldn’t afford it, but also because he didn’t want to go. His dream was to be an actor, and even if nothing came out of this performance, he was going to move to New York City and follow his dream. It just meant that he was going to have to do it the hard way—waiting tables while auditioning for everything and anything.

“Jackie?” Katherine called. She and George were standing with the parents of the actress who played Juliet, and the other three were still deep in conversation.

“Yes?” I asked, coming up next to her.

“What was that all about?” she asked, nodding her head in Danny and Jillian’s direction. The woman was still talking, and he was nodding his head eagerly to every word.

“I’m not entirely sure yet,” I responded. “But she introduced herself as a talent scout for a New York theater company.”

Katherine raised an eyebrow. “Well, now,” she said, a flicker of a smile playing on her face. “That’s interesting news.” I could tell she was thrilled but was holding back in case things didn’t turn out the way we hoped.

“Did I hear something about a talent scout?” Cole asked, appearing next to his mom. After the play was over, he was charged with taking the younger kids to the restroom. Now Zack, Benny, and Parker were chasing each other about the auditorium lobby, weaving in and out of the crowd, but Cole was done with his babysitting job.