The Next Door Boys (8 page)

I heard Brian exhale in the seat in front of me.

“I'm sure I could learn a lot from her. Her acceptance of things you have no control over and her understanding of our life after this one is profound. She has no doubt at all of the existence of our Heavenly Father and His promises to us about our life after this one. I mean, I think most of us doubt sometimes, but I don't think she ever will again.” He paused again for a moment. “I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone, but it made her stronger, not weaker. I really look up to her for it.”

“You're a good brother, Jaron.”

Jaron sat quiet. I wanted to tell him that he was the best brother. He'd done a pretty good job of covering up how worried he felt. I'd have to remember to thank him sometime over the weekend. With those warm thoughts drifting through my head, I fell asleep.

I threw on a swimsuit and climbed into my parents’ pool. Mom came out and sat on the edge.

“You know I don't like that suit.”

All I had at my parents’ house was my two-piece. I only wore it at home. I didn't see the big deal. Besides, the rainbow stripes made me smile. “Well Mom, I could leave my one-piece down here, but then I'd have to take this one to school with me.”

“How's school going?” She asked, ignoring my comment. It was what she always asked. It was better than “how are you feeling?”.

“It's going okay. Jaron is trying really hard to stay out of my way, which is good of him.”

“Well, make sure you tell him that.”

“I will.” I tilted my head back and soaked my hair in the cool water. It was October, but St. George was still warm.

“I'm glad Brian made it down with you guys. We were eager to meet him. Jaron's been talking about him since they met.”

“Yeah, they're pretty tight.” I floated on my back, eyes closed. Mom dipped her feet in the water; she'd probably already had her swim.

“I hope your father's able to help him out with Nathan. He handled a lot of custody cases when he was still officially working.”

“Who?” I stood up and looked at her.

“His son, Nathan.”

“Right.” My conversation with Brian flooded back into memory.

“Well, that was the main reason for your visit,” she said. “Jaron called and said that Brian's ex-wife wasn't answering any of his calls, and he hasn't seen his son in nearly three months. Apparently he's supposed to have him a lot more than that.”

“Oh.” It was no wonder Brian seemed so much older. He'd had a whole life before coming to school.

“Well, your brother has been asking your dad about it for a while, but you know your father. ‘Show me the paperwork and I'll see what I can do,’” Mom did a great impression of my dad's serious voice. “I think Brian got it all in order, and they're working on it now.”

I lay back in the water thinking about how complicated life could be.

“How are you doing, sweetie?” She tried to keep her voice light, but we both knew what she meant.

“I'm probably a lot less worried about myself than the rest of you.” I laughed as I stood up on the bottom of the pool. “I mean, I'm tired and I sometimes have a hard time sleeping—”

“What about those pills Dr. Beckman gave you?” she asked.

I sighed. “You know I hate those, Mom. They make me drowsy for like two days. That's not really helpful. I'd rather feel ‘real’ tired than just drugged.”

“You could try some tea?” We'd had this conversation before. I was tired of it.

“Mom.” I tried desperately not to be irritated. “I can't sleep for a couple of nights, it throws me off a little, and then I catch up. No big deal.”

“I know, honey. I just want you to keep that body strong.” She gave me one of those thin-lipped, sympathetic smiles.

“I know.” I swam down the pool, stretching my muscles out and trying to put some space between us.

“Well, I was going to cook tonight, but maybe I'll just order something.”

“Anything is fine.”

“Geronimo!” Jaron screamed, and there was a big splash at the far end of the pool. The waves hit me and filled my mouth with water.

“Jaron!” I spat the water out of my mouth. “Will you ever grow up? You've been doing that since you were like, six!”

“Yep!” He smiled widely. “And it still works. You're as irritated as ever.”

I put my two hands together in the water and squirted him in the face. I was an expert aim at squirting water with my hands, right between my thumbs and onto my target.

We all sat down to watch TV, our pizza boxes on the coffee table. Brian looked distracted, as did my dad. But that wasn't too unusual for Dad. He worked hard and had a hard time leaving work at the office—even though he claimed to be retired. Brian and Jaron were sitting on the couch together when Brian looked up at the wall, staring. I followed his line of sight to see a family picture we'd taken just before Jaron left on his mission. Jaron and I looked a lot more alike when my hair was the same baby blond as his.

“Leigh? You used to be blond?” Brian asked, looking over at me.

I laughed and my mother froze. Jaron stopped eating.

“Yep. Used to be. Mom has pictures of me with no hair at all. Those are really great.” For some reason, the simple observation was hysterical. Like, that's what you got from cancer. Not a crappy year where you thought you might die, not a greater understanding of the world around you, of your family's love. You got different hair. I giggled again and took another bite. My mother shifted her food around on her plate.

“Sorry,” Brian said, finally realizing why my hair was different. “It just surprised me. That's all.”

“It's totally fine.” I smiled over at Brian so he'd know I wasn't bothered and then crammed another bite of pizza into my mouth.

seven

“The boys are here!” Jaron laughed as he let himself in to my apartment.

“Thank goodness.” I watched them come in. “I'm on romantic movie overload.”

“What?” Jaron stopped in front of me.

“Well, you do know we're watching Romeo and Juliet tonight, right?”

“We were warned.” Brian chuckled, walked around Jaron, and plopped himself into a chair in the living room.

“We started last week with Jane Austen in some marathon run of Pride and Prejudice.” I rolled my eyes.

“Colin Firth.” Kim folded her arms as if that was explanation enough.

“I thought chicks loved that stuff.” Brian looked over his shoulder at me.

“Not this chick,” I answered. “I was stuck listening to Elizabeth Bennett be clueless and Mr. Darcy be snippy all week. And this,” I held up the copy of Romeo and Juliet, “is what we're doing tonight.”

“At least the music is good.” Brian smiled.

I nodded and looked at the cover. “That's true. The soundtrack is pretty awesome.” And Leonardo DiCaprio was generally worth watching.

“You like that?” He looked surprised.

“Yeah, why?”

“Doesn't seem like Leigh music, that's all.”

I shrugged. “It was a big winner with my Seattle friends. Old but good.”

“It's not that old,” Brian said.

I suppressed a laugh. He would think that. He was the oldest one there, by probably a few years. “How old are you, anyway?”

“Twenty-five.” He pointed at me. “And don't give me any crap about being the oldest guy here. Stuart is two months older than me.”

I looked to the left and then to the right. “Well, Stuart isn't here, is he?”

“Okay, you two, can we start the movie now?” Megan asked.

I slumped dramatically into the couch.

“Oh, come on, what's the matter with Romeo and Juliet?” Megan took the movie from my grasp to put it in the DVD player.

“Do you want a list?” I didn't wait for an answer. “Romeo's whining about a girl one day, in love with Juliet the next. He has the decency to marry her but then they go back to her parent's house? I mean, what kind of asinine plan is that? Come on, their families hate each other! If you're going to sneak away and get married, just sneak away! It's like watching the girl in a horror movie walk up the dark attic stairs. She totally deserves whatever she gets at the top.”

“You're saying they deserved to die!” Megan was aghast as she sat on the floor in front of the TV, staring at me.

I didn't know if they deserved to die or not, but it had never seemed like the great love story everyone thought it was. I shrugged in response.

“You're unbelievable.” Jaron shook his head.

“Seriously,” Kim agreed. “What made you so cynical, anyway?”

“I'm not cynical. I just don't understand the wild romantic gestures. ‘I love you so much, I'd kill myself.’” I said in dramatic fashion.

“So what would you have a guy say, Leigh?” Kim was still in disbelief at my attitude.

“I love you so much that I'll hang with you in the backyard while you're wearing your grungiest sweatpants and haven't showered in two days. I'll call you beautiful and mean it. I'll be with you forever because I want to be, not because we have to be.” It was the little things that mattered, not the big ones.

Megan and Kim both shook their heads at me and started to settle on the couch.

“You know what, Leigh?” Brian sat forward to look at me. “You think like a guy.”

“What?” I jerked my head over to see him.

“But she dresses so girly.” Kim protested. “She should think like a girl. I mean, you dress like a romantic.” She looked at me. “All your pretty blouses and full skirts.”

“Well, maybe I've used all my romanticism up on that,” I responded.

Brian looked over at Kim. “She may dress like a girl, but her romantic sensibilities are on par with most men I know—Jaron excluded, of course.”

Jaron faced me. “Leigh's total refusal of romanticism is why she's completely clueless when it comes to boys.” I opened my mouth to argue, but he continued before I had a chance to speak. “Evan, right now.” He held his hand up to keep me silenced. “All my friends from high school asked me at some point in time if they could ask out my little sister. You can see it on the faces of all the guys she let take her to a dance. There they are, gazing at Leigh, and Leigh's just standing there smiling for the camera, completely oblivious.” Jaron started laughing.

I threw a pillow at him and folded my arms, refusing to look at him. He knew I was just messing around.

“Can we please start the movie?” Megan asked.

I gestured for her to proceed.

“And there will be no remarks from Leigh or the rest of you,” she warned, pointing her finger first at me and then at the two boys. “This is one of the greatest love stories of all time, and besides, it's part of my schoolwork.” She flopped herself against the back of the couch and hit play.

I walked to Julie's house, anxious to see her again. My sweater was barely warm enough to keep me from freezing. Fall had hit hard.

“Come in!” I heard Julie's voice on the other side of the door as I walked up the steps.

“Julie?” I asked. “Where are you?” The kitchen was deserted.

“I'm in the living room.”

I poked my head around.

“Are you okay?”

“I feel a little green.” She lifted her head off the side of the couch.

“You look a little green.” I said. “Can I get you anything?”