..........
The
Violets
“Come on, man, you’re gonna be late,”
Adam sighed, leaning against his beat-up
Jeep while running an exasperated hand through his curls. Noah always took five
hours getting dressed in the morning.
“I’m coming, jeez,” the boy flung open
their front door, “Bye Mom!”
He didn’t wait for her to respond
before he slung an unzipped backpack over his shoulder as he ran to the car.
“Get in, loser, unless you plan on flunking out of high school for tardiness,”
Adam raised an eyebrow at his younger brother, urging him to hop in the car
already. Sighing in annoyance, Noah obeyed, giving Adam the evil eye when he
sat behind the wheel.
“Hey, don’t give me that,” Adam
laughed, thumping his brother upside the head, “I’m just looking out for you,
bro,”
“Yeah, yeah,” Noah suppressed a smile,
swatting Adam’s hand away when he attempted to ruffle his hair. Rolling his
eyes, Adam started up the car before taking his usual route to Jefferson High.
He watched out of the corner of his eye as Noah took to fumbling with a rumpled
piece of paper in his hands.
“So,” the younger one took out a packet
of Skittles, popping one in his mouth, “How’s the project going?”
“Oh and since when do you care so much
about my boring college projects?” Adam
looked on at the road with a smirk. Noah shrugged, shrinking into his seat a
little more. There was a red light up ahead, and Adam took this opportunity to
snag the paper from Noah’s hands, only to have him yell in protest. Unfolding
it far above his head, Adam spoke teasingly, “What do we have here? ...Ohh,
who’s Jessica?”
“Adam, you dickhead, give that back!”
Noah took off his seatbelt in vain, the wrinkled piece of paper far out of
reach. Adam continued driving with one hand, the scrawled letter still in the
other, “Sit back down and maybe I will,” In his urgency, Noah let the Skittles
pour all over the car floor, “Dammit!”
Red-faced and grumbling, he put his
seatbelt back on before crossing his arms over his chest and glaring
expectantly up at his older brother. “Give it.”
Quickly scanning the boy, Adam chucked
the paper back at his brother, trying not to laugh at his humiliation. “So,” he
continued, “Who’s this Jessica chick?”
“None of your damn business,” Noah
muttered, pulling the hoodie over his head whilst he tucked away the letter
into his back pocket. “Oh, come on, man, give me something,” Adam prodded,
letting his eyes wander from the road to his little brother.
He stayed silent for a few seconds
before speaking up, “She’s in my History class and she’s really smart.” Noah
didn’t look up to see Adam’s response.
“So you’re into nerds?”
“Piss off,” Noah turned his back to
Adam, resting his head on the glass while trying to ignore the hooting
laughter.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, man, I’m not
laughing at you, I just think it’s
funny… Is that why you asked me about my project?” Adam reeled in a chuckle,
sensing that this was probably a big deal to the kid.
Noah gave the slightest nod, letting
the curls fall into his emerald eyes.
“Dude, don’t talk about stuff you know
nothing about… You don’t need college level knowledge to impress some sophomore
girl, okay?” Adam spoke more sincerely this time, pulling into the school
parking lot. Noah unbuckled himself. “Okay?”
“Okay.”
Adam threw him a punch to the arm as he
grabbed for his book bag. “Hey, you’re pretty smart on your own, bud, and if
she doesn’t see that, then she’s a stuck up priss, all right?” He offered the
boy a smile and got the slightest hint of one back.
Adam watched the kid jog up the steps,
shaking his head at how quickly he’d grown. When Noah finally disappeared from
sight, Adam let his eyes wander to the Skittles still on the ground. “Dammit, Noah, now I’m gonna have to clean
this up by myself,”
Adam was already in class when he felt
his phone buzz.
Gonna
get flowers. She likes violets. C u in a bit. –Noah
Smiling to himself, he tucked his phone
away, not really caring what his Math professor had to say.
Adam always got out of class at five.
“Hey, Adam, wanna come hang with us for
a while?” his best friend Sam asked as they pooled out of the Academic
building. “Nah, man, I gotta go pick lover boy up from the flower shop,” Adam
smirked, pulling a beanie over his head. “Whatever you say, dude,” Sam threw him
a salute before heading the other way.
Adam jogged to his car quicker than
usual so as not to let the gradually increasing rain soak through his flannel
shirt.
“Fuck,”
The engine
wouldn’t start and he knew Noah was already waiting on him. “Come on, baby,
please,” Adam spoke to his six-year-old Jeep, trying as best he could to get it
to start, to no avail.
“Screw it,
I’m calling a cab,” he said to himself, knowing his mom would probably kill him
when he got home. Just as he was about to dial, an unknown number showed up on
the screen. “Hello?”
“Is this
Adam Foster?
“Yes, who’s
this?” he spoke tentatively.
“This is
Rita from Northbell Hospital. Adam, your brother’s been stabbed.”
The rain
was pouring down harder now, but he couldn’t hear it. “Mr. Foster, I need you
to stay with me, please,” the lady demanded. She asked for a number, an
address, and some other stuff he couldn’t remember. The beanie was falling off
his head now but he didn’t even notice. He found himself saying he would be
there soon in unfamiliar monotone.
He called
the cab but didn’t remember it getting there. He walked into his mom but didn’t
remember greeting her. “Where is he?” he found his voice scraping the bottom of
his register.
“Mr.
Foster, you can’t see him right—”
“Where is
my goddamn baby brother?”
“Adam,” his
mother grabbed him by the arm, tearfully, “Adam, honey, they’re seeing him now.
We’re going to have to wait.”
Those were the longest two hours of his life, Adam decided. The fluorescent lights had long since given him a headache and the stainless, white walls were making him sick to his stomach.
Those were the longest two hours of his life, Adam decided. The fluorescent lights had long since given him a headache and the stainless, white walls were making him sick to his stomach.
“Foster?”
Adam had never
stood up any faster than when he heard that name.
“Only one
at a time,”
His heart
sank, letting his mother go in first. He knew she needed it more than he did,
but it was cutting it pretty close. Another fifteen minutes went by before he
was allowed to enter. He did everything he possibly could to block out the
crimson bandage wrapped around his paling brother’s waist.
“Adam?”
came his almost inaudible voice.
“Hey,
Noah,” Adam forced his voice not to crack, “How’re you feeling, bud?”
There was silence, and then he spoke:
“I feel fine.”
Goddammit,
Noah… It was becoming harder and harder for Adam to keep himself
together, especially when his brother was proving himself to be so much braver
than Adam already knew he was. Taking a seat by the beeping machine at his
bedside, Adam found himself grabbing hold of Noah’s smaller hand. He’d always
been small for his age.
“Of course you feel fine,” Adam mumbled
under his breath, allowing a small smile to make its way to his lips. Noah
simply looked on at him through piercing green eyes, the only feature they
shared besides their curls. Again, there was silence. Adam’s eyes trailed back
to the bloodied bandage swallowing his little brother.
“Noah, I am so, so sorry,” he couldn’t
bear to stare back any longer.
“I
let this happen. It’s my fault,” he kept thinking.
“I should’ve been there sooner like I
promised, I was running late again and I wasn’t supposed to and I’m so, so
sorry, Noah, I am, I—”
“Dude, it’s cool. We’re good,” the
younger boy stopped him with a weak squeeze of the hand before he could say
anything else. Then he smiled.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
They let the silence take over again.
“Hey Adam?”
“Hmm?”
“If I don’t get out in time, will you
go get more violets and get them to Jessica for me?”
There was a subtle hint of confidence
in the way he asked the question, something that gave Adam a good feeling about
this girl.
“Sure thing, kiddo,” Adam squeezed his
hand.
Things were going to be all right.
There you have it, folks. I still think my brain turned to mush, so forgive the sappiness (I originally had killed Noah off, but I had a three page limit).
Hasta la próxima!
Much love xoxo
Maya
..........
Hasta la próxima!
Much love xoxo
Maya
No comments:
Post a Comment