Authors: Alex Tully
CHAPTER
16
The last three weeks had been uneventful ones for Trevor. Junior year of high
school was officially finished and summer had begun. Things had pretty much gone back to normal—well maybe not normal, but uncomplicated at least.
Bea never tried to get in touch with him after he left the voicemail, which was kind of d
isappointing. He knew he needed to leave her alone, but he still missed her and wondered what she was up to. Did she hang out at the beach? The pool? Did she wear a bikini?
She was prob
ably royally pissed at him. He felt bad about ending things the way he did, but he couldn’t tell her face-to-face that it was over. He didn’t have the guts. She would want to know why, and he didn’t know what the hell to say.
Evelyn Stewart was a problem—or as he liked to call her—
Evil Lyn. She had actually called Trevor a couple of times and left crazy messages about needing to talk to him. She must’ve gotten his number from Bea’s phone.
That lady had serious issues. She always sounded half-drunk and h
e had no interest in hearing anything she had to say. He just wanted to forget that night ever happened.
He stayed busy
working in the Box. He had picked up some valuable things at the old lady’s house Frank had told him about. An old generator and a pretty decent lawnmower were two things he fixed up and gave to Uncle Gary. Hopefully, that would keep the fat-ass off his back for a while.
He had also stopped going to his appointments with Dr. Fisher at the Crazy Kids Center. He couldn’t deal with that either. Down deep he felt bad about the things he had said to her. Making her sound like a gold-digger, when she had obviously worked very hard for her career, was pretty low. And he knew
Mr.T wasn’t happy about it. But Trevor told him he needed a break. Maybe he would go back some day, but not now.
Today was the Regional Environmental Fair for all of the Cleveland area high schools. Trevor had been working on a presentation for Westwood High on garbage recycling. Specifically he had put together a display on how many household items thrown out in the trash could actually be donated and fixed. He had photographs of many of the projects he had done in the Box.
The fair was being held at the convention center downtown. He had asked Mr.T to go with him. Trevor had a lot to carry, including one of those big tri-fold display boards. Trying to take all that stuff on the bus was going to be a pain in the ass. Mr.T was happy to help. He said he had been feeling much better since his trip to the hospital and would like to get out of the house for a change of scenery.
They walked into the main hall of the convention center and were immediately hit with the clamoring of hundreds of excited high school students. The huge room was filled with rows of long tables draped in white. Students were setting up their displays, some very elaborate, some very simple. Trevor figured his display would definitely fall on the simple side.
Some local businesses actually gave out cash prizes for things like “The Most Creative” and “The Most Feasible” exhibits. There were only two rules: the idea had to have a direct impact on the environment in a positive way. And of course, the materials used in the exhibit should be environmentally friendly. Trevor didn’t really care about the prizes. He just loved to see all of the different ideas. Although, he guessed it could be pretty impressive on a college application to win something at the environmental fair.
“Wow, this is kind of crazy,” Trevor said as he surveyed the room.
“Do you know where your school is?” Mr.T asked.
“Yeah, I have this map of the exhibit floor. According to this, Westwood High is towards the Northwest corner. That way.” He pointed over to the corner opposite the entrance.
They walked through the myriad of tables and projects strewn all over the floor. Finally they came to a table with a simple white curtain behind it and a small sign that read “Westwood High” in black letters. Trevor was the only person representing his school. No one else had shown any interest in attending the fair. He guessed that spending a summer afternoon raising awareness for the environmental plight of the planet, wasn’t on the high list for most students at Westwood.
Trevor and
Mr.T began setting up the display for his exhibit “Trash is Treasure.” His tri-fold display board was like a miniature version of his photo wall in the Box. Pictures of his ‘before and after’s covered the board, with captions underneath showing details of when the items were restored.
Pulling
open a large brown bag, Trevor began taking out small items he was able to fix up: a lamp from the seventies, an antique mirror, and an oscillating fan. He wanted to show the variety of items he found.
“When does this shindig officially start?”
Mr.T asked.
“Actually I think one o’clock is when the judges come in and
then it opens to the public at—.” Trevor stopped in mid-sentence.
“What is it?”
She was there. One row in front of his, but at the opposite end of the convention center, stood Bea. She was standing behind a booth with a giant planet earth hanging above it.
“It’s Bea,” said Trevor. He couldn’t stop staring at her. She hadn’t seen him; he was sure of it.
Just then, a tall blond guy dressed in khakis and a navy jacket walked over to Bea and stood next to her
. Didn’t Bea go to an all-girl’s school?
As soon as Trevor finished the thought, Blondie was putting his arm around her and whispering something in her ear. She was laughing. A strange feeling was creeping over Trevor and he didn’t like it. “What the…?”
Mr.T chimed in, “Oh yes, I see her now…”
“You know what? I’m gonna go say ‘hi’…yeah, I’ll be back in a minute.” Without thinking, Trevor quickly walked over to Bea’s table
, never taking his eyes off her. He didn’t want to lose his nerve.
He was
only a couple of steps away when she looked up and saw him. Her eyes got wide and she immediately stopped smiling.
“Hi Bea
.”
Crossing her arms in front of her, s
he met his eyes with an intense stare. No response.
Shit, what was he thinking? Too late now…
He stumbled on his words, “I, uh…I didn’t know you would be at the fair.”
Real smooth.
She waved her hand toward Blondie. “This is Kevin, my boyfriend. Kevin, this is an old friend of mine, Trevor.” She made the introduction with a phony smile.
Her words stung and Trevor felt his face getting hot. His eyelid started twitching. He couldn’t believe it—was this guy really her boyfriend? And why did that bother him so much? He looked at Bea, trying to figure out what to say next.
“I’m sorry, did you say Ken? Like Ken and Barbie?” He couldn’t hide his anger. “That’s cute. How long has Ken here been your boyfriend?”
Blondie spoke up with a hint of fear in his voice, “It’s Kevin, and we just met two weeks ago. Honest.”
Bea leaned over the table and
said, “You know what Trevor? It’s none of your business. We’re not friends anymore. You blew me off, remember?” She turned to Kevin, “I’ll be back later.”
As Bea walked away from the booth, Trevor frantically tried to think of something to say, but
she was gone before he could.
Trevor and
Kevin were left standing there staring at each other. Kevin just shrugged his shoulders, “Sorry, man.”
“Yea whatever.” Trevor walked back to his booth feeling frustrated and defeated.
CHAPTER
17
Trevor was definitely upset; the kid was quiet for the rest of the fair. His enthusiasm seemed to disappear and it wasn’t hard to figure out why. Tom caught him looking over at the girl’s booth several times, but she didn’t seem fazed by their earlier meeting. She was laughing and carrying on with another boy. Tom was sure it was eating Trevor up inside. Ah, young love…
During the drive home Tom tried to cheer the kid up. He told Trevor an embarrassing story about a recent visit to his cardiologist. At his last check-up Tom asked the doctor if it would be safe for him to take Viagra. After all, he and Carol had been spending a lot of time together and who knows what could happen. And he wasn’t a spring chicken anymore, that was for sure. He might need some help in that department.
“And guess what he said?” Tom looked
over at Trevor who simply stared straight ahead. “He said it was too risky now. I was so ticked off.”
Tom was determined to get a reaction out of the kid, “Well, the doctor could see my disappointment, so he told me a good joke to cheer me up. You want to hear it?”
Trevor sighed, “Sure.”
“Okay see, an old man is putting on his coat and his wife asks where he is going. He tells her he’s going to the doctor to get some Viagra. So the wife gets up and puts on her coat and the husband asks where she is going.”
Tom chuckled to himself, but the kid’s expression hadn’t changed. “And the wife says she is going to the doctor too. And the husband is confused and he says ‘Why?’ and she says ‘Because if you’re going to start using that rusty old thing again, I’m going to get a tetanus shot.’”
The kid finally smiled
—barely, but it was still a smile.
“Good one, huh?”
After a few more minutes of silence Tom prodded, “So, you really like that girl, Bea?”
Trevor’s eyes were
still on the road, “Yeah, I guess I like her more than I thought I did. Seeing her with that Kevin dork really pissed me off.”
“You know it’s never too late to say you’re sorry. I’m sure she would go out with you again if you asked. I think she was just putting on a show with that other guy.”
Trevor laughed, “Mr.T. I think you’re forgetting something. Her mom…all the drama. It’s just messy.”
The kid had a point, but Tom could also see he had it bad for this girl. “Well you’ll figure it out kid.”
Trevor shrugged his shoulders. “And, what’s the point, you know? I mean we only have one more year of high school and then who knows what we’ll be doing. She just gets under my skin. I mean you can’t really be serious about someone at my age.”
Trevor got off the highway and they started driving toward Westwood. “God, I’m hungry, I think there’s a Subway up here.”
“You’re wrong Trevor,” Tom said.
“What? No Subway?”
“No. You’re wrong about being serious with someone at your age. I met my wife when I was seventeen. You can definitely be serious with someone. You can even find the love of your life. I’m not trying to give you false hope, but it does happen.”
“
Mr.T…Can I ask how long you were married?”
Tom had a hard time saying it, “Thirty-two years.”
“Wow, that’s a long time.”
It should’ve been much longer
, thought Tom. “Yeah, they were thirty-two great years.”
“And you have two daughters that live in California, right?”
Both of Tom’s daughters, now in their forties, lived in San Diego. Both were happily married and had successful careers. They had moved there shortly after graduating from college. They bothered Tom continuously about moving out there—especially after Maddie died.
Even though the weather was a
perfect sunny seventy-two degrees every day, Tom couldn’t find it in his heart to leave Cleveland. He would visit the girls often, and loved it for a week or two, but no more than that. As crazy as it may sound, the palm trees and fancy cars just weren’t for him.
“Yep, two wonderful daughters, and three wonderful grandchildren.” Tom nudged Trevor with his elbow, “And you would’ve met them by now if you ever took me up on my offer.”
Every summer the girls came out to visit Tom. They rented a large vacation home on Kelley’s Island in Lake Erie. Tom really didn’t have enough room at his house, and the islands were only an hour away from Westwood.
The whole family came
, and they made it a real vacation. They cruised the lake, fished for bass, and made s’mores on the campfire. Tom looked forward to it every year, and he asked Trevor to tag along every year. And every year, the kid politely declined.
Now Tom was starting to get hungry. They we
re only a few minutes from home and had passed the Subway long ago. As if reading his mind, Trevor asked, “Hey, you want to go to Sorak’s for some dinner?”
Tom’s mouth started watering at the thought. “Now that’s an idea.” He was starving for some home-cooked food and he would love to see Carol. It was strange how at his age, he could still get butterflies when he saw a special lady.
Sure, Carol might be a little rough around the edges, but she had a lot of great qualities. She was a hard worker, honest, and kind. She had been widowed for the last ten years, and now that her husband was gone, she said the diner was like her family. The friends she made there kept her from ever feeling lonely. Yeah, he and Carol were good companions for each other, without a doubt.
Trevor parked in front of the diner and Tom turned to him. “Listen kid, maybe you should try one more time with the girl. Forget about all the other nonsense. It seems like you really like her. What the hay?”
“What the hay? Really Mr.T?” Trevor shook his head at Tom. “I don’t know, maybe I will.”
With that, they got out of the Grand Polluter and went inside to get some noodles.