Page 6 of Losing a Piece of Me

Pops and I both stand stock-still. His eyes are watching me; I, however, am staring at that radio.

“You know she’s just going to meet up with Murphy and I’ll be dragging them both in anyway. Just let me have this one.” I can picture him stomping his foot right now.

“Turn her loose, Tom.”

The line goes quiet. Pops turns back around to finish up my food, but I don’t move an inch.

She’s here.

Lex is back.

My head is a mess as Pops comes around and places my plate in front of me. “You okay, son?”

I shake my head. “It doesn’t really matter, does it?”

He lets out a short laugh. “Well, not with that attitude.”

“It doesn’t matter with any attitude. She left me. I’ve called. I’ve searched for her for years. She doesn’t want anything to do with me.” I take a bite of my burger, which turns out to be severely burnt, so I spit it back out onto the plate. “You burnt it because you were listening to the radio, didn’t you?”

“Give me that.” He reaches over and takes my burger. “That’s not burnt, it’s well done.” The man is too stubborn to admit he is wrong; he chomps through the blackened patty and starts chewing it. His facial expression is comical as he musters all his willpower to not spit it out.

He chews on the hunk of charcoal for several minutes before he finally swallows and tosses the rest back down on my plate. “I’ll go make you another one.” He motions over his shoulder to the kitchen with his thumb.

* * *

I finish eating the fresh burger that Pops made and toss a fifty down on the counter while he’s in the back. “I’ll be back by in a few days, Pops.”

“Thanks for the warning,” he hollers back from the kitchen.

I walk slowly to my truck and climb in behind the wheel, but don’t start the engine. I can’t seem to think of anything but Lex. It’s been six years since I have seen her. Hell, I haven’t even talked to her in six years. Truth be told, I don’t even know why she left to begin with. One day we were together and the next she was gone.

I assumed she left early for college, but her parents wouldn’t tell me a thing. They hated me and blamed me for all the trouble she got into, but I never confessed that it was the other way around.

Why is she back? I have to see her.

After gathering my composure, I turn the key in the ignition and drive the mile to her parents’ house. I park across the street and gaze up at the big brick house. The yard and shrubs are perfectly manicured, and there are lights shining against the front brick. A perfect all-American house for a perfect all-American family. But I know different. Lex hated living there. In fact, I always blamed them for her leaving. She didn’t fit in with the rest of her family. They thought they were better than everyone else because they had more money than anyone in town. Lex was different, though.

She didn’t look at me and see trouble, but her parents only saw me as something dangerous that could ruin their daughter. Lex just saw me. She always saw me for exactly what I was: the son of a drunk who just wanted to get out of this shit town. She was the same way. Both of us just wanted away from the lives we were forced to live.

Lex and I met when we were both twelve. I was trying to rebel because my mom left. My dad had turned to drinking and hit me on more than one occasion. I talked back to my teachers, didn’t do homework, and got into the occasional fight. Lex saw me as someone who needed a friend or just someone that she could cause trouble with. Either way, I didn’t care. She was beautiful, with her long, dark hair and crystal blue eyes.

I wanted her from the moment I caught her laughing while I got in trouble for talking back in class. I knew she didn’t see me as anything more, so I took what I could get: her friendship.

We snuck out of our houses to be with one another. She was my first kiss. We both wanted to try it, but she said it had to be special.

She wouldn’t let me kiss her just anywhere, so I told her to pick the place and I would make it happen. I never let her know that I wanted that kiss. I acted like it was more of a favor I was doing for her than anything.

Of all the places she could have chosen, she picked the sheriff’s new police cruiser.

His keys were left behind in the ignition while he went to grab some coffee and flirt with the waitress. As soon as his back was turned, we jumped inside and Lex fired it up.

We parked by the lake and turned toward one another. My heart pounded in my chest as I stared into her eyes. I was nervous and clueless, but I could never let her know that. I was supposed to be a badass.

I leaned across the center console and placed my lips against hers. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to make me realize that she was what I wanted.

When I pulled away, she giggled and her cheeks turned pink. “Should we try it the other way now?”

“The other way?” I asked, my voice shaking.

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