Page 112 of True Honey
That brought a smile to his face.
“You are the most stubborn, annoyingly pushy person I know. You have insulted me, pushed me away, chased after me, followed me home with your car, stole my books,stole my heart.” Ella hummed, “I was committed to walking alone, to spending the rest of my life apologizing to ghosts and sitting in the dark. But from the moment you laid eyes on me, you were committed to making sure I never did. You have been here, two steps at a time, incessant and convincing. Thank you for not giving up on me even when it felt too big, even when I slammed the door in your face.”
I looked over at Drew who was staring through the two of them at me. She had that soft worried expression on her face and it tightened the string around my heart. Fear blossomed there, stinging the cuts left behind by the thread. I needed to try harder, for her. For us.
“Arlo I love you,” Ella said softly, “you will always be my favorite.”
Ella and Arlo were sitting at their table in the center of the baseball diamond. It was dressed in hazy lights that hung low into the center in long rows of buzzing bulbs. The tables scattered out over the field in a circle so everyone was included and Ella had refused to do a seating plan.“Everyone can sit where they want.”She declared much to Cael’s annoyance that day. But she had a purpose because now the whole thing felt like a family dinner. Cael had even brought Lorraine’s chair up from the Nest and it sat in the corner, with her picture, along side one of Arlo's mother, and a basket overflowing with lavender.
Cael was getting restless but it wasn’t until Ella nodded that he sprung from his chair, dragging it across the grass to rest by their table and clambering up on top so everyone could see him.
He tapped his glass of water a few times with the back of a knife but he wasn’t loud enough for people to realize he wanted their attention.
“Shut up!” Arlo stood, his palms flat on the table and yelled like he always did.
The field went dead silent.
“Thanks princess,” he said before clearing his throat. “Most of you know who I am, and honestly if you don’t I’m not sure why you were invited…” Cael trailed off and Ella shook her head at him with a laugh. “And yes if you were wondering I’m her something blue,” he waved to his seat but I’m also Ella’s something borrowed,” he smiled down at her, “a brother.” She held her hand up to him and he took it gently in his own. “I never met Ethan but I’ve heard every story that could be told about him and there is one thing I know for sure. He’d be so proud of you.”
Ella’s nose scrunched up as she fought to keep from crying. “You showed up at Harbor with the intention of keeping your head down, finishing school and disappearing forever. But Harbor had different plans for you and I like to think that Ethan did too. Then you bulldozed your way into the Nest without expectations and took every single one of us under your wing. Peachy, we probably wouldn’t have survived this long without your love. Arlo definitely not.” He laughed and Arlo flipped him off. “When you asked me to be your something blue I obviously took it too far and decided that if I’m one, I’m clearly all four.”
“Cael,” Arlo grumbled loudly, “fuck off.”
“I’m speaking,” he hissed playfully at Arlo.
“Seriously?” He looked to Ella for help but she was too focused on Cael to care. “I hate you both.”
“Something new was a little harder to get my hands on, I’m not an artist and I don’t even have a paying job but I can get creative when I need to.” Cael said the mischief was violent in his expression. He dug in his pocket and tossed a set of house keys at Arlo. “By creative I mean I roped Silas into a plan so I could spend his money.”
“What are these?” Arlo asked but his gaze was on me at the next table.
“You can’t live at the Nest forever, Ar,” I said to him with a sad smile, the end of an era playing out right in front of us.
“If my best friends weren’t rats, I could have tried,” his voice was tight and angry but there was a smile on his face. He was grateful he just wasn't sure how to say thank you.
“We love you too,” Cael laughed, using Ella for balance as the chair shook in the grass. “Mom would be proud,” he got serious, looking at Arlo. “She always knew you were the best of us and she’d be ecstatic you found the best. This is also my chance to petition that your first born be named after me!”
“I’m going to strangle him.” Arlo surged from his chair and Cael almost fell backward but somehow kept his balance against the odds. “Finish your speech so I can kill you.”
Ella snorted, tugging on Arlo’s belt to get his attention. One look from her and he was sinking back into his chair with a tight jaw, but Cael would live to see another day.
“The distance between us will be hard,” he cleared his throat and looked around at the team now. Everyone sat quiet in the realization that it was all coming to an end. The family we’d been for nearly ten years, players coming and going, relationships forming and growing. Soon we’d all be on our own and the fear of solitude was horrifying for a group of people that had grown into themselves just feet from each other.
Drew squeezed my hand under the table, her touch bringing me a semblance of relief as Cael continued.
“But not impossible,” he said. “Time pushes and pulls people around but we’ve always been a force to be reckoned with and that doesn’t change. The Nest will always have new faces to nurture, new players to help. It doesn’t end here. We will always be a family. Living under one roof or many, we’ll always find home in each other and that’s a promise.” Cael tapped his fingers to his chest, holding them there. Ryan rose from his chair and mirrored the motion creating a waterfall effect of players that joined in. Soon the entire team was staring at Ella and Arlo.
Two fingers to the chest, a universal sign for I love you.
Something old.
“To Mom and Dad!” Cael yelled loudly and the entire room cheered.
COURTNEY
Isipped on the whiskey that Silas set in front of me. He was talking to Ryan about the games next week and I was completely lost. But it gave me time to take in my surroundings. The tables had been cleared and everyone was flooding the space created for dancing but he was very clearly done with the entire day. Cael’s speech had been so sweet and it was wild to watch the way they cared for each other as an outsider.
Seymour had snuck in a conversation about how soon it would be Silas and I leading the circus and the thought was eating away at the back of mind like a rabid dog. I didn’t want to think about that, I wanted to focus on the good I had in front of me at that moment.
