Get-Together Summer by Lotus Oakes Page A

again. Her lips were pursed
and her eyebrows were drawn together; she was definitely judging
him, though she slipped again into an easy plastic smile when her
eyes met his.
    "No thank you," he said.
    "You done with your food?"
    "I think so."
    "Ready for the check?"
    "Yes." He crossed his arms and lifted his chin a
little, trying to appear as intimidating -- or at least as casually
in control -- as possible. He didn't think he succeeded, from the
way she just raised an eyebrow at him and gave a little shrug
before pulling out the pad she'd taken his order on and tearing off
the top sheet. The total price wasn't bad, and he put his credit
card down after barely glancing at the number. She swept that up
and away, and he leaned back in the booth seat with a sigh. He'd
lost any sort of momentum with her before he'd even ordered, he
thought wryly to himself; he was lucky that as a rule, the Oakleys
didn't frequent places like this, so his mistake wouldn't
necessarily be brought back to haunt him later.
    When she returned with his receipt and after Simon
had signed, he slunk out of the diner without a backwards glance.
His stomach felt mostly leaden and uncomfortable, the extra food
weighing heavily inside of him. He kept his shoulders loose and his
pace casual, doing his best to act like he was the same as any
other person in the crowd of unaware, blithely distracted summer
tourists. He walked all the way down to the waterfront, out onto
the rocky outcrop that stretched further out onto the ocean than
the beach itself, and stood at the edge, squinting out into the
wide blue expanse of water. He could hear people shrilling behind
him, girls and boys both, but out here it was just him and a
fisherman in jeans that had been torn off at the knees, the fishing
rod's butt wedged between his crossed knees, apparently fast
asleep.
    Simon liked the ocean, even if he didn't like being
outside: it was beautiful as it was vast, and always-changing;
people could attempt to contain it and control it, but in the end,
all of their small beliefs were swept away. When he had been much
younger, his father had told him it was a metaphor for a family
like theirs, born rich and wielding the power it gave them
judiciously, knowing when to pretend to yield and when to crush
others mercilessly. Part of him still appreciated that, though more
of him now wavered in the face of having dealt with Dirk for the
past couple of days. And if it were that easy to sway him, he
reasoned to himself, then perhaps he had not believed as strongly
in his father's words as he'd thought.
    But he still liked looking out upon the waves; just
watching the slow ripple of the water and the occasional white
flash of seagulls swooping down, he could feel knots inside of him
slowly relaxing, bit by bit. Even the waves caused by people
splashing around in the shallows faded by the time they reached
where he stood, smoothing into the natural ebb and flow of the
water.
    If he were honest, he liked it simply for the fact
that it was beautiful, and the fact that it seemed wide enough to
embrace the entire endless horizon. It didn't remind him of the
Oakleys and their power, it reminded him of Haley, pretty and
perfect and so apparently untouchable, even to him when he'd held
her hand in his or she'd leaned against him in maternal
fussing.
    He took a deep breath and held it in his lungs until
they began to ache, then let it out in a sharp huff. He rubbed his
eyes as if to clear them, then turned and began the walk back,
first to the beach, then to the city, and then back to his vacation
home.
    The front door was unlocked when he arrived, and when
he opened it, he could hear the sounds of the TV going; from the
sound of it, it was on some sort of commercial. He closed the door
quietly behind himself, this time being sure to lock it, and
stepped out of his shoes. Barefoot he tiptoed down the hallway
towards the den where the TV was, and found that door open as well.
Inside, he could see