Lingering Echoes by Erica Kiefer

and with Brooke working the day shift, it was just the two of us walking through the path of trees. I scrunched my eyebrows, not liking the mild hint of criticism in his voice.
    “ Nick’s a jerk. He goes out of his way to make life difficult for me, and we barely know each other.”
    “Well, do you ever think that’s why you both give each other a hard time? That maybe it’d be easier if you did get to know each other?”
    Disbelief caught in my throat. “Oh, please. Now you sound like my dad, who wants everything to be just peachy, simply because he decided to get married again.” I threw the question back at Aaron. “Did you ever think that I am getting to know Nick, and that’s why I don’t like him? Makes sense to me.”
    Aaron was look ing at the ground as we walked, keeping his thoughts to himself for the moment.
    “Why do you care, anyway?” I asked. “No offense, but it’s not any of your business.”
    Aaron sighed . “Because—Nick is my best friend. We’ve been friends since the seventh grade. Just because I’m a guy, doesn’t mean I don’t care about my friends’ feelings.”
    “That’s what I don’t get,” I interjected. “How did someone like you become friends with a grumpy kid like him?” For a full minute, the only sounds between Aaron an d I were the crunching of pine needles beneath our feet.
    “Nick’s had it a little tough growing up,” Aaron started. “You know much about it?”
    “Just that his dad left him and Clara when he was little.”
    Aaron explained further. “When Nick showed up in seventh grade as a new kid, he didn’t make the easiest transition. He was bad tempered and an easy target for some of the guys. Then he got himself into worse trouble. But once I got him to hang out with me after school playing sports and stuff, he turned around ok. And we became good friends from then on.”
    “What kind of trouble are you talking about?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. Aaron shrugged.
    “Why don’t you ask him about it some time? Might give you something to talk about.”
    “Ha. Or fi ght about,” I corrected. “Never mind. Basically, you’re saying he has a sob story and I should be more sympathetic.”
    Aaron stopped walking. I took another step or two before I turned around.
    “What?” I asked, noting the disapproval in his eyes.
    Aaron looked confused. “You know, for someone that seems to have a sob story of her own, I’d expect a little more compassion or something.”
    I tried to bury the small mound of guilt growing inside me. “Yeah, well, maybe you should tell your boy the same thing. He’s not winning any awards of empathy these days either. But to be honest, I don’t think either of us cares about you playing the mediator between us, so you may as well stop wasting your time and energy. We’ll survive the summer and then it’ll be months before I need to worry about seeing him again.”
    Aaron looked at me with disappointment. “So that’s it, huh? You’re not even going to make an effort?”
    I sighed, hating the way I felt, but unable to stop myself from continuing. “Some relationships are not worth the effort.” I stared down at the ground, scraping at the dirt with the bottom of my flip-flop. I didn’t dare look up at Aaron, and I wasn’t sure he was still there.
    But behind me, I could hear a motor growing louder as it approached. My stomach fluttered as I turned around towards the river. In the distance, I could see a figure approaching on a black and silver dirt bike.
    “Is that him?” Aaron asked, moving to stand beside me. I could detect a shadowed hint of discontentment in his voice. I didn’t answer. Instead, I watched Damien drive across the bridge and pull up alongside the river. Rather than approach us any closer, he waited and watched us from fifty feet away, without saying a word. The motor of his bike continued to drone, while Damien’s eyes beckoned.
    I took a step towards him, but Aaron