tethered

April 2082 - Toby and April Harris are 42, Lucy is 15, Sarah is 13, Sam is 10. (Dallas Deppiesse is 17.) Last update, September 2078.

Lucy is still not allowed to date Dallas Deppiesse, but it has proven to be a lost cause trying to keep them apart. So her parents reason that she is allowed to have friends, and indeed, a friend he is. A friend that she watches movies with, holds hands with, and kisses goodnight at the door. A friend who drives her home from work, invites her over to dinner with his family, and stays until ten almost every night to "study." And the touching, always touching, her fingertips graze his ankle, or his hand comes to rest on her knee, as if they might die if they weren't constantly tethered by some kind of vital but invisible life force.

And nobody wants to mention - you know silly kids and their fragile egos - but do they even realize that they've started to dress color-coordinated?

But both of their grades remain consistently excellent, so who can complain? Call it what you will.

But sometimes, as teenage boys tend to do, Dallas gets a little befuddled. And tonight he's quiet, even quiet for Dallas, and stares at her the way he does when he wants to tell her something.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he says. Of course, he's lying.

Hours later, he's still making the face. There's something wrong with him, but she'll have to ask four or five more times before he'll fess up to it.

"Did one of your ants die?" Lucy says.

"No," Dallas says. "They're all fine."

She says, "Dallas, what?"

"Okay, don't laugh," he says. She's already laughing.

"This is going to sound weird, so don't laugh, but, you're my girlfriend, right? We're like, a couple?" She laughs. He says, "I knew you were going to laugh."

She says, "You're funny." He's still waiting for an answer.

She says, "Yes, we're a couple."

She knows what he's wondering about specifically is that his junior prom is coming up next month, and if he can't date his girlfriend, then it looks like he won't take anyone.

Dallas is still quite possibly the sweetest young man in the whole universe, now measuring up to five feet and nine inches of pure affection! He's always been the smothering type of boyfriend, but it's different this time. This time it's real love. This time, they can both feel it all the way down to their bones.

This is not allowed, by the way, hiding out in the bathroom, necking. But they've discovered that they can steal five minutes here and there before her parents notice that they've gone missing.

They study at his house too sometimes. His parents aren't quite so uptight - his parents are not actually home very often. They both work full time jobs and run their own businesses.

But Lucy and Dallas are smart, and they're taking things slow, which means that there are a lot of things to explore without exploring everything.

She laughs a little, at first, at the thought of their nakedness. That's the girl left in her, the laughter. She laughs, and he says, "You're beautiful." And he means the laughter too. He wouldn't have her any other way.

But then she stops laughing. And it's the young woman in her who melts into his hands. She stops laughing because she trusts him completely, and because his touch is gentle but so precise. She doesn't like to think about where he learned to touch like that. You'd never guess it if you didn't know him, that this shy and awkward young man, when he feels comfortable, would turn into such a charmer!

Charming as he is though, once Lucy is taken care of, he still has to make sure his ants are alive and well. And they are. Lucy doesn't understand it, and maybe love isn't something meant to be made sense of, but somehow, the ant thing only makes her love him more.

***

Dallas does this often, stopped senseless and thinking, She's so pretty...

Sarah is thinking, God, doesn't he have anything better to do than stare at her all day???

Dallas tells her, "I just wanted to say you look really pretty today."

Okay, ball of sweetness, maybe cut it out for a minute while they try to get into the honors program?

Lucy is the star student of the family, but it's Sarah who really wants to study in the honors program. They all assumed the meeting was a formality - you interview, cook the guy some dinner, show him around the house a little, and that would be it. But it didn't go so easily.

They weren't approved. It wasn't because of the lovey-doveys, we don't think. He just didn't seem impressed by the hamburgers they served, or the sparse and simple look of the house, with their school books strewn all across the floor. Maybe he looks down on the people who live in the Hazel Park neighborhood, the ones living in Lakeside Heights, but only barely. He kept asking if they'd made their yearly contribution to the zoo program! It was all he would talk about, which wasn't surprising as the dude was a bear! Even Dallas tried to talk to him, and seriously, what academically-minded man isn't impressed by Dallas Deppiesse? He's like, the smartest kid in the world, or something!

Lucy says, "Don't worry Sis. I'm sure it doesn't mean you'll be doing hard labor for the rest of your life."

But Sarah doesn't buy it.

She has some words for Dallas. Dallas and his sisters are all part of the Lake County Schools honors program, and she says, "So you think you're all smart and special because you got into the honors program, but you know, I'm pretty darn smart too. And so is Lucy!"

Dallas says, "I know."

"And just because your family is rich and live on Lakeshore Road."

"We're actually not rich at all," Dallas says. "My dad mortgaged all of our assets for his robot business."

"Well, whatever," Sarah says. Bitter.

***

Toby and April never got that mountain honeymoon they've always wanted, and since money is still tight as ever, and the kids still keep them busy as ever, they opt for an in-town weekend at Riley Hall. There are no weddings this weekend, so the resort is quiet and peaceful. They enjoy plenty of dancing on an open dance floor, which is ideal since Toby isn't the best dancer.

And the honeymoon suite has a private sauna and hot tub, where they can make out like a couple of teenagers. It brings out the youth left in them. It reminds them of when they were once young and consumingly in love. Maybe Lucy and Dallas have been a good influence after all? Not that they would ever admit to such a thing!

Happy belated honeymoon to Toby and April.

Of course, being parents, they can't help but talk about the kids while they're away. Toby says, "So she wants to go to prom. I'm fine with it, as long as she doesn't wear too much makeup, you know, I don't want her turned into a floozy or anything."

April knows her daughter is friendly and beautiful and popular and she doesn't understand why she hasn't taken an interest in any other boys, ever! April assumed that Dallas would just be a passing infatuation. But as far as high school boyfriends go, Dallas is smart, hardworking, considerate, and polite. What's not to like...? Besides that he's going off to college soon? Or besides that maybe Lucy is a little too attached? Nobody wants to see their baby girl's heart broken.

But Lucy is sixteen years old in three months, and April can't even believe it. She says, "We said sixteen, and now it's here! Can we change our minds and say thirty?"

"No, I think she'd hate us forever," Toby says. "It's just prom. She'll be fine."

***

Their grandparents stay over that weekend to keep an eye on things, and Grandma Tosha bakes cherry pie. She says, "Sarah, why don't you pull up a chair and sit with us."

Sam says, "She's thirteen now. She thinks she has to act mad all the time."

Lucy says, "Sam, that's not nice! You're wearing pink hand-me-down pajamas, so you can't really talk."

Sarah just takes her pie up to her room, looking all bitter and angsty while she goes.

After their grandparents have gone to bed, the light rapping at the second-story bathroom window would have been terrifying, if Lucy hadn't called Summer over in the first place.

Lucy says, "Oh my God, Summer, you're a freak!" Lucy has been spending more time with Summer and her older friends since Melissa moved away last summer. And her older friends have wilder ideas of fun than her sweet cousin Melissa who enjoyed bug-hunting. Summer proposes they have a campout at North Beach, a proposition her parents would never approve of, so this is going to have to be done in stealth.

"Hang on," Lucy says through the window pane. "Don't fall. And don't wake up my grandma!"

Lucy steps out of their bathroom to find Sarah reading on her bed. The girls have shared this room ever since their little brother was born, but they've drifted apart a little in the past few years. Sarah thought going to junior high would bring them closer, like they were when they were both kids, but it hasn't.

Lucy says, "I'm going out. We're cool, right?" Sarah doesn't answer. "What we're not talking now?"

"Don't do anything stupid," Sarah says.

"I never do," Lucy says. It's what hurts the most, about all the strict rules and monitoring, is that Lucy is a really good girl. She has a strong head on her shoulders, and she thinks her parents could stand to trust her a little more. "I'll be back before morning," she says.

What Sarah wants really wants to say is that she wishes she was going too. She'll be fourteen this summer, and she's still waiting for her life to start. Lucy had a life when she was fourteen. Lucy had a life already when she was twelve! Lucy has gotten perfect grades as long as she's been in school, and just wait until Sarah's awful report card comes next month.

Lucy, perfect Lucy, brilliant Lucy, beautiful Lucy. She does everything right, and how do you possibly follow in those footsteps?

But still, Sarah comes to the window to watch her sister climb down, and as expected, she does so perfectly, quiet as a mouse. But lately, Lucy is tired of being the good girl all the time, and Dallas is hardly the worst influence on her right now. Summer is waiting for her by the street, and they lay the ladder down in the bushes to use again later.

Summer's truck is parked around the corner. They get in, and Summer starts the engine. There's a reason Lucy doesn't have Dallas sneak her out of the house. Summer is the kind of girl you get into trouble with, but your boyfriend you want to stay respectable in your parents eyes, even if you've told him where to meet you later.

Summer says, "Come on, babe, we got cold beers and hot dudes waiting."

North Beach is open to the public for swimming and camping in all seasons, and there is a picnic pavilion provided as well. They park their cars at the top of the hill, and the guys are already waiting.

Dallas says, "I missed you."

Lucy says, "You saw me this morning." But she missed him too. He makes her heart smile - that's the only way she knows how to describe it, the way she glows when she sees him again.

Lucy is the only one of them not really allowed to be here. Beau, Tyler, and April are full-fledged legal grown-ups now, even if they don't act like it all the time.

Dallas never really had a curfew, being the trustworthy type - he actually told his parents he was coming out tonight. They said to be good, knowing that he likely will be.

Summer's father was never an overbearing kind of parent, and her overbearing grandparents have finally cut the cord on trying to keep her contained. She's eighteen this summer anyway, and her little sister Ryanne is growing into quite the handful for them to deal with instead.

But Lucy knows people, and she sees things. Her friends aren't just bad kids, as tough or careless as they might act sometimes. Beau is closed and cryptic, but everyone suspects he's a softie on the inside. Which makes it a wonder he hooked up with April, his complete opposite, an open book, wide open and free.

Tyler is not aggressive as he seems, but just passionate. He's passionate about everything, from his sports, to his girlfriend, to his family, and he puts all of himself into everything he does.

And Summer, she's not a bad girl. She's just trying to figure out this mess of a life she's been thrown into, she's fumbling around in the dark, trying to learn how to be a woman without anyone to show her.

But it's a fine woman she's becoming, or at least a very beautiful one. It's not a wonder Beau is in love with her too. And he is, you know. It's not just a little crush. He adores her.

Most of them see it. Lucy sees it, Dallas sees it, April was the first to know. It's really pretty obvious. And maybe it's not fair, the way things work out. Because Tyler adores her too. Tyler adores her just fine, and he adored her first. And is he choosing not to see it? What would he even do about it, if he did notice?

Tonight, April has a story for them. "So he goes to the Love Shack," she says.

"Oh, come on!" Beau says, but he doesn't stop her from telling it. Lucy listens, though she's wondering, What's the heck is the Love Shack?

"SO," April says. "He goes to the Love Shack. But that's not even the funniest part. He hooks up with this girl."

Lucy says, "You mean, like, sex?"

They all laugh. Summer says, "Yes, honey, sex."

"I'm telling a story here!" April says. "So he hooks up with the girl, and afterwards, he tries to ask her out on a date! You know what he says? He says, Maybe I could take you out some time, maybe we could go bowling. Bowling! He says, bowling!"

Lucy is glad when everyone stops laughing at her to laugh at Beau instead.

"It just felt kind of cheap," Beau says.

"That's the point!" Tyler says.

"You would say that," Summer says.

"Are you kidding me? Not this crap again!"

"No, I'm not kidding," Summer says. "You wish you'd gone, and I know it. It's these little things you say. Maybe some girls just want to believe that they might be enough."

"You're freaking enough!" he says. "What do you want me to do?"

"Not say crap like that."

"Do you see this shit?" Tyler says, talking to no one and everyone in general. "My brother goes to a sleazy club and I get in trouble for it!"

"Whatever," Summer says. She can't help but feel insecure about it. She told Lucy this in the car as they drove over earlier, being together as long as she and Tyler have, she just knows he'll regret not experiencing more some day. She wonders if she will too.

Beau says, "Well, I wanted to ask her out, but she said no, maybe we'd have a math class together next year or something. She called me sweet!"

April says, "Awww, Beau, you are sweet."

He says, "I'm not sweet!"

Summer says, "But you are."

But Lucy doesn't feel like being laughed at any more, so she pulls Dallas aside. Dallas knows everything, and still nobody's told her what the freaking Love Shack is!

Dallas enlightens her about the Love Shack, about the random hook-ups, the public acts of romance. He leaves out the kinkier stuff - you know, Lucy's virgin ears and everything. Sure, Dallas would love to rock her world some day, but when he does, he doesn't want it to be by talking about the Love Shack!

But still she is shocked. "Oh my God, people do that?"

Lucy has never seen Dallas drinking before, but Dallas doesn't get drunk, he just laughs a little more. If it were possible for him to be any more lovey, then he is.

Her friends are too old for her sometimes, but Dallas isn't. He isn't like them. They tease him for it sometimes, and they might never have even given him the time of day if not for Lucy. She wonders if he feels like he has to keep up, or prove himself to them.

But they aren't as hard as they act sometimes either. Summer chugs down her beer and says, "I'm going to the Love Shack dammit!"

Tyler says, "Not for three more months, you're not!" They all know she probably doesn't have it in her at all.

Lucy pulls Dallas aside again and says, "So, is that something you want to do?"

He says, "Wait, what do you mean? Go to the Love Shack, or just...?" He blushes and starts to smile. They've already talked about this. They're taking things slow. They've got all the time in the world for grown-up romance. "No," he says. "I mean, I don't want to go to the Love Shack."

She thinks she meant did he want a random hook up, or more precisely, does he feel like they're missing out on something? Because she doesn't, not in the least. And she thinks she knows him well enough to know he feels it too. Maybe it's no secret that he's her favorite person in the whole world. Dallas is love from his head to his toes. He holds her heart on a tether. He holds her heart in his hands.

She'll have to sneak back home before dawn, before her grandparents wake up, and she'll have to do it as perfectly quiet as she snuck out. They only have a few hours, and there's almost no point in even falling asleep, but she's tired. And she's a little chilly out in the cool spring night without a jacket, so she's looking forward to some warm cuddling. She sets an alarm on her cell phone to wake them up before dawn.

Dallas says, "Lucy..."

She doesn't open her eyes but says, "What?"

"Do you ever think about..."

She smiles and says, "What, sex?"

"No, not that." He laughs. "I mean, that wasn't what I meant."

"What did you mean?" She's listening still, half asleep, but he doesn't say anything more, and she's too tired to ask him four more times. He lays down, curled up behind her, his face tucked into her hair and his arm wrapped around her waist.

"We can talk about it some other time," he says. "I love you."

"I love you too," she says.

And maybe she wonders about it for a moment, what he wanted to tell her, but she's just too peaceful to worry. It's so simple and innocent a thing, to fall asleep in his arms. So simple and yet so perfectly comfortable, to be tethered by this vital but invisible life force.

***

Dallas comes over one Sunday afternoon - as if he ever really leaves at all - to fix their trash compactor. Dallas is a very handy young man, and indeed very smart. This is what we call brown-nosing, and it's working, as her mother says, "I'll be honest with you, Lucy, he IS a nice boy."

Are you hearing this, Lucy wonders? Are you taking notes? Is somebody recording this conversation? Somebody else has to be hearing this, because she can't even believe it!

April says, "So I suppose you're turning sixteen soon, and there's really nothing we can do about that is there? You'd better keep up your grades, and this doesn't change your curfew any."

She says, "Thanks for fixing the compactor, Dallas, you can ask Lucy to your prom if you want."

Lucy is thinking, wow, that must have been some weekend! Maybe her parents should take the weekend off more often!

Some weekend, indeed! And they find her father doing some crazy moves in the living room. Lucy turns to Dallas and says, "Oh. My. God!"

"What?" Toby says. "You guys never learned this one?"

"It's okay," Dallas says. "It's not that weird. My parents have a lightning fetish."

Lucy doesn't know what a lightning fetish is, she'll have to ask him later.

***

notes: I finally declared Lucy's secondary aspiration. She's popularity/knowledge, since I think she generally has a pretty good head on her shoulders ;)

But my goodness, people! If you even knew how many times I had to cancel out auto-woo on these two! They want it BAD!!! So we'll consider the steamy make-out sessions to be a concession, and owe it to their good sense that they haven't gone all the way already! I also don't feel like Lucy is ready for it yet, as much as her ACR token might suggest otherwise!

And poor Sarah, she was miserable as it was, and then she really took a hit from that private school rejection. Her depression roll was to mope around, so she just sat on that couch, and drank coffee, feeling sorry for herself the whole month! lol!

The tent picture was staged and photoshopped all to heck, obviously, as was the climbing from the roof. Sometimes the game just can't do what I have in my imagination ;)