(Evangeline’s POV)
I sit back in a deck chair as I watch my friends and family happily conversing, dancing and eating. I glance over to the grill where my oldest brother Andrew is arguing with John over the merits of soy “hot dogs”. Andrew recently went on some retreat and decided to cut out all red meat out of his diet. This is a big step for him, because previously, his idea of a great meal was a large hamburger or a juicy T-bone steak.
And while they’re arguing, the real hamburgers on the grill are getting burnt. Shaking my head at their oblivion I get up and walk over to the grill, grabbing the spatula out of Andrew’s hand and start flipping the burgers myself.
John finally notices and starts cracking up, but Andrew is still going on, completely oblivious.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Your sister is going to kill you.”
“Damn! The burgers!”
It’s only then that he realises that the spatula is missing. I grin and kiss him lightly on the cheek.
“I won’t kill you this time Drew, but please pay attention. I don’t want people complaining because all of their food is burnt.”
“Shouldn’t I be the one bossing you around since I’m the big brother and you’re the baby sister?”
I put my hands on my hips and look at him silently.
“Or, I could just do what you told me to do.”
I grin. “Right. You do that.”
As I’m about to walk away, John smirks and asks, “What, no kiss for me?”
“No, but I’ve got a kick for you.”
Before I can do anything, John swoops down and grabs my right leg. As I try to catch my balance, I thank God for 15 years of ballet training. I meet John’s defiant grin with a glare, but he just shrugs.
“Preventative measure. The last time you got mad and kicked me, I had a bruise for a month.”
“John,” I growl, “Let go of my leg!”
“Nope!”
I try to free my leg from John’s grasp, but he’s got a tight hold on it. I glance over at Andrew, who’s trying very hard not to laugh and realize that he’s not going to be very much help. I’m pretty much on my own here.
“John, let go!”
“You really want me to?”
“Yes! You numbskull!”
“Okay.” John lets go of my leg just as I’m trying to pull away yet again. So of course I go flying backwards, and land with a resounding thump, getting a huge grass stain on my previously dazzlingly white shorts.
“Damn it John! You made a mess of my shorts.”
He turns me around so my back is facing him. “Lemme see.”
I spin back around and face him with my arms crossed. “There’s a humongous stain back there.”
“Small stain. Nice, big view though.”
My mouth drops open and I stare at John as he grins wider and wider.
“John. Dylan. McBain. You. Are. A. Dead. Man!”
Andrew turns around from the grill and says, “She used the middle name man. You better run.”
John takes his advice and begins to run, with me in close pursuit. And he runs straight to the pool edge, which I have to say, is pretty dumb. I stop in front of him and grin, while he shakes his head no.
“Evangeline, don’t. Anything but that. I’ll never tease you ag“”
He’s cut off short as I push him into the pool. Almost nobody looks up at the splash, since everyone we know is pretty used to this by now. John and I have been best friends since the first day of first grade and since then we have been inseparable.
I can count on John for anything, including annoying the hell out of me. Summers have always been special, fun times for John and I. There were always the huge family cook outs at either my mom’s house or Eve’s. Now that we’re older, I get the Labor Day barbeque, which is what I’m hosting now, and John had the Fourth of July.
And then there was camp. Co-ed sleep-away, so John and I went to the same one. We were known for always pulling pranks on each other. The most memorable one was when John replaced my citrus shampoo with lemon juice. Three hours in the sun later, and my hair was an odd shade of red- brown. I had to dye my hair dark brown until it went back to normal.
In retaliation, the next time we went into town, I bought one of those kits for bleaching facial hair. Theat night, when every one was asleep, I carefully bleached John’s eyebrows to a nice, honey blond colour. The fact that John sleeps like a dead person helped me considerably.
Our pranks haven’t ceased, even though we stopped going to camp years ago. Instead they just got more and more elaborate. My mother says that John and I act less mature than some of my nieces and nephews. Not one of them is over the age of seven.
While I’ve been off in LaLa land, John has resurfaced and swum to the ladder where he pulls himself out of the pool. He walks over to me, dripping copious amounts of water onto the deck.
“Alright Evangeline, how about we call a truce?”
He holds out his hand, and stupidly, I take it. In a second, he has his arms wrapped around me in a hug so tight, there’s no way for me not to be wet.
As I’m about to ream him out, Eve steps through the gate leading from my kitchen garden to the backyard, and both John and I rush over to greet her. We were worried she wouldn’t be able to make it and neither of us has seen her in a while, so we’re both pretty excited.
“Mom, I’m so glad that you could make it!” John reaches to hug her, but Eve skillfully sidesteps him.
“It’s obvious Evangeline fell for that, but I’m not going to. Go change into something dry and you can get all the hugs you want.”
John hurries to do his mother’s bidding. That’s one thing I admire a lot about John. He’ll joke around with her, but there is nothing his mother can ask him to do that is impossible. He’d do anything to make her happy, which has helped me out in the past. Eve and I are very close and she’s been very good friends with my mother for almost the same amount of time that John and I have been friends.
“Evangeline, every time I see you, you get more and more beautiful.”
“Thank you eve. You look wonderful as always.”
John comes back wearing a dry pair of jeans and dark blue T-shirt and immediately gathers his other in a hug. I can’t help but tease him a little.
“You’re such a Mama’s boy, John.”
He reaches around Eve to lightly tug on my ponytail. Eve shakes her head and says, “John, when are you going to stop pulling chairs out from under Evangeline and start pulling them out for her? You both need to get together soon before Lisa and I are too old to enjoy our grandkids.”
I’m quite shocked when instead of his usual comment about how wrong that is, he just looks at me with a small smile. Our families make comments like that all the time and they’re not joking. My nieces and nephews all call him Uncle John, because according to my older sisters Chelsea and Daniella, when John and I get married, the kids won’t be confused. We try to ignore them.
Eve scans the backyard and turns to me. “Where’s Lisa?”
“The last time I saw her, she was out here.”
“She’s in the kitchen,”John answers.
Eve goes back into the house and I turn to John.
“What’s she doing in there?”
“She said that you’re out of fruit salad, she was making another one.”
“I’m going to go see if she needs any help in the kitchen. You coming?”
“Even though I know that she’s going to hide all the knives the minute she sees me?”
“Well, you did almost chop your thumb off trying to cut cheese.”
“It was years ago, and I was drunk.”
“Yeah well she doesn’t know that. I know how to keep a secret. You coming or not?”
He shrugs. “Whatever.”
We enter the kitchen to find both of our mothers peeling and cutting up melons. We offer to help, but they say they’ve got it covered. It may be my house, but it’s my mother’s barbeque. No matter how much I tell her to relax and enjoy the party, she can’t help taking over hostess duties. It doesn’t really annoy me that much anymore. And sometimes I do give her reason to doubt my maturity.
After everyone has eaten and rested for a while, I try to talk everyone into a game of water volleyball. My sisters and cousins agree to play and I force Michael, Marcie, Shannon, Nora and Antonio to play also. When we’re choosing teams, I drag Antonio and John over to my team. I’ve played with them before, and since they almost succeeded in beating me, I know they’re good. Unfortunately, my mother calls a foul.
“Evangeline, let the other team have John. It’s not fair to anyone else if you play on the same team, and I’m sure that the separation won’t kill either of you.”
Without thinking, I whine, “But I want John.”
Michael raises an eyebrow and smirks at me. “How about you just make do with a McBain?”
“Michael, I love you, you know I do... but you suck at volleyball.”
“Yeah, I’m really feeling the love right now.”
Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?
John and Michael switch sides, and surprisingly, we annihilate John’s team. Andrew said it’s because I’m a sore loser. I threw the volleyball at his head.
After a while, we realize that it’s getting late and people start to leave. Amidst a whirl of hugs, kisses and reminders to call them, out mothers finally leave John and I alone in the dark. We sit in silence for a while, examining the bright patterns of the stars in the night sky.
“John, do you remember when we were at camp, on really hot nights, we would all take our sleeping bags down to the beach to sleep there? And we’d play that game where we’d try to name as many constellations as we could in a minute?”
“Um-hmm.”
Now that may work on some people, but I know John. And that um-hmm means that there is a lot going on in that handsome head of his.
“What’s wrong? You’ve been quiet all night.”
“Nothing.”
“John...”
“Evangeline, I said there’s nothing wrong. Okay?”
Ouch. Somebody’s in a pissy mood.
“Something is bothering you and I only ask because I think I can help.”
He nods. “You ever get tired of this dance we do? You always seem so afraid of change. You live in this world inside your head where we’re still 9 and we don’t have anything to worry about. And those may have been good times, but it’s hard for me to try to pretend to be a kid when I’m dealing with grown-up feelings and problems. And you need to grow up and stop pretending that things haven’t changed.”
“John I wasn’t asking you to pretend any thing. You do that of your own volition.”
“This is why I didn’t want to say anything. I knew that you’d get all defensive.”
“Only because this is coming from no where. And you’re one to talk about living in the past and being afraid of change.”
Very quietly, John asks, “What is that supposed to mean?”
I know I should stop right now, before I say something stupid, but right now, I’m too mad to care. “How long has Caitlyn been gone John? You don’t date anyone, you work obsessively and you do all of these things for Caitlyn. You think that’s gonna bring her back? Maybe you need to grow up and stop pretending.”
He stands quietly. “Or, maybe I should just go home.”
“Maybe you should,” I shoot back.
“Good night Evangeline,” I says politely. He turns to look at me and I see such a range of emotions in his eyes, Anger, sadness and something else that I can’t exactly identify. I feel bad, because I know that I’ve really hurt her feelings, but since mine are also a little hurt and confused, and my stubbornness knows no bounds, I’m not apologizing.
With a final glance, John disappears into a sea of darkness, leaving me to ponder the strange turn of events that just took place.
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