To the Steadfast by Briana Gaitan Read Free Book Online

to a place
where I’m comfortable and don’t feel like I’m gonna slide off and break my
neck. It isn’t slippery up here, but one bad fall would be catastrophic.
    “How’s life?” he asks,
raising a bottle to clink against mine.
    “Slow. How’s school?”
    “Awful. Mom won’t let
me quit, and I have no idea what I’m even doing. I’m going to be one of those
people who never picks a major. I just want to sit at home in my boxers while
smoking a joint and playing video games. In my spare time, I’ll make my stupid
parody videos. ”
    I roll my eyes. He
should tell his parents to go to hell but never does. He continues to be the
picture-perfect son they always wanted, just like me. But we both have our
secrets. The things we do when our parents aren’t looking.
    “You’re an adult. Your
mom doesn’t own you.” I pick some lint off the front of my black blouse and
give him a half smile.
    He shrugs and lies back
against the hard roof. “I suppose I like their money too much.”
    “How about that girl
you were dating?”
    “Oh, the country club
girl? She’s just perfect for their image, but a real bore. She’d never drink on
the rooftop with me.”
    The cool wind blows, so
I smile and scoot closer to him for warmth. “I guess it’s a good thing you have
me then.”
    “You are better than
her any day.” He pushes the hair off my face and the corners of his eyes
crinkle just a bit in pleasure.
    He’s not flirting with
me, but instead he is stating the fact that we have a comfortable relationship.
Platonic and easy. Nothing sexual.
     “But I bet she has
parents that aren’t as shitty as ours.”
    “Does it matter?” He
throws his beer off the roof. It bounces off a trashcan by the wooden fence
separating our yards and shatters on the ground.
    “Nice shot,” I tease,
making fun of the fact that he was point guard for the high school basketball
team.
    We sit for a few more
minutes, searching the skies for our life changer. Killian is the only one who
has ever been able to understand my home life. People think being rich makes
you happy, but they’re wrong.
    “They finished that
two-story house today.” He points across the highway at the large clearing
where a subdivision is being built. They’ve been working on it since last
summer. We’ve watched them build and sell a total of five houses so far. It’s
amazing how much work is put into building a home, how many people it takes.
It’s too bad that same amount of work isn’t put into the family that lives
there.
    “You start,” he says.
Our game is simple. Sort of an Imagine if game for each new home. I
think for a moment and finally come up with the perfect family to live there.
    “A family. Two boys and
a single dad. Dad is a high school teacher and drives a minivan. He’s an Eagle
Scout leader and on the weekends they camp…for fun.” I squirm as I say the last
few words.
    “Sounds idyllic. Wish
my dad did things like that with me.  As long as I stay out of trouble and pose
for his precious pictures, he’s content to let me do as I please.”
    “Ditto. You know what
to do,” I tell him. It’s his turn to make the toast, a ritual we do whenever a
house is completed. He pauses for a long moment, but eventually lifts his glass
to the sky.
    “Here’s to shitty
parents.”
    “To shitty parents.” I
knock my beer against his and grin. To shitty parents because that’s all we’ll
ever have.

 

    Violet has missed
the past week of school. It’s not
because she’s afraid of how people at school will look at her—it’s no secret
that her dad supplies the town with all types of drugs and even the occasional
fake ID—but whatever the reason, I’m not gonna let my parents keep me away from
her. She needs me, and they aren’t really around enough to know what I do in my
spare time. 
    I walk into chemistry
class and scan the desks for Mischa. I spot him in the corner with his head
down scribbling furiously on a piece of paper.