the sounds of silence

 

They'd had a row the night before. Caitlin didn't know who was at fault, but when Frankie had brought up Melvin while at Hope's new place as they were setting up the crib....it was more than Melvin he had questions about. It was Wade too.

"Look, you have to get a hold of yourself," Deano was serious and she'd never seen him this kind of serious. "Leave, Wade alone."

"What?" She was certain Wade held the key to all this mess with Melvin. She should have never trusted him with Melvin in the first place, but it was strange..even then. And she'd only wanted to hide until it was all over. She didn't want to be sick. Yet, she'd met Deano and a new chapter in her life began.

He held her hands in his. There they were in their little kitchen. No one was cooking nor even cleaning. 

"Tell me, you won't go looking for him." He said it so endearing and yet she wondered if it were a threat.

"Why?" She winced hard as if to fight him back, but she didn't want to disobey Deano, either. It was quaint here. This was where she belonged. They were together, a good team. This was her future and she loved him.

"He's a drug dealer, you know. No telling what he's really up to."

"You mean, this is more than COVID?" She looked him over as if she would have nothing to do with him, after all, but the struggle was real, he kept holding on.

"I dunno." He said he was suspicious of Wade from the get-go. "But, I know he was your friend."

"He was never my friend," she swelled a frown. "He means nothing to me."

"Right," but she knew he didn't believe her. "You'd be with him right now if he'd hadn't had a hard life." He told her he was certain Wade grew up in the drug scene. It was more than a den of pleasure but made up of black suits with weapons.

Caitlin only sighed as if he was just a good storyteller. It couldn't be true. Yet, she knew she couldn't trust Wade. She never had. She nursed her bottom lip, remembering she didn't want to like Melvin either. Maybe he was from that world, too.

Just then her phone lit up. It was Megan. A new message.

YOUR BROTHER IS HERE.

Caitlin untangled herself from Deano to read the message once more. "How can that be, my little brother can't be old enough to drive." She'd only seen him in pictures. What had he done? Runaway from home?