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“Remember the first time when I saw you.
Thinking one day we'll be the lucky two.
I looked at you and your beautiful hair.
Give me your hand and we'll go somewhere.”
They drove up a dirt path just off the highway, the car bouncing slightly over the small terrain. Derek stared out the passenger window at a clear blue sky and sand colored dust that was already engulfing the shiny black Mercedes he was sitting in. The dirt road narrowed, thick grassy fields spread out on either side of it. They passed cows lazily eating, then a small patch of what look like strawberry fields. When he turned to face forward for a better look, he was greeted with the oncoming view of a house. It was a sturdy house, beat up but still beautiful in the way most houses from its time were, if they had loving hands to care for them. The car pulled over to the side and before he really thought about it, he’d taken his seat belt off and stepped out of the car. He took a glance around, taking in the harshness of sunlight against his skin and how his breathes seemed fuller. He turned towards the house again. It was light blue and it looked like it would match the sky if the paint wasn’t so faded. The porch, trimming, roof and shudders were a sunburnt white but the house still looked… cheerful. There was an array of brightly colored flowers on both sides of the bottom porch step and what looked like a hand crafted bench right under the bay window. He looked towards the door and found a man leaning against the frame in the open door way.
The man looked younger then the lines of his hands would suggest. He wore a pair of beat up jeans and had the sleeves of his flannel shirt pushed up pass his elbows. On his head was an honest to god, cowboy hat. Normally, he would roll his eyes at such a cliché but it seemed to make sense on this man.
“Mr. Reed? I’m Claire Anderson. We spoke on the phone.” Derek hadn’t noticed when his Aunt had gotten out of the car but now she was striding up the front porch, hand extending. The man smiled, though it was more notable by the crinkles in the corners of his eyes then his mouth, since the bottom half of his face was covered in coarse salt and pepper colored hair.
He shook her hand and replied “yes, ma’am. Nice to meet you.” He looked over at Derek who was still standing by the car. “And you must be Derek.” He called out, “Well I got strawberry lemonade and sandwiches in the kitchen, come on in when you’re ready.” Then he turned and gestured for Aunt Claire to go into the house. She hesitated, glancing over at him and then said “Come on Derek, its ok.” Then followed Mr. Reed inside. Derek waited, then feared he was being too rude and rushed up the steps. He paused just past the threshold and stared at the front door.
It was orange.
Derek couldn’t figure out how he hadn’t noticed it. It was a warm bright orange. Like the sun.
“My grandson. He gets these ideas and once he gets started there is no stopping him.” Mr. Reed’s voice was heavy with affection and laughter and he couldn’t help giving him a small smile at the rush of warmth he felt at the sound. It quickly dissipated and he lowered his eyes to the floor. “You like roast beef?” Mr. Reed asked and when Derek looked at him he saw nothing but quite patience in the man’s face. He nodded and the old man pointed to the dining table where the plate of sandwiches and pitcher of lemonade were sitting. Derek walked over and pulled a chair out and sat but he didn’t reach for anything.
“My nephews around your age, 12? He’s spending his summer vacation here so if you chose to do the same, you’ll be seeing him quite a bit.” Mr. Reed busied himself with making a plate and poring a glass of lemonade (which wow, had fresh cut strawberries in it) and he surprised Derek by placing both in front of him then walking around the table and taking a seat.
“Derek’s actually 14. He’s a bit small for his age. Which is fine! Of- of course.” His aunt reached over and patted him awkwardly on the hand. Derek glanced off to the side, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. She was doing her best, he knew that and he didn’t want to make it any harder on her. Mr. Reed chuckled as if he knew EXACTLY what Derek was thinking.
“Sorry son, I didn’t mean to offend you. You’ll grow into your own soon enough.”
“I’m not offended. Laura-“Derek shut his mouth so fast he nearly bit his tongue. Mr. Reed just stared at him waiting, and Derek was beginning to suspect he was the type of man who could do so for hours and not be bothered by it at all. He wasn’t pushing Derek, wasn’t giving him the looks. Man, was he tired of having everyone stare at him like he was either a time bomb about to go off or a puppy with a broken paw. He was about to continue when Aunt Claire jumped in.
“Laura is Derek’s older sister. She got an amazing opportunity to join the Leaders of Tomorrow program in Washington D.C. That’s why she didn’t come with us. She’s packing her things, I mean the program is for the entire summer so it will be a short trip to New York. That’s where I live. We! We live there or we will live there together, I’m trying to find a new place to accommodate us, you know Manhattan real estate, It’s why I thought Derek could use a distraction or ah consistency-“Aunt Claire continued to babble and Derek raised his eyebrows at the table. He looked up to see Mr. Reed suppressing a laugh as he listened and Derek did his best to hide his smile at that. He must have sensed it though because he looked over at him and threw him a wink, before interrupting his aunt.
“Well Ms. Anderson-“
“Claire, please.”
“Claire, feel free to call me Andy. Like I said before, we’d be happy to have Derek stay with us, if he wants too. So, how about we eat up and then we can walk the grounds?” then he reached over and grabbed a sandwich. So they ate in silence and when Mr. Reed was satisfied that everyone (namely Derek) were full, he stood.
“Are we all set? Good. Let’s head out and see what Betts is up too.” Mr. Reed walked out the front door and headed towards the small patch of strawberry fields they had growing in the vast land. When they got close Derek saw an older woman, thin but curvy with dirt on her khaki’s and who seemed to have the same affinitive love for plaid and layers, the only difference being that instead of a cowboy hat on her head, she had a baseball cap. She looked up at them with a friendly smile and open face but what caught Derek off guard were her eyes. They were this light brown that seem to shimmer in the light.
“I was wondering when you would come out to say hello. I’m Betty, Andy’s wife.” She greeted and shook hands with them.
“Hello, I’m Claire. This is my nephew Derek. Thank you for taking the trouble of seeing us, I know it was uh, unexpected.” That was at the top of the list of words Derek was getting pretty tired of hearing.
“Oh it is no trouble!” she leaned down a bit to look at Derek and asked “Did you try my Lemonade? I pick those fresh this morning.”
“Yes. It was good. Thank you.” He felt nervous but he wasn’t sure why.
“I love picking the berries, it takes a keen eye to pick the right ones. Do you want to help me out for a bit?” Derek nodded and she reached over to grab a basket and handed it to him.
Mrs. Reed ushered him to a patch of strawberries and began to explain how they grow and how to tell when they’re ripe. How it wasn’t just size and color that each strawberry had its own pace and you need to give them some respect by being absolutely sure they were ready. Derek was smart enough to know that was an analogy for something else, he wasn’t sure what exactly, but Mrs. Reed didn’t bother to elaborate on it. They walked down the fields quietly whispering from time to time (there was no need to, but it just felt right) picking berries. He didn’t notice when his Aunt and Mr. Reed left but they returned after about 20 minutes.
“Hey Derek, why don’t you come with me and I can introduce you to Batwing.”
Derek just stared at him. Did he hear that right?
“My grandson named him.” He laughed and Mrs. Reed joined him, getting a look of excitement over her.
“Stanisław shouldn’t be long now, he’s out with our Hand, Gavin, herding the sheep.” Stanislaw. Derek got this image in his head of a runny nosed little kid. Just great. It would be his luck to be stuck babysitting some annoying brat all summer. He knew he didn’t have a choice about staying here, though they kept making it seem like he did. Aunt Claire was still figuring things out and she was really trying but with no kids of her own she was flying blind.
Mr. Reed walked Derek over to the paddock where there was a breathtaking black horse circling around. He whistled and the horse trotted over to them. He patted him on the back and then turned to Derek, “This is Batwing.” Derek reached his hand out, hesitated, than decided to pet the creature’s neck. He had a white sock right above his left hove. It was that slight imperfection that made Derek fall in love right on the spot.
“He’s beautiful” He mumbled. More to himself but Mr. Reed responded anyway with a content “Yeah, he is.” They stood there for a bit while Derek petted Batwing (which he admitted to himself was a cool name) and then Mr. Reed continued to speak.
“Listen Derek, I’ve been speaking with your Aunt and I know you think you don’t have a choice here and maybe she feels the same way, but you do. I know she’s overwhelmed but that doesn’t mean she can just hide you away so that she can have some breathing room. So if you really don’t want to stay with us, I’ll sit down and have a chat with her ok?”
“Ok” Derek didn’t know how else to respond. Was he really giving him a way out? I mean, it wasn’t so bad here it’d probably be like camp. Without all the other kids though, or just one other kid. What did he have back home anyway? He didn’t really have friends to begin with and everyone kept looking at him with these wide sad eyes. Besides, being in the house only made the nightmares worse.
“You know, your father worked here for about 3 summers when he started college. He worked hard, always willing to learn something new. He enjoyed his time here and I well… We only had the one kid, my daughter Claudia. She’s my whole world, her and Betts, but it was nice teaching a young man how to be a good one.”
Derek couldn’t breathe. His dad. He knew his dad. His dad use to come here, to this farm. Had he stood in this same spot? Did he pick strawberries too?
“Anyway, I don’t know if he ever mentioned it but he always planned on bringing you here. He thought maybe when you turned 18 as a sort of right of passage. I always looked forward to that. So I guess what I’m trying to say is I want you here. Not just because it’s what your father always wanted but it’s what I want too.”
Derek remembered now after the initial shock wore off, that his dad did talk about a farm he worked on back when he was in college. He always got this serene look on his face whenever he told them stories about it. Laura always huffed out of the room when he started talking about taking Derek to visit the farm so he could learn about life and how to be a good, honest man. His heart dropped at the realization that he would never be able to share that with his father. He looked around at the open space and felt suffocated by all the emotions he had managed to suppress. He backed away from the paddock and Mr. Reed and sprinted into the barn. He stopped and bent over his knees breathing harshly. There were no footsteps coming after him so he sat down on a hay stack and let the tears fall.
After a few minutes, he wiped at his face and decided it was time to head back when he heard a noise. He cocked his head to hear better but it wasn’t necessary. There was a loud clang then clatter and something else he couldn’t place. He stared towards the other end of the barn, the source of all the commotion, and called out
“Hello?”
Suddenly, there was a kid.
Derek heard a yelp and the kid came crashing down onto the barn floor out of nowhere. Derek ran over to help him, but before he could reach out the he’d jumped to his feet.
“I’m fine! It’s ok. I’m ok.” he shook off the hay that stuck to him and attempted to pick it all out of his hair. When he looked up he gave him a surprised look “Who are you?”
“Derek. Who are you?”
“I’m Stiles” he stretched out a hand and for a moment Derek thought he was attempting a hand shake but he had a small fist out.
He stared at it.
“Ah, you’re supposed to bump it. You know-” he showed him with his own hands but Derek just continued to stare, kind of baffled by this weird kid.
“oookay then. Derek. What are you doing in my barn?”
“YOUR barn?”
“Well my grandparents barn. “
“Your grandpare- wait. Are you- are you Stanisław??”
“Ohmygod! Don’t ever call me that. Seriously. If you tell anyone, I will bury you under fertilizer. That is an ugly way to go.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. This kid looked like a 10 year old but spoke like he was seventeen.
“Yeah that would be pretty bad. I’ll keep your secret then, Stiles.” The sarcasm he let lace around the name felt familiar, like he was himself before…. Before.
“Thank you, oh so much.” He responded with a rich amount of sarcasm himself.
At that moment Mr. Reed came into the barn and shot Stiles a questioning look.
“I see you’ve met our guest. Derek this is-“
“Oh don’t even try it grandpa! I know you told him what my name is! My REAL NAME.”
“Hey it wasn’t me it was your Nana who told him.” Mr. Reed responded, hands up as if to say he surrenders.
“Nana?! Well… I can’t be mad at her.” Stiles pouted in slight frustration.
“That you can’t. So how was herding?” Mr. Reed asked, changing the topic quickly enough that Derek wasn’t sure what he meant until Stiles respond.
“They’re sheep, grandpa. All they do is stand around eating grass.” He rolled his eyes dramatically and Derek felt impressed by the fact that they didn’t roll right out of his head.
“Gavin said you only fell 3 times-”
“Yeah a new record!” Stiles excitement caused his grandfather to let out the chuckle he’d been suppressing and Derek smiled at the image of Stiles falling off a horse and jumping right back up to get on it.
“He also said you had some interesting questions” he took on a teasing tone and, to his credit, Stiles attempted not to look caught out.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Oh really? So you didn’t ask him how old he was when he had his first kiss. Or if he’d ever been in love. And how did he know, when he was.”
“Gramps! Come on!” he whined, silently pleading with him to stop.
“Ok, ok. Why don’t you finish giving Derek a tour and then come on in to the house.”
“Sure.” Mr. Reed nodded at Derek and when he passed his grandson, gave him a pat on the shoulder and a quick kiss on top of his head.
“He’s so embarrassing. I mean it’s a perfectly normal question. I’m twelve years old and I’ve never been kissed! What if it never happens?!”
Derek thought about it and then felt compelled to admit; “Well I’m fourteen and I’ve never been kissed either.”
Stiles cocked his head to the side looking at him with not a curious look but a calculating one.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Derek squirmed a little under the focused attention.
“Have you tried?”
“No but… it’s not about trying right? Like in the movies it’s always, I don’t know, spontaneous?”
After a few contemplative moments, he shrugged. “Yeah I guess you’re right. Have you ever been in love?”
Derek scoffed at that. “No. I’m fourteen.” He raised an eyebrow to really emphasize his scrutiny.
“Yeah me neither. But I will be. And it’s going to be awesome!”
“You’re that sure?”
“Yeah, I’m positive! Aren’t you?” He looked like he honestly believed it, and Derek didn’t have it in him to take that away. So instead of disagreeing, he shrugged. That seemed like enough of a response that because suddenly he asked, “Hey earlier I heard you sniffling. Are you ok?”
Derek’s back stiffened.
“I’m fine. It’s none of your business.” He answered defensively.
“Oh. Sorry.” The kid looked down and Derek felt guilty. He shouldn’t lash out, especially when this is the most conversation he’s had with another human being in months.
“No it’s just-I’m not myself today.”
“Ok” There was an awkward pause, and just when Derek thought he’d really messed everything up, Stiles tentatively asked, “You want to see the animals?”
“Yeah, that sounds cool.”
They began walking out of the barn and then Stiles stopped causing Derek to nearly knock them both to the ground.
“What? What is –“
But he was cut off by Stiles’ face on his face.
It was as innocent a kiss as it could get. Closed lips brushing against each other and eyes wide open. And then as quickly as it came it was gone. They stared at each other.
“Why...” but he was too stunned to finish.
“You said it should be spontaneous. And you seem pretty cool so I thought we could have our first kiss together. Now we both can say it happened.”
“Oh” Derek didn’t know what to say to that. His first kiss. He didn’t see what the big deal was, but then again it was sort of nice. Like showing someone you cared about them.
“Come on, I’ll introduce you to Alfonzo.”
“Alfonzo?” he asked skeptically.
“Yeah! He’s my favorite pig.”
He couldn’t help, he laughed with disbelief and could possibly be called fondness. Stiles smiled up at him as he reached out, taking his hand.
“Let’s go! We have lots to see before dinner.” And with that, he pulled Derek out of the barn into the bright daylight.