Wyatt Klinker Section 7

Well, this weekend I ran headlong into a brick wall. I'm 33,000 words in and I am feeling drained by writing. I know I need to keep pushing, but with only a week to go, this hill in front of me seems so high. Right now I sit 6,500 words behind schedule with a mere 6 days to get caught up. I know that Thursday is going to be a completely loss and tonight is going to be impossible to get work done, so it is pretty daunting. Everyone I've talked to has said that after you cross 35,000 words it is all down hill and it becomes a lot easier. I would have thought I would start feeling a bit of that, but I haven't. Instead I've felt pretty oppressed.

The positives that I have working for me: 1. Angie only works late tonight, which means Wednesday night will be freed up for writing as long as Dad and Janie wait to come down until Thursday. 2. I have absolutely nothing planned for Saturday, which means I could get a lot of writing done then. 3. Megan will be home tonight and be able to help with the kids, so I may be freed up even more in the evenings to get writing done. 4. And most importantly, I work so much better under pressure that deadlines have never really bothered me.

Gracie has been a big backer of mine. She is always standing over my shoulder asking me how many words I have now, I many I need, and how long am I going to be writing. Sure, she wants me off the computer so I can spend time with her, but hey, she keeps me thinking about where I am and what I have to do.

I hope I can do it.

That said, here's the next chapter. Any support you can give would be appreciated.

CHAPTER 8: GREG

It was evident that it hadn’t taken his Uncle Rich long to convert the room over the garage back into a weight room. In fact, they had actually expanded the collection of free weights since he had moved away to college. It was also evident that they had no intentions of making the room back into Wyatt’s with his return home. The weight bench that had once been tucked into a corner to give Wyatt more space was now in the middle of the room, sitting on a red plastic mat. The new free weights sat underneath the television on a heavy black rack rather than filling up space in the walk-in like the old ones had.
The bed sat in the same place, just like where it had been when he’d left. A clean set of sheets and two worn blankets were folded neatly, waiting Wyatt. He laughed at the hypocrisy of the whole thing. Here his aunt paid a housekeeper to work forty hours a week for her, yet it was evident she had told Chaya to just leave the bedding for Wyatt to tend to.
Wyatt didn’t really care. It wasn’t as if he had never made a bed before. He just thought about how petty his surrogate family was and for a moment a wave of grief washed over him.
These feelings had come often at the beginning, soon after he had learned about his parents, but since going away to college they had been far less seldom. This place however was forever associated with that day, and just being here weighed on him.
“Three weeks, that’s all,” he said to himself as he unfolded the sheets and began making the bed. “I can handle that. I’ll just stay up hear and avoid everyone.”
After putting his things away and making his bed, Wyatt flopped down on the weight bench and stared at the ceiling, wondering what the next three weeks would hold. Lindsey was prominently at the forefront of his thoughts.
It wasn’t long before his Aunt Carla called out to him, hollering that dinner was ready.
Wyatt was surprised to see the table set with the nice glassware. He initially thought that perhaps they were treating him, seeing as this was the first dinner he had eaten at home since Thanksgiving (well, not really, they had went out for dinner then). Instead, Wyatt was surprised to see Lindsey walk in from the den holding hands with a tall, handsome boy.
“Wyatt, this is Lindsey’s friend Greg. He goes to her school” Carla introduced.
Wyatt looked the tall boy over and extended his hand, “Hi, I’m Lindsey’s cousin. Nice to meet you.”
“How ya doing Wyatt?” he replied, shaking the proffered hand.
Wyatt didn’t know what to think. Here was his solace, a guy that Lindsey seemingly liked (enough to ask to dinner anyway), that would take the pressure off of him. Wyatt was positive that given a choice between him and Greg, that she would choose Greg. This should have made Wyatt feel good, but instead he felt the slight crush of jealousy.
Lindsey, regardless of her relation to him, had been something of a milestone for Wyatt and while he felt a great deal of shame for what they had done, he still cherished the memory of those moments. It was an emotional tug-of-war he fought with whenever he saw her and the presence of Greg simply intensified one side.
“Wyatt, Greg plays basketball for our school,” Lindsey announced during the meal. “Did you ever play when you were in high school?”
“No, I didn’t play any sports,” he replied, glancing at her.
“Yeah, he’s really good. You should see him play,” she continued. “He played football to.”
“Wow, he’s must be quite an athlete,” Wyatt played along.
Greg looked up from his plate, not saying anything.
“He’s a senior. He wants to go to Northwestern when he graduates.”
“Oh yeah, what do you want to study?” Wyatt asked.
“I was think about psychology or sociology,” he replied, his mouth full of food.
“Well good luck, college is a lot different than high school,” Wyatt didn’t like what was going on. He got the impression that Lindsey was parading Greg in front of him.
Wyatt remained quiet through the rest of dinner, simply listening and watching as Lindsey and Greg talked with Rich and Carla. Occasionally Lindsey would cackle at something funny and grab Greg’s arm. Or he would say something that she would feel emotional about it and put her head on his shoulder. Each time she did so she would glance across the table at Wyatt, attempting to judge his reaction.
Wyatt hurried through his meal and excused himself, explaining he was tired after a week of exams.
Greg relayed that he was happy to meet him, and under the auspicious stare of Lindsey, Wyatt returned the sentiment.
“I’m sure Greg will be around while you’re home Wyatt,” Lindsey added as he turned to walk away.
“It will be nice to have him,” he replied diplomatically, not allowing her to get under his skin.

Wyatt avoided Lindsey whenever he could. For the most part it was pretty easy. She was rarely home. She was normally at Greg’s and on the rare occasions she was home, he was usually with her. That made it easy for Wyatt who just stayed in his room. Aunt Carla had evidently gotten used to Wyatt’s presence because she was home much more often; at least she was when Lindsey was home. It hadn’t occurred to him that she didn’t trust Lindsey either until one night when he was laying on his bed watching television, Uncle Rich came into his room.
“Wyatt, you got a second?” he asked from the doorway.
“What’s up Uncle Rich,” he replied, turning the volume down.
“Well, um,” the older man seemed uncomfortable; “I wanted to ask a favor.”
Wyatt seemed a bit confused but at the same time flattered. Up until this point he had been nothing other than a fixture around the house. To think that he could be useful to either of his guardians was a definite change.
“Sure, what do you need?” Wyatt was curious.
“Well, Carla and I are going to a company Christmas party and we were wondering,” he allowed his voice to trail off. “You see, um, Lindsey is having Greg over and I, well, we were wondering, do you think you could keep an eye on them?”
Wyatt considered what he was asking.
Rich continued before Wyatt could answer, “I mean I doubt anything is going on between them, but I don’t know, I guess I just don’t trust high school boys with my little girl.”
“Sure, Uncle Rich. I’m sure there is nothing to worry about. They’ll probably just watch movies, but I’ll keep an eye on them,” Wyatt thought back to the night Lindsey had visited him in his room and could feel his face start to flush.
“Thanks Wyatt, I really appreciate this,” he said as he turned to leave. “I don’t know why I should be worried, Lindsey is a good girl.”
After Rich had left Wyatt laid there thinking about Lindsey and Greg. It seemed to him like a strange relationship. According to Chaya, they had only started seeing each other a day or two before Wyatt had come home. It seemed to Wyatt like his Uncle Rich was a bit paranoid.
“Oh well,” he thought, “at least she’s leaving me alone.” Yet the whole idea of her getting serious with a boy rubbed him the wrong way.
He fell asleep that night thinking about her, about him, and about the mess that had happened between them. His last wish prior to falling asleep had been that he never would have come back here because he knew that Lindsey, if anything, was a weakness and temptation constantly hammered at him. Greg’s presence had just made it worse.
The next day was uneventful, Wyatt simply hung out in his room, reading or watching television depending on his mood. College hadn’t offered much free time for personal reading and he cherished the lazy winter break where he was able to knock out a stack of books with little interruption.
Before he realized it his Aunt Carla was knocking on his door, “Wyatt, we’re leaving. Please stay out of trouble while were gone.”
She turned to leave, but looked back, “Oh, Lindsey and Greg are downstairs in the den watching a movie. I don’t know what it is, but you might join them and see if it’s anything you’ve not seen.”
“Sure thing Aunt Carla,” he said, at the same time thinking, “Oh, so she doesn’t trust her either.”
Wyatt took his time wandering down to the den. He stopped off first in the kitchen and gathered some cheese and crackers to munch on. While he wasn’t set on destroying Lindsey’s evening, he wasn’t going to make it easy either. He had no loyalty at all towards his aunt and uncle, but Wyatt had promised to keep an eye on them and he wasn’t one to break promises.
“Whatcha guys watching?” he asked as he walked in and flipped on the lights in the previously dark room.
The two of them shielded their eyes from the light as Wyatt sat down in a recliner, the plate of cheese and crackers balanced on his knee.
“Wyatt, turn off the light,” Lindsey whined.
“Oh, sorry,” he said apologetically as he stood up, reached the switch and flipped the lights back off. “You guys want some cheese and crackers? It’s Gouda cheese. I don’t really like it, too smoky for me, but it isn’t horrible with crackers.”
His idle chatter evidently irritated Lindsey because she just whined again, “Wyatt, we are watching a movie, be quiet!”
“What movie is it?” he ignored her.
“It’s some zombie movie,” Greg answered. “Hey, I’ll try some of that cheese.”
His request garnered a nasty look from Lindsey as she attempted to ignore Wyatt.
Wyatt passed the plate in front of his cousin and Greg took it, setting it on his lap and proceeding to stack cheese upon crackers.
Lindsey looked at Wyatt and he could tell she was angry. Her brow was furrowed and her lips pursed. He knew he had gotten a rise out of her. He felt a bit guilty, as if he had pushed to far.
“I’m sorry Lindsey, I’ll be quiet. You mind if I watch this with you?” he heard her sigh audibly.
“I would rather you leave, actually,” she responded.
“Well, its Friday and there is nothing on regular TV, so I’ll just be quiet and sit over here and you won’t even know I’m in the room,” he replied, not giving ground.
She huffed and glared at him. All the while Greg sat there quietly, munching on crackers, watching the movie. She turned back to the movie and Wyatt could tell she was fuming.
They sat watching the movie for about a half hour, Wyatt commenting occasionally. For a little while he and Greg carried on a conversation about the stupidity of the characters before Lindsey shushed them, bring that to a close.
Shortly afterwards Lindsey said she was cold. Wyatt asked her it she wanted him to turn on the fireplace and she ignored him, getting up and grabbing an afghan off the back of a chair. She unfolded it and sat back down, covering up Greg and herself as she cuddled up close to him. He was pretty clueless to her attentions, riveted by what was happening on the television. She reached up and pulled his arm around him, stealing a glance at Wyatt as she did so.
In truth Wyatt didn’t really care. Her affections were all innocent and Wyatt was cool with that. So far he had done his job.
After awhile Wyatt was thirsty and decided to grab something to drink. After announcing what he was doing, and offering to get them something, he walked into the kitchen.
Lindsey jumped up and followed him, “That sounds good, I’ll help you.”
Entering the kitchen Lindsey closed the door between it and the den, “What are you doing Wyatt?”
“Nothing,” he replied innocently enough.
“You know you are messing with me, and I don’t particularly like it. Why can’t you just leave Greg and me alone?” she confronted him.
“Hey, I’m not doing anything, I just want to watch the movie is all,” he feigned innocently.
“That’s bullshit,” she exclaimed, keeping her voice low so it wouldn’t carry back to Greg in the den. “Can’t you leave me alone so I can spend some time with my boyfriend?”
“No, I can’t,” he said honestly, because in truth he really had no other answer.
“What’s wrong with you?” she questioned.
“There’s nothing the matter with me, I just don’t feel like sitting in my room for the tenth straight night sitting around doing nothing. Is there something the matter with that?” he challenged back.
She stood staring at him for a few seconds, apparently trying to read his thoughts. Then a smile crept across her face, as if she had unlocked the answer to a riddle. She nodded her head at him.
“Greg makes you jealous, doesn’t he?”
Wyatt laughed, “Yeah right.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” she continued to smile.
“Why would he make me jealous Lindsey.”
“Well maybe because he is getting all of my attention and you aren’t getting any,” she said, her voice teasing him.
“Lindsey, what the hell is wrong with you? Why is it you think I want you so badly? I don’t, I never have,” he blurted back at her, losing his patience.
“You didn’t seem to mind kissing me all that much this summer, in fact, it seemed to me you were having a pretty good time right up until you started acting like a baby and got all scared.”
“Lindsey, listen to yourself! You’re my cousin, doesn’t that mean anything to you?” he countered.
“It didn’t seem to matter all that much to you when you had your hands all over me,” she barked.
“That was a mistake, and you know it. It was you that came into my room, or don’t you remember?” Wyatt was frustrated. “I stopped because I knew it was wrong and I knew you wouldn’t.”
“You’re a liar Wyatt. You got scared, and now you are all upset because I’m seeing someone. You are mad because you weren’t man enough when you had the opportunity and now you’re trying to take it out on me and Greg.” She pointed at him, “You had your chance, and you blew it.”
Wyatt was tired of arguing with her, “Whatever.”
“Fine, Greg and I will go up to my room and watch TV, you sit down here and just leave me alone,” she returned.
“No you’re not, you’re staying down here. I don’t want you going up there with him,” he ordered her.
She glared at him, “You really think you’re my boss? You think you can tell me what to do? Wyatt, you are nothing. You only stay here because my parents feel sorry for you.”
Wyatt felt the verbal jab, even though he was acutely aware of its truth. He had always realized that he would never be more than a guest here, a tolerated, if not unwanted guest, but hearing it still had an effect on him.
He felt compelled to hit back, “Hell, I don’t care if you screw his brains out Lindsey. The only reason I’m trying to stop you is because both your mom and dad asked me to keep an eye on you because they don’t trust you and they knew you would do something like this.”
“That’s bullshit Wyatt and you know it,” Lindsey yelled at him, “my parents trust me more than they ever will you. I knew you were jealous of Greg, but trying to convince me that they trust you more than me, that’s just sad.”
“Lindsey, just take it easy,” he tried to calm her.
“I’m going upstairs,” she announced, heading back towards the den.
“No you’re not,” he countered, sliding to block her way.
“Get out of my way, Wyatt,” she scowled.
“Lindsey, don’t do this, I promised your parents,” he let the words trail.
“Exactly Wyatt, MY PARENTS! Not yours, mine. I’ll deal with them, they’ll deal with me. If you were still in school this wouldn’t be an issue. They have no problem “trusting” me when you’re not here. You’re pissed because I have a boyfriend and you can’t have me,” Lindsey’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I gave myself to you Wyatt, and you threw me out. I thought you felt something but I was wrong. Now get the hell out of my way,” she pushed past him and back into the den.
He stood there, angry and frustrated. Should he pursue her and make Greg leave? “To hell with her, to hell with my uncle,” he thought to himself. “She’s a big girl; if Uncle Rich wanted a babysitter then he should have hired one.”
Wyatt made a beeline to his room, slamming the door as he got there. Moments latter he heard Lindsey’s bedroom door slam as well, signaling to him that she had carried through with her promise to retreat to her room.
As Wyatt sat there on the edge of his bed he replayed their encounter in the kitchen back through his head. Why had she insisted on thinking that he was jealous? He didn’t care who she dated. He should have never told her that he was supposed to keep an eye on her. That just made her angry.
“What should I do now?” he thought to himself as he sat there rocking back and forth.
He had half a mind to go and apologize, but fought with himself. He didn’t see why he needed to; she was the one being stupid.
He lay back on his bed and flipped on the television, looking for something that would occupy his mind. He flipped channels for about a half hour but he couldn’t get the argument out of his head. He needed to talk to her again, to clear it up. Resolved, he got up and headed for the door.
The hallway was quiet, her door still closed. As he approached he could hear the sound of the television, turned up incredibly loud. He got an extremely uncomfortable feeling as he rapped on the door.
“Go away Wyatt,” was all he heard come from the room.
This didn’t deter him; he had to talk to her, to make her understand everything, to clear up all these issues. Wyatt disregarded her message and gripping the knob, turned it and opened the door.
Their clothes were piled on the floor beside the bed. Wyatt knew immediately that he had failed his uncle. Lindsey glared at her cousin over Greg’s bare shoulder as for a moment he continued to bounce up and down on her, their naked bodies hidden under the covers, “Get out Wyatt!”
Stunned, Wyatt just closed the door and retreated to his bedroom, “Oh, Lindsey.”

January 7th - Dear Starlog

Tomorrow I finally go back at school. Frankly, these last three weeks at home have been horrible. I’m not sure I can stand to be around Lindsey anymore. Not just that I caught her having sex with Greg, but because I know that I cause her misery when I’m around. The night I walked in on her and Greg I initially just went back to my room and tried to forget what I saw. Needless to say that wasn’t real easy.
At about eleven-thirty I heard her bedroom door open and Greg leave. I don’t know why I cared but I still wanted to talk to her. When I heard her bedroom door close again I went to her room. It was pretty obvious she was crying. I didn’t have the nerve to knock.
I’ve spent the last couple weeks just avoiding her. Christmas morning was horrible for me and I’m pretty sure it was the same for her.
I’ve heard her crying in her room more than once over the last two weeks. I’m not sure it has anything to do with me, but it is likely.
After that Friday, Greg stopped coming around. Aunt Carla told me that they broke up that same weekend as our argument. Both her and Uncle Rich were disappointed because they really liked him, especially after I lied and told them that Lindsey and Greg just hung out in the den while they were gone that night.
It makes me feel ashamed that I wasn’t able to protect her from herself. Of course, I’m really not qualified to do so. Hell, I can’t even protect her from me. I knew that she had feelings for me all the way back to that day on the veranda, but I never did anything about it. In fact, I just made the matter worse by not stopping her when she came in my room.
I like to think that with me back at school I won’t have to worry about this any more. Unfortunately I’ve been dealt a pretty shitty hand and my uncle’s house is now my home. With that comes Lindsey. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate not having control?