CHAPTER THIRTEEN

-CAMERON-

"Hey, you wanna hear something really lame?"

She smiles and shuts her locker door. "What?"

"Mom, Mark and I do this thing a couple of nights a year. It's called Movie Madness."

"What do you do in said Movie Madness?"

"We have a movie marathon." She hands me her books so she can tie up her hair. It used to be a dark brown, but the summer sun has made it lighter than I've ever seen. She asked me if she should dye it—make it lighter again. I told her she didn't need to. The darker it was the more her blue eyes stood out. She laughed and asked if I'd been reading her books. I didn't really know what that meant, but obviously it was a good thing because it started a make-out session that lasted two hours.

"That sounds cool." She starts to walk away, and I follow, her books still in my hands.

Logan walks past and makes a whipping motion with his hand.

"Fuck you," I mouth.

His head throws back in silent laughter. Then he stops walking and his eyes glisten with amusement. "Hey, Luce," he says, walking up to us.

She turns to him. "Yeah?"

"Did you have a growth spurt or something over the summer?" His eyes wander up and down her body.

"No."

"Oh." He eyes me quickly before returning his gaze to her. "Just seems like these little skirts of yours are getting shorter. Or maybe it's just been a while since I've seen you." He steps forward. "I didn't realize how much I missed you until now." He stretches his arms out, an invitation to hug him.

I wait for her reaction, my fists already balled. Her eyebrows pinch as she looks from him to me, and back again. She shakes her head quickly and ducks under his arm and into mine.

I laugh. "Get your own girlfriend to hug you."

He shakes his head and chuckles. "Jake!" he shouts. "Come hug me!"

Jake walks over with his eyes already narrowed. "Nah, mate, I'm good."

Dylan and his girlfriend Heidi join us and Logan quickly comes up with an excuse to leave. He does it a lot when those two are together. The bell rings and everyone bails. "So what about your movie madness?" Lucy asks, taking her books back.

"Oh, yeah. It's tonight. You wanna come?"

"It's not a family thing?"

I roll my eyes. "You are family."

Ducking her head, she tries to hide her smile. "Okay." She looks back up, her smile still in place, and kisses me longer than she's ever done at school. "I'll see you after school. I love you." And then she's gone.

I stand in the middle of the empty hallway, smiling like an idiot.

"Get to class!" she yells over her shoulder.

I don't even have my books.

***

Once she's climbed into Filmore and clipped her seatbelt on, she turns to me. "What movies are we watching?"

"We watch all of our favorites, mine first, then Mom's and then Marky Mark's."

"What are they?"

"Back to the Future, Aladdin, and Lethal Weapon. And after that, they said we can try to watch your favorite."

She smiles again, that same shy smile from earlier. I move in, kiss her cheek, and start to reverse out of the spot.

We make it a mile home before my car breaks down.

"Stupid Filmore." I kick the tire.

She comes up and wraps her arms around me, trying to calm me. "I feel bad that you spent your money on this. I know you were doing it for me, but you could have got something more reliable."

I sigh. "It doesn't matter. It's done now."

"You don't think it's fixable?"

I shake my head, my smile tight. "It's going to cost more to fix than it's worth. I'm just pissed. It's not your fault. I'm sorry."

She pulls her phone out of her bra. Her skirts and tanks rarely have pockets. "Dad?" she says, holding the phone to her ear.

My eyes narrow in confusion.

"Filmore's broken. Can you organize a tow?" She gives him our location.

Ten minutes later he arrives. Another five minutes and the tow truck shows up. Half an hour after that, I'm told that Filmore needs a new home in car heaven. Basically where I found him.

Tom stands in front of us shaking his head. "I'm sorry," he says sincerely. "I know you got Filmore to help out with Luce and the boys and I appreciate it." His words don't surprise me. Luce says that he's been doing therapy twice a week in the few months since he started. She's gone to a few sessions with him and they've been working through his issues. She tells me that it helps, and I'm glad it does. She says that I gave her a new perspective, that even though he messed up, he's trying. Which is more than I can say for my dad.

He rubs his hand across his beard and looks between Lucy and I. "You guys heading to our house or what?"

Lucy answers for both of us. "We were gonna go to Cam's." And even though we can walk to my house, we accept his offer for a ride. Because it's not just about the ride, it's the message behind it. He's making an effort. Not just for Luce, but for me, too.

***

"Where's Filmore?" Mark asks, walking into the kitchen.

Lucy exaggerates a pout. "Car heaven."

Mark's eyes move from Lucy, to Mom, then finally to me. "That sucks, bud. I'm sorry."

Shrugging, I state, "It was inevitable." I let out a bitter laugh. "Just means Lucy's back to riding shotgun on the back of my bike."