Not the Only One (Book 1 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

Thirty-Eight

Luke

We had just gotten the dinner dishes in the dishwasher and were sitting on the back deck, enjoying the cool evening breeze. I had been working up my courage all evening.

"Dad, Mom, I need to talk to you guys about something important," I said, sitting up in the chair and putting my hands on the table.

They shared a glance and Dad said, "Okay son, what is it? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just..." I let my breath out in a whoosh. "I'm sorry, this is hard for me to say."

Mom sat up and put her hand on top of mine. "Lucas, baby, what is it? You're scaring me."

"Well, to be honest, I've been a little scared myself."

Dad took a deep breath. "Luke, come on, what is it?"

I decided to just go for it. "Dad, do you have a brother?"

His already fair-skinned face turned even more pale. "I—uh," he stammered.

"Dad, please don't lie to me," I whispered.

He exhaled. "Yes. I have a brother...and Luke, that's not all," he started.

I glanced at Mom, and her eyes were bouncing between me and my dad.

I held up my hand. "It's okay, Dad, I already know. Your brother is William Jefferson. Miles Jefferson and I are cousins."

Mom and Dad both looked shocked. "How do you know that?" Mom asked.

"I went to Miles' house the other night, he talked to Rachel Cross' parents the next day. We figured it out," I said, and my dad sat back in his chair, running his hand through his hair.

"Jesus, I never thought I'd hear you say that you went to Miles' house. I thought you guys were mortal enemies."

I nodded. "We were, until Rachel Cross started dating Miles, and I started dating Brooke. After that, we all just sort of morphed into a new social pack. We were bound to find out at some point."

Dad nodded. "I suppose so. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"Yeah, first, why have you hidden it all these years?" 

Dad sighed again, and I knew I was dredging up something painful. I felt guilty, but I wanted to know the truth—needed to know.

"William and I used to be close when we were kids, even in high school. William is two years older than me, which is why Rachel's parents didn't mention my name—not to mention, I hung out with a younger crowd, including your mom. But as we got older, William turned mean. He didn't care about anything other than himself. He was a selfish asshole. Things happened that shouldn't have happened, and we had a falling out," he finished.

I nodded. I wanted to know what things happened, but if he wanted to tell me, he would have. So I settled for a different question. "Okay. Why did he change his name?"

Dad shrugged. "I don't know. I've never understood that." he said, but I didn't quite believe him.

I decided not to press it, though; I'd already pressed him enough tonight.

"I'm sorry to bring all this up again, Dad. But with Miles and I being friends now, I feel like we need to know this stuff."

"I know. It's okay—you don't have to apologize."

I noticed Mom had been quiet. When I turned to her and put my hand over hers, she withdrew it and shook her head, standing up. "I'm sorry, Luke," she whispered, opening the sliding glass door and ducking inside.

"Mom, wait," I started, but it was too late. "Dad—what just happened?"

He shook his head. "She doesn't enjoy talking about this."

I nodded. "Dad, you're not going to ask me to stay away from Miles, are you?"

He looked at me for a moment, his blue eyes boring into mine. "No. I won't do that to you. I know how much his friendship means to you. And no matter what happened between William and me, Miles is your family. I won't take that away from you. Just..." He licked his lips nervously. "Just know that things will be different now."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "Okay."

Dad stood up and ruffled my hair. "I'm going to go check on your mom. Thanks for bringing this to us, son," he said, kissing the top of my head.

"Yeah, of course," I murmured as he went inside.

I sat back in the lawn chair, biting my lip.

I had my answers, right?

Then why did I feel like something was still missing?

Miles

I ran down the sidewalk through our neighborhood, my Nikes hitting the concrete hard. I was running harder than I had all season, and I could feel the sweat running down my spine. I hadn't heard from Luke, and it was already going on 9 pm. I needed to know what his parents said. My anxiety over this impending phone call was pushing me to run even faster. I rounded the corner back onto my street when I saw Luke walking toward me. I slowed down, pulling my earbuds out of my ears and met him halfway, so he wouldn't have to come near my house.

"Luke," I gasped, out of breath. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't want to call. I just wanted to tell you in person," he said, shrugging.

"Okay. Let's sit, I think I'm dying," I joked.

We sat on the curb, both looking up at the stars that had popped out over the last few minutes.

"My dad didn't want to talk about it, but he did so pretty willingly. Basically, they used to be pretty close, but your dad turned into an asshole—"

"Right, well that's not a revelation," I interrupted.

Luke snorted. "Right. He said some 'things happened' and they had a falling out. Right after that, my mom got upset and went inside. He didn't say much else, except that he didn't know why your dad changed his name."

I thought about this, stretching my legs out in front of me. "What were the 'things' that happened?" I asked.

He shrugged. "He didn't say. I felt bad enough for upsetting my mom, so I didn't want to press it. But I think there's something he's not telling me. There has to be something else to it."

I nodded. "Yeah, but for now, I say we leave it alone. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, we've got AP tests coming up, and prom, then finals and graduation," Luke said.

I turned toward him. "Funny you mentioned prom. I want to ask Rachel in a grand gesture—"

"A grand gesture, you? No way."

"Haha. Cuz, I need your help," I said, and when he looked at me curiously, I divulged my plan.