JULY, 1987, Aberdeen WA

          SUMMER, IT TURNED out, was an entirely different season when it had Kurt in it. Lindy had spent nearly every summer of her life living in dread, confined to her home and tasked with making sure it was spotless when Lee arrived home from work. But with Kurt, it was very much a different experience. 

Almost every day Lindy continued to scuttle out of the house, offering excuse upon excuse to her father. Dodging any sort of drawn out conversation with Lee had been her priority since May — he still did not know of her plans to attend to UW, and he certainly could never know about her relationship with Kurt.

There were, of course, many questions on Lee's end. He would suspiciously scrutinize his daughter over breakfast, examining her tired eyes before he would gruffly demand to know why she was so exhausted all the time. Little did he know, Kurt had been sneaking Lindy out of the house every night for their mischievous adventures.

Lee never knew Lindy to have a large collection of friends, but every day she proclaimed to be visiting someone else's house, listing off another random name that Lee has never heard her speak of in the past.

And then there was the obvious subject of school. Lindy had seemingly distanced herself from the argument of college, which struck Lee as unnatural due to the fact he'd imagined her to argue with him every day that summer over his wishes to send her to community college.

It was all very, very strange behavior, at least to Lee. 

On the evening of July Fourth, Lindy had once again prepared to meet up with Kurt, her brother, and the rest of their small group of friends. Dressed in the only pair of denim shorts that she owned along with a red tank top (her half-hearted attempt to patriotic), she casually strode through the living room, avoiding Lee's following eyes.

"Going somewhere?" he asked scathingly, a note of hinted sarcasm in his voice.

Lindy paused by the kitchen's entrance, fingering the loose string of fabric at the hem of her shorts. It wouldn't have been the first time that Lee had stopped her in her tracks for questioning.

"My friend Jessica's house," she lied, attempting to sound sure of herself. She did not even know of a Jessica. In fact, she wasn't even sure if a Jessica her age lived in Aberdeen

"I hope you know," Lee began, "that I am smarter than you make me out to be."

Lindy felt a small patch of sweat begin to bloom at the base of her neck as she stared obliviously at her father.

"What do you mean?"

"You and I both are well aware of where you've been running off to these past few weeks," Lee scowled, slamming down the remote and rising from his chair. Lindy nearly tripped over her own feet as she stumbled backwards.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she stuttered. It was already too late. Lindy did not have to see her reflection in a mirror to know fear had flashed through her eyes.

"Don't act like you haven't been gallivanting around with your brother Lindsey."

Lindy swallowed, hesitant. "I . . . I don't understand."

"That's where you've been every single damn day and night. Off with him, I know it. And you think I'd stop you, which if I had any sense I would, so you've been hiding it from me."

Lindy had to admit, she was surprised. She'd always managed to roll her eyes at her father behind his back and assume that the majority of his brain was filled with hot air, but this had been cutting it close. She found herself full of gratitude that Trae had assumed the position of a crutch in her lies.

"Yeah, well. He is my brother," she muttered, unsure if she was pushing Lee's buttons. If he dared to stop her from seeing her own flesh and blood, he would have reached an all new level of tyranny.

There was an awkward pause as Lee examined her, his mouth twisting up in a sort of tense grimace as he evaluated the situation at hand. Lindy was already planning her phone call later that night to Kurt, explaining why she hadn't shown up at Krist's house. Whatever idea of punishment was brewing in Lee's head, it wasn't going to be good.

"Better be back by midnight," he finally grumbled, turning away.

Lindy couldn't believe her luck. She took a silent breath of relief, spinning on her heels and speed-walking towards the door before Lee could change his mind.

"Oh, and Lindsey?"

She stopped, but did not turn to face him. She angled her head slightly towards the sound of his voice, fearing the worst.

"If any of his delinquent friends are with him, just know I'll find out, alright?"

The omniscient warning spread over Lindy's body like a winter chill. She waited, not wanting her voice to tremble when she answered back.

"Okay, Dad."

_________

Kurt's car was parked, as usual, a few houses down from Lindy's. Once she caught sight of him, sitting in the driver's seat as he carefully balanced a cigarette between his lips while lighting it, she broke into a run down the pavement.

Kurt saw her, blew a cloud of cigarette smoke from his mouth, and beamed. Lindy threw open the passenger side door, jumping in and immediately throwing herself across the arm rest in order to kiss Kurt with as much reckless abandon as she could muster. The thought of Lee banning her from seeing him had struck something within her and she found herself grasping to hold him closer. He hadn't been expecting her enthusiasm, startled as his hands excitedly trailed down her back.

"Hello to you as well," he grinned as Lindy broke the kiss. The taste of his mouth was still on hers — smoke and bittersweetness, fused into one.

"My dad," she breathed, "he's catching on."

She then explained to Kurt how their ruse had nearly been revealed. Kurt wrinkled his nose, scoffing.

"He can fuck off," he said, glowering out the windshield. Under his breath he added, "I won't let him torment you, Lindy."

Lindy covered Kurt's hand with her own, squeezing his long fingers reassuringly.

"It'll be okay," she whispered.

As they drove to Krist and Shelli's, Lindy steered the conversation far from the subject of Lee, instead asking Kurt if he'd written anything new. She could go even just a night without seeing him and he would have produced some great form of art the next day, whether it be a painting or a song. It took him no time at all to construct an unsuspecting masterpiece.

"Not yet. Soon, though," he said as he turned the car into the driveway. There was a note of longing in his voice, as if his ability to create were far out of reach. Lindy felt a pang in her chest, hoping she had not been of distraction to him.

Before she could broach the topic Trae was bounding out the door, one beer in each hand and a goofy grin on his face. Lindy smiled as she got out, always at ease when in the presence of her brother.

"Come on inside, Krist has some cheap champagne that he's about to pop but he says he's got something to tell us all first," Trae announced.

As Lindy waited patiently for Kurt to shut his car door, reaching her hand out to him, Trae gave her a playful kick to the ankles.

"I said hurry, damn it, I want champagne!"

Sure enough, when the three of them entered the house, Krist was pulling a fat, green bottle of champagne from the fridge. Shelli was setting the table with a wide variety of snack foods and as Lindy noted upon further inspection, a plate of pre-rolled joints.

"Alright, alright, gather 'round my fellow misfit friends," Krist called, waving them all into circle. Lindy glanced questioningly at Kurt, hoping to gain some insight as to what Krist had in store, but Kurt only smiled knowingly. He squeezed her hand. Whatever it was, Kurt seemed to already know about, and it must have been good news.

Krist was smiling as he gave the champagne bottle a small shake. Once they were all assembled, Trae still draining the last of his beers, he began.

"As everyone in this room knows, our dearest little Lindy is starting college this coming fall," he said. There was a raucous noise of applause and whoops and Lindy felt herself blushing as everyone congratulated her with radiant smiles.

"A toast!" Trae cried, raising his empty beer bottle.

"Not yet," Krist intervened, holding up a finger before pressing on.

"Along with this excellent news, Shelli and I — oh, and Kurt, sorry — have something else exciting to celebrate. Take it as late graduation gift, Lindy."

Lindy raised her eyebrows and then it hit her. She gasped, clapping both hands to her mouth.

"Shelli's pregnant!" she squealed behind her fingers. 

"Hell no!" Shelli shouted as the room erupted into fits of laughter.

"Now how exactly would I be involved in that?" Kurt exclaimed, shaking his head at Lindy.

"Would I even want to know?" Lindy rolled her eyes as Kurt grabbed her midsection, unable to resist pulling her into his embrace. Any second that he wasn't touching her, feeling the soft supple touch of her skin, was a second wasted as far as he was concerned.

"Please let them finish so we can have more drinks and set off fireworks," Trae groaned.

Lindy opened her mouth to protest (there was no way she was letting her brother set off explosives while drunk) but Krist stopped her.

"Can you all shut up? God, no wonder nobody gets shit done around here!"

Once the last trails of giggling dissolved, Krist cleared his throat and started from where he had left off.

"So yes. Lindy, we are proud to announce to you that we've just bought a house outside of Seattle, close enough to UW that you won't ever have to live a single day without us."

Lindy blinked. She hadn't been sure that she had heard Krist right. Whatever he had said, it sounded far too good to be true. It was something she had dreamt of, sure, but to hear it aloud? It wasn't possible. At least not so soon.

"You . . . you guys found a house?" she said slowly.

"Bought, actually," Shelli grinned, passing around several glasses for the champagne.

Lindy looked to Kurt, her eyes pleading for him to speak the truth if it was all only some cruel joke.

"You're serious?" she whispered, touching her fingers lightly to his chest. It was like she was feeling him for the first time, feeling his presence envelop her all over again. 

"Of course," he smiled, gently brushing at Lindy's hair. "We wouldn't lie to you."

"Oh my God," Lindy finally cried, launching herself into his arms and screaming with pure delight. It was at this moment that Krist popped the top off the shaken bottle, spraying them all with a flume of sparkling champagne.

"I get you all to myself in Seattle," Lindy murmured, still tucked into Kurt's arms as he held her close.

"You get me for as long as you want me," he corrected.

"That's going to be a pretty long time."

"I can only hope."

Trae pushed glasses into their hands, breaking the moment with a loud whoop.

"Enough, enough, save it for later, its the Fourth of July and we've got to celebrate --"

"Well, we're definitely not celebrating America, we're not a bunch of capitalistic assholes with --" Krist began.

"Please shut up," Shelli groaned, tossing back her champagne before Krist could knock it teasingly out of her hand.

Lindy laughed, her hands still clasped around Kurt's neck as she looked around the room. They were all covered in champagne and laughing, slipping across the wet kitchen floor and shouting curse words to the sky. They were her family. They would always be her family and nothing would separate them, not then, and not forever.