The Navigator
by Cynus
Chapter 5
"You need me to do what?" Chelsea asked as they stood across the street from Mom's Diner. She stared at Silas like he was crazy, but he hoped she'd do what he asked anyway.
"I need you to go in there and ask to use the restroom, and then tell me if a man named Ian Drake is inside," Silas replied, anxiously watching the windows of the diner for any sign of Ian.
"Wait, Ian Drake . . ." Chelsea said thoughtfully, "Is he a relation of yours or something?"
Silas cursed under his breath at his failure to think things through. He hadn't considered the possibility Chelsea might know Ian, and from the tone of her question he realized she just might. But the more he considered her, he realized where he'd gone wrong. He'd said he was in town visiting family. If he'd just said 'Ian', that might've been the end of it. Then again, Chelsea had already proven herself trustworthy. She had already helped him out of one mess, and she might not even hate him for lying to her the day they met, if she ever found out.
But he needed another lie and he needed one quick, because he wasn't about to do something which could jeopardize his position even more, no matter how much he liked Chelsea. "Um, he's my second-cousin," Silas said with only a slight hesitation, then started rambling and hoping an excuse would tumble out of his mouth which would satisfy Chelsea's curiosity. "We're actually visiting his family and it's his birthday soon but I don't know him very well. I need to work out the details of a surprise party my family is planning on holding for him at the diner and so I need to ask some questions of his staff." He paused and looked at Chelsea with eyes full of hope, holding his breath knowing the strength of his lies could run out at any moment.
"Oh? A surprise party!?" Chelsea said, clapping her hands together in excitement. "I love surprise parties! That's very exciting. Sure, um . . . What do I say if he's in there?"
"Well don't ask for him," Silas replied, horrified by the thought. He shook his head and shuddered. "You'll know it's him if you see him. He'll look a lot like me, but older. Just peer into the back while you stare at the menu board or something, and then excuse yourself to use the restroom. Once you're done come back out."
Chelsea nodded and started forward when Silas reached out and caught her arm. "One more thing, Chelsea," Silas said anxiously, "Don't mention my name, whatever you do. Remember, this is supposed to be a surprise."
"I got it," Chelsea said with a nod. "Don't you worry about me, Drake," she added as she pulled her arm away, "I've got this."
He watched her go before returning to his hiding spot, crouching behind a car parked on the side of the road. He began holding his breath as soon as Chelsea walked into the diner, and then let it out as he watched her walk toward the restroom. He heard a car door open from further down the road, and he glanced up nervously until he saw it was a woman in a black hooded jacket that was getting out of her car and not Ian.
He ignored her and returned his focus to Chelsea, waiting for her to leave the restroom and head his way. He felt a tug on the leash wrapped around his left hand, and he glanced at Adelaide to see she'd noticed movement somewhere in the distance. Assuming it to be either another dog or a housecat, Silas ignored Adelaide and resumed his surveillance of the diner.
"Silas Drake," a feminine voice said from a few feet away. His blood went cold, his muscles tensed and prepared to run. He turned slowly as he rose from his crouch, staring into the eyes of the hooded woman. Jenny, the waitress from the day before, stood in front of him with a look of profound concern.
Silas was about to bolt when Jenny said, "Wait!" He turned back toward her, surprised by the urgency in her voice. He saw something in her eyes he couldn't identify, though he was sure it was something close to empathy. "Please don't run," she pleaded. "There are things you and I need to talk about."
"Why would there be?" Silas said neutrally as he hesitated, though he kept one foot turned and ready to propel him forward should he decide to make a break for it. "You don't know who I am."
"I know your brother, Silas," Jenny said with a calm and nurturing voice. "Ian was beside himself when he came back yesterday. He had to have his assistant come in early to take over the rest of his shift. Why did you run?"
"If you think I'm going to tell some random waitress my whole life's story just because she thinks she knows who I am, you've got another thing coming," Silas said, glancing nervously at Chelsea who was walking back toward them. She was still on the other side of the street, but it would be less than a minute before she reached them. "I don't have time for this," Silas said to Jenny.
"Look, you can come in and talk for a minute. Ian is off today, and I don't start my shift for another twenty minutes," Jenny said with pleading eyes. Silas watched her for a moment, already beginning to shake his head when Chelsea joined them and gave both of them a questioning look.
Silas waved Chelsea forward and replied, "Some other time, perhaps." He was angry, and he didn't even know the source. He definitely didn't want to talk to Jenny about everything going on. He'd come to the diner to investigate the environment in which Ian worked and lived, but he had been hoping for a completely different crew who didn't know who he was, and Jenny sat near the top of the list of people he didn't want to talk to. "Chelsea, let's go. I got what I came here for . . ." He turned his back on Jenny gently hooking Chelsea's arm before walking away.
"He said it was like seeing a ghost, Silas," Jenny blurted out, and Silas stopped, hearing the desperation in her voice. "He thought he would never see you again. He said he wrote letters to your house for years but never got a reply. He tried calling but they changed the number. He searched for you on Facebook and otherwise but your name never appeared. The one thing he didn't do was go home because he knew he wasn't welcome." Silas listened to every word, his eyes widening further and further as he heard the first true words about what really happened, and all in the tone of a mother who seemed to be desperately clinging to a child she thought was dying. It was like hearing his own mother's voice the time he was in the hospital for pneumonia, or hearing his father cry out for him to not run into the street when a car was coming. He turned back toward Jenny. Her whole body shook as tears streamed down her face. "Please, Silas," she begged. "Don't walk away."
"How do you know?" Silas asked, his voice deathly calm. He was in a state of shock as he pushed all of his emotions away, not wanting to face them. Not yet. He couldn't face them until certain what she'd said was true and he wasn't just imagining things. "Why would he tell you any of that?"
"I'm his mother-in-law," Jenny replied, wiping the tears away from her face with the back of her hand and smearing her mascara. "I'm also the one who held him yesterday when he came back in, panting and worn out after chasing after you. I'm the one who sat him down with a fresh cup of coffee and held his hand as he trudged through all of those years he spent out on his own. He's like a son to me, Silas, and that makes you family as well."
That was it. The one thing she could say that would make it all fall apart. He met her eyes, fury filling his own as his hands clenched into fists. Adelaide fed off his anger and started to growl, sensing that something had just snapped within her boy. "I have no family!" Silas growled, pointing down at Adelaide, "Except her. She's the only one who has stood by me. The only one who never abandoned me. She is the only one who has cared enough to do everything in her power to make sure I was alive."
"Silas . . ." Jenny began, but he cut her off with the deadliest glare that he had ever given anyone.
"If it was like seeing a ghost, then maybe I am one to him," Silas roared. "And I'll stay that way! I owe nothing to Ian. Nothing! He left me alone to fend for myself against our parents, and I'll never forgive him for that. Ever!"
He turned on his heel and started walking away, not even noticing that Chelsea had stopped to console Jenny and wouldn't be following. Silas would have preferred it that way, anyway. At least then Chelsea wouldn't see him cry.
Silas watched from the end of the dirt road. It was close enough that he could make it down as soon as she arrived at the bottom of the hill. He knew she'd have to come home eventually, and when she did he wanted a chance to make things straight with her, before she had a chance to overthink it and assume he'd been trying to take advantage of her for nefarious reasons. Chelsea rounded the corner, walking slowly. Her eyes were downcast and he could see her mood in her steps. She was definitely upset, and he'd caused it.
"Go get her," Silas commanded Adelaide, and he unhooked the leash from the collar to let her run free. Adelaide sped down the hill, reaching Chelsea in under two minutes, and Chelsea was obviously surprised when she crouched down and Adelaide began licking her face. Chelsea then looked up, all the way up to the top of the hill where Silas stood at the side of the road, waving.
It took longer for Chelsea to climb the hill than it had for Adelaide to race down it, and Silas waited for nearly ten minutes for Chelsea to make it to him with Adelaide excitedly leading the way. When Chelsea neared him she slowed her pace down even more until she stopped ten feet away from him and looked up to meet his eyes.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth," Silas said neutrally. It was another lie. He wasn't very sorry at all, though he was sorry the truth had hurt her in the crossfire. That had never been his intention, but he did what he had to for survival.
"No you're not," Chelsea said evenly, "But I get why you didn't. I know that you're not living with your parents here and visiting Ian's family, but I still don't know why you're here at all. Jenny didn't either."
"So you had a nice long talk with her, did you?" Silas asked with an annoyed shake of his head. "Did she tell you any more lies about my brother?"
Chelsea gave him a hard look and shook her head firmly. "Drake, or Silas, whatever you want to be called, you've been through a lot and I get that, but you've got to stop assuming the worst all the time. Pessimism gets you nowhere in life."
"I don't know about that, Chelsea," Silas replied with a roll of his eyes. "I've been to fifteen states over the past two years. Seems to me like it's gotten me pretty far."
"You're a . . . you're a . . ." Chelsea stammered, her face flushed red with anger.
"Asshole? Jackass? Douche bag?" Silas asked tauntingly. "Any of those fit?"
"I don't curse," Chelsea replied in a huff as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Silas shrugged and whistled for Adelaide who returned to his side a second later. "Sorry I couldn't help you figure out what to call me. I don't do Christian very well."
"Screw you, Drake!" Chelsea spat. "I know you've been hurt in the past by religious folk, but you can't assume we're all cut from the same cloth. Some Christians may have hurt you, but I didn't. And I'm not the one who left a woman crying on the side of the road when all she wanted to do was help you. Why do you have to be a jerk to everyone around you? All I want to do is be your friend!"
Silas met her eyes and saw her determination in there. He had underestimated her again, and there was some truth in what she said. She did want to be his friend, and she had only been kind to him so far, except for now, and he deserved to be treated this way for how he had acted.
"I do what I think is necessary to keep me alive," Silas replied, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "How can you fault me for that?"
"Jenny was trying to help you, Drake! I am too!" Chelsea replied. "You wouldn't have to work so hard to keep yourself alive if you'd just let someone in."
"What happens when it all gets turned upside down, Chelsea?" Silas asked with a smirk. "What happens when your parents find out that you spend your time with a gay homeless kid? Are you going to stand by me then? No, and I wouldn't ask you to. I'd ask you to sell me out to protect yourself. It's what I would do in your shoes."
"I don't believe that," Chelsea said with a shake of her head. "Your heart is too good. If it wasn't then you wouldn't have the loyalty of your dog," Chelsea added with an emphatic nod toward Adelaide. "You're a lot better than you give yourself credit for."
Silas thought his eyes might pop out of their sockets from surprise. "You're serious?" Silas said, shaking his head in disbelief. "You really think you know me that well? You've known me for two days and spent at maximum a few hours with me. You really think you know how I'd decide in a crisis?"
"You were going to pay for that dog collar and leash by trading sexual favors with the cashier, weren't you?" Chelsea asked, and Silas took a step back under her piercing gaze. "I see a lot more than you think I do. I see a lot more than most people think I do. You're a good person, Drake. You've just forgotten it behind all this pain you've built up. You don't think you deserve to be happy, well let me tell you one thing I know for certain. Everyone deserves to be happy."
"I'd love to hear how you figured that out about Adam and me," Silas muttered, "We cut that conversation off as soon as you walked through the door."
Chelsea shook her head and grinned. "That one's simple, actually. A man doesn't turn the shade of red that Adam was unless he's embarrassed about asking someone out, or embarrassed about being asked out. Judging by the difference in your age and his, and giving him the benefit of the doubt that he's not some creep, it was easy enough to tell who had asked whom. What with you being short on change, I ventured a guess and your face just confirmed it."
"You sly girl," Silas said, chuckling dryly. "Maybe I could trust someone as smart as you, who stuck by me even when I was sinning in the eyes of her church. The question remains as to whether or not you're strong enough to be my friend."
Chelsea grinned broadly and said, "Wait right here. I've got something for you." Silas watched in bewilderment as Chelsea turned around and ran back down the hill. He looked down at Adelaide who seemed just as confused as he was about the strange turn of events. He waited until Chelsea exited her house with a large bundle tucked underneath one arm. As she neared him he realized it was an open bag of dog food, partially rolled up to keep it closed.
She handed the bag to a shocked Silas and said, "You may be a jerk, Drake, but Adelaide isn't. I'm sure if you don't have money for a collar and leash then you probably don't have any for food either. You must have your own way of feeding both of you, but my parents won't miss the bag. I'll just open the new one and tell them our own dog has been eating more lately."
Silas looked down at Adelaide then back up at Chelsea with a wide-eyed stare. "Thanks, Chelsea," he said, "I really don't know why you're being so nice to me but . . . This really will help."
"How about you repay me by meeting me tomorrow morning?" Chelsea asked with a sly grin. "We're off school tomorrow for some teachers' conference going on in Denver. When would you be available?"
Silas chuckled as he looked down at Adelaide and then shrugged, "I could make it as early as eleven. It's a long walk to and from camp."
"Then eleven it is," Chelsea said with a wide smile. "I'll meet you up here, and then we can all go for a walk together. How does that sound?"
"You're not going to try to convince me to go talk to Jenny and Ian?" Silas asked, raising an eyebrow. "I would have assumed that would have been on the agenda."
"Only if you want me to," she replied without hesitation. "I told you that I want to get to know you. Stop making assumptions, all right?"
Authors deserve your feedback. It's the only payment they get. If you go to the top of the page you will find the author's name. Click that and you can email the author easily.* Please take a few moments, if you liked the story, to say so.
[For those who use webmail, or whose regular email client opens when they want to use webmail instead: Please right click the author's name. A menu will open in which you can copy the email address (it goes directly to your clipboard without having the courtesy of mentioning that to you) to paste into your webmail system (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc). Each browser is subtly different, each Webmail system is different, or we'd give fuller instructions here. We trust you to know how to use your own system. Note: If the email address pastes or arrives with %40 in the middle, replace that weird set of characters with an @ sign.]
* Some browsers may require a right click instead
