Tristan's phone rang again, and he pulled it out of his pocket, his thumb instinctively reaching to reject the call. But it was Bee's name that illuminated the screen, not his dad's.
"Hey," Tristan said, answering the call.
“Hey, Trist!” Bee responded with far more enthusiasm, the familiar nickname hitting him right in the heart. “You didn’t call yesterday.”
“Oh, shit,” Tristan said. “Sorry, I had some shit going on. I forgot it was Friday.”
Bee leant away from the phone to cough loudly. “Shit with your dad?”
“Mm,” Tristan admitted. “You still have that cough?”
"Yeah," Bee said. "My doctor gave me some medicine, but she said it might just take a while to clear up. My lungs aren't the best. Or my immune system, or… well, my whole body, I guess."
Tristan had expected hearing her voice to cheer him up, but instead, it squeezed at his heart, reminding him that despite the strength he'd mustered to get this far, he was still alone. Still uncared for by anyone but this distant young girl. "Yeah."
"But it's okay!" Bee said, forcing energy into her voice. "I'll get better! I just have to get through this, and then," she paused to cough again, "then things will be good, and we won't let them get as bad again."
“I should have taken you to the doctor so that you could get proper medicine before it got bad in the first place.”
“You took me to the hospital all the time. I could go to the doctor on my own, but my parents wouldn’t have paid for all the things I needed anyway.”
“I could have paid. I have money.”
“Not everything is always your responsibility and your fault, Trist. You know that, right? You didn’t have to do anything and you did so much.”
Tristan could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. The kindness had its own kind of sting. "Well, none of that really matters now. Just what happened. But I guess it's in the past, so there's nothing any of us can do anyway."
“Is everything okay? You sound…” Bee said, trailing off.
“Yeah, just my family makes me mad sometimes, but it’s not a big deal. I can handle it.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
Tristan let out a quiet breath of laughter, though he wasn't sure why. None of it was funny.
“I miss you.”
“Really?” Tristan asked. “You don’t need me anymore, and I know I’m not much fun.”
"Of course I need you," Bee said, her voice filled with conviction despite its frailty. "You were my anchor for so long. I might not be here without you."
“Yeah, but now…”
“You really think all I cared about was having a ride to the hospital? That I don’t care about you as well?”
“I don’t know,” Tristan said. “Sorry, I’m being dramatic. I don’t want to stress you out.”
“Don’t hang up,” Bee said, her voice wavering slightly. “Let’s keep talking, okay? I don’t mind if you’re in a weird mood.”
"Okay," Tristan breathed, the tears in his eyes threatening to spill over. He'd felt numb when talking to his father, but there was a rawness, a truth that Bee was drawing out of him with her gentle kindness. "I don't have much to say."
"You never do, but that's okay," Bee said. "Do you think you'll ever be able to come and visit? I know it's a long drive, but maybe if you need a few days break from your family while school holidays are on or something…"
Hope flared in his chest, but Tristan immediately stomped it back down. "I don't know, Bee. I'm a guy, and I'm sixteen. Older than you and Sophie. Alice would probably feel weird about me staying there. She doesn't even know me."
"She basically does though," Bee insisted. "I talk about you all the time. I told her about everything you did for me. She knows how great you are."
“I’m not that great,” Tristan murmured. “I’d like to, but I don’t want to make anyone feel weird.”
Tristan heard the distant sound of Bee talking to someone else with the phone held away from her face, and a moment later, a new young voice came through the line. "You'd better not be talking bad about yourself, young man!"
"Hey, Sophie," Tristan greeted, the hint of a smile settling on his lips despite the unshed tears still dampening his eyes. "You're younger than me, you know."
“And yet, you’re still young. Now, what’s this I hear about you wanting to visit?”
“Bee wanted me to, but I know how it is with a guy in a house full of girls.”
“And how is it?” Sophie demanded. “I know all about you, you know. You’re not a creep.”
“Someone can do good things sometimes and still be a creep, you know. You should be more careful.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, did you mistake me for someone who’s naive? An innocent little girl? I know all about creeps, thank you. And I know you’re not one.”
“Okay. I guess I won’t argue with that, since you’re right and I’m not a creep. I don’t know if your aunt is going to take our word for it, though.”
"Let's find out," Sophie said, and then a second later, she put him on silent.
As Tristan waited, he glanced over at Sadie to make sure she wasn't wandering too close to where the ground dropped off towards the water below. She was a sad excuse for a dog, really, but Tristan hadn't wanted to pick out some cute little puppy who would otherwise get adopted right away into a loving home with a bunch of kids. He'd wanted to be sure that any dog he brought into his home had no better prospects. Even so, he still felt like he'd failed her. She deserved a whole home where she could roam and relax, not to be shut in a room all day waiting for the one person who cared about her to come home and be a barrier between her and a hostile household.
He’d done his best to help Bee, too, but in the end it hadn’t been good enough. It was only now that she was with Alice that she was truly starting to recover instead of only ever getting sicker. Of course, Bee insisted that wasn't his fault, but he wasn't sure there was nothing more he could have done.
Tristan heard sound from the other end of the line followed by Alice’s voice. “Hey, hun. You there?”
“Yeah,” Tristan said. “Uh, hi.”
“Hi! How’re you doing?”
"I'm fine," Tristan murmured, biting down on the inside of his cheek.
“Okay,” Alice said, letting that obvious lie slide. “The girls said you might want to come and visit sometime?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Tristan said. “It’s kind of a long drive, so I’d probably have to stay overnight, but I could just sleep in my car if you’re not comfortable with me being in the house. You know, with the girls and all.”
“I’m not going to make you sleep in your car, Trist. You’re welcome in my home whenever you like. When do you think you’ll be able to come up?”
“Uhh…” Tristan said as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “Well, I could come tomorrow?”
“Oh. That soon?”
“Or another time. Whatever. It’s fine.”
“No, no, I don’t mind. It’s just that Bee’s still pretty sick. I don’t know if she’s going to be up to doing much.”
“Most of our quality bonding time was spent in hospital waiting rooms, so I’m used to that. If you don’t want me there right now, though, I get it.”
"We'd love to have you. Can I talk to your dad for a minute so we can get everything sorted out?"
A bitter tightness rose up in the back of Tristan’s throat. “Right. Because I’m a minor.”
“Right,” Alice confirmed. “It just helps me to make sure that everyone’s on the same page and I’m not going to be getting in any trouble because someone doesn’t know where their kid is.”
"Yeah, I get it," Tristan said with a sigh. "You can tell Bee that I'll see her in a year and a bit. Well, maybe. We'll see how things go."
“Are you in danger? If you’re in danger, I’m not going to be a stickler about doing things by the book.”
“No, I’m not, so I guess everything is fine.”
“Hm,” was all Alice said for a long moment. Tristan was on the brink of apologising for letting his temper get the better of him when she followed it up with, “We’ll see you tomorrow, then?”
"Yeah," Tristan said, swallowing around the tightness in his throat. "Oh, uh. Is it okay if I bring my dog?"
“Your dog?”
“She won’t be any trouble. She’s little and old. I don’t trust my dad to take care of her, though, so…”
“Oh! Sure, of course.”
“Thanks,” Tristan said. “I’ll see you then.”
Tristan ended the call and put his phone back in his pocket. Sadie had wandered back over, so he pulled her into his lap and buried his face in her fur. She had no perceivable sense of empathy, but Tristan preferred that. At least he knew she wouldn't feel too bad about him almost having a breakdown on her.
Feeling suddenly more inspired, he looked up free camping spots on his phone, and then went back to his car to set off on a journey to the closest pet-friendly one in the direction he was heading. It was almost an hour away, and it was nothing fancy, but it would mean a shorter drive tomorrow and somewhere safe to stay for the night.
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