Breakaway (7 page)

“Hey,” I said as I nudged Jordie's foot with mine under the table and nodded toward Mario. Jordie looked around and saw who I was pointing to but didn't show any interest in Mario or his friends.

“I'm going to go say hi,” I said as I started to slide out of the booth.

“What if the waitress comes?” Raine asked.

“Just get me a Coke,” I said.

“Don't you want anything to eat?”

“It's a pizza place. I figure we're ordering a pizza, right?” I asked. “Just get whatever. I don't care.”

I walked over to Mario's table, and the guys he was with all looked up at me expectantly. “Hey, man,” I said to Mario. “Where's Chick?”

“I don't know, man,” Mario said with a shrug, his eyes hooded. “It wasn't my night to watch him, was it?”

I studied the guys Mario was with more closely. They all looked a little out of it—one of the guys was rocking slightly in his seat, like he had to go to the bathroom and was trying hard to hold it.

“What kind of shit are you on?” I asked Mario. We hadn't spoken about our argument after the last soccer game, had just let it go, but now, somehow, it was still there between us.

“What are you? A narc or something?” one of the guys asked me before Mario could respond. The guy was tall and skinny, his blond hair cut close to his scalp, his Adam's apple prominent in his throat. His eyes were an icy blue, hard and without empathy.

“Yeah, man, I'm a narc,” I said. “Figured anyone stupid enough to eat toilet paper wouldn't be able to tell.”

Mario laughed and for a second I caught a glimpse of my oldest friend in his expression. “Jaz is just being a dick,” Mario said. “Jaz, this is Travis,” Mario said with a lazy gesture toward the guy with the icy eyes. “Man, Jaz is a friend of mine. He's not a narc. What are you up to?” Mario asked me.

“Nothin',” I said with a glance back over my shoulder at Jordie and the girls. “Playing wingman for Jordie with his crush.”

“Oh shit,” Mario said as he looked back at our table and recognized Cheryl, “he finally got the balls to ask her out, huh?”

“Yeah,” I said. “She brought along her friend Raine.”

“I know Raine,” Mario said. “She was my lab partner last year. She's pretty cool. I should have asked her out.”

“You're welcome to her,” I said. “She hates my ass. I'd better get back before Jordie sends out a search party. I'll see you, man.” I didn't bother saying good-bye to Mario's buddies. They didn't pay me any notice anyway.

Raine was cold toward me when I returned to the table, didn't even look at me while we ate. She and Cheryl kept up their own conversation while Jordie shot me pleading looks when the girls weren't paying attention.

“We should go if we want to catch that movie,” Jordie said finally.

“Why don't we forget the movie?” Cheryl said. “Maybe we could go down to the park and have a few drinks. Can you guys get some beer or something?”

Jordie turned to me, his expression hopeful. I just gave him a nod, figuring if the night was going to suck this much, I might as well be drunk for it.

CHAPTER TEN

Jordie drove to Bad Habits and pulled around to the back entrance, in the alley near the Dumpsters. “Wait here,” I said as I got out and went to the kitchen door. Chris's muscle car, a 1969 GTO, was parked in the alley so I knew he was there. Chris was a cagey fucker and if I ran into him he'd be on me in a second, but no one else would much care. I just had to hope he was too busy at the front of the house to notice me.

Javier, one of the bar-backs, stood at the sink washing a pot, a cloud of steam rising into his face and making beads of sweat pop out on his forehead.

“Hey, kid,” he said when I walked in.

“Hey, Javier.
¿Qu
é
tal?
” I said. He answered me but I didn't really pay attention, then I was past him and on my way down the hall toward Chris's office. I took the key from its hiding place above one of the exposed pipes in the ceiling then slipped into the office and closed the door behind me. The liquor was lined up in rows on a deep wooden shelf along the far wall. I quickly grabbed a bottle of vodka and tucked it into my fleece jacket and used my arm, bent at the elbow, hand in my pocket, to hold it pressed to my side where it wouldn't be noticeable.

I locked the office door and put the key back exactly the way I had found it, then walked back through the kitchen.

“I tried to tell you,” Javier said, “let you know Chris is at the bar, not in his office.”

“That's cool,” I said. “I'll catch him later.”

“I'll let him know you stopped by,” Javier said as I slipped out the kitchen door.

You do that,
I thought, but just gave him a wave of acknowledgment.

Cheryl turned around in her seat to look at me as I got back into the car and put the bottle of vodka between my feet. She gripped the seat back and rested her chin on the back of her hand. “Jordie says you work there,” she said. “At that bar.”

“Used to,” I said. “Over the summer.”

“And what?” Cheryl asked. “They just let you stop by and take a bottle of liquor whenever you feel like it?”

“Something like that,” I said.

Raine snorted quietly and I cut my eyes toward her. She was looking at me with judgment, like I had just met every expectation she had for me. “You stole it. Isn't that right?” she asked.

“Who cares if he stole it?” Cheryl asked before I could say anything. “Let's go.”

Jordie stopped at the Get & Zip to get bottles of juice and soda and then we went to the park pavilion, buried in a dark nest of trees, a sole streetlight lighting the parking lot. We sat at a picnic table passing the bottle of vodka around until we drank our mixers down far enough to just add the vodka to our own bottles.

Cheryl started to act drunk almost right away, but Raine mostly kept quiet, her hands tucked between her legs for warmth. My leg brushed against hers under the table and she pulled away as if I had touched her in some private place.

After a little while Jordie stood and pulled Cheryl to her feet. “We'll see you guys in a bit,” he said, then drained his bottle of vodka and orange juice. “Cheryl and I have some stuff to talk about.”

Cheryl giggled as she stumbled against Jordie's chest and he put a steadying arm around her waist. “Jaz, you take good care of my girl,” Cheryl said with a meaningful look.

“Cheryl,” Raine said with a warning in her voice, though I couldn't tell if she was warning Cheryl not to head off into the seclusion of the woods with Jordie, or if she was worried about being left alone with me. But Cheryl ignored Raine's warning as she and Jordie turned to walk off into the dark together, and left Raine and me steeped in an awkward silence.

Crickets.

Raine and I sat mutely as the sounds of the night rose around us. I almost jumped when she said, “I'm sorry about your sister.”

“Yeah?”

“I didn't really know her since she was just a sophomore, but she seemed nice.”

“She was an okay kid, I guess,” I said, refusing to give anything away. I had been slowly adjusting, each day getting used to the idea a little bit more that Sylvia was really gone. Gone for good. I didn't like to talk about her. Every time I did, it put me right back at the starting line, had to work to start forgetting again.

“Was she your half sister?” Raine asked.

I gave her an affirmative grunt, now wanting to tell her to drop the subject.

“I figured that, since you had different last names,” Raine said, almost apologetically. “So, what, your mom and dad are divorced?”

“They were never married, but yeah, they split up.”

“When you were how old?”

“Uh … when I was just a baby,” I said, wondering why she cared.

“What about Sylvia's dad?”

“He split,” I said. “About six years ago.”

“Geez,” Raine said breathily. “Things must be tough for your mom.”

“I guess,” I said, and took another swig of vodka. “Though you'd think she'd be used to people leaving her by now.”

“It's hard to tell—are you really an insensitive jerk, or is it all an act?” Raine leaned her head on her fist as she stared up into my face, waiting for an answer.

“You're very funny,” I said, turning to look at her.

“I wasn't trying to be.”

Another long silence followed. My soda was almost gone, so I hit the vodka bottle a few times without a chaser. It burned on its way down but felt good somehow—like without the burn of the vodka, there was nothing to feel. My stomach started to knot again and I hoped the waves of pain wouldn't hit me now, not when I was alone with Raine.

“This is usually the part in the scary movie when the kids who are stupid enough to party in the pitch-black woods get slaughtered,” Raine said. She glanced over her shoulder at the dark stand of trees around us and I felt it through the seat we shared when a shudder passed down her spine.

“Yeah, you're right,” I agreed with a nod. “But a serial killer would take out Jordie and Cheryl first since they're getting it on,” I said. “We'd hear their screams and have plenty of time to run.”

She laughed at that, which surprised me. It was the first thing I'd said all night that had elicited something besides an eye roll.

“I hope Jordan's not the kind of guy who would take advantage of Cheryl because she's drunk,” Raine said, her voice tight, as if she never expected anything good to come from a guy.

“It took him two months to work up the nerve to ask her out. By text,” I added pointedly. “I'm pretty sure Cheryl is safe with Jordie. Besides, she doesn't seem to mind the attention. She was the one who wanted to get the booze and come down to the park.”

“So what?” Raine shot back, our brief moment of fun quickly forgotten. “You think that means she's asking for it?”

“Asking for what?” I asked with a frown.

“To get taken advantage of.” Raine's voice was rising in pitch as she grew upset.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.

Raine tossed her hair with a twitch, like she was annoyed. “I suppose you think that if I'm down here drinking that I'm easy too.”

“It never occurred to me to wonder about it,” I said honestly. “I'm just here as a favor to Jordie. He wanted to go out with Cheryl but she didn't want to go solo.”

Raine gave a sharp intake of breath and said, “Oh, so—what? You're giving me a sympathy date? Is that how you see this?”

“Why are you so mad?” I asked. “Aren't you just doing this as a favor for your friend too?”

She didn't answer, instead got up from her seat and dug around under the table for her purse. “You're a real creep, you know that?” she huffed.

“Where are you going?” I asked, now completely confused.

“I don't know,” she said, her voice strangled, like she might cry. “Home. Away from here.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked. “Walk out of here alone? In the dark?”

“What do you care?” she asked.

“I guess I don't,” I said because now she was making me mad by coming at me on the offensive when I hadn't done anything to her. “But it isn't exactly safe to go walking around down here by yourself at night.”

“You know what?” she asked hotly. “I'd rather be murdered than spend another minute alone with you!” And with that she stormed off, walking toward the small bridge that led to the main path that would eventually end up at the Pike.

In the almost complete darkness I could only see her for a minute before she faded into the black and the sound of her footsteps blended into the sound of the rushing stream.

With her gone the night sounds seemed amplified—the crickets and frogs as they sang to the night, the rustle of dried leaves as small animals moved through the forest, the sighing of the wind through the trees.

“Shit,” I said to myself in disgust, then stood and followed in the direction Raine had stormed away. I jogged along the asphalt path and after a minute overtook her and almost mowed her down.

She screamed when I pounded up behind her and bumped her in the dark.

“You're crazy, you know that?” I asked her. “You trying to get yourself killed?”

I jerked back reflexively as she turned and slapped me, hard, across the face.

Startled, I laughed as I put up a hand to block a second slap because she really could hit pretty hard. “Are you some kind of lunatic or something?” I asked as I rubbed at my stinging cheek with one hand, the other still holding her wrist.

“You're a complete jerk.”

“Okay, yeah. I'm a jerk.”

“You are,” she said, not letting me tell her what she wanted to hear.

I tried to put an arm around her shoulders to guide her back with me, but she pushed me away and said, “You can forget it,” then started walking back toward the pavilion. With nothing better to do, I followed her.

Cheryl and Jordie were sitting at the picnic table again when we returned, Jordie's arm around Cheryl's waist and one of her legs across his lap. Raine was composed now, the evidence of her crying hidden by the dark.

“Hey, you two,” Cheryl called out in a singsong voice. “Having a good time?”

 

 

At the end of the night, Jordie dropped Raine off first and I walked her to the door. The porch light was on, burning a couple hundred watts, and I prayed that her parents wouldn't come out to see who was bringing Raine home.

“Nice house,” I said as I took in the three-car garage and the wraparound front porch.

“Thanks,” she said without even a hint of sincerity.

“Well,” I said, “that was … awful.”

“Yeah. I kind of hope I never see you again,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest.