The Beginning of Us (27 page)

“Jacoby?” she asks.

“Yeah, trying to give me a lecture on the do’s and don’ts of the bike world and that I shouldn’t be at places like that. He wanted to know if he needed to worry about Skylar,” I say in one long exasperated breath.

“Does he have to worry about Skylar?” Kylee questions with a glimmer of ‘pure evil best friend’ in her eyes.

“Oh dear God, Kylee. Get off it. Really.” I say, digging into my food that I didn’t even see the waiter bring to our table until just now. Taking the first bite of my BLT, I realize how little that bagel did for me this morning. I’m starving.

“I’m just messing with you honey, don’t get bent out of shape.”

After finishing an amazing lunch, we walk around the campus for a while.  Just being here brings back so many memories. I mean, we drive through Ann Arbor regularly but there’s just something about walking. The college kids are all running around, looking happy, like the whole world is out there waiting for them.

There’s a couple walking holding hands in front of us, so adorable, but making me so sad at the same time. Another couple lies in front of the law building on a quilt, the guy with his back against a tree while the girl sits between his legs. It looks like they’re reading from the same book.

We were in our last quarter of our senior year. Midterms were creeping up quickly. I was leaving from my last class of the day and anticipated heading across State Street to the Starbucks to get some studying in. With my nose in my phone checking all my notifications that I missed during my class, I didn’t even notice Danny sneaking up on me.

Danny ran up behind me and wrapped me in his arms, picking me up off the ground spinning me around. Let’s just say that if I wouldn’t have recognized his signature scent, he might have got junk punched.

“I missed you so much today,” Danny said while nuzzling my neck.

“I missed you, too. I’m about to head for coffee and studying, wanna go?”

“Got a much better idea. Pea, you take studying too seriously sometimes. I know I study a lot but these last few weeks, you’ve been too wound up,” Danny says, placing his arm around my shoulders leading me towards the quad.

“Danny, really, I have to get studying done. I have been preoccupied lately and I can’t fail this midterm.”

“What have you been preoccupied with?”

Giving him a “you have got to be kidding me” look, I squared my shoulders, walking in front of him and turning to face him. “Mr. Thomas, do you not realize that we were supposed to be studying all week at your place and that never happened? Do you know why that happened, mister?” I asked as I poked him in the chest. “You. That is why I never study. You’re irresistible and I just can’t get enough. I’m going to ground myself from you if you don’t stop getting me alone. We’re going to Starbucks.” I started to turn back towards State Street hoping he would follow me when he put his arm around me and pulled me down to the ground with him.

Danny sat on the plush grass and opened his legs and patted his lap, requesting my body’s presence. I took my backpack straps off my shoulders, setting it next to the tree and moved my body into position. Nestling between his legs I placed my back on his stomach and laid my head back to look him in the eyes.

“This is nice future husband, but now what?” I asked.

Danny reached in my bag and pulled out my economics textbook. He put the book in front of my body and turned to the page I had marked with a dried rose petal.

Danny loved to buy me flowers and I saved one flower petal from every bouquet he bought me and dried it. Most were sitting in a hope chest in my bedroom but this one was still drying, so I had it squished in the book.

He set the rose petal on my thigh and started reading. I forgot Danny had this class on Mondays and I had it on Wednesdays. He needed to study for this class too.

I got comfortable, openly cuddling with my fiancé and reading the text that we went over earlier in the day. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Skylar approaching with Kylee, carrying a large blanket we used for concerts and a cooler.

Skylar didn’t say anything as he approached us just laid out the blanket. He opened the cooler, taking out a few Red Bulls and a bag of chips. He handed Danny and I each one of the energy drinks. Kylee sat down next to Skylar on the blanket and pulled out a pack of three by five index cards, pens and highlighters. I looked back up at Danny who was smiling from ear to ear.

“Thanks guys, this is amazing,” Danny said to Skylar and Kylee.

“You know you can count on us man. No problem,” Skylar responded.

“Yeah, Danny. You know all you ever have to do is ask,” Kylee said winking at me.

“What’s going on here?” I asked just looking for an answer from nobody in particular.

“Didn’t I tell you I had a better idea, Pea? Next time don’t just think I want to get you naked,” Danny said with a huge grin still on his face. My skin flushed pink as I opened my Red Bull and took a quick drink.

Looking up at him again, I asked, “What did I do in a past life to deserve you Danny?”

“Pea, every day, I ask myself the same question. It’s me who’s lucky. Now, young lady, nose in the book.”

With my best friends and my man, I sat and studied my ass off. The midterm the next week was easy as hell. I scored a ninety-five percent.

I think Kylee notices the sadness in my eyes when she puts her arm through mine and turns me around to walk back to the car. I really didn’t mean to be depressed. It’s just so surreal to have four years of memories with a group of great people and one of them not here anymore.

My eyes might be sad and my heart might hurt, but for the first time in a long time, thinking of Danny didn’t tear my heart out. I let a small grin appear across my face. He is in a much better place and is happy. He wouldn’t want me to be so miserable. He would want me to live my life. I have tried to move forward but I always get stuck in my tracks. I seem to take one step forward and two steps back.

My night with Skylar reminds me of that. I really thought he felt something more for me than just Danny’s girl. I thought he had wanted to be with me and not just get with me, if you know what I mean. That memory does not bring a smile to my face. I am still so upset over that night, knowing that what I said probably hurt his ego, but he broke my heart.

I could have loved Skylar. I could have loved him with everything I had in me. He understood me and what makes me tick. I don’t let too many people in and a part of me feels like he took advantage of that. I can’t really blame him; I was so lost in lust that I didn’t even think of anything but his body.

That’s how my luck is, right? The best moments of my life are all too quickly turned to shit.

Chapter Twelve

Mira

By the time we get back to my parents, it’s about six o’clock. Kylee and I talked earlier about leaving around eight, so need to get ready. I take a little too long in the shower, making sure to shave my legs and my…
well you know
. Not that I’m anticipating getting in bed with Skylar again, but I think he might be the only person that wouldn’t have to say anything to me to break down the walls. One look from him is worth a thousand words, and I think he knows it.

I’m just finishing the final touches to my makeup when Kylee comes back in the room, fresh from her own shower. I always seem to choose the more natural look; black mascara, light eye shadow, clear lip gloss and a light bronzer, where Kylee likes the dramatic effect. The shiny gold hues I choose for my eyelids bring the attention to my green eyes that are lined with thick, black liquid eyeliner perfectly. And final touch, I add a little bit of a darker hue around the edges of my eyelids to give them a smoky look.

Looking in the mirror, I have to say, I like who’s looking back at me. Seeing Kylee standing behind me, waiting for the makeup table, jealousy rears its ugly head. I really wish sometimes that I had thinner, straighter hair. My mop is all over the place. Deep brown with a mess of curls is what I have when I don’t do anything to it. I have to do some serious work to make it look anything less than thick and wavy. Kylee has red hair that is naturally pin straight and she bitches all the time that she would love to have my hair.

Bitch is crazy.

Removing the items I just purchased from the bag, I clip the tags from the shirt and the shorts and lay them on the bed. I take extra time to lotion my skin that will remain exposed, making sure I’m silky soft to the touch, not that I want any touching.

I change into my outfit as Kylee finishes her makeup. We make a pretty good pair when it comes to sharing space and getting ready, but it wasn’t always this easy. We used to fight for bathroom and makeup table position and who was going to be the first to use the full-length mirror to check on the outcome of the previous two. Once we found a routine, everything just seemed to move a lot smoother and we got out of the house a lot earlier.

Glancing at the clock on my cable box, the time shows quarter to eight. Great, we don’t have to rush. Kylee and I are both dressed and ready to go within a few minutes.

My parents don’t really keep a lot of booze in the house but I know that mom almost always has a pint sized bottle of vodka in the freezer, just in case. Opening the freezer and moving the frozen peas out of the way, I find that little bottle of liquid courage I’m going to need to face Skylar. I don’t even bother with a glass. I open the cap of the bottle and take a nice, long, burn your throat swig, cap the bottle and put it back.

“Uhhh, did you forget about me?” Kylee asks walking towards the freezer.

“Oh no you don’t. Sorry love, remember the rules. You begged me to come with you, I agreed on one condition. What was that condition Kylee?” I question.

“You’re drinking and I’m driving,” she whines in a voice similar to a three year old.

“Now that we have that out of the way, we should go. I don’t want to be there all night,” I say as I grab my clutch from the counter and walk out the door.

The drive isn’t too bad. The clubhouse is in Detroit, but not downtown. It only takes about fifteen minutes to get there since Kylee thinks speed limit signs are mere suggestions instead of laws. I’m sure that Kylee thinks the points on her drivers license are like gold stars in school too.

Skylar gave Kylee the directions to the clubhouse, but looking around, there doesn’t appear to be much of anything here. The street that Kylee’s GPS says the clubhouse is on is a dark and deserted commercial road. There are only factories and warehouses. I don’t see any cars, people or streetlights, nor do I hear any music.
Not a safe neighborhood.

As we continue down the abandoned street, looking on buildings for an address, I hear dogs barking and yanking at their chains. If one of those dogs gets out, I’m going to die. I don’t do mean dogs. Cute little ones that go in purses, yes. Big giant ones that want to eat your face off,
no thank you
. We continue to inch down the street at maybe five miles per hour.

“You have reached your destination,” Kylee’s GPS chimes.

We both look at each other. This can’t be right. Just as Kylee starts digging through her purse to find her phone, an all-black gate, chain linked but with some sort of black background, blending it in with the surroundings, opens. It’s about 8 feet tall with barbed wire all around the top.

Oh hell.

A man comes over to my side of the car as we pull towards the gate. He’s tall and dons a vest similar to the one that Skylar had on last night. The vest tag tells me tall man’s name is Mex.

Mex leans his head in the window and looks both of us up and down.

“Here for open night or are you with someone?” he asks. He licks his lips seductively and I get a weird feeling. Not a ‘oh hey, he’s hot’ feeling but an ‘oh shit, what have I gotten myself into’ feeling.

Kylee leans over to my side and looks up at Mex, “Skylar invited us.”

“Who is Skylar?” Mex asks.

I knew it. We have the wrong place. Great. Shit. Now we’re fucked.

“You have to know Skylar. He has the same kind of vest as you. About six feet, dark hair and really pretty blue eyes,” Kylee says her voice desperate. I know she’s hoping the man knows who she’s talking about.

“You mean Axe?” Mex asks with a little chuckle.

I haven’t heard that name in forever. Danny told me a story one time about Skylar’s uncle. I guess he was some kind of biker too, the one that brought us to a clubhouse when we were juniors. He never referred to Danny and Skylar by their actual names; just called them Axe and Smash. It had something to do with a story from when they were just boys.

“Yes, Axe is who we’re looking for,” I chime in, knowing one hundred percent that we’re talking about the same person.

“Pull on in. Park there, near the back and I’ll meet you there. If Axe invited you, I wouldn’t want anyone else to try to get a piece. Axe isn’t the nicest guy, if you know what I mean,” Mex says.

Skylar not a nice guy? I wonder he’s been up to for the last year that would give people that impression of him; very different than I know to be true.

We pull in the spot that Mex suggests and as we get out of the car, he’s jogging towards us. He stops about ten feet from the car and nods his head towards the entrance. I assume he wants us to follow because right after the nod, he starts to walk to the door. We follow him, not knowing what we’re walking into.

As we get closer to the door, I can hear the music. Once the outer door opens, the music is a lot louder and I can actually make out the song. Rob Zombie for sure, I think to myself. Feeling a little more in my comfort zone than I was last night at the bar with the hip-hop music, I think this night might not suck. Our bags are checked, not checked like the coat room girl offers to put them behind the counter as we dine, but checked like…’you packing heat in here?’ and our phones are confiscated at the door.