Surprised
,
Pris goes easily when I pull us under. It
'
s only a second before she
'
s twisting and turn
ing
and just like she should be
,
she
'
s out of my grasp.
When I break the surface
,
I shake my head
,
water spraying all over the place. At first
,
her eyes are narrow and I know I
'
m in trouble
,
but then a wave of water flies and
hits
me in the face.
"
That
'
s it. You
'
re going down
,
Mendoza.
"
I push more water at her. We go back and forth
,
laughing the way we used to before everything got screwed up. It
'
s cool because she
'
s happy and she
'
s smiling
,
and damn it feels good to be the one to make her feel that way. I just want to keep it going.
Later
,
we
'
re still laughing as we stumble in the hotel room
,
soaking wet. Aspen and Bastian are laying on one of the beds.
"
What the hell happened to you guys?
"
he asks.
Our clothes are obviously soaking wet and we
'
re dripping on the carpet. They have the AC on so it
'
s cold as hell
,
but neither of us cares.
I look at Pris and she
'
s looking at me and I know we
'
re thinking the same thing. Both of us fly at Bastian and Aspen. As they try and pull away
,
yelling
,
Pris and I soak them
,
and
I start to feel like my family is back together again.
Chapter Seven
Early the next morning
,
I
'
m sitting in the car waiting for the other three to come down. My eyes are a little scratchy because I didn
'
t sleep too well. First of all
,
how was I supposed to actually sleep with Priscilla in the same bed? I mean
,
come on.
I
'
m a guy and she
'
s a girl and she
'
s right there and my body definitely knows it.
She made
these little sounds through the night and
,
each of them hit me like little pinpricks in my body.
Then she
'
d roll over
;
her leg would kick out or her arm would come toward me. Yeah
,
totally not going to let you know how some of that stuff affected me.
Then when I
'
d finally fall asleep
...
she
'
d snore. It
'
s not as bad as Aspen made it sound and I know that
'
s not really supposed to be a big turn on or anything
,
but yeah
,
it
was
,
okay. It
'
s cool she feels comfortable enough around me to sleep and not worry about it.
Still
,
I
'
m tired as hell today and glad we
'
re not going to be driving too long. We decided to keep with the original plan to stay in Salt Lake even though we
'
re a day late getting there. That will give us some more time to hang out and have some fun.
It wasn
'
t very easy for the others to explain to their parents why we didn
'
t go there last night
,
but it all worked out.
Bastian and I have already loaded the car with the stuff and he ran to see
what is
taking the girls so long.
I lean my head back
,
playing with the keys while I wait for them to get down here. A few minutes later
,
Bastian jumps in the back beside me. Aspen
'
s taking the first driving shift today.
"
They
'
re on their way
,"
he tells me. There are a few minutes of silence which when it comes to Bastian
,
I know it can
'
t be a good thing. When he speaks again
,
he confirms it.
"
So
...
about you and Pris.
"
I can
'
t help it
,
I start to laugh.
"
What
'
s so funny?
"
he pouts like he
'
s famous for.
"
You
.
A
ren
'
t you the one
who
'
s
always saying not to ask about other girls?
"
He
used to give me crap when I asked him about some girl he was hooking up with or whatever. Not that Priscilla and I are doing that
,
but still. I have to take my shots against him where I can.
"
That
'
s different. This is one of our girls.
"
His words make my stomach hurt. They shouldn
'
t because she
is
just as much his girl as she is mine. They
'
re good friends just like we are
,
but
it
makes me feel like puking.
"
There
'
s nothing to tell
,
Gossip Girl. We talked. We
'
re cool and that
'
s that.
"
Luckily
,
I see the girls coming to save me from Sebastian and anymore questions I don
'
t want to answer. They head to the back of the Explorer and I get an idea. I elbow Bastian who looks at me funny
,
but waits to see what I
'
m going to do. We keep facing the front. Once they finish getting whatever they
needed
,
I hear the rear door
close
,
I hit the button to make it pop open. One of the girls grabs it and closes it again. The second it clicks
,
I hit the open button again.
"
What the heck?
"
I hear Aspen say. I can see Bastian biting his cheek so he doesn
'
t laugh.
"
Do it hard. Maybe you have to slam it?
"
Priscilla replies to her.
This
time
they slam it so hard
,
it practically vibrates the
Explorer
and my finger jabs the button making it pop open again.
"
Jaden!
"
Priscilla
shrieks
.
"
You dork!
"
By now Bastian and I are rolling in the backseat we
'
re laughing so hard. I have no idea how she knew it was me and not him
,
but it
'
s funny as hell.
"
Do it hard!
"
I toss back at her which makes Bastian start to laugh even
louder
.
Priscilla gives me a dirty look when she climbs into the passenger seat
,
but I can see a smile trying to peek through.
"
You need serious help.
"
"
Are you kidding? That was classic.
"
"
You guys totally have to listen to our music for that.
"
"
And close the hatch!
"
Aspen adds.
Still laughing
,
I get out and close the back door before tossing the keys to Aspen. A few minutes later
,
we
'
pull onto the street and a harmonic
a
comes through the speaker before some guy starts singing
,
his voice kind of gravely
,
but somehow smooth at the same time.
"
Umm
,
what the hell is this?
"
"
Our music
.
It
'
s Bobby Long.
"
Priscilla doesn
'
t even look back when she replies.
"
Bobby who?
"
"
You heard me.
"
"
Argh.
We
'
re in for a long few hours
,
man
,"
Bastian says from beside me.
"
Word.
"
By the time Aspen pulls onto the freeway
,
it cuts into another song about some chick wearing green
,
pink
,
and all these colors. I totally don
'
t get what the guy is talking about
,
but even though I won
'
t admit it
,
it might not be so bad. As the guy keeps singing
,
I let my eyes close to get some sleep
,
thinking about Priscilla
'
s smirk and how I
know
,
she thought my joke was funny too.
***
"
Jay
,
wake up. Are you hungry?
"
Clouds are trying to part in my head at the sound of Priscilla
'
s voice. Man
,
I must have really passed out. My eyes open and she
'
s standing at my open door
,
Bastian and Aspen nowhere in sight.
"
We stopped to eat. You want something?
"
"
Yeah.
I
'
m starved.
"
We didn
'
t eat breakfast before we left this morning and my stomach is growling.
They stopped at some hole-in-the-wall diner that looks like it came out of a movie or something
,
I
'
m assuming because we
'
re in the boonies and there
'
s nowhere else to go.
Priscilla scoots back and I get out of the car and stretch
,
before walking with her. Once we get inside I realize I really need to take a leak. My mouth is all dry and cottony
,
too. Priscilla starts to head over to Bastian and Aspen who are sitting in a corner booth
,
when I stop her.
"
I
'
m going to the bathroom. If they take a drink order before I get back
,
will you grab me a soda?
"
"
I guess
.
"
She winks at me and I freeze
,
because damn
it's
hot when a girl winks.
I do my business and then wash my hands and splash some water on my face
,
hoping it will help me wake up. When I
'
m done
,
I
'
m walking back to the table when I see Priscilla halfway across the room from our table
,
with the waitress. It looks like she had to run to catch up with her or something.