As her parents settled in to watch their favorite painting show, Christine took the opportunity to call Stu. She stretched the long phone cord from the kitchen into the hallway so she could talk without being heard.
Stu had been distant the past few weeks, not his usual happy-go-lucky self. With high school ending, she guessed he was worrying about where their future would take them. That’s my job, she thought to herself, pressing the phone against her ear.
It took six rings before someone picked up. “Hello?”
“Hi, Mr. Mason, it’s Christine.”
“Oh. Hi, Christine. You’re looking for Stu, I assume.” Mr. Mason wasn’t big on conversation, especially on the phone, but that was just fine by Christine. Talking to parents was awkward enough without playing Twenty Questions.
“Yes, sir,” she replied as sweetly as possible. Mr. Mason turned away from the receiver and called out Stu’s name until he picked up with a series of stumbling clicks. “Thanks, Mr. Mason,” Christine said.
“Bye, Christine,” he said succinctly before hanging up.
“Hey,” Stu said, his voice sounding tense.
“Hey. So, what time are you heading out to the lake tonight?” She glanced toward the living room, where her parents were giggling like kids about some shared joke. She’d always appreciated how much they clearly loved each other, even if it was occasionally embarrassing in public.
“The lake?” Stu echoed. He didn’t sound like he even wanted to be on the phone, which bothered her, but she didn’t want to get upset about it. The whole point of going out to Lake Conklin was to have a good time together. She wanted to smooth out whatever was coming between them, that way they could actually enjoy their summer.
“You’re still going, right?” There was a long pause on the line, almost like Stu was talking to himself.
“I’ll have to see if I can get out of the house,” he said.
“Just say you’re sleeping over Eric’s house, that’s what I’m doing. I mean, not Eric’s house, obviously,” she laughed. “I told them I’m going to Roxy’s to watch scary movies. As if anyone would set foot in that house.”
He was quiet again, and she waited for an answer. “Okay,” he finally replied. “I’ll be there.”
Stu hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment. Then he turned to look at Eric, who was sitting on the den floor in front of the TV, Atari controller in hand. He was playing Track & Field, and he was totally nailing the hammer throw by the looks of it. He also wore a very judgmental look on his face.
“Don’t say it,” Stu warned.
“You haven’t told her yet.”
“C’mon, I told you not to say it.” He plopped down onto the old couch, sending a puff of dust up into the air. Eric was his best friend, and the only person he’d told about the move, but unfortunately it meant he’d been catching shit about it ever since.
“It’s not right,” Eric said, adjusting his glasses. “You owe it to her to be honest.” Eric was funny like that. He may have been fascinated with horror movies and Ouija boards and playing records backwards to hear hidden satanic messages, but he also strongly believed in justice. He was almost obsessed with holding people accountable.
“You think I don’t know that?” Stu groaned.
“Then why haven’t you told her?”
“I don’t know, I guess I haven’t been able to choose the exact moment to tear her heart out of her chest and stomp on it.”
Eric shook his head. The truth was, he’d been keeping his feelings for Christine a secret for two years now, nearly the entirety of her and Stu’s relationship. When Stu told him he was moving away from San Palmo, Eric had had a moment of pure happiness realizing it gave him the chance to ask Christine out.
His turn done, Eric put down the controller. “She’s going to the lake tonight?”
“Yeah. Apparently I am, too. Maybe I should go and just get completely trashed.” As he said it, a thought occurred to him, and his eyebrows rose on his face like excited caterpillars. “You know, it might be easier if I’m drunk.”
Eric shook his head. “Terrible idea. You might say the worst thing and totally destroy her. If you’re gonna go, go, but not like that.”
Stu had another thought, his eyebrows raising even higher.
“Oh crap, what is it this time?” Eric asked.
“Go with me,” Stu said. “Make sure I go through with it.”
“Hell no.”
Stu slid off the couch and got down on his knees. “I beg of you. This is the last thing I’ll ever ask. Shit, this might be the last time we get to hang out before I leave.”
Eric frowned at him. “That’s pretty low.”
“But it’s true and you know it. Don’t you think it’ll be fun to party one last time?”
“Yeah. Fun. Right until you plunge the dagger into Christine’s chest.”
Stu winced at the image. “Come on, dude, you go out to the lake by yourself all the time. I’m just asking you to do it one more time, with me.
“And Brandon.”
Stu shrugged. “Maybe you’ll get drunk enough to finally kick his ass. Now that I’d like to see.”
Eric stared at him a long moment, then grinned. He’d put on a show of it, but the truth was he’d already decided to go to the lake, long before Stu had asked. He wouldn’t drink or smoke or do any of the other stuff they got up to there, he just wanted to make sure Christine was okay—and be there to pick up the pieces.
With her bedroom door locked and Misfits blasting in her headphones, Roxy could almost pretend she had the house to herself. The problem was her step-father Gary’s cologne wafting through the house, down the hallways and under the crack of the door was a constant reminder of his presence.
It was a cologne by the name of Booze.
Roxy remembered very little of her real father, the man who’d had an actual job and treated her mother with some respect, unlike Gary. He’d died in a car accident when she was just three years old. She remembered him as being tall, even for an adult, and as having an easy laugh. It made little sense how her mother could fall in love with a man like that, and also with the leech in the stained t-shirt currently taking up residence on their couch. That had to have been one hell of a first date.
It still didn’t feel real that she’d walked out of school for the last time earlier that afternoon. Graduation was in two days, though she still wasn’t sure if she was showing up for that. Maybe if her mother really insisted. Otherwise, she didn’t plan to spend one more minute in that depressing building than she was legally required to. Other than a handful of friends, she’d be taking absolutely nothing away from the four years she’d given that place.
As the distorted guitars at the end of a song faded out, Roxy caught the faint sound of Gary shouting about something from down the hall. Irritated, she slipped the headphones off her ears and leaned forward on her cluttered bed.
“What?” she shouted, loud enough to be heard through the door.
“Pick up the goddamn phone!” he bellowed. The harsh ring of the telephone followed the grating sound of his voice. Roxy huffed and tossed her headphones onto the stack of magazines on her nightstand, running to the den to pick up the phone not ten feet from where Gary sat like a tumor.
“What took you so long?” her mother asked.
“Gary broke both of his legs,” Roxy replied. “Apparently his beer gut was just too much for them to hold up.”
“You watch it,” Gary warned, pointing his finger at her. “Your mom may put up with that mouth, but I don’t.” As he turned back to the TV, Roxy gave the back of his head the finger.
“Please don’t fight,” her mother said, sounding even more tired than usual. “I just … I called to tell you I’ll be working late. My boss has a bug up his butt again.”
Roxy rolled her eyes. “Great.”
“And … I know you don’t like him, but can you just make sure Gary gets dinner?”
Roxy snorted. “Not happening.”
“Roxy …”
She shifted the phone to the other ear. “Not happening, sorry. He can feed himself like an adult. Besides, I’m going out.”
“On a school night?”
Roxy frowned. “Last day of class, remember?”
There was a pause on the line. “Oh my God, I totally forgot, didn’t I?”
“It’s fine. I know you’re busy.”
“That’s no excuse. We’ll go out soon to celebrate, you and me. Does that sound good?”
Roxy picked at the dirt under her fingernail. “Sure.”
“I’m really sorry, sweetie.”
“I told you it’s fine. I’m just stopping at Uncle Roy’s and then going to the movies with a couple people.”
“Uncle Roy’s. You’re not drinking, are you?”
Roxy clutched at her neck. “Me? I can’t believe you’d even think such a thing.”
Her mother grunted. “Just be careful, okay? There are a lot of weirdos out there, and they don’t want good things for you.”
“Believe me,” Roxy said, glancing over at Gary. “I know.”
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