Page 30

An excerpt from

Alice

J ordan was supposed to be our buffer, but he left a few minutes ago with his roommate’s sister. So now I’m buckled into a go-kart getting helmet hair while I chase Jacob Gibson in circles around an indoor track. When your best friend has a different best friend who is not you, things can get awkward. I thought I could handle one night, for Danielle’s sake. I thought wrong.

I promised my BFF I would keep those two occupied tonight so she can finally get some alone time with her boyfriend. There have been weeks of drama, but from the way sparks were flying at karaoke earlier, it looks like things between Danielle and Mike are about to get spicy. The least I can do is keep our friends out of their way. Well, Jordan’s our friend. Jake is Danielle’s best friend and my worst frenemy. Driving out of town to occupy them with a game of laser tag and some go-kart racing seemed like such a good idea two hours ago.

The go-karts roll to a stop and we awkwardly climb out of the harnesses. Just as I step out of the car, a little boy exits his own go-kart and runs toward his parents. He’s only about eight years old, but because I am barely five feet tall, we’re almost the same height.

“Mom, mom, mom, did you see me? Can we get ice cream now?” He’s barreling ahead at full speed, and with the go-kart blocking the other side, I have nowhere to go when he crashes into me.

“Oof.” I fall back into my car as the boy sprawls onto the track, scraping his knee. He looks up at me and glares.

“Watch where you’re going, lady. Mooom. This lady was in the way and I fell down. And she has a weird thing in her nose. Gross, it looks like a metal booger.” He’s pointing at me, even though we are only inches apart.

“I see that. I’m so sorry, baby. Grown-ups should pay closer attention. Let’s get you some ice cream.” His mother comes through the gate to scoop him up in her arms and she carries him away. She shoots me a dirty look in the process, like I wasn’t minding my own business when her little cherub knocked into me. I can hear her muttering under her breath about my pink hair and piercings, as if the way I look has anything to do with what happened.

I roll my eyes and try to pull myself out of the car again, but it’s a struggle this time, with my butt firmly wedged between the seat and the steering wheel. There’s a throbbing on my hip that will probably bruise tomorrow, and my right ankle is burning because I twisted it on the way down. A hand appears and yanks me out by the arm.

“You good, Louse?”

Yep. Jake calls me Louse, as in the singular form of head lice, because in the seventh grade he thought it was hysterical that Alice spells “a lice.” Ten years later, not much has changed.

“I think so,” I say as he stands me up. “Although, as always, I would be even better if you weren’t touching me.”

“Then maybe try learning how to avoid collisions with small children.”

“Shut up. It was his fault. And I’m fine.”

But when I try to walk, pain shoots up my ankle and I wince. Ugh. I do not need to deal with this right now. Not in front of Jake. Jerk kid, this is all his fault. This is exactly why I’m never having any little crotch goblins of my own. Well, it’s part of the reason. I suck in a deep breath and try to walk again.

“Ouch.” This time a small yelp escapes on its own.

“Okay, tough guy, just sit back down. I’ll go get some ice,” Jake tells me. But I don’t want to take orders from him, and I hate that now there are so many eyes on me as the next round of wannabe drivers are impatiently waiting for their turn.

“First of all, I’m a tough girl. No, not girl. Woman. And can you just—” I don’t mean to sound so angry, but I do because I’m embarrassed and in pain, and I hate having all of this attention on me. I’m not actually sure what I want him to do, so I let the sentence hang. Jake is biting his cheek and trying not to laugh at me. I’m sure I sound ridiculous. He must see something in my face that makes him take pity on me because he rolls his eyes and scoops me up so I’m lying across both of his annoyingly strong, tattooed arms. Instinctively, I start to wrap my arms around his neck, but then I think better of it and cross them over my chest. He chuckles.

“Glad you’re finding this amusing,” I snap.

He doesn’t respond to that, just sets me down in a chair by the snack bar and asks the teenagers behind the counter for a cup of ice. He puts a lid on it and wraps it in a handful of napkins from the dispenser before handing it to me.

“Here. Give me your keys. I’m driving your car home.”

God, he’s so bossy. I hate that looking up at him from this angle makes me notice the way his Pokémon t-shirt stretches across his pecs.

“You wish I’d let you touch Bertie.” It took me years to save up for my vintage Volkswagen Beetle, and I am very protective of her.

“Guess we’re spending the night here then, because you couldn’t even walk the twenty feet from the track to the snack bar just now. You really think you’re going to be able to drive on that foot?”

I hate that he has a point. His dark hair is falling into his face, and when he brushes it away it’s hard not to notice the veins popping on his arms. I would rather die than let anyone catch me ogling Jacob Gibson. He would never let me hear the end of it. But it’s not my fault he’s filled out so much this year and finally grown into his formerly lanky body. He must be spending a lot more time in the gym.

I want to argue, but I truly can’t put any weight on my foot, so I don’t know how I would be able to use the pedals. Reluctantly, I let him scoop me up again and carry me to my own car, then I bend down to hold the ice to my ankle.

“Do you want to go over to the Urgent Care and get an X-ray while we’re in Marnock?” he asks as we pull out of the crowded parking lot. We drove for forty minutes to get here tonight, which means we are closer to health care. North Bay, our home town, is too small to have its own 24-hour access to a medical center, but there is one another half an hour away from here. “We’re more than halfway there already.”

“No, I think I just rolled it. It will probably be better in a day or two.” I don’t know if that’s true, but either way I can’t afford to be taking on any medical bills for small things like this. Admission to the go-karts and money for the gas to get out here was a little bit of a stretch as it is, but an X-ray will cost hundreds. Then if they send me to the Emergency Room for more tests or a cast, it could add up to thousands of dollars I don’t have. “Um, thanks for the ice. Do you think you can just take me to Honey’s house?” I look straight ahead, not wanting to make eye contact. He already knows why I don’t want to go home.

It’s no secret that my house is a miserable place to be. Everybody in North Bay knows Earl Caulfield is a hot mess. Thankfully, Jake doesn’t say anything about it.

“Yeah. Honey’s.” Jake clears his throat, and I think I see his grip on the steering wheel tighten just a bit before he reaches over to fool with the radio. Before we leave Marnock, he pulls into the gas station. “I’m going in to grab a soda, you want one?”

“No. I’m fine.” I wince, holding the dripping ice cup against my skin and watch him walk away. When did he get so freaking hot? It’s really unfair. He was our valedictorian in high school, and he’s been away at college for three years. He’s only home because the semester just ended. People who come from rich families shouldn’t be allowed to also be smart and good-looking. Especially when they have obnoxious personalities.

When Jake comes back, he opens the driver’s side door and puts two Cokes in the cupholders between us because he bought me one anyway, then turns around and starts pumping gas into my car.

“What are you doing? I said I didn’t want one. I have a job. I can buy my own drinks,” I yell through the open door. I might be tight on cash sometimes, but I can pay my own way. I don’t need a rich boy to buy me sodas or gasoline. I take care of myself.

Jake bends to stick his head through the doorframe and speaks in an exaggerated calm tone meant to highlight how ridiculous he thinks I am.

“Relax, Lousy. You drove out here. I’ll cover the gas to get us home. It’s hardly charity. This is how normal people function. I realize that might be a new concept for you.” He taps the hood of the car twice, dismissing me like he’s a middle-aged dad and I’m a kid he’s sending off to summer camp.

“Whatever. Just take me to Honey’s.” I twist the cap off my soda bottle, no sense in wasting it. I attempt to take a sip, but it bubbles over and erupts, getting all over me.

“Ugh!” I screech. “Did you do this on purpose?”

Jake laughs diabolically as he gets back in the car and twists the cap off his own drink. His hardly fizzes at all and he takes a long drag from the bottle before looking at me.

“I did not. Although I can’t say shaking yours up a little didn’t cross my mind, this time it was pure karma. And it was exactly as hilarious as I thought it would be. The universe agrees with me, you need to lighten up a little.”

“Easy for you to say when you aren’t the one whose lap is completely soaked.”

His expression changes for a brief second, and I could swear there is a flash of heat in his eyes, but it disappears just as quickly. He reaches into my cluttered back seat and hands me one of my own crumpled t-shirts to use as a towel. Then he produces a small pack of peanuts he must have purchased when he went inside and uses his teeth to tear them open. He pours half the package into his soda and offers the rest to me, but I ignore the offer. I turn in my seat to face away from him and look out the window for the rest of the ride.

Unfortunately, thirty minutes later we find out that my best friend’s grandmother isn’t home. I try to call her, but her cell phone goes straight to voicemail. Who knows where Honey disappeared to after we saw her at karaoke earlier? That woman has always been a wild card. And there is no way either Jake or I are interrupting Danielle tonight to get her to let us into Honey’s house.

“Come on.” Jake motions to his parents’ huge waterfront house, which is directly across the street from Honey’s much more modest rancher. He and Danielle grew up neighbors, whereas my family was on the other side of town. They rode the bus together every day, but I lived close enough to ride my bike to school.

“What? No. I’m not going home with you.” Although, I don’t want to go back to my house either. Being around my dad when I can’t get out of his way quickly isn’t the best idea. It’s not that I think he would hurt me on purpose, but when he gets in one of his moods, he might break things or start yelling, and I just can’t deal with that right now.

“I’m not seeing a lot of options here, Lousy.” Jake must notice me looking at my car and formulating my plan because he is already protesting. “Absolutely not. No way am I agreeing to let you sleep in your car right in front of my perfectly decent house.” The largest waterfront property in North Bay is a lot more than “perfectly decent.” It’s intimidating, and it’s a reminder of how different our lives really are.

“Well, good thing you have no say in how I spend my nights. I’ll be fine.”

I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve slept in my car to avoid my dad, but I don’t think anyone knows that. North Bay is a safe neighborhood. We only have three police officers, and we share them with the neighboring towns. I’ve lived here for my entire life, and in those twenty-one years, I can’t remember ever hearing of a serious crime. Occasionally, a teenager might try to shoplift a tube of mascara from Major Dollar, and once a tourist family walked out of the Blue Crab restaurant without paying their tab, but that turned out to be an accident and they came back the next day to square up with Edna. Honestly, I’m surprised Honey even locked her doors. I wish she hadn’t, because then we could have avoided this whole predicament. Besides, my ankle is already starting to feel better. Kind of. Maybe. Okay, fine. It still hurts a lot.

Jake rolls his head in a slow circle, stretching out some of the tension from the car ride. It seems like his patience with me is wearing thin. Well, bro, same.

“Don’t fight me on this, Lousy. It’s getting late, your clothes are sticky, and this has been a crazy long day. We’re going over to my place. It’s right there. My parents aren’t home, they’re at some marriage retreat near the beach. I’ll take their room and you can sleep in mine. Besides, I still have your keys. So, actually, I do have a say in this.”

He holds the keys over my head and laughs while I try to reach up and grab them. I’m in no state to jump, but even if I could, Jake is a full foot taller than I am, so it is pointless trying to fight him on this.

There might have been a time before everything that happened in high school when sleeping in Jacob Gibson’s bed would have seemed like a dream come true. Now it’s just an inconvenience that I don’t seem to be able to avoid tonight. It probably would be a good idea to elevate my foot and get more ice, and that’s going to be hard to do in the car. Plus, these damp, sticky clothes really are uncomfortable.

“Come on,” he says, pocketing my keys again. “You can see Hazel.”

That seals my fate. As annoying as I find her owner, I love that sweet fifteen-year-old bulldog. It will be worth putting up with Jake tonight if I can convince Hazel to sleep snuggled up with me.

“Fine.” I huff out a breath. I realize he has been pretty helpful tonight and I sound like an ungrateful brat, so I try to rein it in because I refuse to let him have the upper hand when it comes to matters of civility. “Thank you.”

“Aw, that must have been really hard for you. Was it? Was it hard to admit you need me right now?” He has the easy laugh of someone who doesn’t know what it means to struggle.

I want to wipe that smirk off his face, but instead I just hobble behind him and cross the street.

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See more of Jake and Alice’s story in .