Page 2

Chapter two

“Oxford Comma” - Vampire Weekend

B oomer’s was a hotspot for local retirees just as much as it was for us high schoolers. They’d sit around drinking cup after cup of coffee while talking over the oldies Boomer had playing in there. When I got my license a year ago, one of those old men had to show me how to operate the still-functional, vintage gas pumps outside.

It was humiliating.

Xander backed his pick-up truck against the treeline at the edge of the gravel lot, far enough away from the building we could smoke without getting caught, but close enough to see if anything interesting happened. Not too far away, there was a car full of seniors I recognized but didn’t really know doing the exact same thing.

With Abigail sitting between us, we passed a joint back and forth and watched the old men come and go, slapping each other on the back and talking about the golf game they’d just wrapped up. Xander’s truck didn’t have an aux cord or even a CD player, much to Abigail’s disappointment, so she set her iPhone on the dash and made us listen to Vampire Weekend.

“So, boys,” she said, relaxing against the seat as Xander passed her the joint. She took a puff and stared at her nails. “Prom is just a month away.”

“Yeah, and?” Xander forced out a laugh. “Who gives a fuck about prom?”

“I might ask Lena,” I said, accepting the joint from Abigail’s extended hand. “But I don’t know.”

Lena Brower was on the science academic team with me, and we had a pretty good rapport. She was so quiet, however, that it was almost impossible to gauge how she felt about me. I kept our interactions platonic in fear that if I ever tried anything else, she’d laugh in my face.

I wasn’t perceptive enough to figure out if her deadpan insults translated to “I like you” or “you’re a fucking idiot.” It was safer to go with the latter.

“She’d totally say yes,” Abigail said. I wanted to ask her how she knew this, but decided I didn’t want to sound too eager. She sat up a little straighter and adjusted her bra straps with a sigh. “I hope someone asks me.”

I looked at Xander. Here was his opening, an opportunity handed to him on a silver platter. As the seconds ticked by, I could almost feel the disappointment radiating from Abigail as Xander said nothing.

He missed it.

“So, Xan,” I said, clearing my throat. I took another hit before continuing. “I read your article about the Battle of the Bands thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I said, letting my arm dangle out of the truck. I tapped my fingers against the warm metal. “I was sad I missed that–but your writing made me feel like I was there, man.”

“Thanks for humoring me.”

“He’s not humoring you,” Abigail said, elbowing him. “You’re a good writer. You’ll be working for the New York Times some day, I bet.”

Xander threw his head back and laughed. “Doubt it. Have to have a degree for that.”

I faced him. “You’re not planning on going to college?”

He looked from me to Abigail, taking a puff from the joint. “I’m not like you guys. My parents aren’t paying my way through college. But they make too much for me to get any kind of financial aid. So without some miracle of a scholarship, I’m fucked.”

“Hello, what about student loans?” Abigail offered.

Xander just grunted. That guy had way too much talent not to go after a journalism degree. I tried to think of some way he could figure this out, making a mental note to research scholarships for him after school. I zoned out for a couple of minutes, staring through the screen door at the side of the building. There was a blonde girl working behind the counter, saying something that made the man buying cigarettes laugh. I’d never seen her working here before. Though she was at least forty feet away, I could tell she was young–maybe just a year or two older than me.

The way she ran her fingers through her hair as she talked to customers caught my attention. She stopped midway, her hand lingering at the top of her head as she laughed. So relaxed. So… something. I couldn’t think of the word.

“Owen is no longer with us,” I heard Abigail tell Xander.

I blinked a couple of times. “What?”

“You’re undressing that cashier in there with your eyes and it’s freaking us out,” Xander said, snickering. “I wonder if she’s Boomer’s granddaughter or something.”

Abigail nodded. “You’re probably right.”

“You should go talk to her,” Xander said.

“Yeah, no,” I said, taking the joint from Abigail. I watched the cashier interact with another customer buying lottery tickets. “She’s gotta be like nineteen or twenty.”

“So? She could teach you a thing or two,” Xander said. Beside him, Abigail giggled.

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t stop looking at that girl. Everything about her— from the way she moved to the way her hair fell over her shoulder when she leaned across the counter to hand a customer his change—entranced me.

“Go in there,” Xander urged. “Go get you a Dr. Pepper and pick up her digits while you’re at it.”

I shook my head. Had this guy even met me? Flirting with girls on the science academic team was one thing. I could talk to them. I could do more than talk to them. Natalie Castillo and I fooled around a little last semester until she got back with her ex-boyfriend. Talking to girls like Natalie and Lena was easy because they had known me for years, and I didn’t have to hide the fact I was just a goofy, inexperienced nerd. They already knew.

And unlike the girl behind the counter, they were my age. What could I possibly have that a nineteen-year-old wanted?

I glanced at the clock, attempting to change the subject. “Whatever. Let’s not stay too long. I wanted to study for my chemistry test at the end of calculus.”

Abigail let out a little gasp and turned to Xander, “Shit, I just remembered I need to be back by seventh period. I have to turn in an essay.”

Xander let out a melodramatic groan. “Jesus. I’m sittin’ here with a couple of straight-A virgins.”

Abigail froze. I couldn’t see her face, but judging from the expression on Xander’s, she was giving him a long, hard stare. “Who are you calling a virgin?”

Xander looked genuinely hurt. “Don’t tell me you did it with that basketball dork.”

“Ryan? We dated for the entirety of sophomore year. What do you think?”

Xander’s lips parted as he absorbed this information. “I just thought… I didn’t think you were like that, is all.”

I sucked air in through my teeth the second my friend uttered those words, bracing myself for what would come next. “Wow, Xander.” Abigail grabbed her phone from the dashboard and paused the Vampire Weekend song. “Wow,” she repeated. Then she turned to me. “Move.”

Without hesitation, I opened the door and moved out of the way of the feisty redhead who couldn’t even look at Xander. She stormed off toward the store, yanking the screen door open and letting it slam shut behind her.

“Not cool,” I said, sliding back into my seat. I took the joint from Xander. “You basically slut-shamed her.”

With his hands on the steering wheel, Xander peered toward the door of Boomer’s like he might catch a glimpse of whatever Abigail was doing inside. “I just always thought I’d be her first.”

“You could’ve been,” I reminded him, blowing smoke out the window. I coughed a couple of times before turning back to him to say, “You could still be her second. She’s not, like, ruined for you.”

“I know she’s not,” he snapped. “But… I’d be the one to ruin her. Which is exactly why I stay away.”

“And what a good job of that you’re doing today.”

Xander gave me the side-eye. “Get off my dick, Gardner. You’re giving me a lot of shit today. Why don’t you apply that same boldness inside there with that older babe?” He nodded toward Boomer’s and began to say something else, but Abigail came outside carrying a little pouch of candy. He was distracted.

When I opened the door to let her back in, she pushed it shut, leaning against the open window instead. “Okay,” she said, biting the end off of a green gummy worm. “I’m with Xander. We’re getting you laid.”

“What?” I asked with a nervous laugh.

“That girl is just quirky enough that this could work. She was humming along to a Beatles song, and she’s got a Lord of the Rings tattoo. And she’s even cuter up close.” Abigail tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled. “I mean, if you don’t make a move, maybe I will.”

I wiped my palms on my jeans, staring straight ahead at the girl who was now leaning over the counter reading a book. “She has a tattoo?” I swallowed. “I definitely can’t do this.”

“Sure you can.” Xander clapped his hand against my shoulder. “Go in there and say something suave, like…”

Abigail craned her neck to shoot him a judgy look. “Thought you were a writer?” She turned to me. “Just walk in and be your usual, charming self. Make a Lord of the Rings reference. It’ll work.”

“I just had the best idea,” Xander said. “My grandparents are on a cruise right now. We could have a little soirée at their house and invite this girl.”

Abigail gasped, leaning through the window. “The cabin? Oh my gosh, I used to love walking down there with you when we were kids.”

Abigail and Xander grew up on the same country road just outside of town, and his grandparents lived in a little log cabin in the woods around the corner. I think his grandfather built it or something.

“Yeah, the cabin,” Xander said, clamping his hand down even harder on my shoulder. He locked eyes with me. “It’s secluded and cozy. Perfect for a small party. And there’s a king-sized bed for you to lose your virginity on, my guy.”

I blinked. “I cannot express enough how much this is not happening tonight, so you can just forget it.” I turned to Abigail. “Both of you.”

I was momentarily distracted by the blonde girl, who stepped outside to dump a Styrofoam cup of ice on the gravel. Her hair shone beneath the sun, creating a halo effect around the crown of her head. I could feel Xander and Abigail staring at me while I watched her, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

“How about this for motivation?” Xander asked, crossing his arms. “I’m not taking us back to school until you at least talk to her. You’ll miss your test.”

“You’re not serious.”

Xander shut off his truck, keeping his eyes on me the entire time. “I mean it, Gardner. This truck’s not starting until you go in there.”

This wasn’t fair. I looked at Abigail, expecting her to have some sympathy, but her grin was just as wicked as Xander’s.

“Fine,” I conceded, letting out an annoyed sigh. “I’ll go in there, but it’s not going to amount to anything.”

Abigail pulled open the truck door and I slid out, running both hands through my hair. I stood beside the truck for a moment, contemplating what I might say when I went in. I hated this so much, I almost wished I were back in Mrs. Harpers’ class listening to my classmates pontificate about the symbolism in Catcher in the Rye .

If I screwed up too badly, I’d never be able to show my face inside Boomer’s again. Those old men would laugh me out of the place.

I stole a gummy worm from Abigail and ate it in two bites. “‘Kay. Wish me luck.”