Page 21 of Summer Skin

“THERE’S NO WAYI’m going to prom.”

“You’re definitely going to prom.”

Chase plucked the cigarette from Brooklyn’s outstretched hand and popped it between his lips, gaze going back and forth between Aven and Andi as they bickered over formal wear.

“It’s not happening. Chase and I are going to the drive-in that night.”

Andi’s brows drew together. “Really.”

“Why do you even want to go to a high school dance? Come on, crappy music, people getting all shit-faced and puking in the parking lot. Brady crowned prom king because he finally scored Charlotte. No thanks, pass.”

Chase watched the emotions playing over Andi’s face. He felt for her. It seemed like Andi’s whole life had been a series of instructions on how to fit in with societal norms, on presenting herself well, and Chase knew how hard it must be to break free of that. To find the person she truly wanted to be as she was being pulled in so many different directions.

“Okay,” she said after a beat.

“Okay?” asked Aven.

“Okay, as in I’ll come with you to the movies. I’ll wear a fancy dress and get drunk and puke in the backseat of your car, so you still get some high school prom realness.”

“Thoughtful.”“Only for you, Aves.” She waved off the cigarette when Chase passed it her way. “But you can’t cut out on graduation dinner with our parents.”

“I know.” Aven shot a glance in his direction. “You should come with us,” he said, tugging Chase’s hand.

“Why would I do that?” The idea of accompanying Aven and Andi and their parents to some restaurant where he’d need to sell several body parts just to afford the meal seemed ridiculous. He wasn’t the type to dine at a place that required reservations.

“So that I can play footsie with you under the table,” Aven replied in an amused tone.

“That’s cute but I don’t even own a suit.”

“Borrow one of mine.”

“It would be too big.”

“So?”

“So I’d look out of place.”

Feel out of place.

Be out of place.

Chase sighed. “You don’t get it …” A bitter ache thrummed through his chest. The way Aven could never fathom what it meant to grow up the way Chase had. The way he’d tried so hard to fade into the background, like human camouflage, so no one noticed he didn’t belong.

“Get what, babe?” Aven searched his face, looking for an answer.

A part of Chase wanted to pull a mask on. To play it off with some shallow comment on how totally uncool it would be to go to a restaurant that required a suit jacket. But looking into Aven’s gentle eyes, he couldn’t lie about his feelings. His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “I wouldn”t feel comfortable there. I’d be out of place.”

Aven’s shoulders relaxed. “Okay. If you don’t want to go, we’ll do something else to celebrate, that’s all.”

“But you have to come, Aven,” Andi cut in. “My mom made the reservation months ago.”

Aven’s gaze found hers and held for a few beats, speaking some silent form of communication they’d developed over time. “Let’s ditch,” he urged. “We can do something we want instead. It’s our graduation, not theirs.”

“Mom will kill us,” Andi warned.

“I don’t think so. Your mom loves me.”

Andi grinned at him, crinkling her nose. “I guess you’re right. She’s always had horrible taste in men. My dad collects old-timey medicine bottles for fun.”

“A hobbyist!” Aven declared. “Strong, hearty folk.” His hand cupped her shoulder. “It’ll be okay, let our parents get fancy with each other. They can plot our futures just as easily without us.”

She nodded, reaching to slide her hand over his, giving him a quick squeeze. “What am I going to do without you next year?”

“Well, you’ll be at Stanford, so there’ll be plenty to take your mind off of home.”

“But there won’t be you,” Andi said, voice going tight, a shine in her eyes.

“Oh god,” Brooklyn groaned, tossing the cigarette butt to the ground and stomping down. “I can’t take any tears. Do something else.”

Andi sniffled, wiping across her nose with the back of her hand. “I can do noir.”

“Like what?” Brooklyn asked with narrowed eyes.

Andi rifled through her book bag and brought out a pair of sunglasses, sliding them over her face. “There,” she said, with a flip of her hair, “femme fatale.”

Brooklyn couldn’t have looked more unimpressed. “You literally look like Malibu Barbie took a wrong turn trying to get to the beach and ended up lost in the woods.”

“Well, you’re wrong,” Andi insisted, one hand planted on her hip. “I only disguised myself to be this femme because it’s what everyone expected from me all along. And it helped me, didn’t it? To get close to the usual suspects—men,” she stage-whispered. “This blonde bombshell cloak could definitely procure pertinent info on Jake’s disappearance.”

Brooklyn’s head whipped around to Aven and Chase. “You told her about our investigation!?”

The corners of Chase’s mouth tugged up. She seemed so deadly serious about it. Like some poor small-town quarterback had actually vanished after a winning game. Like this wasn’t entirely a story she’d made up.

Aven made a clicking sound with his tongue. “Jake had a gigantic boner for Andi, it was only obvious we needed to bring her in on the case.”

Brooklyn’s expression relaxed a smidge. “Yeah, you’re right. He was pitching a tent for her, big time.”

“A huge woody,” Andi agreed, and Chase groaned because it was way too early in the morning for any of this.

“A real stiffy,” Brooklyn went on with a hint of a smile.

“I could never tell if he had a flashlight in his pocket or was just happy to see me.”

“Just call him Bone Daddy.”

“Okay, speaking of dicks,” Aven cut in, nodding his head towards Andi. “What”s the deal with you and Evan?”

“Oh, seriously?” Her head shook with annoyance. “He only walked me to class once, that’s all. Stop spreading hate all around.”

“Well, c”mon, Andi. He’s sort of—”

“Smart? Super nice? Built of charming biceps and totally good-looking?”

“—a dickhead.” Aven finished. “He seems like a total dickhead.”

“He’s not that bad,” Chase chimed in. “But, Andi, he’s not Emi.”

Andi slid the sunglasses up into her hair. “I’ve decided never talking to her is more romantic.”

Aven’s brow wrinkled. “Oh, Andi, that’s not—”

“There’s the bell!” Andi said in a voice loud enough to suggest the rest of them had suddenly lost their hearing.

“Bell-end,” Brooklyn tossed out.

“Knob,” returned Andi.

“Hummer. Head. Smoke pole. Suck off.”

“Hoover.”

“Blowjob,” they finished in unison.

Andi hooked her arm through Brooklyn’s and the two girls wandered off towards school, giggling to themselves as they spat out more dirty euphemisms. Chase watched them go for a moment. Brooklyn joking around with someone who wasn’t him. Brooklyn with a girl who could be a friend. His heart hurt for what she’d missed out on growing up. For what she’d deserved, and for what really should have been.

Moving to follow, he felt a tug on the sleeve of his jacket. “Wait a sec,” Aven said.

“But the bell—”

He took Chase’s face in both hands and kissed his mouth. Kissed him slowly, thoroughly, until Chase melted, going weak in the knees. “Just another five minutes with you,” Aven murmured into the shell of his ear.

The air smelled of spring, damp and earthy. But with every second, it was stretching closer to summer, to sunlight. Soon this moment in time, this entire season, would become a memory like every season before.

Something to look back at and grasp for.

“Five minutes,” he agreed.

But when time caught them, Aven asked for more.

And Chase said, “Yes, five more.”

But Aven kept asking for another five minutes, just another five more.

And Chase kept saying, yes, yes, for you, always.

More.