by Raathi Chota
“What?” I asked.
“You’ve been spacing out all day, and that’s not normal for Miranda Stevens.”
I let out a sigh as I looked down at the grass. We sat under a tree that had bare branches since the cold weather had struck.
“Do you think it’s a coincidence that Marcus went home at the same time when Blake found Kelly in bed with someone else?” I rushed out. Lana’s eyes widened as she licked her lips.
“I-I don’t know…Marcus does have curly hair, but he’s not so short.”
“He also said that Austin took him home.”
“Austin? That’s unusual,” she commented as she took out a cigarette. I watched as she slowly lit it and inhaled the smoke.
“But he wouldn’t cheat on me, right?” I croaked out. Lana stayed quiet as she exhaled. My left eye suddenly twitched as the whiff spread through the air. I snatched the cigarette from her fingers and threw it to the ground in frustration.
“Hey!” she exclaimed as I crushed it with a rock.
“Answer me!” I yelled.
“I don’t know,” she mumbled. I looked at her with weary eyes, then at the crushed cigarette.
“Those fucking cancer sticks are ruining you, Lana!”
“Please don’t you start too.”
“I will!” I said, then rose to my feet. “I thought the last time you ‘tried’ that, it’d be the last, but no,” I stated. “One guy comes into your life and ruins it all and gets you back on those!”
“Don’t blame him!”
“I will. He’s a narcissistic bastard who has too many tattoos, and he’s using you!”
“Don’t talk shit, Miranda!” Lana yelled. “Just because Marcus might’ve cheated on you doesn’t mean you can turn the tables and start another argument!”
“He did?” I snapped my head to see Parker in his regular attire as he watched us in amusement.
“How long have you been standing there?” Lana asked.
“Long enough.” He smirked.
“Well, what do you want? Can’t you see we’re having an argument?”
“Oh, I know,” he said. “You may continue.”
I turned back to Lana to tell her off again, and she wanted to do the same, but Parker snickered beside us.
“What are you laughing at?” Lana demanded.
“It’s actually kinda funny that you assume Marcus slept with Kelly,” he said. “Don’t you trust your boyfriend?” I remained silent as he bit his lip. Before I could reply, he cut me off. “But you’re right, Miranda. There’s more curly-haired dudes in the school.” He sighed, then took off his beanie to reveal his curly blond hair. Lana let out a gasp as my eyes widened. Blake did mention curly hair, but he didn’t say the color. Parker was shorter than Blake, but he was still tall with no piercings or tattoos. Then I remembered that Marcus had his ears pierced. “Now you’re probably wondering why did Austin take Marcus home?” Parker stated. “Well, you must’ve heard that Kelly used Blake just to get closer to one of his friends. It’s dumb to sleep with Marcus, because then she would’ve dated Blake for nothing.”
“So he didn’t sleep with her?” Lana asked.
“Yep, Kelly may be stupid, but she’s not an idiot,” Parker said as I snorted. “So we had to make it seem like it was Marcus, and the only way was to get him drunk so that Austin could take him home.”
“So you slept with her so that she and Blake could break up and get closer to one of his friends?” I asked with a confused look.
“I don’t know, it’s her plan? Don’t know how she’s gonna get him.” Parker shrugged, then shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.
“Who is it?” Lana asked as Parker backed away.
“You’ll find out soon,” he said with a wink, then walked away. We stood there speechless as I tried to absorb the information. I knew Marcus wouldn’t cheat on me; we liked each other a lot. At first, I thought he faked his illness, but the coughs were terrible, and I visited him before I came here. His whole family was genuinely ill!
“Well, that answers that question!” Lana beamed as I turned to her. I didn’t even notice the cigarette between her lips up until now. I balled my fists as I stood right in front of her.
“Please, Lana, I know it won’t be easy to get over these, but please,” I begged. “Don’t depend on them.”
As soon as those words left my mouth, I stormed off and walked to my car. I whipped my phone out and scrolled through my contacts. I pressed Carter’s name and got in the car while I waited. It rang as I started the car and decided to leave it on speaker as I drove. After three rings, he finally answered.
“Parker’s porno palace…what’s your pleasure?”
“Not in the mood, Halls,” I said as I drove. “Where are you guys?”
“Crashing at Benny’s place, why?” he asked, and I heard laughter in the background.
“No reason,” I said, then ended the call. I sped down the streets on the way to Benny’s house in the hope that they’re all there. It’s Blake’s fault that Lana was back on cigarettes, yet it’s Levi’s fault she’s like that. My car came to a shaken halt as I approached the Nielson’s home. All the guys’ cars were parked in the driveway. I got out of my car and trudged toward the front door. As I passed the vehicles, I resisted the urge to push Blake’s motorcycle to ground. The door wasn’t even locked as I pushed it open. His parents were still at work, so it wasn’t like I intruded. I heard music along with laughter from the basement. I followed the noise and walked downstairs.
“Hey, Stevens!” Liam greeted as my loud footsteps interrupted everyone. I searched the room for a specific bad boy. He sprawled out on the sofa with a cigarette in his mouth. Just like Lana, I thought. I darted toward Blake with my fists clenched. He slowly stood up and raised a brow.
“You!” I yelled as I shoved my index finger in his chest.
“Miranda, are you okay? Don’t tell me Mother Nature has struck yo—”
“You broke her!” I cut off Aidan. Blake stared at me in confusion as I let out a laugh. The whole room was quiet as everyone watched me. I laughed so hard that tears formed in my eyes. “At first, I thought that he ruined her, but then she just carried on with life as if it were nothing, but then you came along and fucked everything up!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Blake demanded.
“You broke my best friend,” I whispered. “Guess where she is now? Out in the park probably having her fifth cigarette while sitting on a swing. Adults with their children walk by with looks of concern seeing an intoxicated girl smoking her problems away,” I said in one breath. The only sound to be heard was my heavy breaths as everyone sat. Guilt filled their faces because they knew that they were part of ruining her life. “But have no fear, for he shall appear.”
“Who?” Ethan asked as I laughed to cover up my fearfulness of Levi’s friend, Keene.
“The one and only Levi Radcliff!” I exclaimed.
“That name sounds so familiar,” Benny mumbled.
“Since you’re all friends with Lana, you must know that he visits once a year, and every year they do something crazy,” I muttered, and the reminiscence of summer 2015 entered my mind.
“Who the fuck is this guy? Is he famous or something? What did he do?” Blake asked as his jaw tightened.
I spun and walked toward the stairs. “You’ll find out soon, so I suggest you do something so that she slows down on the cigarettes, because once he’s here, we’re all going on a fucking ride.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lana
I was on my fourth cigarette as I stopped to look at my surroundings. Most people my age and younger were in the park since it was a Thursday afternoon. Old people sat on benches and fed the birds while kids played on the playground. My eye caught the familiar boy who hid his blond curls under his beanie. I shook my head in disappointment because Miranda went through all that for nothing. It was a coincidence that Marcus left the same time Blake came to the party. We
ll, not an accident, since Kelly planned it all. I watched as Parker handed the guy a bag in return for cash. Once the guy was gone, he spun around with a smug look.
“If nobody’s gonna come after me, you can still be my customer.” He winked.
“Nope, I’m done with those,” I said, then inhaled as I put the cigarette to my lips. “Why did you tell us all of that?”
“It’s a warning,” Parker said as his jaw tightened. “Kelly won’t stop until she gets what she wants.”
As soon as those words flew from his lips, he spun around and walked off. I scanned the park and saw an empty swing set not too far. I walked toward it and plopped myself down onto the tire swing in the center. As I inhaled the sweet scent between my lips, I thought of what Miranda said twenty minutes ago. I hadn’t gotten addicted to them, and I didn’t depend on them. I only smoked to take the pain away. I didn’t know when I last got a full night of sleep, and with everything that happened, I had to have something to take it all away. From the corner of my eye, I saw Carter, Ethan, Aidan, and Blake. They watched me with blank looks as I blew out smoke rings.
“Hey, Lana,” Aidan said as he sat on my right. Carter followed in sync as he sat on the swing that was on my left, and Ethan sat on the end by Aidan.
“You reek of tobacco,” Carter pointed out as he swung back and forth on the rusty swing.
“You reek of sex, but you don’t see me complaining,” I muttered, then threw my cigarette on the ground and watched it crumble. Blake chuckled as he walked around us. There were only four swings, so heaven knew where he’d sit. I felt the weight behind me as the front of the tire went up. My eyes widened as Blake tried to balance on the back of the tire swing but failed as I fell backward. I felt the tire go up as my body hit the ground. “Ugh.” I groaned as I squeezed my eyes shut from the soreness. I heard laughter and opened my eyes to see Blake Gunner from above. “Jerk,” I muttered as Ethan’s face came into view. He instantly helped me and gently set me back on the tire swing. I gripped the chains on either side of me as I smiled at him. “Thanks.” Ethan bent over as he put his hand on either side of the tire and glanced up. I followed his gaze and saw Blake climb back onto the tire swing. This time I made sure to keep my balance as he wrapped his hands around the chains. He towered over and gave me a cheeky grin. I looked down to see Ethan release his grip. Once he was sure that none of us would fall again, he sat back down. I cautiously clung to the chains as Blake and I slowly moved.
“Don’t worry, I got you,” Blake mumbled as I felt his knees on my back to keep us steady. After that, silence took over, and the only sound was the rusty noise of the swings. Ethan took out a pack and handed each of us one, but I declined and gave my cigarette to Blake.
“Miranda’s quite pissed,” Aidan spoke up.
“She’ll get over it.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not addicted to these. It just takes the pain away.”
“What pain?” Carter asked.
“You know when you first light it then inhale the tobacco for the first time?” I asked, to which they nodded. “Well, for me, when I inhale, everything just seems to drift away. The hurt, the remorse, the feeling of life just goes away. I’m in my own world, and once you’re done with the cigarette and throw it out, that’s when everything comes back. That’s when you’re snapped back into reality.”
It was quiet for a moment as they smoked. They didn’t know how to answer that or what to say, so I looked at Carter and decided to respond to his question.
“I’m having nightmares.”
His slick blue eyes stared into my wounded blue ones. I watched as he took his last drag, then threw the cigarette to the ground and crushed it with his foot.
“We know,” Blake said from above. I squinted up at the six-foot giant and raised a brow.
“Benny told us before we came here,” Ethan said.
“You don’t have to talk about it, but when last did you get some actual sleep?” Aidan asked, and when I turned to him, I noticed the gleam in his brown eyes.
“A few weeks ago,” I mumbled. No one said anything, but I watched as Aidan took out his phone and typed. I tried to pry over his shoulder, but Ethan turned to me as he blew smoke toward us.
“Do you guys ever feel like we’re being watched?” he asked. I raised my eyebrow as I looked around the park, yet everyone seemed to be doing their own thing. Parker was still here but with another guy, chatting.
“No, why?” Carter asked.
“I don’t know, but these past few weeks I just feel like someone is watching me,” Ethan pointed out as he continued to look around.
“Dude, there are a lot of girls here eyeing you,” Aidan began as he put his hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “If you need to get laid and can’t decide who to bang, just ask Carter. He must’ve done them all.”
“Hey!” Carter argued as he glared at Aidan and Ethan, who laughed.
“Did you know that Parker slept with Kelly at the party?” I looked up at Blake. He didn’t seem fazed by that and shrugged.
“I knew that it was some weird curly asshole.”
I then watched as he took his final drag and dropped the cigarette to the ground. I watched as the cigarette burned as the ashes descended. It seemed like we’d jumped from one topic to another. When it got awkward, or nobody talked, we tried to come up with a new topic.
“Dad is gone,” I stated after a while. They turned to me with curious looks, and I felt Blake’s stare from atop. “James Cornelius was spotted in Detroit last, and he hasn’t made a move since. Police became suspicious, so they called in back up. My dad left this morning.”
“Do you think they’ll get him?” Ethan asked.
“I hope so,” I mumbled.
“You’d actually think that he’d be in jail by now,” Carter said. “Not just for drugs, but for killing people.”
“Who?” I asked.
“He told us that he killed that guy who shoved the bag of parcels into us that day,” Aidan replied.
“He told you that? James Cornelius?” I asked as Aidan let out a snort from his last name.
“Yeah, he said if we don’t follow the rules, then we’ll end up like that guy…dead,” Ethan rambled on as I raised my eyebrow.
“Did you guys follow the rules?” I asked.
“Yes, and it would’ve gone well if Parker didn’t steal those two parcels,” Carter muttered, yet it still would’ve gone well if I didn’t show up.
“Let’s just be glad that he isn’t here,” Blake pointed out as I felt him come down slowly. I felt two hands on either side of my waist as I gripped the chains. I felt his breath on my neck as his lips brushed against my skin. “You’re safe with me,” he whispered as he left a gentle kiss on my neck that made my stomach flutter with butterflies.
“Y-Yeah, he’s in another state w-where he should be arrested s-soon,” I stuttered as I felt him pull away from me and climb off the tire. Aidan immediately jumped out of his seat with a broad grin spread across his face. We gave him a weird look as we slowly stood up and watched him.
“Liam and I have an idea,” he said, then spun around.
“What have the two most idiotic people come up with now?” Ethan sarcastically asked as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Aidan exclaimed as he skipped toward the car.
***
You’d think that Mr. Bronx being the cool teacher he was, he wouldn’t give us homework, but Liam and his jock friends had to annoy the class, which resulted in four pages of textbook homework. Thus I had my homework sprawled out on the coffee table while I rested on the sofa. Benny decided to come over so we’d do it together. We’d been like that for the past hour, snacking on things as my record player echoed through the living room.
“Here you go,” my mother said as she entered the room with a fresh batch of cookies. I raised a brow as she placed them on the coffee table.
“Thanks, Mrs. Willson,” Benny said as she walked off with a goofy
grin. She’d been acting weird all day. I asked if she’s going to work yet and she said she was going later. She’d been in the kitchen all day, and that was our third plate of cookies. “How’s your…?” Benny snapped me out of my thoughts. He rubbed his tummy, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Yeah, I’m good, and thanks for keeping up with my stubbornness the other night.” I chuckled.
“No problem. It was fun.” He laughed as he set his books aside. I watched as he got up and looked around the room. I quietly got back to work as I heard movement in the room. From the corner of my eye, I felt his stare on me. “Do you remember our first dance together back in middle school?”
I looked up into his brown eyes to see the smile on his face. Benny held his hand out, and I gradually accepted. He helped me to my feet and entwined our hands together as we stood in the middle of the room.
“Yes, you were horrible. You kept stepping on my feet.” I giggled as he took my other hand. Even though that was the start of when he bullied me, I threw those horrible memories away and finally made new ones.
“I was frustrated because I couldn’t dance,” he groaned. “But you kept telling me not to give up.”
“We were not that bad.”
“True, but over the years I’ve learned a thing or two,” he said, then twirled me around to “Single” by The Neighbourhood. I laughed as we came face to face, our hands still intertwined as the music echoed through the room.
“Care to show me what else you’ve learned?” I teased. Benny’s smile twitched up into a smirk as his hands went to my hips and he pulled me closer. I took my hands and placed them around his neck as we swayed to the beat of the music.
“I never gave up,” he whispered in my ear. I lowered my head to see his hands firmly placed on my waist as his head rested on my shoulder. I closed my eyes as the alternative music played.
The song ended, but we didn’t stop as Benny’s arm went around me and up my back, caressing it. I opened my eyes and saw my mother over Benny’s shoulder. She had an amused look as she leaned on the doorframe with her arms folded. Her mouth opened, but it cut off as we heard a loud honk from outside. A coldness swept through me as Benny and I pulled away from each other. I raised my brow as I strolled to the front door and opened it. I stepped outside with Benny right beside me. We stood on the porch as I overlooked the garden. Miranda, Ethan, and Aidan’s cars stood in the driveway as everyone piled out. I was puzzled. They were busy taking bags out of their cars.
