by Shelly Crane
“Let’s get something to drink,” I suggested over the loud music.
“You can think again if you believe I’m going to let you drink alcohol, Maggie,” Bish scolded.
“I wasn’t,” I insisted.
“It’s ok. We can’t drink alcohol anyway,” Caleb spouted and then looked a little bit chagrined.
Crap.
“Why can’t you?” Bish asked suspiciously.
“Because we’re not old enough,” Caleb replied.
Aces can’t drink alcohol. Something in our blood doesn’t handle it right.
Really? Then a thought came. That’s why you took my drink at that party before? He nodded slightly. It wouldn’t have mattered. I don’t drink anyway.
Well good because you can’t now even if you wanted to. It makes us super, super drunk, like borderline alcohol poisoning. You want a soda or something? I’m sure they have something here.
Yeah. I’ll stay with Bish I guess.
Ok.
“Why don’t you-” I started to say to Bish but was interrupted.
“Hey cutie,” a girl with long blonde hair and big blue eyes called to Bish then came to stand by him. “Not dancing?”
“Nope,” he said a shifting a little uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
“Well, why not!” she laughed. “You want to dance with me?”
“I’m good here, thanks.”
Oh Lord. Now I have to deal with this juvenile crap just so I can look out for Maggie.
“Oh,” she said disappointed. “Oh! You’re together?”
“No. No. I just don’t want to dance. But thanks.”
“Ok,” she said shrugged and turned to go.
I could hear her as she walked away.
Dang, I haven’t been turned down that cold in a long time.
“Jeez, Bish,” I scolded. “Could you be more rude? She was nice. She just wanted to dance.”
“I don’t want to.”
“But you didn’t have to be so cold to her.”
He pondered that and conceded.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
Caleb came back with three drinks.
“I got you a Pepsi, Bish. I didn’t know if you wanted a beer or-”
“I don’t drink beer.”
It makes people mean and hateful.
And then it hit me again. His memories, his thoughts flooded to me and overtook me with a rush over my senses.
It all made sense then.
He was the unwanted child, always. He was the trouble maker. He caused people to be stressed, to drink, to hit and to be mean, to hurt people. He had all those caretakers and all those people who took him in. All those people who abused him and beat him and hated him. What did he ever do to any of them except be born?
He was unnatural, he thought. He caused trouble and discord. His father now was in prison for rape and murder and his mother beat him every day for seven years. And then it followed him everywhere he went. He was cursed.
He didn’t drink. He tried to be good and fair. He tried to protect the ones he loved, the first people to ever care about him, and not treat him like he was nothing. And then that mom left too, my mom. He tore my family apart, like everything else. That’s why he didn’t date.
His blood was spoiled. He had raping, murdering, hateful abusing blood running through his veins and he was afraid he’d wind up hurting anyone he ever cared about that way. He never looked twice, except for Jen, and that had been a fluke. He pushed it out of his mind and kept to his decision. He would never love anyone. Never get married, never have kids. So the curse and bad blood would stop with him.
I yanked back and realized it was Caleb who’d yanked me back to reality with a hand on the back of my neck. He turned me away and I felt a couple tears on my face. He hadn’t wanted Bish to see.
Are you ok?
Yeah. I wiped my face. I’m ok. Oh, gah, Caleb. I don’t know what to do with him.
I know. I’m sorry.
I wanted to tell Bish everything right then and there. To tell him it wasn’t his fault. To tell him I trusted him and loved him, but I couldn’t.
I heard Bish start to walk away but I turned and grabbed his arm.
“Will you dance with me at least?”
He looked at Caleb and back to me.
“I’m sure Caleb is ready to have you to himself and not have me dragging along.”
“I want,” I grabbed his hand and started to drag him, “to dance with you.”
He looked back at Caleb who shrugged and smiled.
“Go ahead. I’m finishing my soda.”
I took him to end of the pier where everyone was dancing and we danced. He was really good. I was clumsy and all over the place but I danced anyway. It was so much fun. He was hilarious, playful and actually having a fantastic time. He twirled me under his arm and bent me backwards, being silly, making me laugh hard.
He missed just being able to let loose. We danced for a long while before I was too bushed to keep going.
“Come on. I can’t dance another second.”
“Quitter! You’re the one who brought me out here,” he said laughing.
“I know. You can keep dancing if you want. I know there’s plenty of willing girls.”
“Nah, I’m gonna go find a place for the old fogies to sit,” he said grinning.
I laughed and went to find Caleb.
I found him by the strangest looking guy I’d ever seen. He was wearing no shirt, black leather pants, no shoes and his hair was in a wild afro of black curls. I could only assume this was Zeke and I immediately blocked his thoughts and focused on Caleb.
“Hey, you,” Caleb called sweetly and pulled me to his side. “Zeke, this is Maggie. Maggie, Zeke.”
“This is your Maggie, eh? I say, good work, my man.”
“Thanks,” Caleb muttered wryly.
“So, lads and lasses, what are we drinking? Refill?” Zeke tipped Caleb’s cup towards him and grimaced. “Still a soda man. What about you, Maggie, my dearest, a little bubbly to brighten your night?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“Zeke and the guys are about to go on stage,” Caleb told me.
“Really,” I said enthusiastic. “Great. I’ve heard a lot about you guys. What’s your band’s name?”
“Metal Petals.”
“Aha. Nice.”
“Well, you two sit right there and prepare to be rocked,” Zeke said and pointed his fingers at us as he walked away backwards.
I told you he was unconventional.
I just laughed as he took the stage and introduced their band. Then they began to play. They were pretty good actually. We stayed right there until I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned to see Kyle...with the blondest fakest tanned bimbo I’d ever seen. Her makeup was all bright purple and pink and her blue leather mini skirt couldn’t really even be called a skirt- scrap was more like it. I was sure my eyes went wide. She looked me over too and her thoughts came to me.
So this is her, huh? Nothing special.
I blocked her out.
“Hey, guys. I’m gonna go ahead and take off and go back to the beach house with Amber.” He purred her name making her giggle and flip her hair.
“Kyle,” Caleb said like he was talking to a drunken idiot. Only this idiot wasn’t drunk. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” She made playful nipping and biting type moves toward him and he made them back to her. I wanted to gag. “I’m going to go play with Amber.”
“I don’t think Uncle Carl would want you bringing people we don’t know to the house, Kyle, especially with us not being there.”
“Well,” Kyle leaned in and whispered. “You not being there is kinda the point, cuz. If you know what I mean?” he winked. I must have looked disgusted because he turned to me and frowned. “What’s your problem?”
I shook my head.
“Nothing.”
“That’s right, nothing. Y
ou don’t get a say in what I do, Maggie. I could take the whole party home to screw and you couldn’t say one word to me about it!” he yelled angrily and a few people near us looked to see what was going on.
“Hey!” Caleb yelled back and moved me behind him. “You need to calm down. You don’t talk to her like that. Go. Go to the house, whatever, I don’t care, but go before you say something stupid and I have to do something about it.”
“Whatever,” Kyle muttered. He looked at me once more before putting an arm around Amber’s shoulders and pulling her away.
They walked down the beach toward our house and sighed in exasperation. I felt sorry for him too. He was hurt, because of me, and he was trying to get back at me for it.
“He shouldn’t have yelled at you like that,” Caleb reasoned with my inner thoughts. “No matter how ‘hurt’ he is. He’s a jackass.”
“Yeah, he is,” I agreed and shook my head to clear it. “Come on. Let’s get back to Metal Petals.”
He smiled sadly and positioned me in front of him. Now we were in front of the makeshift stage. He put his arms around me from behind and kissed my neck before sticking an arm in the air and yelling loudly as the song ended. I laughed at him and we listened to the rest of the set. Once it ended that was pretty much it for the party, especially once the beach patrol showed up. He turned to me and yelled over the ruckus.
“Come on, let’s get Bish and get out of here.”
Back at the house, you could hear the giggling from the porch. I assured Caleb they weren’t doing anything unclothed and we could go in. They were sitting on the couch, she was lying on her back across his lap and laughing as he tickled and nuzzled her.
“Oh, hey, guys. You remember Amber?”
Caleb and I looked at each other and shook our heads.
“I’m going to bed,” Bish announced and came to me. He smiled and hugged me to him. “Night, Mags.”
“Good night. I had fun,” I told him sincerely.
“Me, too,” He leaned down to my ear. “I can even overlook the fact that you are an appalling dancer.”
“Ha, ha.”
I heard Caleb stifle a chuckle. Bish nodded to him in goodnight. Then he called to Kyle from the stairs.
“Night, Kyle. Don’t be an idiot.”
Kyle scoffed and Amber turned his face back to look at her.
“I’m kinda tired too, actually,” I said, “and hungry.” I looked to Caleb. “You want a sandwich?”
“Yeah, thanks. Kyle, can I talk to you, on the porch?”
I heard an aggravated noise as I left for the kitchen and soon I was joined by the bimbo.
“Hi! I’m Amber.”
“Yes. I know.”
“What’s your name?”
“Maggie,” I muttered.
“Awe, how cute! OMG! Isn’t Kyle just delicious? How do you live here with him and not just want to jump him? Though that other guy was pretty hot too.”
“Somehow I manage,” I muttered as I started to make the roast beef sandwiches.
“So, did you and Kyle used to go out or something?”
“No. Why?” I asked as she moved behind me to go to my other side.
She bumped my arm in the process and I sliced the end of my finger. I huffed and looked at her but she didn’t say anything. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a napkin, wrapping it around my finger.
“Eeew, blood makes me gag,” she said as she watched me, her neck wrinkled as she sucked it in.
“I’m fine by the way,” I said with sarcasm that she didn’t catch.
“Mmhmm. So anyway, back to Kyle. He just seemed very intent on seeing you and that other guy before we left to come here. We looked for you forever!”
“What?” I asked and got a clean knife.
“Yeah, I thought he was parading his rebound or something.”
I put the knife aside and looked at her.
“So if you thought you were a rebound, why were you so happy about coming back here with him?”
“Hey.” She leaned forward on her elbows and smiled coyly. “Don’t knock rebound booty til you try it.”
“Eeew,” I muttered before I could stop myself and resumed the mayonnaise.
“Hey!” She suddenly seemed a little bristled and stood up with her hands on her hips. “Don’t judge me. You don’t even know me!”
“You’re right, I don’t. See ya,” I said, unwrapping my finger that had stopped bleeding and grabbing the sandwiches, making my way out of the room, visibly shaking the grossness off me. Girls like her gave the rest of us a bad name. “Caleb?”
He was still on the porch with Kyle, all big brother-ish. They were discussing the no-dating rule again and Kyle was explaining basically the same thing as Amber just had to me. A one night stand, no matter even if they didn’t have sex, wasn’t a relationship. I tuned them out and went to go sit on our couch bed and wait for Caleb.
He came in shortly after, upset and shaking his head, grumbling about how Kyle was being an idiot and it was stupid how childish he was being about it all, stringing that girl along. I just sat and let him rant, listening, and then laid down with him when he was done and ready for bed. He put his arms around me from behind and spoke his words into my hair.
“Hey, uh,” he started. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you. Zeke’s band wants me to play with them next weekend, their bassists is going to a wedding in Maine or something.”
“Really, you want to do it?”
“Yeah, I do.”
I heard his thoughts. He’d always secretly wanted to be in a band or start one but never got the notion to. Plus what good would a band do for his family? He really wanted to do this. Just to say he did it once.
“I think it’s awesome. Did you tell him yes?”
“I wanted to talk to you first.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t know if you’d be...weird about it. I don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t mean anything, nothing will come of it but I will have to practice this week if I do it. Like everyday to be ready for this weekend. I’m not thrilled about the idea of leaving you alone...but Bish is here so...”
“I’ll be fine. I think you should do it.”
“Ok,” he said brightly. “I’ll call him tomorrow.”
“What about the Mutemath concert?”
“That’s Saturday night. The gig is Friday.”
“Great! Wow. I’m dating a rock star,” I teased.
“Ha, ha. It’s not a big deal.”
“It is to me. I like it when you’re happy.” I snuggled closer. “It makes me happy too.”
“You’re still amazing,” he murmured and kissed the back of my neck.
We tried to go to sleep. The giggling and loud whispering from the other room lasted for hours. Caleb shouted for them to shut up but that just seemed to make it worse. He started to get up a few times to tell them to shut up to their face but I held him back. Kyle wanted to rebel. I refused to believe this was all about making me jealous. He just wanted to do something without being told to.
Eventually we went to sleep.
~ Four ~
In the morning, we woke early to go surfing. We made our way through the living room and saw Kyle and Amber asleep on the couch. She was all scrunched up in a ball on one side and bed hog Kyle all sprawled out on the other. Both were still clothed so that was a plus.
After a quick breakfast and changing into our wetsuits, we made it out to the beach, only one board in tow. The beach was empty except for a few other surfers. The sun was low, hanging over the water and making beautiful orange waves. The air was warm and smelled so much like the sea. It was perfect.
I started to have second thoughts.
“Caleb, I’ve never done this before. It’s so cold and the water’s deep and there could be something in there,” I complained.
“Well, I hope there’s something in there. It is the ocean,” he said all smart elect.
“Caleb,” I whined. “Please don’t make me.”
>
“This whiny side of you is very cute,” he said through a wide grin.
“Funny. I’m serious. I’m scared now. Maybe I’ll just watch you.”
“You-” he said tossing his board and grabbing me around the middle to hug me to him “-are not a chicken. I’ll be with you the whole time so there’s nothing to worry about. It’s really fun once you get the hang of it.”
I stared up at him. He really thought I was being silly didn’t he?
“Yes,” he answered. “Yes I do.”
I smiled and shook my head at him.
“Fine, but if I get bitten by a shark-” I poked his bare chest “-you are telling my dad it was your fault.”
He grimaced.
“You drive a hard bargain, lady. Deal.”
“Deal.”
He kissed me on the tip of the nose and we treaded into the surf.
“You’re gonna ride in like this first. Now wait for the wave and then paddle, paddle, paddle. Got it?” he instructed as he floated beside me.
“Got it?”
I was lying on the board on my belly and he was showing me how to start in the surf and watch for waves. He kept a hand on my lower back the whole time and didn’t seem to mind too much that my bikini clad behind was right there in his line of vision.
“Ok.” He watched behind me. “Wait, wait...Go! Paddle! Paddle!”
I paddled and got swept under when the wave crashed over me. I started again. He gave the same advice and told me what I did wrong. Over and over we did this. Not once did I make it very few feet before some mishap. He was patient and always gentle in his instruction. I still liked it though I hadn’t actually done it yet. It was still fun, but I was determined.
“I wish your uncle was here. He could teach me and I’d know it all in five seconds,” I said as I climbed back on the board.
“He’s good to have around but sometimes...it’s good to learn things the old fashioned way.”
“So wise, Confucius,” I joked and he smacked me on the butt in retaliation making me laugh.
“Now, focus, babe. Let’s try again. Wait for the wave.”
When he said ‘go’ I paddled hard and felt the wave take me up with it to the crest and then back down as it crashed. I steadied and stood up slowly. I rode it all the way to the shore in one smooth glide. This was the first time without falling off in over two hours of working with Caleb. I stood up in the sand and yelled and jumped up and down on my toes in triumph. I saw him swimming my way. Then he ran. Once he reached me he pulled me into a hug and kissed me on my smiling lips.
