Swimming in Sparkles

by Debra Anastasia

  TEDDI

  “ALL I’M ASKING is for one nude, Teddi.” Tasker leaned in. He was angling his body toward mine. We were waiting outside the diner while the staff finished setting up our tables. I was sick of saying no to Tasker.

  Taylor and I called him “Asker” when we were by ourselves. I scrolled through my phone and sent a message to a group chat that didn’t include Tasker.

  Just go with it.

  I watched as everyone around me checked their phones. Then they did a great job of pretending they’d read nothing important at all.

  I tilted my head and smiled at Tasker. “Weren’t you in the Zoom last night? We had a rack-off. All the girls and I did a rack rating session.”

  His eyes grew wide and frantic. He pulled out his phone. “No fucking way. Where was this? Where is it? Did someone add me?”

  He went buzzing around the gathered group as if someone had stuffed a lit firecracker into his asshole. “Who has it? Where is it? A titty compilation?”

  I watched as some of the football guys hid their smiles.

  Holden was the best actor of them all. “Oh yeah. The Boob Battle. I added you, of course. I’d never leave a man behind. Did you check your email?”

  Tasker poked at his touch screen like he was angry at it. “No, no. No invite. No nothing. Shit. Shit. Were Teddi’s in there? Just show me a screenshot. Please.”

  Holden winced. “Sorry, bro, we couldn’t take screenshots. Illegal and shit. But it was a miraculous sight.”

  Tasker looked like he was going to cry. “Well, explain them or something. Was one bigger than the other?”

  He ran from teammate to teammate when we were finally called into the diner. Luck would have it that Tasker was seated on the other side of the table from me. I got a message from Holden.

  Just go with it.

  I looked to my right and then to my left. When Holden and I caught each other’s gaze, I gave him a wink.

  While we all looked at menus and ordered, Tasker was bugging everyone around him to describe my boobs to him. I saw Holden sneaking his phone under Brutus’ shirt and I had an idea what they were about to do.

  Watch him.

  Another text from Holden.

  Tasker’s phone buzzed where it was in front of his plate. I saw a glimpse of a set of nipples and a hairy chest. I had to look at my lap to avoid laughing out loud. Holden had Brutus push his chest together so that the picture looked like a set of female breasts.

  I glanced back up. Tasker’s face was white and he looked horrified. He darted his eyes in my direction and I made a show of scratching the center of my chest.

  Brutus was horrible at holding it together, so he ducked under the table, his shoulders shaking. Better yet was watching Tasker show Ryder and Van on either side of him. Deadpanned, they confirmed the picture was my boobs. Tasker actually got up and went outside. We heard him screaming at the sky. Inside, Holden told everyone at the table what they’d done. Tasker’s screams made us all laugh. It was like he was watching a pile of money on fire out there. Taylor and I set to work taking a picture of my knees with fake purple nipples drawn on them. She sent the picture to Holden who then cued everyone up to watch.

  “Hitting send… now.”

  The whole crew saw the pic at the same time of Taylor’s supposed boobs with the crazy Sharpie nipples. Tasker turned toward the window, looked at the picture, and then ran his hands down his face in agony.

  When he finally flopped back in his chair, we were all laughing at him. Eventually, Van let him in on the joke. He feigned relief and then started praying and thanking God out loud for His guidance during his time of need.

  These were my stupid friends and I loved them. I loved what they would do for me. Whether that was teaching Tasker a boob lesson or making a little girl with cancer have a better day.

  Chapter 3

  RUFFIAN

  I PULLED OUT my arrow. I’d had it for years now. It had been Mom’s, but she taught me how to use it and then gave it to me. To most, it was just a keychain charm. For me? It had a few special attachments hidden inside. It was a reliable lock pick.

  I knew the house at the end of this cul-de-sac was due to go up for sale soon. It wouldn’t be a good place to stay long-term, but it could hold me for a few hours safely. I switched the arrow’s picks out and went to work on the pins inside the back door lock. I was able to open the door without any damage.

  There weren’t any new appliances or equipment, so I knew I wasn’t being videoed yet. I closed the door and put the lock into position. The air smelled like new wood that had been shorn. After sinking down to the floor in the would-be kitchen, I dumped out the contents of the large backpack.

  All the stuff Mom insisted was our mutual assets. Hilarious because there was a teddy bear that was missing its fur. In few places would he ever be considered an asset. Our library cards. An envelope full of coupons. A phone charger but no phone. A book of stamps. They were Forever stamps and she felt like they were a great investment.

  I got to the dented tin for Danish cookies. I knew what was in it, having thumbed through it my whole childhood. But with new, grief-focused eyes, I really took it apart. The bottom had cardboard fitted perfectly to the circular tin. I used my thumb to peel it back. And then, that’s where I found my direction, via Mom.

  There was a blurry, faded picture. The back had a typical Mom note written on the back of an advertisement and taped carefully to the picture.

  Ruffian’s father.

  Bruce Jones

  Last known contact, wife’s father: Melfield Hapscord, Poughkeepsie, New York

  I had a dad. I mean, I knew I had a dad. But he was more of an idea than an actual human. I understood why he wasn’t contacted she’d told me that much. The man that was my father had a wife, had a family. He never even knew about me. If I needed him for medical information, I supposed she would have told me. And maybe she would have told me when I was eighteen. Mom was a mystery sometimes.

  But I had someone to look for now. It was time to implement a plan. I had to rob a bank or pull a huge job before I was eighteen. Then I would be able to really let my mom’s life mean something. I would set up everyone in our community. The Conner kids? I would get them a house. New jackets. Locust would get access to water that ran whenever you turned the tap, and not just when it rained. Bellina would get medical care. I would see to it. I wasn’t sure how much money I would get from one bank. Maybe I would need two.

  I needed to enter society. Play all their games to get access to what I needed.

  Chapter 4

  RUFFIAN

  I KNOCKED ON the door to the apartment when I met my brother for the first time.

  “Hey.” The guy who answered was clearly a relative just from the resemblance. I was guessing this was Gaze.

  “Hey,” I echoed him before adding, “I heard a rumor you and I were related. And I’ve got nowhere to go.”

  I slid my stare to the girl in the room and broke into a smile.

  After getting up and standing next to Gaze, she asked, “You sure you have the right address?”

  “It’s the one your grandfather gave me. The one from Poughkeepsie.” I stuck out my hand. “I’m Ruffian and I’m your younger half-brother.”

  Gaze turned to me as he also held out his hand—most likely a reflex. “What now?”

  So my older brother might be a dick. His girlfriend was pretty, though. Read the room way quicker than he did. We looked alike, but I was expecting as much from the information the old fart had given me about him.

  Gaze Patrick Jones. My half-brother, or so the old fart, Melfield Hapscord, said. Gaze, a drunk dad, and a new family named the Burathons. Hapscord thought they might be able to help me because they were good with “my kind.” And I was assuming my kind was people not related to rich people.

  I let my heavy duffle bag slide to my feet with a thud. I rolled my shoulder to try to alleviate the feeling that I now had a strap embedded in my skin. It had
been a long walk/hitchhike to get here. I had a deadline, though. I needed a safe place for shelter. At seventeen, I was too close to being an adult to be left out in the wild. People might be looking for me now that Mom was dead. If I was going to pull off the greatest heist ever, I needed a good backstory. So what’s better than hunting down your real backstory? Nothing. Well, maybe the sound of the waves hitting the beach, but other than that, a cover story and a strapping six-foot nine brother was the best.

  “Ruffian isn’t a name.” If there was a way to give a hesitant handshake, my brother had found it. I leaned into it and added a squeeze.

  Eventually, he returned it and I was pleased with his digit-crushing strength. “You play basketball still? The bag of bones grandfather said you were a baller.”

  We released each other’s hands at the same moment.

  “I’m Pixie Rae.” She held out her hand and I was gentle with it. “And I’ve had people tell me my name wasn’t real a bunch.” She winked at me.

  I would try to get contact info from a girl this cute normally, but instead, I just smiled. She stood so close to Gaze that I could almost see their bond. The type of weirdos that their names would always be spoken together like a headline. Gaze and Pixie. They’d get together and people would always be saying their names in one giant breath. Until they got old and then one of them died. And then saying just the one name would be the saddest damn thing in the world.

  “I’ve had people tell me it fits. Never as a compliment.” I threaded my fingers together and put them behind my neck, just waiting. I couldn’t invite myself in. I was counting on them to just be too nice to leave me standing outside. I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder. It was strong, though.

  Gaze turned to Pixie. “Can I get a few minutes? Would that be okay?”

  Pixie looked up at his face and I watched as they had an entire conversation and a partial fight without saying a word. Then she nodded, went to her tiptoes, and got a kiss from him. Gaze, for the most part, had his right eye on me the whole time, even when they were kissing.

  He stepped outside the door and closed it.

  “Listen, you little shit…”

  Oh crap.

  I backed away, the strap of my duffle bag damn near tripping me. Gaze had me by my shoulders and I flinched when his face was close to mine. Then there was stone-cold quiet. I felt him peeling his fingers off of my body. I peeked open one eye that I had squeezed shut while waiting for a punch.

  Then he smoothed my shirt at the shoulders, as if erasing what he had done. “Sorry.”

  I gained my footing completely and took a step back. “It’s cool. You won’t be the last one to try to knock some sense into me.” I jammed my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

  “I just never heard of you or anything like you before. And I’m really careful who I allow around Pixie.” He darted his eyes in the direction of the closed door. I felt a pang then, like my heart had strings around it and one was plucked. That kind of romantic devotion was as alien to me as, well...aliens.

  “Yeah. Sure. I get it.” I could talk around pain easily. “So legend has it, my mom and your dad got a little drunk and a little hot and heavy. The result was me.” I held up my hands and waved them both. “My mom isn’t in the picture anymore, and I have just a few more months until I’m eighteen. So I came looking to see if any of the shit she told me was true.”

  I risked eye contact then. Gaze was a blank slate. I was awesome at reading people, and I had no idea what he was thinking.

  “Where do you live?”

  “Great question. Super question. I mean, I guess, if I’m being technical, here.” I spread my arms wide.

  Gaze put his thumb over his shoulder. “Here?”

  “No, man.” I bent and lifted the strap of my duffle bag and pointed at it. “Here.”

  Gaze audibly exhaled and then shook his head. “Okay, don’t move. I need to talk to Pixie.”

  And then he went back inside and shut the door. I walked over to the brick façade and sat down with my back against it. The shrubbery hid me. So much for thinking my older brother would immediately accept me. I was still outside, hiding like a feral dog. I was being overcautious maybe. But if someone ratted out that Mom had a kid, well, someone might come for me.

  I took a cigarette out of my pocket and was able to nurse a small flame from my dying lighter. I ignored my shaking hand as I lifted the drug to my lips. I closed my eyes as I inhaled, trying not to see my own fear.

  Gaze opened the door with Pixie this time. I quickly stubbed out my cig, but I didn’t toss it away. I still had more than half left. I’d let it cool and save it in my pocket. I stood and held it behind my back. It was still too hot to add to my pocket.

  “I made a call to our grandfather.” Gaze tucked his hands under his biceps as he folded his arms across his chest.

  “He’s a real party, right?” I waited to see if Gaze was annoyed. Maybe he was close to Poughkeepsie G-pa.

  He did a half eye roll that encouraged me. Gaze had the same read of the old man and his scuffle-your-ass-out-the-door attitude.

  Pixie looked from me to Gaze and back again, then she disappeared inside.

  Gaze scratched under his chin. “He doesn’t enjoy pop-ins, that’s for sure. So, you wanna stay with us? That’s the reason you’re here?”

  “Sorta? I guess. I mean, I’m not a lot of work. I can feed myself. I just need a place to crash for a bit. And if it doesn’t work, no worries, man. I’ve got so many places I can go.” I picked up my bag and settled its strap in the notch it made in my shoulder.

  Pixie came out, holding a can to me. “Thirsty?”

  “Yes, thank you.” I took it, popped it open, and guzzled it halfway before I realized it was a sparkling water with a vague hint of a fruit.

  “So you got tons of places? That’s why you hunted down Hapscord?” Gaze slid his arm around Pixie’s shoulders and she leaned into him.

  I wetted my lips with my now cold tongue. “Yeah, man. No pressure. You guys have plans, clearly. I’ll be on my way.”

  I turned halfway. I could take this bet right now, walk away from Gaze, because Pixie had shown me kindness with the drink. And Gaze would do anything for Pixie. I could sense that already. I mean, that wasn’t a superpower or anything. They were bonded like a pair of freaking eagles. Or swans. Or lobsters.

  I heard the harsh whispers and moved in slow motion.

  “Yeah. We’re headed home. You can jump in,” Gaze relented. That was all I needed. An open door. I spun on my heel.

  “Thanks, brother.” I grinned at them both. They had to believe I was genuine for this to work. And I was a great actor.

  Chapter 5

  TEDDI

  I WAS CURLED against Austin while we watched a cooking show together. He kept his arm around me. Always my big brother. Always ready for a snuggle. And I needed it. With Milt, Pixie, Gaze, and him gone from the house, I was missing sibling time.

  “Hey, Bear. Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

  I was his Teddi Bear and always would be. Austin managed to have a bond with everyone, but I chose to believe he had the strongest bond with me.

  “Just that everyone is gone. You know? It’s so much quieter.” I twirled one of the rings on his left hand. It had a skull on it.

  “I distinctly remember you telling me that you couldn’t wait to get us out of your hair and have the place to yourself.”

  We were in the downstairs living room that was outside Gaze and Austin’s old rooms. Well, Gaze and Pixie’s room now. Technically, she was in Austin’s room, but no one even pretended that was the case. They were a little family inside our family. They were coming back from school today. Milt wasn’t coming home because he had an internship with a gaming company upstate during the break. It was an indie company that was building their house from the ground up. Half of Milt’s friends were with him. They traveled as a pack anyway.

  But Gaze and Pixie were due home in just a little while. Austin
came home yesterday. He kept talking about going back to college, but his Instagram was doing so well, he really was thinking of skipping it for a while. I wouldn’t tell Mom and Dad that. But I knew. I followed him on social media and he was basically starting trends. Magazines had contacted him to design some of their posts. He was going to take this unconventional way of making money and make it his bitch.

  “I did not. Seriously. One more year for me and I’ll be moving in with you anyway.” I didn’t need to see his face to know he was lifting up his eyebrows.

  “Is that right?”

  “Yes. You know I’d make a great assistant. And I would never kiss your ass.”

  “You worried about people kissing my ass?”

  “Yes. I think people will say shit to get close to you. You need me to protect you from predators.” I turned to face him in time to see him swallow a smile.

  “You’re a force, Bear.”

  He took his skull ring off and handed it to me. I slid it onto my thumb. That was Austin. He didn’t let me ask to borrow his stuff that I liked. He’d just give it to me. We heard the car doors slam and knew right away the house was about to get a little livelier.

  Gaze and Pixie were here!

  Austin stood, and as a habit I hopped onto his back. He took the stairs in his long strides. Sure, this was a bit harder now that I wasn’t a little kid anymore, but we managed. When we hit the front door, Austin let me slide down to my feet. He held open the screen door for me while he let out a slow whistle. His sudden hesitancy made me slow down. Gaze got out of the driver’s side, and Pixie the passenger side of their truck. And out of the backseat another guy got out. Hence Austin’s whistle. A new person. An unexpected person.

  The guy swept his brown hair back from his face. It was too long and he needed a haircut. But that face. The cut jaw and the ice green eyes made me gasp. Oh, he was trouble. He flicked his stare from Austin and then landed on me. Just a hint of a smile on one side of his mouth. Like I was a nice surprise. I was used to being seen. Between my time on cheer and the school play and the occasional press I did for my Me Parties, I had my share of the spotlight. But the way he worked his sweep of me up and down into his long, slow blink made me blush.