by S. M. Shade
“Ten o’clock,” I repeat, as I head for the door. “Later, beautiful.”
It’s only a little past six when I get home, but our resident drunk is already trashed. It’s nothing out of the ordinary. This is Violet Circle, nothing much is surprising here. As you probably already figured out, my apartment complex is built in a circle. Someone has added an N to our street sign, making it Violent Circle, which is occasionally true, but most of the time, we just get free entertainment from the neighbors. Like today.
Barney lives on the other end of the long loop, so I don’t see him much. He doesn’t generally stagger down this far, but he’s in prime form today. He’s earned the nickname Barney, like the guy from The Simpsons, and answers to it more than he does Barry, his actual name.
“Barney! How’s it going?” Trey calls out. He and the rest of the guys are hanging out on the front step.
“Need two dollars!” he slurs. “You got two dollars?” He barely gets the words out before he stumbles over air and falls down hard on his ass.
Laughing, Trey and Denton get up to go help him. I catch up to them as they get him to his feet. “Knobble, you gots two dollarsh?” he slurs, and Trey snorts out a laugh.
“Knobble, that one’s going to stick.”
“Shut up and get behind him before he busts his ass again.”
We all start walking him back toward his apartment. We’ve almost made it when one of the neighborhood cops pulls up. Barney is well known by them, and hasn’t had a license or a car in years because of his drinking. They usually leave him be if he isn’t causing any trouble, but wandering around like this, he’s begging for another public intox charge.
“Officer Green, how’s it going?” Denton asks.
“Not too bad.” Officer Green turns his attention to Barney. “Barry, you okay? You look a little unstable.”
“He’s fine,” Trey says before Barney can try to speak and show just how trashed he is. It’s bad enough he’s leaning against me. “He’s just been up all night. Needs some sleep. We’ll get him back to his apartment.”
Officer Green laughs and shakes his head. “All right boys, get him home.” He points a finger at Barney. “Get inside and stay there, Barry. If I see you out again tonight in this condition, you’ll be spending the night in jail.”
Barney gives him a gap-toothed smile. “Sure. Hey. You gots two dollarsh?”
“For fuck’s sake,” I murmur.
Officer Green laughs and drives away. We’re only a few feet from Barney’s place when he makes an abrupt stop.
“Come on, man, just a few more steps,” I tell him.
He looks down at his darkening crotch. “Hey, someone pissed m’pants.”
Denton looks at me, and we both crack up. “We’ll try to catch the guy, Barney,” Denton assures him.
Laughing, Trey grabs at Barney as he tips too far back., “Let’s just get him home. I got shit to do.”
“Let’s hope he doesn’t,” Denton quips.
We finally manage to deposit him on his couch and leave him to sleep it off. It won’t be the first time—or probably the tenth—that he’ll wake up in piss. It’s sad, but there’s nothing we can do. Multiple people have tried to get him into a rehab, everyone in the circle even agreed to pitch in some money to cover what his insurance doesn’t, but he won’t go. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want it.
“It’s your turn to make dinner,” Trey says to me when we get home.
“Well aware, ginger tits.”
Trey lifts up his shirt and shakes his moobs at me. “I think I’ve gone down a cup size, so don’t skimp on the cheese, Knobble.” Trey may be a big guy, but he owns it. And it doesn’t seem to hurt him when it comes to women.
After dinner, I get all the supplies together I’ll need for my date with Jani tomorrow. I know she thinks I’m just trying to get her into bed, and while I certainly wouldn’t say no if she offered, I really do like hanging out with her.
I want to do something unique. Something she’ll remember.
Chapter Two
January
I’ve put off this date as long as I could. I really thought Noble would give up and move on to someone else, but I greatly underestimated his stubbornness. What I said to him was true. I do like him, but I’m tired of dating these immature guys who have no plans for their future. My job at Scarlet Toys may not be glamorous, but I have my mother to take care of, and it pays the bills. Eventually, I plan to go back to school and study business management, maybe open a store of my own. I need someone who isn’t focused on smoking weed and partying all the time.
All Noble told me about our date was to dress warm, so I throw on two layers of clothing. I leave my hair down to keep my neck warm and grab a knit cap in case it’s really chilly. There’s no predicting the weather here anymore. It’s the last week of November, but the highs are still in the sixties. Last year at this time, we had snow.
“Jani! There’s a handsome young man in here looking for you!” Mom calls.
“Tell him to get lost. I have a date with an annoying, average looking neighbor!” A quick glance in the mirror, and I’m ready as I’ll ever be.
“Average looking!” he scoffs when I step into the living room. “I’ll have you know my mom and her friends told me I could be a model!”
He’s joking, but, honestly, he probably could. Standing there in my living room, dressed in jeans and a hoodie, he looks like he could’ve stepped off of a billboard. Messy blond hair falls over his forehead, and his light blue eyes twinkle with mischief. A dimple pops out when he grins at me.
“See, you’re checking me out right now.”
Damn it. I was.
“Shut up…I was thinking. Should I wear sneakers or boots?”
“Whatever you aren’t afraid to get dirty,” he replies.
Oh no. Where is he taking me?
After saying goodbye to my mother, we’re on our way. “Are you going to tell me where we’re heading now?”
Noble grins and turns onto the highway. “The east fork of White River.”
My summers were spent at camp when I was a kid, so I’m no stranger to the outdoors, but Noble doesn’t strike me as the type. “Are we fishing?”
“Yep. But not for fish. Have you ever heard of magnet fishing?”
Fishing for magnets? “Uh…no.”
“You tie a strong magnet to a rope and drag it through the water. It’ll pick up anything metal. We’ll catch a lot of junk, but that’s half the fun, sorting through to find the good stuff.”
That actually does sound like fun. “Kind of like metal detecting. I had a metal detector when I was young, but I never found much except bottle caps and bits of wire.”
“With magnet fishing, it’s a lot of fish hooks. I’ve found a few phones, but none that would ever power on.”
We spend the rest of the thirty-minute drive talking about music and our favorite bands. We have a lot of them in common. Noble is different when he isn’t around his friends. Instead of joking all the time and replying with smart assed answers, he’s more subdued and talkative. I know I’m guilty of the same thing.
Noble has definitely been here before because he knows right where to go to park, and where to find an easy path down to the riverbank. He slings a large backpack onto his back and grabs my hand before we start down the path. Hmm…frat boy likes to hold hands…didn’t see that coming. It’s sweet.
The wind coming off of the river is freezing, and I pull my knit cap down over my ears. No wonder he said to dress warm. He unloads the bag, and lays out two thick magnets wrapped in cloth, a length of rope, two plastic bottles, and two pair of gloves. He proceeds to cut the top off of the plastic bottles. He slides each of them onto the rope before attaching a magnet to the end.
“So, we just chuck it out there and drag it in?” I ask.
“Pretty much. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to feel if you’ve caught something or if it’s just trapped between rocks. It’
s not very rocky here, so it’s a good beginner spot.”
A cute smile flashes across his face as he asks me, “Are you ready?”
“Let’s do it.”
“Later, beautiful, for now, we fish.”
A giggle escapes me as I reach for a rope. “Just show me how far to throw it.”
“We’ll do the first one together. Then we have to put some space between us so our magnets don’t find each other. When they get stuck together, they’re a bitch to pull apart.”
Handing me a pair of gloves, he grabs the rope, and we walk to the edge of the water. He throws the magnet hard, and it splashes as it disappears underwater. The current pulls a little on the rope, but the magnet is heavy enough to sink.
Standing beside me, he says, “Just pull it nice and slow.”
“Are we still talking about the rope?” Before he can reply, I feel a slight tug. “I think I have something!”
Noble puts a hand on the rope in front of mine and tugs a little. “It’s something big.”
Excitement floods through me as I imagine all the things that could have ended up in the river. What if it’s a safe? A safe full of money!
“Keep pulling, steady and slow so you don’t lose it.”
The object is getting closer and closer, a little more and I’ll be able to see it. When I pull again, the rope won’t budge. “It’s stuck on something.”
I try to hand Noble the rope, but he moves behind me instead and reaches around my sides, gripping the rope along with me. Together, we manage to get it moving again without losing the mystery object.
My squeal of excitement makes Noble laugh. “You aren’t having fun on our date, are you?” he teases.
“As long as you understand I’m keeping all the money we find in the safe we’re dragging up.” His laughter scares away some nearby birds. “It’s like finding buried treasure,” I add.
“Don’t worry, there’s only one booty I’m interested in.”
“Pirate puns, really?”
“So, I’ll be swabbing my own deck?”
Laughing together, we give the rope one last heave and the object clangs, flips over, and lands in the mud.
“Don’t spend all that money in one place,” Noble snorts.
“A shopping cart? Who throws a shopping cart in the river?”
Noble sloshes through the mud and yanks the magnet free. “It’s not the first one I’ve snagged.”
“What’s the best thing you’ve caught?”
He turns and grins at me, giving me the urge to kiss that little dimple. “Your eye.”
It was a completely lame response. So why do I want to throw him down in the mud and ravage him? My lack of reply just makes his smile broaden.
“Ha! No comeback and you’re blushing. I think I won that one.”
“And what do you think you’ve won?”
Noble throws the magnet back out. “Well, another date, at least.”
“We aren’t even finished with this one.” I take the rope from him.
“No, all our dates have to end with a kiss.”
The thought of his lips on mine sends a spike of excitement through me, but I can’t let him see it.
Keeping my voice as nonchalant as possible, I ask, “So, if I kiss you now, we can call it a day?”
Sauntering up to me, his grin falls, and his voice deepens. “Do you want me to kiss you, January?”
The rope in my hand is forgotten, dropped to the bank as his hands cup my jaws. His palms are warm against my face. He presses his soft lips to mine for a moment, then retreats, before kissing me again, just as tenderly. It’s the sweetest kiss I’ve ever been given, and my stomach explodes in butterflies like a teenage girl. It feels wonderful.
I’m so screwed.
Without a word, he picks up the rope and hands it to me again. Silence reigns until I pull the magnet back in. This time there’s a ring, a shotgun shell, two fish hooks, and a spoon.
Noble wipes the mud off the ring with his glove and we can see an inscription inside. To my dear Maeetta, the loveliest woman.
“It’s a wedding ring. I wonder how long it’s been down there?” I remark.
Noble holds it up where the light is better. “Hard to tell. It’s not in bad shape.”
“Maybe I can find the owner and return it!” I exclaim, excited at the prospect.
“With a name like Maeetta, she can’t be too hard to find,” Noble agrees. “Want to go again?”
“Yes!”
My enthusiasm makes him smile. We spend the next two hours throwing the ropes and dragging them back, often coming up empty. By the time a soft rain begins to fall, we have a small pile of odds and ends. Watches, phones, coins, fish hooks, bolts, and some chunks of metal that are unrecognizable. Nothing else as big as the shopping cart.
“One more time,” I insist, and we both throw out our ropes. Mine comes back empty, but when Noble holds his up, a metal bracelet dangles from the magnet.
“Too bad,” I remark, checking it out. “It’s pretty. I have a thing for stars. But it’s damaged.”
Noble sticks it in his bag along with some of the other bits of metal.
“What do you do with all that junk?”
“I don’t want to just leave it to pollute the river. Whatever small things I pull out, I just chuck in a box, and drop the box at the recycling center when it’s full.”
Noble furls up the ropes and puts everything away in the backpack before slinging it on his back. He grabs my hand and we start making our way back up the path. It’s less of a path and more of a mudslide now that the rain has started.
Laughing, we slip and slide until get about halfway up. My foot slides, but I manage to catch it on a root, and brace my hand against a tree. Noble isn’t so lucky. The soft earth gives way beneath his feet, and a small yelp leaps from his mouth before he goes tumbling back down the slope.
Tumbling isn’t the right word. The three backward somersaults he manages on the way down would be impressive if he were trying to do them. He finally stops himself, and lies back in the mud. Trying my best not to laugh—damn what I would give to have that on video—I rush back down to check on him.
“Noble? Are you okay?” Shit. What if he broke his neck and I’m standing here laughing at him?
Staring up at me with a straight face, he says, “I think I saw my own ass crack.”
“I don’t think that’s physically possible,” I laugh, kneeling beside him.
“Neither did I. But I swear I mooned myself.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Nope, just waiting on the judge’s score. You saw that shit, right?” His cheeks redden, and I realize he’s embarrassed. Ugh, why does he have to be so adorable?
“It was a solid eight.”
“Only eight?” He starts to sit up, but I push him back and stop his next words with my lips. This kiss isn’t as soft and gentle as the last one. His hand grips the back of my head, and he moans as I slip my tongue between his lips. The cold mud seeping through our clothes and the icy rain falling on us is no match for the heat that washes over me when he brushes my tongue with his.
“Are you trying to kiss it better?” he asks when we break apart.
“Did it help?”
I grab his hand, and he gets to his feet. “Absolutely. I’ll do a swan dive into the mud if that’s my reward.”
The wind picks up, and I start to shiver. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s get to the car where it’s warm.”
“We’re going to get your car all wet and muddy.”
“It’s fine. Neal works at the car wash. I’ll take it to him tomorrow.”
It takes a few minutes, but we manage to make our way back up the path. Noble opens the trunk and pulls out a blanket, wrapping it around my shoulders. He hands me the keys. “I have some spare clothes in here. You want to start the car and get it warm?”
After I’m buckled in the passenger seat, enjoying the warm air that blows from the vents, I turn to see him
pull a shirt over his head. His body is lean and muscled, with a smattering of dark hair. I’m disappointed that I only get a glance before his shirt covers it.
I can’t help but chuckle when he gets in wearing a pair of board shorts with fish printed on them and a thin white tee.
“What? You don’t like my manly fishy shorts?”
“Very sexy.” I point one of the vents at him. He has to be freezing.
“Lucky I forgot to take my stuff out of the trunk last time I went swimming.”
The drive home is relaxing, with music playing and the steady beat of rain on the windows. When we get close to home, he reaches over and interlaces his fingers with mine. It’s sweet.
“You don’t have to get out,” I tell him when he pulls up in front of my apartment. “It’s freezing.” Looking up, I sigh. “And my mom is haunting the door, pretending not to watch us.”
“Then I’ll have to pretend to be a gentleman.” He leans over and plants a soft, quick kiss on my lips. “Now, admit you had fun.”
“Fine, I had fun.”
He grins. “So you’ll go out with me again?”
“It’s hard to resist a guy limber enough to see his own ass.”
“We’re a brave few,” he replies, with a wise nod.
“I’ll see you later.” The cold air strikes me as I get out of the car.
He waves at my mom as he drives off, and she quickly moves away from the door.
***
Cassidy steps out onto her porch, waving to me as I park in her driveway. Now that she’s moved from Violent Circle, we don’t hang out as much as we used to, but I still see her at work.
“Some new chick moved into your old apartment,” I tell her, once we’re inside. I’m lounging on her couch while she sits across from me in a recliner. “Her name’s Veronica. I want to hate her.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She isn’t you.”
Cassidy laughs and throws a pillow at me. “I only moved fifteen minutes away.”
“If I can’t stumble home from your place drunk at four a.m. it’s too far.”
Wyatt, her fiancé walks in. “I’m happy to drive your drunk ass home whenever you need, Jani.” He glances at the clock. “I thought you had the early shift at Scarlet Toys.” Wyatt is the owner of a sex toy shop that opened in town last year. It’s where Cassidy met and fell in love with him. It’s a nice place to work.
