yolo

by Sam Jones

  “Where is he? Where is Artie?” Liz was spitting and screaming and smacking at the door and window.

  Emily and Ana struggled against their seat belts and the air bags as Brandon kicked open the back door. Almost immediately he was being pulled out and dragged across the ground by Chestnut and Liz. Emily tried to push open her door, but when she found that it was too jammed, she crawled into the backseat and jumped out of the car that way.

  “Stop! Stop!” she screamed as she ran to the fight in front of her. She grabbed Liz and tried to pull her away, and was soon joined by Ana and Pickles, who went straight for Chestnut’s ankles. “Stop!”

  “You stole the money!” Chestnut shouted as he stumbled away from Pickles.

  “You kidnapped my baby!” Liz screamed as she raced to the car, calling Artie’s name. “Where is he?”

  “Everybody, shut up!” Ana shouted so loud that everyone went silent, staring at her with surprise. Even Pickles stopped his yapping to stare.

  Emily turned to Liz. “Artie is completely fine, no thanks to you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Liz asked, frowning.

  Emily couldn’t believe it. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You left him with some mobsters at a pizza place so you could go do some small shop hits before heading over to pick up some drugs. What about that says good parenting?”

  “You don’t know the situation,” Chestnut said as he started to explain.

  “And I don’t care,” Emily interrupted. “You’d better be happy you have a good, smart boy, and parents that are willing and able to take care of him.”

  “He’d be better off without you two,” Brandon put in, his voice shaking with anger.

  Emily looked at her friend and saw that Brandon’s face was bright red and his fists were clenched at his sides, like it was taking everything in him not to jump at Chestnut and tackle him to the ground. Emily wondered if Brandon’s anger was coming from his own experience with a father who wasn’t a particularly good parent. She had issues with her own dad, that was for sure, but that was nothing compared to what Brandon had gone through, and the way Artie was being raised wasn’t much better.

  “If you want to do the right thing,” Emily said, turning her attention to the thieving couple again, “then you’ll get out of the business, just like Buck and Blanche have.”

  “You met my parents?” Chestnut seemed confused.

  “We did, and if you don’t get your acts together I might just go back to their house and tell them to keep Artie forever,” Ana put in.

  “We didn’t mean for it to happen his way,” Liz said. “We don’t ever want to put Artie in danger. We love that boy.”

  “Then show it,” Brandon said. “Get out of the business, because you don’t know what you’re doing and you never will, and you’re just condemning him to a horrible life, whether that means you two get caught, or worse, Artie gets hurt because of your idiocy.”

  “This was supposed to be the last job,” Liz said. “The last job like this. That’s why we’re here. Normally we wouldn’t have cared, especially for someone like Big Dog, but we’re trying to build up a little bit of money so Chestnut here can go back to school.”

  “Gotta finish my business degree,” Chestnut said proudly. “Accounting.”

  Emily narrowed her eyes and looked at Ana and Brandon, who seemed just as confused. “You’re in school?”

  “Just two more classes left,” Chestnut said. “And then I can get a real job. My parents don’t know.”

  “We’ve been keeping it a secret, so we could surprise them,” Liz explained. “Artie starts school this fall, and we wanted to make sure he could be proud of us around his friends and classmates. When Chestnut’s got a real job, then maybe I can open up the cake shop I’ve dreamed about since I was a little girl.”

  Emily felt like the world had been turned completely on its head. “You want a cake shop?”

  “Well, we’d have other pastries too, of course,” Liz said slowly, like the cake was the part Emily was questioning.

  Emily let out a slow breath of air. “Artie is fine,” she said again. “And the money is in the trunk. Brandon?”

  Brandon was still fuming, but it looked like he’d calmed down a little after hearing Chestnut and Liz’s ultimate plans. He crawled into the car and came out a moment later, suitcase in tow. He carried it over to the group and handed it to Chestnut, who nodded solemnly.

  “Sorry about . . .” Liz motioned at the car. “That wasn’t really planned.”

  Emily stared at her car, really seeing the damage for the first time. It was completely totaled, or close to it. She was surprised, shocked even, that they’d made it out completely fine. The front was crushed, and it looked like her and Ana’s doors had somehow fused with the rest of the frame. The back of the car seemed okay . . . save for the fact that both back wheels were completely missing. She glanced around and saw that they’d left them a couple yards back.

  “Do you need a ride?” Chestnut asked. “We could take you to a gas station.”

  “Uh . . .” Emily had no idea what she needed anymore.

  “We’ll be fine,” Brandon said, shaking his head. “We’ll just call a tow truck. I’m sure they’ll be here in no time at all.”

  “You sure?” Liz asked. “I feel terrible.”

  “We’re fine,” Brandon said. “Really. Just go get Artie, and pull yourselves together. For him.”

  Chestnut and Liz nodded, and Emily was surprised that she actually felt a little pang of emotion as they made their way to their car, turned it around, then sped down the road.

  “Well . . . ,” Ana said with a sigh. “At least they have a game plan.” She looked at Brandon. “Why didn’t you want their help?”

  “We are finally free of all of the craziness that’s happened today,” Brandon said. “We made it through a diner holdup, a convenience store holdup, a drug pickup, a drop-off, a child, a pool hall brawl, and a car crash. We’re so close to the Steins’, I can taste the Jose Cuervo. I don’t want to mess it up by riding with Chestnut and Liz. We’ll just call for a tow truck and, in the meantime, have someone come down from the house to get us. Easy.”

  “Only one problem,” Emily said as she stared at her phone screen. “I don’t have any bars.”

  chapter 23

  Brandon pulled out his phone and his shoulders fell. “Well, I didn’t see this coming. . . .”

  “It’s because we’re so close to the mountains,” Emily said, glancing their way. “Reception is going to be spotty.”

  “Or nonexistent,” Ana said as she peered over Emily’s shoulder. “Looks like we should’ve taken that offer for a ride.” She looked pointedly at Brandon.

  Brandon was still cursing under his breath as he climbed up on top of Emily’s car and held his cell over his head. Finally, he joined Emily and Ana who had crawled back into the car to wait, and reclined their seats a little. As Brandon slid into the backseat, Emily started to laugh. She couldn’t help it. As she thought of all of the ways that she had planned for this day to go, this ending had never even been a remote possibility.

  Ana sat up and looked at her. “You’re freaking me out. Why are you laughing?”

  Emily finally got ahold of herself for long enough to speak. “Because this has to be the single most ridiculous day in the history of the world,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I mean, if I’d sat down and tried to make up a bad day, I wouldn’t have been able to come up with this shit in a billion years.”

  “Truth is stranger than fiction,” Brandon said.

  “So, how much money did we actually leave the pool hall with?” Ana asked as she turned in her seat.

  Brandon pulled the wad of bills out of his pocket and counted out $2728, most of it in singles, fives, and twenties. “Not a bad haul for us today,” he said.

  “Us?” said Emily. “You earned it. That’s your money.”

  “Nah,” said Brandon. “This whole day has been a te
am effort.”

  “Yeah.” Ana laughed. “It takes more than one idiot to mess up a road trip this badly.”

  All three of them cracked up at this point, and Emily felt all of the tension and frustration of the past eight hours slip away.

  “Oh my God,” she said as the realization set in, “has it only been eight hours since we got on the highway?”

  “Jesus,” said Brandon. “It feels like it’s been eight days.”

  “We managed to pack a lot of living into this day.” Emily smiled.

  “YOLO, bitches,” said Ana. “YOLO.”

  “So,” Brandon said as he leaned forward. “What’s the plan?”

  “I don’t know,” said Ana. “But we need to come up with something quick.” She rubbed her hand up and down on Pickle’s tummy. “This poor little guy hasn’t had anything to eat for a while. And the last time he had water was at Buck and Blanche’s place. So, what do we do?”

  Emily could only shrug. “I’ve got nothin’. I guess we just wait for somebody to drive by and try to flag them down.”

  “Are you crazy?” said Ana. “What if it’s some backwoods serial killer?”

  Emily laughed. “Oh, c’mon. After our day?”

  “After our day, that’s even more likely,” Ana pointed out.

  “I guess I’ll have to walk to get some help,” said Brandon.

  “Don’t even try it.” Ana was having none of it. “That’s just asking to be kidnapped and killed.”

  “So the options are that we’re picked up by a highway killer,” Brandon said, “or I get kidnapped and killed while walking along the side of the road. How is the first option any better?”

  “At least then we’ll be together.”

  Despite how morbid Ana’s conclusion was, Emily couldn’t help but smile at the comment. Leave it to Ana to somehow turn the potential moment of death into an opportunity for strengthened friendship.

  “Hey, Emily, can you pop the hood?” Brandon asked.

  “You’re not going to be able to fix the car,” Ana said.

  “Obviously. But that way if someone drives by, they’ll know we’re having car trouble.”

  “I think it’s pretty obvious,” Emily said as she tried to pop the hood, but no matter how many times she pulled the level, the hood didn’t move. “Looks like that’s not happening.” She sighed and sat back in her seat.

  The sun had slipped behind the mountains and the sky had turned a lovely shade of indigo. Through the cracked windshield, Emily could see stars twinkling to life. As the sky grew darker, there were other lights in the sky, too, including three bright, red-carpet style beams that broke through the trees and lit up the sky. Emily knew they had to be coming from the Steins’. Jacob knew how to throw a party, and the setup was always fantastic, from music to drinks to food. There was always something for everyone.

  “This sucks,” Ana mumbled.

  “Major,” Brandon added.

  Emily was about to suggest walking up the hill to the Steins’, when two more lights appeared, this time coming toward them up the highway. Brandon was out of the car in a second and in the middle of the road, jumping and screaming while waving his arms in the air.

  “Does he really think they’re not going to see him?” Ana asked. “It’s not like he’s hidden.”

  “He’s just trying to help,” Emily said.

  “I know.” Emily could hear Ana’s smile as she said it.

  As the car got closer, Emily could see that it was a silver sedan. Even when the car started to slow down, Brandon continued to shout and jump like he was flagging down an entire fleet of planes. Emily was impressed by his dedication to saving them, but she couldn’t keep out of her mind the possibility that Big Dog had found them. And no matter how many people laughed at his antics and called him Stanley, she couldn’t get out of her head that he was a real, legit, drug dealer. That still counted for something.

  “Well, look at this.”

  Emily stared out the window, not believing her eyes. Brandon had stopped jumping and was also staring, though probably for a different reason.

  “Dios mio,” Ana said. “Talk about fate.”

  There, in the car that had just pulled up to rescue them, was Chris.

  chapter 24

  Emily felt like she would melt when Chris threw an arm over her shoulder as he surveyed the damage to her car.

  “And all of you are okay?”

  “Amazingly,” Ana said.

  “And you didn’t get their insurance information?”

  “They were career criminals,” Brandon said. “Do you really think they have insurance?”

  “Good point.” Chris nodded slowly, then pulled Emily closer. “I’m just glad none of you were hurt.”

  “What about cell service?” Ana asked. “So we can get a tow truck out here?”

  “Not in this part of the mountains,” Chris said, shaking his head. “Once you get up higher, there are satellites to help out, but where we are now . . . nothing.”

  “You know,” Ana said slowly, like she’d just come up with a brilliant idea, “we could just go to the party. You could come with us, Chris.”

  “I wasn’t sure if it was some kind of private affair,” Chris said.

  “Oh please,” Ana said. “Jacob and Madison don’t know the meaning of private.”

  “Madison sure doesn’t,” Brandon said, earning a stern glare from Ana.

  “Well . . . if that’s okay.”

  Emily didn’t catch on until Ana stomped her foot.

  “Oh, right, yeah, definitely,” she said quickly, turning to Chris and trying to get her bearings. “Please come. Yeah.”

  Chris smiled and shook his head. “What about your car?”

  “We can call someone when we get to the Steins’,” Ana said as she hustled to the destroyed car and climbed into the backseat so she could start pulling things from the trunk. “Okay, if we go now I should still have enough time to shower and change and get my makeup on.” She reappeared holding a suitcase.

  “I thought you gave the money back,” Chris said slowly. “Please don’t tell me it was one of those hoaxes where you gave them an empty suitcase and now you’ve got the cash and you’re going to try to get away with it.”

  “This is my party gear,” Ana said with a frown, as if that should’ve been completely obvious. “How would I get ready without my party gear?”

  Chris narrowed his eyes and looked at Emily. “And yours?”

  Ana held up a small backpack. “And it’s not even full. I don’t know how she does it.”

  Emily rolled her eyes as she took the bag, then motioned for everyone to head to Chris’s car. Chris and Brandon went quickly, but Ana held Emily back.

  “So how amazing is this?” she hissed. “It’s totally fate.”

  Emily had to admit that things were finally starting to come together. Chris’s reappearance was almost like the universe was apologizing for the day it’d put her through. And she definitely accepted that apology.

  Once in the car, with Emily in the front seat, and Brandon, Ana, and Pickles in the back, Chris said, “When we’re higher up on the mountain, I’ll give the police a call.”

  “Is that going to be a problem?” Emily asked. “Getting the police involved, I mean.”

  “Nah, it’s my Uncle Bud,” Chris said. “It’ll be fine. He’ll do me a favor.”

  “Wait, Bud as in Sheriff Bud?” Brandon asked. “Dude . . .”

  “We were pulled over by your uncle earlier today.” Emily relayed the whole story to Chris. “That’s seriously your uncle?”

  “Yeah, it was,” Chris said, nodding. “Though . . . I think he’s looking for Chestnut and Liz. But from what you said, they’re not really horrible people, are they?”

  “Well, no . . .” Emily thought about what might happen to them, and to Artie, if they were caught now, just when they were planning to let everything go. “Do you think you could talk to him?”

  Chris sighed. �
�It’s asking a lot, but maybe I can convince him to focus his efforts elsewhere. Big Dog might be a good place to start.”

  It wasn’t long before they’d made it up the mountain and pulled into the lane that led to the gates of the Steins’ driveway. Emily, Brandon, and Ana all cheered when Chris parked next to another car. Finally they’d made it, and they were all still together and in one piece.

  The music was thumping, and they could see the crowds of people through the huge glass windows, as well as groups hanging out in the driveway, or making their way around the back of the house where there was a full Japanese garden, gazebo, and an infinity pool. The house itself was a minimalist modernist’s dream, with steel and glass and sparkling white and black. It looked like something out of an architecture magazine, and with the party going on it was like something from a movie.

  “Where are we going to change?” Ana squealed as she stepped out of the car. “There’s totally no time for a shower anymore. I have to find Madison.” She rushed toward the house with Brandon trailing behind her, Pickles in one hand and her party suitcase in the other.

  “So any development between those two?” Chris asked.

  Emily just shook her head and smiled. “I don’t think they’ve realized it, but they’re totally getting back together. And this time, I completely support the decision.”

  “What about you? Do you have to go off and change?”

  Emily looked down at her jeans and T-shirt and knew she should change or she’d never hear the end of it from Ana, but there was something she had to do first. She’d started the day vacillating about her relationship with Kyle and she hadn’t forgotten all of the texts and e-mails he’d sent her throughout the day. But now that she’d finally made a decision—that he wasn’t the right guy for her—she had to let him know. Before anything happened with Chris.

  “There’s someone I have to talk to first,” she said as she led Chris to the glass double doors at the front of the house. “It’s important.”

  “Don’t tell me,” Chris said. “You have to speak to a man about some black-market organs you’ve got to get rid of, before the Colombian government blows your cover.” He only seemed to be half joking.