You Were Here

by Cori McCarthy

  “This is so fucking kinky. I’ve never done it in an abandoned building,” Tyler said to Jaycee as they climbed to the top floor. “Jake only wanted to explore. I told him this place would make for an epic party.”

  “My brother respected the ghosts,” Jaycee said. “Don’t you feel their energy in the air?”

  “Hell no. I don’t feel anything.”

  Zach snorted. “Ain’t that the truth.”

  Tyler shot him a warning look.

  Jaycee spoke all too happily. “Plenty of people have been up here and not had an incident, but then there’s the story about that OU student. The one who touched Margaret Schilling’s body stain and claimed that good old Marge followed her home that night. The girl ended up killing herself in Wilson Hall, but not before writing satanic symbols all over the walls in her own blood.”

  “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Tyler said, tripping over a bit of broken chair. “You better be an amazing lay.”

  “I am.”

  Zach and Bishop exchanged glances.

  At the corner of two hallways, Tyler turned on Zach. “You two homos go that way. We’re going this way. Got it, baby brother?” He flicked Zach in the forehead.

  Zach watched them walk away, biting back the cannon fire of a thousand insults. “So what do we do now?”

  Bishop shrugged. “Wait, I guess.”

  “For what? She didn’t even tell us what she was going to do with him.”

  Zach’s phone beeped, and he looked down at a text from an unknown number.

  2 min come running

  He showed it to Bishop. “Must be Jaycee.” He turned to his phone. “Siri, set a timer for two minutes.”

  “You got an iPhone?” Bishop asked. “The new one?”

  “Yeah, and I decided not to transfer my numbers, just to save the ones that came in.”

  “That’s a good idea. It’s a fresh start.”

  Zach glared at him. “This is the first text I’ve gotten all week.”

  Bishop looked like he had been expecting this. “I was out of town on your birthday. I sent you an email about it.”

  Zach tensed. He didn’t want excuses or goddamn emails. And he definitely didn’t want to tell Bishop that he’d spent his eighteenth birthday in the basement with Alianna, listening to his parents try to set up a “party” for him upstairs that neither one of them wanted to throw. His dad had been on his best behavior because his girlfriend was there, and his mom had made 101 veiled comments about domestic abuse. Good times.

  Zach took a large swig from his whiskey, really feeling it this time. His phone alarm went off just as he heard his brother yell. Bishop and Zach ran down the hallway, finding Jaycee holding a door shut with all her strength. Bishop threw himself against the old wood, and Zach managed to get the rusty lock engaged.

  Tyler banged on the door. “Let me out, you stupid fucking whore!”

  “Hey, that’s not nice!” Zach was officially drunk. “You be nice to my friend!”

  “We have some questions for you,” Jaycee yelled over the noise of his thrashing.

  “Is he going to hurt himself in there?” Bishop asked.

  “Padded-walled room. No way out.” Jaycee kicked a pile of Tyler’s clothes, and Tyler’s phone flew across the dusty floor. “And bonus? He’s pretty much naked.”

  “How’d you manage that?” Bishop asked.

  “With my mad skills,” Jaycee deadpanned. Then she laughed. “I told him to take his clothes off. He did.”

  Zach slid open the peek slot on the door, and Tyler peered through. In only seeing a little of his face, Zach recognized the bully he’d grown up with.

  “Spooky in there, isn’t it, Tyler?” Jaycee grabbed the whiskey from Zach and took another long swig. The alcohol seemed to be bolstering her to new heights. “Here’s the deal, Tyler. You answer truthfully. You don’t get colorful or nasty, and we’ll let you out of there. But if you can’t behave yourself and play along, you’ll have to wait for the security guards who come through at nine a.m. Got it?”

  “Okay,” Tyler whimpered.

  “This is awesome.” Zach was practically dancing. Bishop picked up Tyler’s phone off the ground and was busy going through it.

  Jaycee elbowed Zach. “Ask him.”

  “Okay. What really happened with Natalie at the beginning of the summer?”

  “She wanted it, so I gave it to her,” Tyler said.

  “Now see? That’s nasty.” Jaycee slammed the peek slot, nearly clipping off Tyler’s nose.

  “Okay, okay,” he yelled from the other side of the door. “She showed up at my frat. She was with your stupid high school friends, and she went after me. I even offered to find her a ride home, and she asked to go up to my room. She was begging for it.”

  “Strike two,” Bishop yelled.

  Tyler’s voice strained to answer. “She said that she’d never done anything wild. Never let loose. She said that she was the ‘New Natalie’ or some shit, but after we’d made out and got semi-naked, she started crying and drinking everything in sight.”

  “You made her cry!” Zach said.

  “She was crying about you, idiot,” he yelled. “I didn’t do anything to her. Call me old-school, but I don’t sleep with crying girls. I was getting ready to head back to the party when that asshole Mikivikious busted into my room.”

  Mik’s name made Jaycee stumble backward.

  “You all right?” Zach asked. “You drunk?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t have a whole lot of experience with alcohol.”

  Zach heard a strange, disembodied cheering, and he started to wonder if he was drunker than he knew as well. But it was just Bishop watching something on Tyler’s phone.

  Jaycee whipped around. “What was that?”

  “Nothing.”

  Whatever Bishop had been watching was already over, and the phone disappeared behind his back. Zach had never seen him move so fast. Zach stared, wondering if he should press the issue, but then Bishop stepped forward, suddenly boiling.

  “You’re fucking sick, Tyler. Fucking sick!” Bishop stomped down the hallway, and Zach looked at Jaycee. She was standing there as though she’d been frozen in carbonite.

  “Hey, hey, Jayce.” He shook her shoulders until she blinked back slowly.

  “My dad’s right. I’m losing my mind.” She took the whiskey from Zach and hit it hard, then she scrubbed her hands over her face. When she resurfaced, she seemed so fierce that Zach backed away. “So to clarify, you did not have sex with Natalie Cheng?”

  “Yes. I mean, no. I definitely didn’t,” Tyler said. “Now let me out!”

  Zach punched the door, making it jump in its frame and hit his brother’s face. Tyler’s howl of pain echoed loudly in the padded room.

  “I think we’re done here,” Jaycee said.

  “Now let me out so I can motherfucking kill you, Zachary!”

  Jaycee blasted the peek slot closed. “Well, that’s an oversight.”

  Zach slumped against the door. “Oh God, Jayce. He really is going to kill me as soon as we unlock that door.”

  Jaycee slumped to the floor next to him. “We need Natalie to plan these things. I’m only the idea person.”

  Zach slung an arm around her. “You’re all right, Strangelove. Let’s have another drink.”

  Chapter 35

  Natalie

  “So the new plan is that we get Zach and Bishop, and then we go find Jaycee. Wherever she is.”

  Mik was driving Natalie’s car, and they were almost to Zach’s house. She was so nervous to face Zach that she couldn’t stop talking, let alone steer.

  “What if she really is on a date?” Mik’s tone was cool, but she could sense his anxiety.

  “That’s such bullshit,” Natalie said. “She’s up to something.�
� They passed the elementary school. In a few moments, they’d be at Zach’s house, and then Bishop would let them into the basement. What would happen? And then how would they find Jaycee and get her all tangled up with Mik where she clearly belonged?

  “What if, when we’re all together again, I rope her into a truth or dare game and dare her to kiss you.” Natalie sat up taller. “Oh, or I could dare you to talk to her.”

  “Please don’t, and that’s not really funny considering how hard it is to open my mouth in her presence.”

  “Why is it so specifically hard? You’ve known her your whole life. I mean, I know she’s stunning, but she’s also just Jaycee.” They pulled to a stop in front of Zach’s house. Natalie rubbed the back of her neck, feeling sweaty and twitchy. Would he scream at her? Ignore her?

  Mik parked on the street before Zach’s house, and then his voice seemed to come from a mile away. “I have to tell Jaycee the truth. Then…we’ll see how she feels.”

  “Huh? What truth?”

  Mik stared her down. “About Jake’s accident.”

  “Oh. That.” Natalie’s stomach bottomed out. “So you know I was…that I’ve been…”

  “I saw you. And I’m pretty sure you saw me,” Mik said.

  Natalie could suddenly feel the bright sunlight on the playground that day. She remembered giving Jaycee the slip and hiding under the slide, spying on the boys who were drinking. She was going to rat them out before one of them got behind the wheel, because hey, if Jake was going to call her a snitch her whole life, she was going to be a snitch.

  But then the whole world…flipped.

  “Wow,” Natalie murmured. “What a pair we make.”

  “I need to come clean,” he said, gripping the steering wheel. “It’s killing me.”

  Natalie shook her head, and her glasses slid down her nose. “Not me. The truth will only make everything worse.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “I realize I’m playing with fire, but this is how it has to be. Trust me. She’d never understand why…why I had to lie about it.”

  Mik didn’t respond, and Natalie had to hand it to him. He was skilled at the empty response. They headed for Zach’s front door, and all of a sudden, she didn’t feel so awful about facing Zach. What she’d lied to Zach about was pretty small compared to what she held back from Jaycee. Perspective was a bitch.

  Alianna answered the door in her princess pajamas. “Zach’s out with another girl,” she said instead of hello. “She’s hotter than you.”

  “Where’s Bishop?”

  “Come and gone.” Alianna tried to close the door, but Mik held it open.

  “Are they with Jaycee? A tall girl with dark-blond hair?” Natalie asked.

  “Why would I tell you that?” the twelve-year-old threw back. “You broke him.”

  Natalie’s body folded in, and Mik surprised her by putting his arm around her shoulder.

  Alianna looked at both of them appraisingly. “This is your new piece of meat? You bring your new boy toy over to your old boyfriend’s house? What a lowlife bi—”

  “You sound an awful lot like Tyler,” Mik said, his voice sharp. “You must be related.”

  “Only by blood.” Alianna scowled and dug her phone out of her pajama pants’ pocket. “I only care about Zach. He sent me this text about twenty minutes ago.” She held out her phone.

  Tell Nat @ Ridges Tyler w/ JC Hurry

  “Jesus.” Natalie showed the text to Mik, and they were back in her car so fast that she barely knew how they’d gotten there. “What is wrong with Jaycee?”

  Mik was driving fast. “It’s for you. She’s finding out the truth.”

  “Yes, but she’s with that psycho! Why are you smiling? Aren’t you worried?”

  “Jake would sell your darkest secret for an Oreo,” he said. “Not Jaycee.”

  “True. Jaycee always was fiercely loyal.” Could Jaycee actually be doing something to Tyler for Natalie? Her heart spun tight. “Mik, drive faster. She has no idea how horrible he can be.”

  Mik parked at the playground lot, and they sprinted up the hill. They found the bars removed outside of Jaycee’s secret window and hauled themselves inside. They never even had a chance to wonder where to go, because Tyler’s yells led them straight to him.

  Zach was collapsed on the floor before a locked door. He was covered in gray dust and incredibly drunk.

  “Zach,” Natalie said, kneeling beside him. He grabbed hold of her and didn’t let go.

  “Natalie bear,” he muttered.

  She looked over his shoulder to a pair of eyes peering through the door’s peep slot.

  “Let me out!” Tyler yelled.

  Natalie ignored him and cradled Zach’s face in her hands. “Are you all right?”

  “No. I’m not.” Zach tried to stand and fell. Mik grabbed him by the shoulders and got him to his feet. “He”—Zach pointed to Tyler’s eyes—“didn’t have sex with you.” Zach kicked the door. “Tell her!”

  “I didn’t. Now let me out!” he shouted.

  Natalie slipped to her knees, her pulse drilling through her. So he didn’t…they didn’t… “Why did you say that we did?” she whispered through the slot.

  Tyler looked away. “I was fucking with Zach and Mik. It had nothing to do with you.”

  “It has everything to do with me!”

  “Don’t you spin this like I forced you into my room. I was drunk. You led the way. You told me you wanted to have sex.”

  “I know. I remember that part.” She sighed. “You’re a waste of space, Tyler Ferris.”

  “Fuck off on your high horse,” he said, looking away again.

  Natalie had a strong flash of kissing Tyler—how it’d been like kissing a warped Zach. They’d grown up together, had so many of the same experiences, and yet Tyler seemed like someone had cut up Zach and pasted him back together. Same sad childhood, but a much more deranged outcome. Natalie wondered if Zach would ever know how lucky he was not to end up like Tyler.

  She popped the lock open, and Tyler came flying through. He might have killed Zach, except that Mik intercepted him and slammed him against the wall.

  Tyler wriggled, naked but for his boxers. “Give me my clothes,” he managed despite Mik’s forearm pressed to his throat.

  “Let him go, Mik.” Natalie held on to Zach. She had hoped that in learning she hadn’t actually slept with Tyler, she could forgive herself. Wrong. The regret was still there, still taxing and exhausting, and yet it didn’t have the same sting. She’d made a huge mistake, so…so what?

  So what now?

  Mik released Tyler, and the guy grabbed his pile of clothes. “Where’s my phone?” he snapped. Mik stepped forward threateningly, and Tyler took off at a sprint.

  “Do you think he knows how to get out?” Natalie asked.

  “Who cares,” Zach said, sniffling. He rested his head on Natalie’s shoulder, and she slipped her arms around his waist. It felt like old times. Like the last few weeks hadn’t happened.

  “Where are Bishop and Jaycee?” Natalie asked.

  “Gone. Bishop’s all fired up about something.” He sniffed harder. “Jaycee drank all my whiskey. That girl’s a hurricane when she’s drunk. She wrecked that stain room too. Will Margaret’s ghost make Jaycee kill herself?”

  “Wait, drunk Jaycee?” Natalie asked, stunned. “Oh Christ, where’d she go?”

  “I think she went down to the playground.”

  Mik started jogging, running. He turned a corner and was gone.

  “Let’s get you out of here.” Natalie led him through the creaking quiet of The Ridges until they passed into the renovated section and out the window.

  “I’m sorry,” Zach said when they were under the silver shine of the moon. The clouds were fiercely backlit, great big puffs of things that hung over their heads in wait. “He�
�s such a dick. I’m so sorry he weaseled his way into your life.”

  “Don’t.” Natalie sighed. “I went after him for something. I tried to use him to make my choices for me. Choices I was too afraid to make.” She waited for Zach to ask what she meant, but he was too far gone.

  “I kissed a girl in LA. That time when I went with my family for the holidays.”

  “I know,” she said. “You tell me that almost every time you’re blackout drunk.”

  “I need to throw up,” he said in the second before he fell in the grass and heaved. She rubbed his back while he retched, then pressed her face against his shirt.

  Zach was so good for her, had been so good to her for four years, and yet, they weren’t going to get married and have babies, let alone make it through this summer. How could she hold on to him while letting him go? What would she be like all on her own up in New York? Would she snap back into controlling mode despite all her brilliant plans to chill out? What could she even do to make sure that she never made decisions purely out of fear again?

  I’m Natalie, and that means what exactly?

  When she heard the smash of glass, she looked up to see Tyler jumping through a broken window. He hit the ground hard, and he was still only half-dressed.

  Natalie smiled. “Zach, don’t miss this. Look. Look at that idiot.”

  Zach watched his brother flee down the hill. He laughed and wiped his mouth. “Nat, it was kinda amazing…locking him in and hearing him freak out.”

  “Jaycee’s idea?” Natalie asked without doubting for a second that it had been.

  “Yeah.”

  “Is she still mad at me?”

  “She called you the devil.”

  Natalie smiled again, wider this time. “Coming from Jaycee Strangelove, that’s halfway to a compliment.” She helped Zach to his feet. “Come on. We’ve got to go find the rest of our crew. Or what’s left of them, if your state is any indication.”

  Chapter 36

  Mikivikious

  Chapter 37

  Jaycee