Get Rocked

by Tabatha Vargo

  He lifted his arm to roll down the window, allowing me to see the bulge in his bicep—most definitely not fat, definitely muscles. Knowing he could go all caveman on me and throw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes didn’t make me feel any better about sneaking out with strangers.

  He noticed me staring and turned his attention back to me.

  “I’m Tony, but all my friends call me Tiny.” His voice was deep, like an older man, even though his baby face said differently.

  I was thinking he was no more than eighteen. It was funny that his friends called him Tiny since there was nothing on the boy that was even remotely small. I blushed at that thought and looked down at my hands.

  “My name’s Faith. It’s nice to meet you.” I sounded as small as I felt next him.

  He laughed a little to himself and turned his head to look back out the window.

  “Don’t worry about him. He’s big and scary, but he’s just a big ol’ teddy bear. Aren’t you, Tiny? Can you believe he’s only a sophomore? He just joined Kevin’s band. He’s plays the bass and you know he’s got to be damn good for Finn and Kevin to let him join so young,” Amanda called from the front seat.

  I was in total shock. One, Amanda had never said anything about Kevin being in a band, and two, I couldn’t believe someone so big and full of muscles like Tony was so young. Looks were deceiving.

  “I guess he plays okay.” Kevin joked from the front seat as he looked through the rearview mirror.

  Amanda and Kevin laughed when Tony, or Tiny, flipped them off. They looked nice together. Both were blond and pretty. As a matter of fact, Kevin looked nothing like how I’d picture a guy in a band. His clothes were too clean, his face shaved, with no piercings or tattoos that I could see. That being said, I could see what Amanda saw in him. He had a cocky attitude that reminded me of the new boy at church. It was more appealing than I’d admit.

  Tiny shook his head at their laughter and tossed something out the window. I wanted to scream “litterbug” at him, but something told me he wouldn’t appreciate me preaching at him. I didn’t want to do anything to upset the giant.

  I turned my attention away from Tiny.

  “Who’s Finn?” I asked.

  Amanda turned in her seat again. “He’s the singer in Kevin’s band, Ordinary Malice. Kevin and him have been friends since middle school. He’s sexy as hell.”

  “Hey!” Kevin said loudly. “What the hell?”

  “He’s nowhere near as sexy as you are, baby.” She leaned over and kissed him.

  He took his eyes off of the road and kissed her back. From my vantage point, I could see their tongues mingling together, and my stomach rolled again. A passing car honked at us when we veered out of our lane. I was on the verge of a mini heart attack when she released him and he focused on driving again.

  I didn’t ask any more questions. I didn’t need to. I’d already had enough of being out and was silently praying they’d take me home already.

  Fifteen minutes later, we pulled into the driveway of a brick house. It wasn’t in the best neighborhood either. The yard was nice, but the house itself was old. It stood out against all the other houses that had junk in their yards and dogs hooked to chains, barking their heads off.

  All three opened their doors and started to get out.

  “Wait, where are we?” I asked in a panic.

  Amanda turned back toward me and smiled.

  “Come on, it’ll be fun. I promise. This is Finn’s house. They’re going to play some tonight. They’re good. Sometimes they even play at local bars that’ll let them in.”

  She jumped out the car and shut the door behind her. I wanted to scream for her to come back right that second and take me home, but she was already disappearing into the garage. I’d thought we’d just drive around a bit, enjoy being free, and then they’d take me straight back home—an hour tops. I had no idea they had plans. Amanda didn’t tell me on purpose because she knew I would’ve backed out.

  I had two choices. I could go inside and fade into a corner until I could persuade Amanda to get the boys to take me home. I was already regretting this and all I wanted was to be safe in my bed. Or I could sit in the car and wait for them to come back, but in a neighborhood like this one, I was probably safer inside the garage with the sex-crazed teenagers and their wild rock instruments.

  Deciding that either way I didn’t want to be alone, I got out of the car and slowly made my way to the garage. The dogs in the yards around me were going nuts trying to get loose and eat me alive. I stopped beside an older sports car with a tire missing. There was a concrete block in its place and oil leaked from underneath it and ran down the driveway.

  I stepped away from the car and closer to the garage. That’s when music started playing inside. It was loud; the sharp guitar cut at my ears and bass vibrated my knees. The garage door rumbled with the drums, and the sounds of female laughter was drowned out once the singer started to sing in his deep voice.

  A strange smell floated out of the garage and all around me. I coughed a little and used my hand to wave it away as I stepped into the deafening, smoke-filled space. People were piled up on an old leather couch, watching the band play. I spotted Amanda from across the room, sitting on the couch, staring at Kevin with stars in her eyes.

  The group she sat with passed around what looked like a small unfiltered cigarette. The smoke that flowed from it smelled awful. They were obviously doing drugs. I felt a little sick to my stomach when I saw Amanda take a drag. She was a childhood friend—my only friend. How could I not know that she was so involved in this kind of lifestyle?

  I took in the room around me at people I’d never seen before—people that didn’t see me. And then my eyes collided with someone familiar. It was the new boy at church, the troublemaker who’d painted the side of the building. He stared back at me as he sang into the microphone. His dark, raspy voice filled the garage, and since he was looking at me, it was as if he was singing to me.

  His soft blue eyes took me in and his brows pulled down in confusion. Obviously I didn’t belong there—I knew and he knew it. A thick piece of caramel hair fell into his eyes and he ran his fingers through it, pushing it out of his face.

  Seeing him made me panic. What if he told my dad I was there? I didn’t want to be surrounded by so many things I didn’t understand. I wasn’t okay with anything that was going on, and I wanted to leave, but more than anything, I didn’t want my church family to find out I was involved with that kind of people. What would my dad do? If I got the belt for practically nothing, what would sneaking out get me?

  Quickly, I backed away from the garage door and disappeared outside again. As soon as the night air hit me, I could breathe better and the music wasn’t so loud. The dogs around me went crazy barking again. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I only knew I needed to get out of there before anyone else saw me or something bad happened. There could be a drive-by or a drug bust any minute. I didn’t need my father finding out I was anywhere near this side of town.

  I figured I’d brave the ghetto and turned to walk back the way we came. It was crazy, the craziest thing I’d ever done. It trumped sneaking out on a whole other level, but I had to do it. I’d be sure to let Amanda know how unhappy I was with her at school the following day. Maybe my dad was right. Maybe Amanda was a bad influence.

  I was down the street a ways when I heard someone call my name. When I turned around, the new boy at church, who I now knew was Finn, the lead singer of Kevin’s band, was taking long strides my way.

  “Hey. Wait up,” he said.

  I stopped. When he reached my side, he was out of breath. Leaning over, he rested his palm against his thigh and held up a finger, telling me to give him a minute.

  “You know, if you didn’t smoke, you wouldn’t be so out of breath right now,” I said.

  He looked up at me with a grin. A set of dimples dug into his flushed cheeks. “Are you going to preach to me, too, sweet girl?” He
stood tall again after catching his breath. “Like I haven’t heard enough preaching at church. I don’t know how you can take that shit day after day.”

  I didn’t confess that I was sick of being preached to. I couldn’t tell him that, especially since I was kind of preaching at him.

  “Sorry.” I sighed.

  “Don’t worry about it. What are you doing here?” he asked roughly.

  He sounded upset. Not that I could blame him. I was pretty upset about being there, too. We both knew I didn’t belong.

  I tried to think of a good excuse, but there wasn’t one. And as badly as I wanted to come up with some really great lie to get myself out of the trouble I knew was going to come, I couldn’t lie. I had to spill the truth and hope he didn’t rush to church on Wednesday and tell my dad all about it.

  “I came with my friend Amanda. She’s dating your friend Kevin. I didn’t know we were coming here. I’m not even supposed to be gone. My parents think I’m asleep at home. Please don’t tell them you saw me. Please,” I blurted out.

  He was obviously getting in trouble a lot. Not just anyone got community service, and he seemed comfortable in his situation. Really, he had no room to tell on a person, but knowing my luck, he would. Some people would love to tell the pastor at a very prestigious church that his daughter was being sinful and sneaking out past dark. Maybe he was one of those people.

  His eyes filled with humor and he started to laugh. It was a hearty laugh that sounded from his insides. It didn’t help that it also made his adorable dimples pop. I hadn’t really thought about boys all that much, but Finn was making me notice things I never had before.

  Like his arms—the way his muscles moved under his skin when he did something with his hands. My eyes had also strayed to his stomach, which I could see clearly through his snug T-shirt. The thin white shirt left nothing to the imagination since it stuck to the indentions of his abdominal muscles.

  He bent over and wrapped his arm around his stomach as he continued to laugh. I’m not sure what annoyed me more—the fact that my thought processes had gone into sinful territory, or the fact that he was laughing at me in my face.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked.

  “You think I’d tell on you.” He ended his laughter with a deep chuckle.

  “Well, I don’t really know you. Who’s to say what you’d do?” I said, offended.

  He sobered, but his cocky smirk stayed in place.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well, don’t worry about it. I’d never tell on someone. I’m no nark. I do think it’s kind of funny that a person like you would sneak out, though. I had no idea you were such a bad girl, Faith. I bet you even have some sexy sneak-out clothes hidden under that ugly skirt, don’t you?” He reached out and pulled at my shirt.

  I swatted at his hand, stepped back swiftly, and covered my blush with my palm. One, because the plain cotton bra and panties I wore could never be called sexy, and two, because I’d specifically picked out my skirt because it was my prettiest. At least I thought it was. It was obvious it was just as boring and prudish as the rest. It stung my feelings just a little that he called it ugly, though.

  “Damn, I didn’t mean it’s, like, ugly. It’s just too long.” He attempted to apologize and failed miserably. He sighed. “Okay, let’s try this again. Look, I’m Finn. That’s my place.” He pointed back at the garage. “And I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be walking around out here by yourself. This isn’t the best neighborhood. How about you come on back inside and I’ll tell everyone to chill with the smoke.”

  Honestly, at that point, all I wanted was to go home, but the idea of going back inside and getting Amanda to take me home did appeal to me. However, there was no way I was going to be the prissy pastor’s daughter crashing their party.

  “No, don’t do that. I don’t want those people in there thinking I’m a brat. I’ll be fine. I’m just going to walk home. “

  He lifted both his arms, then ran his hands across his face roughly. His shirt came up and I got a small peek of the skin just above his jeans. I turned my head quickly and looked away.

  “Look, come back with me. I’ll grab my mom’s keys and take you home real quick. Deal?”

  “No, I don’t think—”

  “Please, Faith, just let me do this.” He cut me off. “I’ll feel like shit if you’re found on the side of the road in the morning.”

  The blue of his eyes seemed to glow in the darkness around us as he silently cut me with his expression. His aggravation was apparent. He had the ability to make me feel like a small child being chastised. As if I didn’t get enough of that at home.

  Dogs barked unmercifully, and in the distance, a car alarm began to ring out. I looked over to my right and three strange men stood on their front porch and stared over at Finn and me. One wore a creepy smile that made his gold tooth visible.

  What had I been thinking? No way did I want to end up missing or murdered on the side of an abandoned road. Finn wasn’t safe, but I didn’t think he’d harm me physically.

  “Fine. Thank you,” I said as I stepped around him and started to walk back to his driveway. “Could you please tell Amanda you’re taking me home?”

  “Will do.” He smiled sarcastically.

  He was hard to feel out. Either he was being friendly or he was annoyed by me. I was pretty good with people, but I didn’t like how off center he made me feel. Especially since the more I looked at him and the more he spoke to me, the nicer looking he got. He was more of a gentleman than he let on. The ladies at church would probably disagree, but only a nice guy would care about whether or not I made it out of this side of town alive.

  I stood alone in his driveway for a minute while he ran inside to get his keys and let Amanda know what was happening. I hated leaving her there like that, but that was her scene, not mine. Actually, I didn’t really have a scene, unless you included church. Church was definitely my scene. Not that it was my choice.

  Inside the garage, I could hear his friends complaining that he was leaving. I couldn’t hear his response, but I felt awful for taking him away from his little gathering. I could still smell the pungent odor of that stuff they were smoking. I assumed it was marijuana, which only made me want to go home even more.

  “All ready to go?” Finn asked as he came out of the garage swinging his keys around his finger.

  I followed him over to an older white Jeep Cherokee. He opened the door for me, which was also unexpected, and I got in. He ran around to the other side and got in before cranking up the engine. The atmosphere around us lightened the farther away from his neighborhood we got.

  At first we were quiet, not really knowing what to say to each other. It wasn’t like we had anything in common. We were from totally different worlds.

  “Thanks for the ride,” I finally said to break the ice.

  He looked over at me and grinned. His light irises glistened from under dark lashes. I was really beginning to like his eyes and I was seriously starting to enjoy his knowing grins a little more than I should have.

  “No worries. We don’t want a pretty thing like you getting kidnapped.” He looked back at the road as if he didn’t just give me the biggest compliment.

  I couldn’t remember anyone ever calling me pretty before. It made me feel funny. I can’t say that I hated it. Actually, I kind of loved it. I could remember my mom telling me I looked nice once, and memories of my dad calling me his princess when I was a toddler still lingered, but now that I was older and feeling pretty really mattered, no one ever said it.

  He turned to face me again and I felt my cheeks catch fire. I looked out the window so he couldn’t see. A soft, manly chuckle sounded from his side of the car, letting me know he didn’t miss my embarrassing blushing. The rest of the ride was uncomfortable. Every now and again I’d give him directions, but other than that we stayed quiet.

  “Please be extra quiet,” I said as we pulled up to my house.

  He chuckled
again and I gave him the evil eye as he snuck the car up to my house and put it in park. He turned in his seat and silently watched me as I twiddled my fingers in my lap. When his eyes were on me, I felt breathless. It was if he had some sort of freaky spell over me.

  I needed to get away from him and get some sleep. The night had taught me one valuable lesson: I had no business sneaking out of my house or hanging around people who were nothing like me.

  I unbuckled my seatbelt and popped my door open. I was about to thank him for the ride when the porch light turned on. It was only then that I noticed the living room lights.

  Time stopped when my father stepped out on the front porch in his pajamas and then, with quick, angry strides, made his way over to Finn and me.

  “Oh shit,” Finn said.

  I didn’t bother correcting his language since I’d secretly been thinking the same exact thing. One night out and I was already having impure thoughts.

  My dad took one look at me and Finn and his face transformed into something angry and red. His eyes looked at risk of popping out and the vein in the side of his neck ticked. The way he looked at me made me feel dirty, as if I’d been out all night doing the many things that Amanda had disgustingly told me about.

  “Faith, I want you to go inside so I can have a talk with our friend Finn.” He spoke calmly, but I knew what calm meant. Calm meant there was a storm coming.

  It wasn’t right for Finn to get in trouble simply for being a gentleman and making sure I got home safely.

  “Daddy, Finn was just—”

  He held up his hand to stop me. “That’s enough, Faith. Please go inside with your mother. I’ll be in there to deal with you in just a moment.”

  Deal with me. I didn’t even want to think about how he was going to deal with me. I clutched my cross in preparation for the night’s lesson. It was going to be a bad one.

  “Pastor Warren, this is my fault,” Finn said boldly. “I wanted to surprise Sister Francis with some special flowers in her flower bed and I talked Faith into helping me. You know how much she loves Sister Francis. There was no way I could’ve gotten it done before church Wednesday if she didn’t help me.”