Curved Horizon

by Taylor Brooke

  “Yeah, he was.” Shannon sighed, shook his head, and dropped an M&M in Daisy’s open mouth. “Don’t tell him I’m talking to you about this; he’ll murder me.”

  “Talk to Chelsea for me, and it’s a deal.”

  “You little shit,” Shannon hissed. Sometimes he forgot wolves ran in packs.

  Daisy cackled and stole another candy. “Come on, Abercrombie! Help a girl out, please? She’s an alien, a unicorn, the fucking Chupacabra. I’m in a constant state of enthusiastic attraction and crippling fear when it comes to her. I’ll buy you breakfast. I’ll show you pictures of Aiden from high school that you can use as leverage. I’ll cook you a traditional Chinese dinner even though I hate cooking; name it and I’ll do it.”

  “All of those things.” Shannon pelted her cheek with an M&M.

  “Here I thought you were actually a nice guy.” Daisy held up her pinky. Her dark eyes narrowed and she smiled thinly. “But fine, take me for all I’m worth.”

  “And you don’t mention me talking about Aiden’s long-forgotten virginity.”

  “Deal,” Daisy groaned.

  Shannon linked his pinky around hers. “We have a deal.”

  Aiden didn’t usually hang out with Karman. It wasn’t that they didn’t get along; they did. It was that Aiden and Karman were too alike for comfort. Arguments tended to end in venomous teeth aimed at each other’s softest places, and bitter apologies given within the week following. Once the venom had dissipated and feelings were no longer hurt, they pretended nothing had happened. Shannon told them that they acted like children, but Aiden thought it was an efficient way to deal with one another.

  The two did their best to edge away from conversations that revolved around their individual disasters, but that didn’t stop their messes from peeking at each other every so often. On those days, Aiden hurled insults at Karman while she hurled insults back.

  But today wasn’t one of those days. They stood in front of a mounted sculpture in one of the pop-up galleries on the north end of town. Karman’s head tilted, and Aiden watched her analyze the piece.

  “What do you think?” Aiden asked.

  “It’s different,” Karman attempted, feigning interest. She glanced at him and grimaced. “I’m not very good at this art thing, or boyfriend thing, or gift-giving thing. Marcus’ birthday is at the end of the month; how am I supposed to know if he’ll like this… sphere?”

  “It’s supposed to be an imitation of life in motion.” Aiden touched the tip of a crystal bedazzled, feathered wing jutting from a segment of reflective scales attached to a pair of stone horns that collided with agate flippers. “It’s a knot of different bodies making one surreal creature. It’s beautiful.”

  “It’s an unfinished zoo.”

  “It’s planet Earth.”

  “Butchered museum exhibit.”

  “You’re the least artistic person I’ve ever met.”

  Karman shrugged. “I don’t doubt that, kid. What? You think I should get this for him?”

  “Do you have fifteen hundred dollars?”

  Karman answered with a bark of a laugh. An elderly man and his wife jerked their heads, startled by the sudden boom infiltrating the silent gallery. The clerk—a deft middle-aged hen—bristled, robust red hair pointing every direction. Aiden paid them no mind and snorted at Karman, who gave the animal-earth-sphere another pitiful look. She collected a second wind and laughed harder.

  “Why’d you even bring me here? Are you insane?” Karman cackled. She wiped her eyes with her violet sleeve, which was long and ruffled at the wrist.

  “No, but I’m good at a few things, you know.”

  Karman’s brow furrowed. The tail end of her laughter trickled away. She punched him in the arm, once, twice, and Aiden moved of the way of the third. He hissed between his teeth and scrambled away when she chased him.

  Confusion was the first thing that spiked in Aiden’s chest, second was anger, and last was realization. Karman, clever and not, had assumed he was offering to steal it. His stomach clenched, and Aiden snapped at her, “Don’t!”

  “Get out, go, get out of here,” Karman scolded.

  Aiden slipped out the front door; three pairs of boiling eyes followed him. The hen said, “don’t come back” under her breath. Karman kicked him in the calf once they were on the sidewalk.

  “You know, for two seconds, I considered it. Oh, yeah,” she mocked, arms folded across her chest, “Aiden Maar, slickest hands in Laguna Beach. You almost had me, you asshole. No, no way are you stealin’ that and using me as an excuse!”

  Aiden stepped back and bared his teeth. He’d been trying to smile, but it didn’t seem to gain the desired outcome. He almost tripped over his boots dodging another swift kick to his left shin.

  “Jesus… Christ, stop! Can you not—Karman! Haggling!” Aiden leaned into her space, nose-to-nose, drawing the word out. “I was talking about haggling the price, stop kicking me!”

  Karman’s heels clicked together on the sidewalk.

  Aiden made a point of brushing his hands across his shirt, dismissing the dirt that wasn’t there, and bent to fold the frayed bottoms of his jeans over his boots. “What the fuck kind of thief do you think I am? You’re my boyfriend’s partner. You think I’d come out and tell you if I planned on taking anything? And I’m not even…”

  He finished with an annoyed huff and kicked a rock across the sidewalk. Karman was sufficiently ashamed, that much was obvious. Aiden caught her gaze before she averted it up and away.

  He shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone. The side of his cheek was sucked between his teeth and it stung as he chewed on it. “I’m not doing that shit anymore; you know that. I’m trying to do this photography stuff. I’m working at the bar six days a week. What else do you and Charm School want from me?”

  He didn’t need to look at Karman to know she was looking at him.

  Aiden clicked on Instagram. Scrolled. Clicked on Shannon’s text bubble. Scrolled.

  “Are you going to say you’re sorry or just stand there?” Aiden mumbled.

  Karman heaved a sigh.

  “Fine, stand there.”

  Aiden stomped down the sidewalk toward Main. The beach was at least two miles away but he’d walked farther in much worse circumstances. The click-click of Karman’s pink pumps sounded behind him, speeding up, slowing down, stopping once, and falling in step again moments later.

  Aiden Maar 8/1 12:09 p.m.

  karmans an asshole

  Shannon Wurther 8/1 12:10 p.m.

  Yes she is

  Aiden Maar 8/1 12:11 p.m.

  what are you doing

  Shannon Wurther 8/1 12:14 p.m.

  feeding the bat you live with peanut butter chocolate things

  “Aiden, stop,” Karman groaned.

  “What was that, Detective?” Aiden threw the words over his shoulder.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, in honeyed tones. “I jumped to conclusions; go figure. You know I’m no good at being nice, and this stupid case me and Shannon are working on is driving me nuts. What do you mean haggling? You think you can talk the price down?”

  “I might’ve been able to, yeah.” Aiden stopped, turned around, and adjust his black snapback brim over his brows. He scratched his forehead. His hair was just long enough to be annoying; an inch more and he’d officially have bangs. “That’s how everything was done on the dark web. Best offer gets the loot. I figured I could reach out to the artist and make an offer just to see what they said, but thanks to your bitchery back there, we lost our shot.”

  Karman’s licked her lips and rolled her eyes. “I told you I was sorry.”

  “Wow,” Aiden snorted. He shook his head and said, “Buy my brother a nice set of acrylic paints. There’s a brand our mom used to use that he likes. I’ll send you the name.”

 
; “Hey, come on, Maar. You can’t walk all the way home!”

  “I’m not going home. I’m going to the beach.”

  Karman didn’t follow him, and Aiden didn’t expect her to. Sometimes he still felt the outside of his pockets for a pack of cigarettes. There was none. He paused to tuck his laces under the tongue of his boots and took off running, one foot in front of the other.

  Chelsea saw Aiden sitting on the beach as she walked toward downtown. He was easy to recognize—the tight pull of his shoulders, the jacket and boots. He had his chin on the top of his knees and was gazing at the waves from high up on the sand.

  “Hey,” she called, shielding her eyes from the sun.

  He barely moved, but she caught the turn of his chin, a quiet acknowledgement.

  She kicked off her heels and stepped off the boardwalk onto the sand. It was warm between her toes, like the wind and the water a few yards away. Palm trees swayed overhead. A few people knocked a ball back and forth over a net to their left.

  “Aren’t you roastin’ in that jacket? It’s eighty degrees.” She sighed as she plopped down beside him. “And what’re you doin’ out here by yourself?”

  “Thinking,” Aiden said. His gaze stayed pinned to the waves. “What’re you doing out here?”

  “I was going to that coffee place right over there.” She waved over her shoulder toward downtown. “You all right?”

  He turned to look at her, resting his cheek against his kneecaps. “What’s it to you, Charm School?”

  “Just askin’, Aiden.”

  “Well, I like coffee,” he said softly.

  Chelsea grinned. “Is this your way of asking if you can get coffee with me?”

  “Is this your way of inviting me?” he mused.

  “You can come if you tell me whatsa matter, how’s that?”

  “Karman still thinks I’m a shady fuck-up. Not that I blame her, but it still sucks.” He blinked, seeming far more subdued and gentle than he’d been since they met. It was like seeing a shark from behind very thick glass—Chelsea knew what Aiden was capable of, but from this point of view she could appreciate his softness. “I know it doesn’t always seem like it, but I’m trying.”

  “I know the feeling,” Chelsea admitted. “I still haven’t called my parents. I sent them a long e-mail and I’ve been ignoring their calls ever since. They’re still sure I can’t think for myself.”

  “A long e-mail about Daisy?”

  Chelsea nodded.

  “If they’re anything like Shannon’s parents, they’ll—”

  “They aren’t,” she interjected, trying on a pained smile. “They’re nothing like Loraine and Lloyd. I’ve been puttin’ it off, but I can’t keep them away forever.”

  “Karman didn’t like me at first, but we’re…” He waved his hand side to side. “… getting there, I think. Today was a bad day, but bad days happen. Your parents will get over it.”

  “You don’t know my parents.” Chelsea lifted an eyebrow. “And Daisy and I, we’re doing well, but we…” She paused, considering her options. She could be truthful, completely truthful, or she could try to skirt around the reality. “Haven’t exactly…”

  “I didn’t sleep with Shannon right away either.” Aiden lips twitched into a smile. “If that’s what you’re getting at.”

  “Did you want to, though?” Chelsea teeth set hard in a grimace. “Because I don’t know if Daisy wants to, which is fine, I just…”

  His head tilted back, and he laughed at the sky, snorting through some of it while Chelsea tried not to blush. She swatted his shoulder.

  “Did I want to? You’ve seen Shannon, right?”

  “Yes, all of him, many times.”

  Aiden rolled his eyes and nodded. “All right then, I don’t have to answer. And you’ve looked in a mirror, right?”

  Chelsea scoffed and looked away, first at the ocean, then the lifeguard tower. “Yes, Aiden, I have. That’s not the only thing that matters when it comes to intimacy, you know. Daisy has to have an intense bond with someone before she sleeps with them, and I don’t know if we’re… if we’re there yet.”

  Quiet surfaced between them. Aiden kicked at a seagull hopping by, and Chelsea traced the letters on the lifeguard tower—L A G U

  “What happened with Vance really fucked her up,” Aiden said.

  Chelsea froze. She thought back to every word of her conversation with Daisy the night of their first kiss. She thought of every pained whisper and secret revealed. Somehow it seemed as though Aiden could see them.

  He watched her carefully. “Did she tell you about him?”

  The first thought that crossed her mind was lie; the second one didn’t have time to reveal itself, because Chelsea told the truth. “Yes,” she whispered, and stopped there, hoping the secrets tied around that yes didn’t show themselves.

  Aiden took in a long breath before he asked, “Did she tell you about my shit with Vance?”

  Lie, Chelsea told herself, lie, lie, lie.

  “She made me promise not to tell you,” Chelsea said.

  Aiden was an impossible person, and that made him impossible to lie to. She hated it.

  “I won’t say anything.” He didn’t seem fazed, but somehow Chelsea knew he’d been struck. She saw the way his brow tensed and his fingers curled into fists. He looked like an animal stripped of its teeth and claws—it didn’t suit him. “She probably didn’t tell you about how I shamelessly hit on anything that moved back then, did she?”

  Chelsea stayed silent.

  “How I’d climb on top of anyone who would let me, and then, when it got down to the details, I’d panic and start fights? According to everyone I hooked up with, I was a textbook tease.” When he said tease, it sounded dirty and lost. “I liked feeling in control of something. As soon as clothes started coming off, I flipped out. The whole thing with Vance—I asked for it.”

  “Aiden Maar,” Chelsea hissed. She grabbed his chin with her thumb and two fingers and tugged until he looked her in the eye. “No one asks for that, you hear me?”

  He shook out of her hold; his top lip curled back. “Anyway,” he said through a groan, “Daisy trusted him, and I ruined that for her.” Aiden’s jaw flexed; he cleared his throat. “And then that shit happened at 101. It’s just… It’s fucking complicated, you know? She’s learning how to fight her battles, that’s all.”

  “What about you? You still learnin’ how to fight after…?” Chelsea’s body tightened. She hadn’t meant to ask a question like that, but the doctor in her wanted to pry. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t appropriate… I’m—that isn’t any of my business, sugar.”

  “Sugar.” Aiden laughed under his breath. “You guys and your southern pet names.”

  “I want to be careful with her, but she won’t let me. What should I do?” Chelsea played with a handful of sand.

  Aiden shook his head. His phone buzzed in his pocket, but he didn’t reach for it. “Do you ask her to be careful with you, Charm School?”

  Chelsea’s breath hitched. The locket around her neck burned hot against her skin. “No, I suppose I don’t.”

  “I’ve never asked Shannon to be careful with me either, and…” Aiden paused. His gaze flicked around Chelsea’s face. “He doesn’t know about Vance, so.”

  “So don’t tell him?”

  Aiden considered it. Chelsea watched his jaw slide back and forth and his thumb touch the tip of every finger. “No, don’t tell him.”

  Somewhere trapped in their beach-side conversation, Chelsea had realized she was friends with Aiden: really friends, the kind of friends who confided in one another and told secrets and stewed in their own individual uphill battles rather than climb them.

  “You know, we’re all pretty fucked up,” Aiden teased.

  Chelsea snuffed out a laugh. It wasn’t a lie. She wouldn’
t acknowledge it as the truth, though.

  “Shannon needs a break from this fucking case,” Aiden said. “And I need a break from his attitude about this stupid fucking case, and you need some liquid courage. How about we all go out? To a club or something? Big crowd, lots of people, we can get wasted and take separate Ubers home?”

  “That sounds like something I would’ve done my freshman year of college.” Chelsea stood up and brushed sand off the back of her jeans. She offered her hand and helped Aiden to his feet. “Will this be a high-end ultra-lounge, or a dive bar with a sad excuse for a dance floor?”

  “Somewhere in the middle,” he said, and flashed a fanged, skeleton smile.

  Chelsea didn’t say I’m scared touching her will change me, I’m scared her hands might uncover my scars, I’m scared they’ll be too ugly for her to stand, but it was the heaviest truth. She and Daisy had made it this far. Chelsea was tangled in her.

  Look at us, she thought. We’re disastrous, all of us.

  “You like hazelnut coffee, right?”

  Aiden’s brows shot up. “How’d you know that?”

  “I’m observant,” she said, and smiled.

  He smiled back. “You’re three pumps of vanilla, two shots of espresso, and an obscene amount of sugar, right?”

  “Correct, Mr. Maar,” Chelsea purred. She linked her arm through his elbow. He let her. “That’s correct.”

  19

  Daisy stared at her reflection in the bathroom of Aiden’s apartment. Well, her apartment. Their apartment. She tried to stop pondering the ins and outs of their odd living situation and focused on her bare lips. Her first thought was to not wear any lipstick, because she hoped to spend the night with her mouth attached unashamedly to Chelsea’s mouth. However, she felt absolutely naked without it.

  “This is a terrible idea,” she said, loud enough for the boys getting ready in Aiden’s bedroom to hear. “Who even thought of this?”

  “It was Aiden’s idea,” Shannon called back.

  “Chelsea was the first one to say yes,” Aiden countered.

  Daisy arranged her bangs across her brows. She needed to get her hair done. It was growing out, causing a stripe of dark brown to cut the blinding white away from her scalp on one side. She touched the tip of her eyelashes, pushed them up, and hoped they’d curl. Charcoal eye shadow was pressed against her eyelids, sharpened by flicks of liquid eyeliner. She looked at herself and swallowed hard.