by Riley Moreno
Kim patted his cheek and took a step forward. She walked with her back to whatever their destination might be as she answered.
“Thought that was your line,” she teased. Matt caught her wrist and drew her back to his side.
“Not now,” Matt said. “I mean when you finish the trip. What’s the plan if you get back home?”
Julie noticed the conjunction, and for a second she thought it strange that he constructed the question with if instead of when. It seemed possible that he was privy to something far beyond her grasp, and the thought scared her until Pete pulled her closer and gave her a smile.
“He likes to think he knows the score,” Pete said.
At ease again, they followed Matt’s back and Kim’s face. It was nothing. Matt didn’t, he couldn’t, know anything but his hopes. In his mind, he probably envisioned showing the girls such a time that they’d never ever dream of returning to their former lives and instead opt to dwell on the land with nothing but the boys’ desires to keep them warm at night.
But Matt didn’t know Kim.
“Back home?” Kim asked. “Job. Working for the weekend. Paying into a pension.”
Kim had obviously ignored if, and she went on about the paralegal position awaiting her at Siminoff and Wexler, a firm specializing in celebrity clients. Their most recent coup was the actor accused of raping an under-aged fan in a Beverly Hills hotel room. Matt seemed impressed and said he imagined Kim moving up the ranks until she commanded the defense table while shielding the next star who didn’t hear the word no.
“Sounds good. And you?” Matt asked Julie.
She had nothing to compare to Kim’s supposedly sure thing. No matter how much Julie applied herself and how much Kim entered exams on a wing and a prayer, she still came out on top. No wonder. Kim had grace and looks backing her brains. So why should the real world be any different?
Julie blushed and focused of the dirt scraping against the soles of her sneakers.
“I’m… I’m not sure. Had some interviews but… I’m not sure.”
It came out of her mouth sounding dumb, and that was everything Julie felt in the company of her brilliantly beautiful friend and two boys who would probably do better with Kim and a carbon copy instead of Kim and Julie in all her average splendor. She swallowed as Pete dragged his ear to his lips and let out a whisper.
“Bet you’ll have to beat all those offers back with a stick.”
He really was sweet.
They kept walking until they happened upon a clearing. Julie was relieved to find a slab of stone that could serve as a seat, and she got off her feet at the first chance. Matt and Kim kept going. Julie would have been abandoned if Pete had failed to select the other piece of stone at her side. He offered her a swig from his Dasani. With the sweating bottle just inches from her hands, she took it gratefully and let the cool, clear liquid drizzle down her throat. When she could take no more into her mouth, she handed the bottle back to Pete and flecked the threat of drool from the corners of her mouth.
“Guess you needed that.”
Julie nodded at Pete and licked her lips clean of the bottle’s kiss. He sipped from the same neck without wiping the edge clean, and Julie thought it was kind of nice that he didn’t discard her taste.
“So what’s your deal?” he asked
Where to start? Julie had never been one to give her whole story blindly, but something in Pete’s eyes made her believe that he was safe. So she told him of her only child existence and the father that had treasured her before being snatched away. Her mother’s second marriage came out as a fragment, and she talked endlessly of her recently abandoned studies. While Kim gravitated towards the law, Julie went for something more benign.
“Hotel and restaurant management?” Pete asked.
Julie nodded and described a life spent attending to the wishes of endless streams of guests far from their homes. It was a practical field that vaguely suggested a healthy income along with the chance to stand alone. She wanted, she needed that. Sweet as Greg was, if she stayed under his thumb indefinitely, it was one more way for her mother to suffocate her into submission. It was better to take a stab at self-sufficiency and earn a keep on her terms.
Pete listened carefully and allowed a pause to sink into the space following her speech. Someone like him probably thought she was pathetic for an aspiration that only meant seeing to others’ needs while simultaneously sacrificing any and all of hers.
“So like you want to serve people?”
There it was. Julie had studied and strived to reach a point where she was destined to scrape boots.
“I guess,” she whispered. Pete pressed his fingers under her chin and lifted her face to his. Under the light of the sun, he sparkled as he nudged her ribs.
“Make things beautiful? As only you can?”
So maybe he didn’t think of it as a compromise. Beautiful? Absolutely. She couldn’t and didn’t want to be Kim, who stared down a future of regurgitating lies for the guilty. Julie was about the innocent and their pleasures. And she could see to that, it would translate into enjoyable stays that would linger in the memory and beckon a return at the first shot.
“Yes. As only I can.”
Julie was growing more confident in her abilities and her response. Pete took her hand again. She liked the feel of his fingers as they pressed but never dug into her palm. Sure but gentle. Forget the needs of the nameless. This was for her.
“I think you’ll be a natural,” Pete said.
Julie kept his hand in hers as she asked her next question.
“At what?”
“Serving people. Showing them a good time. A natural.”
Pete gave her hand a quick squeeze before he looked into the distance which promised a reunion with the others. Julie didn’t care if they ever found them. At that second, she just wanted to hang back with Pete.
“Really?”
He smiled at her warmly as he stood.
“Absolutely. I’ll stay where you slave, Julie”
It was a strange kind of a compliment, but she took his extended hand and followed his lead.
“If you’ll have me.”
This was unexpected and exciting. If she’d have him? Julie had pictured her first time so many times. It was always in a bed surrounded by dim lights. Pressed among trees? With no cover from the sun? It wasn’t her first choice, but maybe this was how it would happen.
They found Matt and Kim sitting in tall grass with cracked cans. Kim smiled when she saw Julie and signaled for her to join the party. Before she could accept or object, Pete sat her with the others and handed her a can of Michelob. Once again Julie was thirsty, and she took the beer swiftly and drank it down. The bubbles were thick as they slid across her tongue with a burst of flavor. She swallowed all of the beer and helped herself to another. Today there seemed no harm in getting a little buzzed.
“So you just dumped him?”
Kim would tell her life story to anyone with ears, and they were obviously on the subject of Brian. Matt seemed intrigued by what was basically a cold-hearted gesture on Kim’s part while gaging his chances for a longer term. Julie sensed it and shot Pete a quick glance. He just kept smiling at her.
“Like you’re disappointed?” Kim asked.
He shook his head and laughed as she took Matt’s mouth to hers. Julie wondered what Pete would taste like, and as she sipped her beer, she considered testing her theory. But it wasn’t her. Julie couldn’t just slip her tongue down the throat of a boy who was essentially a stranger.
“So where you girls from?” Pete asked.
Of course, maybe if she got to know him a little better…
“Jersey,” Julie answered.
“Really.”
“Born and bred,” Kim said as she snuggled against Matt’s chest and kept drinking. “But it’s like almost New York. We’re like a half hour from Manhattan.”
“Is that a fact?” Matt asked.
“Yup. Just hop on a
train, and there you are.”
Pete laughed as he took another drink.
“So best of both worlds, huh?”
Julie smiled in agreement. It was an apt observation, and she was reminded of her father. He always spoke of front yards and main streets like they were on par with paradise, but he also celebrated the closeness of so much culture and avenues of entertainment at his family’s fingertips.
Pete was growing more and more attractive with each word.
“What about you guys?
Pete yielded the floor to his friend.
“We’re from… Florida,” Matt said. Julie thought she caught a hint of him searching for the answer that should come as naturally as air, but she quickly chalked it up to the beer and the buzz and Kim’s fingers dancing across his thigh.
“Wow. Lot of road in between there and here. Guess they got a head start, right, Jules?”
“I guess.”
Matt reached into his pocket and retrieved a pack of cigarettes.
“Don’t worry. You’ll catch up quick.”
Kim was quick to accept his offer of a smoke, but Julie declined. Pete also refused, and Julie was grateful that she wasn’t the odd girl out in this impromptu party.
“So here we are,” Matt started. “Graduated, miles from home.”
“Hey, we’re not so far gone, and we can turn back any time,” Kim teased.
“Is that a threat?”
“Of course not. Simple observation.”
“But you girls are just getting started. Don’t you want to see where the day takes you?”
“Oh absolutely.”
More beers were opened, and Julie figured she’d soon see the emptied cans tossed aside to litter the landscape until some cleanup crew of convicts or girl scouts took to removing the remnants of this unanticipated detour. To her surprise, Matt defied expectation and returned the empties to his cooler. She wouldn’t have colored him green, but it was a reminder that she couldn’t take everything and everyone at face value.
“So what about you?” Pete asked her.
Julie was shaken from her reverie by Pete’s question.
“What about me?”
“You break some hearts before hitting the road?”
“Me? No. No not me.”
Kim exhaled a stream of smoke along with a burst of laughter.
“Jules is a little behind the curve when it comes to that.”
Why did she have to say that?
“Stop it, Kim.”
“Just saying, Jules.”
She had to be getting drunk. Or else she just wanted to stake her claim as the easy one of the pair. Maybe she thought it would get her a chance with both boys. It wasn’t like she wouldn’t know how to handle it. There were moments when Julie wondered if Kim just kept her around to feel better about herself. It was apparent to anyone with eyes that she had the looks, the red hair, the big blue eyes, the legs that went on for miles. Julie always told herself that she could hold her own even with brown hair and less makeup. But all Kim had to do was throw it out there that Julie wouldn’t know what to do with a man between her legs, and she was instantaneously the more desirable of the two.
This was one of those moments.
Pete waved Kim’s smoke from his eyes and steadied his gaze on her laughing face.
“Guess she’s a little more discerning.”
It was a dig at Kim and also at Matt. His buddy laughed it off with another drink, but Kim was stymied where she sat and snuffed out her cigarette. Julie raised an eyebrow at her friend, and Kim let the matter drop.
They kept talking, kept drinking, and soon Julie wasn’t mad at Kim or thinking of her mother or what she’d do when the trip was over. It was just nice sitting among nature with two hot guys, especially when the gentler one seemed sweet on her. But as the sun started to sink into the ground, she sobered up some and glanced over her shoulder. The way back wasn’t far, but Julie thought it wise to start moving before they lacked the light to guide their way.
Julie started to stand. With nothing to steady her but the air, her legs were wobbly, and Pete leapt up to stop her from falling back to the earth.
“Hey. Watch yourself there.”
“I will. Thanks.”
Her eyes traced down the path to the diner’s lot and their car. It suddenly seemed a long way to walk, and she doubted her ability to take the necessary steps in her current state.
Matt closed the cooler and helped Kim to her feet.
“Am I the only one who doesn’t want to take that hike again?”
Kim quickly shook her head no.
“Same here. But it’s all good.”
Julie’s head was swimming as she tried to follow his train of thought. She watched him exchange a look with Pete that morphed into a small wink, and she wondered what it meant.
“Right, guy?” Matt asked.
Pete smiled as he brushed the dirt from his jeans.
“If… if you want. We kind of got a place while we’re staying in town. It’s… it’s like not far. Maybe we should just crash for there for the night.”
“Awesome!” Kim said. “I’m game. Jules?”
Julie was slow to answer. The promise of a bed after just a few more steps was appealing, but the boys were still strangers. Sure Pete was nice, Julie was not too far gone as to trust them entirely.
At the very least, she should check in with her mother.
She took her cell out of her purse and saw that the battery had died to the point where the phone went into automatic hibernation mode. A rush of breath passed through Julie’s lips in a shuddering wave, but Pete stilled her with an arm around her tense shoulders.
“You… you can charge it at our place. And then you’ll be able to call anyone.”
Kim was already looking at her phone.
“Sounds good. I’m out of juice, too.”
She took Matt’s arm, but Julie grabbed her friend’s hand and pulled her away from her potential conquest.
“Jules?”
The boys swept the space where they had sat. It was almost as if they were trying to make it like they’d never stopped to enjoy the alcohol and the scenery. Julie clasped Kim’s hand tightly and lowered her voice to a whisper.
“Kim? I’m… I’m not sure about this.”
“I know. Kind of crazy!”
Thank God. She was on the same doubtful page and questioning the wisdom of moving farther off their intended course with these boys. White knights? Sure. But beyond their names and Florida and the fact that Matt still resented an econ professor who rode every student harder than seemed humanly possible, they really didn’t know anything about them.
“Okay. So if we start back now---”
Kim scoffed.
“Start back. Are you insane, Jules? I want to keep partying.”
Keep partying! Kim had to be smarter than this. Did she really trust them enough to spend an entire night in their company when no one knew where they were?
“Kim, I just think---”
“And I think you need to loosen up. Come on, Jules. They’re cool. They’ve been like perfect gentleman. Hope that changes when we get to their place.”
Julie sank back to the ground and ran through a list of why they should just say no despite the show of chivalry. Kim got on her knees and grabbed her friend’s shoulders.
“Jules, we wanted an adventure. An experience. Now are you gonna do this or are we gonna spend every moment second-guessing?”
She had a point. This trip was supposed to be about Julie throwing caution to the wind and exploring every corner of the earth that wasn’t already earmarked. It was so easy for Kim. She was bold and brave. Julie only existed in such a state when dreaming, and the beer aside, she was wide awake.
So maybe it was time…
“Jules, it’ll be fun. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
This was the other side of Kim. She could make Julie feel like she was less than anything in one instant, but a few
drinks later and faced with Julie’s evident fears turned her into a mama bear who’d see her cub through any long, dark night.
Julie should be as brave.
“Okay, Kim.”
Kim helped her up and they returned to the boys. Their combined efforts totally eradicated any trace of the first party, and Matt’s eyes were already looking ahead to something better once they reached his mystical place just beyond the trees. Kim tousled Julie’s hair and set off on Matt’s arm. She was left with Pete, and he eased his arm around her waist.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I… I don’t know.”
He started to lead her deeper into the woods.
“Don’t worry. You will be.”
They moved until they met their destination. A cabin. It was two stories of brown logs and gray, slanted roofs, landscaped with rose bushes and lilacs. A babbling brook bubbled happily at the end of a cobblestone path. Julie thought it picturesque in the first rays of moonlight. In her mind she repeated the belief that nothing bad was going to transpire within the cabin’s walls.
The décor was indeed rustic. It was the kind of clutter, artfully done, where everything and anything had its proper place. Whoever owned the place full time were obviously avian enthusiasts. The knick knacks were carved canaries, ceramic bluebirds, and pictures of parrots. It seemed safe enough.
“Let’s get some tunes up in here!” Matt said.
He cranked the stereo system up to full volume and danced to Kim who was already moving to the music. She kicked off her sandals and started to grind against Matt. He held her close to him as he pried open a small silver box atop the cold mantle. Dangling a joint before Kim’s hungry eyes, she nodded her approval, and Matt lit up as he took a hit. He pressed the joint to Kim’s lips, and she inhaled deeply.
Julie had tried it. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like the way it made her feel like she was walking through a tunnel of mud, and it had the effect of making her fear her own shadow.
She didn’t need any more help on that front.
Pete sank to the sofa, and Julie needed to get off her feet. She sat at his side and ran her fingers through her hair.
“Not your thing?” he asked.
She shook her head, and Pete curled his hands behind his head.