by Kate Morris
“Yeah, but not exactly safe to do anymore,” Destiny said. “Our grandparents’ generation was the last one to backpack through Europe safely. Now, it’s like a communist-run badlands.”
“Right,” Roman said. “I’m actually thinking about traveling the U.S. There’s so much to see here.”
“What are you going to study when you do go to school?” Dez asked.
“Well, my dad wants me to follow in his footsteps and keep his business going. I’m not an I.T. kinda’ person. I don’t really like working on the computer all day like he does. I don’t want an office job someday, either.”
“Yeah, I get it. My dad would really like me to get involved with his business, too, but I’d like to go into modeling like my mom. I went with her a few years ago to New York when she did a makeup campaign, and it was so cool. Her agent said she’d sign me on the spot, but my mom laughed it off and we left. I asked her when we got home about it, but she said she doesn’t want me to go into modeling. She said it’s not a nice industry and can kill your self-esteem. She said she doesn’t want my self-worth to be based on someone else’s opinion of me or my looks and whatever.”
“She’s right, ya’ know,” Jane put in.
“Yeah?” Roman asked and glanced at her before looking back at the road. “You think so?”
“Absolutely. Modeling, acting, the entire industry is based on looks, not talent or character,” Jane said.
“Character is important to you,” Roman stated as he turned right and headed east on Elk Ridge Road.
“Of course,” Jane commented incredulously. Why would character not be important to someone? The crowd he ran with would dictate otherwise.
“It’s important to me, too. And I agree with Jane, Destiny,” he said. “That industry would be hard on anyone’s self-esteem. The constant criticism, the issue of not being exactly what some scout is looking for, the competition of it all. You’d have to have a good support system to get through something like that.”
“You guys suck,” Dez said.
Jane smirked, “I’m just looking out for you. You’re a sensitive person. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
Destiny laughed loudly. “Right! That’s why you should go with me!”
“What?” Jane asked in shock.
“I was talking with my mom’s agent the last time I went to New York with her a couple months ago. You know, just talking about the possibility of working for her, and I showed her my Instagram account.”
“Dez, your mom’s gonna freak,” Jane told her.
“Wait, listen. Just listen to me, Jane. I showed her my pics, and you were in some of them. She was like, ‘wait, who is this’? She was pointing at some pics I’ve got on there of us,” Destiny explained. “She was pointing at you.”
“Dez!” she scolded and shot her friend a disapproving look.
Jane quickly glanced at Roman, hoping he wouldn’t take note of this. She didn’t want to get trolled on the internet by his friends, which she was sure they would do. She’d taken such precautions with her social media accounts to make sure none of them would realize she was on there at all.
Roman shot her a look out of the corner of his eye but went right back to staring at the road in front of them. The luminescence of the expensive vehicle’s glowing green interior lights the only ones to light his face. The farther from the city they got, the more nervous Jane became at the prospect of going to this party. She wished she’d never agreed to this.
“What? She was totally stoked about your pics. She wants to sign you, too,” Destiny praised excitedly.
“What? Are you serious? Get real, Dez. What’s she want to hire me for? To carry your bags?” Jane joked nervously.
“No, you dope,” Destiny said with a laugh. “She wants to sign you to do modeling for her. She was so excited about it, too. She wants to sign us both.”
Jane snorted, “Yeah, right.”
“Why do you say it like that?” Roman asked.
She sent him a testy glare. “I think that would be pretty obvious.”
“Not to me,” he said quietly.
“I know, right?” Destiny chimed in. “Anyways, she wants to sign you for a modeling contract. She thinks your look is very different. She’s really interested, Jane, and besides, you want outta’ here, so…”
“Dez!” Jane cut her off angrily and actually spun in her seat this time. Her friend was being way too sharing with information around Roman. She was feeding intel to the enemy.
“You should go for it!” Roman said enthusiastically. “You could be there for each other, look out for each other.”
She turned back and looked at him speculatively.
“I told her you were short, and she didn’t even care. She said your eyes are so exotic and pretty, and that your face structure is unusual and striking. Duh! She wants you for editorial ads, not commercial or runway, obviously. You’d get stomped by all us giants on the runway,” her friend said with a laugh.
Jane scoffed and said, “I think you and your agent were smoking some funky stuff that day.”
“I didn’t tell you yet ‘cuz I knew you’d react this way,” Destiny confessed. “I think you should consider it. We could move to New York together right after graduation.”
“New York?” Roman asked with interest.
Jane bit her lip and shook her head. Then she looked out her window at nothing but darkness. They were out in the country now. Her classmates that lived in this area did so on five to ten-acre estates, in mansions the size of Destiny’s but with added property so that their parents could play at being farmers. Most of them only owned show ponies, and the barns and properties and animals were maintained by farmhands, landscapers, and professional horse trainers.
“Yeah!” Destiny answered for her. “Jane and I wanna’ travel all over the world. Right, Jane? We can’t wait to get outta’ here.”
“Dez!” she corrected again. “Seriously.”
“Hey, we’re here!” Destiny answered, avoiding Jane’s scolding.
Roman pulled into the drive, which had a security gate that was opened already mounted to brick pillars with park style electric lanterns built into them. Tall, old oaks lined the paved drive that wound around the base of a hill and then up a steep incline to where it leveled off. The house was built with an eye for modern design and architecture in mind. The lower level was built into the side of the hill and had a patio where it looked as if many teenagers were already hanging out around a bonfire. There were also first and second-floor decks that overlooked the property. Roman parked near a long outbuilding that Jane guessed was a workshop or where the family stored their toys like boats, four-wheelers, or dirt bikes. When they got out, she heard the familiar whinny of horses in the distance.
“I hope Brian’s here,” Destiny said nervously and adjusted her short blue-jean skirt.
“Brian?” Roman asked, nosing in on their conversation again. “Brian Jenkins? Yeah, I heard he was coming. You’ll probably find him on Terry’s Xbox in the basement. He’s a real gamer.”
“Awesome,” Destiny said excitedly.
“Now I know why you wanted to come to this,” Jane mumbled.
“Come on, Jane,” her friend pleaded. “It’ll be fun.”
She tried not to roll her eyes as she allowed Destiny to tug her arm and pull her forward. She glanced over her shoulder and found Roman right behind them. He was grinning, and it made her wonder if this was some sort of ruse to get her to this stupid party to publicly humiliate her again.
Once they were inside, it was quickly apparent that the party was in full swing and had been for a while. People were everywhere, music was blaring, and there was even alcohol. Apparently, Terry’s father was either very lenient or out of town. Maybe both. Many people came over to say hello to Roman, but none of them spoke to her or Destiny. They all seemed a little surprised to see them with Roman. He led them down a hall toward the kitchen, seeming to know the place, and they found Terry in the
re digging bags of chips and pretzels out of the pantry room.
“Hey, man!” Terry said with a big smile toward Roman and the two clasped hands in a high five of sorts. “Jane! Awesome. You came.”
“Yeah, um, thanks for inviting me,” she said nervously and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I didn’t think you’d show up,” he admitted and threw the bag of chips to someone behind them. Jane ducked. Whoever it was, took off with the loot. “Parties and shit don’t seem to be your thing.”
“No, not usually,” she admitted.
Destiny offered, “I had to drag her. Cool place, Terry. I don’t think I’ve ever been here.”
“Oh, thanks. Yeah, it’s okay. Not really my style, but my dad likes it. My mom never woulda’ went for it. After she passed, he had this built.”
“Yeah, it’s very…masculine,” Jane observed, looking around at all the wood and modern lines and rustic décor. There was even a deer head mounted on the wall in the adjoining room, which was probably an office or den by the looks of it. “Whose horses?”
“Ours. My sister’s off at college, but she rides. I don’t. Do you?”
“A little.”
“Right, you work at the stables. I forgot,” he said.
She just nodded uncomfortably.
“Hey, let me get you a beer,” he offered and disappeared from the room and down the stairs before she could stop him. Destiny followed after him and called for him to wait up.
The kitchen was on the second floor, but it overlooked a huge great room below them. It must’ve been their main living room because a flat screen that looked at least eighty inches was mounted to a stone fireplace, and comfortable, brown leather furniture surrounded it. Beyond that was a pool table and hallways that split off in different directions. It definitely seemed like a bachelor’s pad.
“You don’t have to hang out with me. I’ll wait for Dez to come back,” she told Roman quietly.
“No, I’m fine. I want to,” he said as Terry flew back into the room and shoved the beer bottle into her hand. “Gotta go. Zeke’s about to light off the fireworks he brought. I gotta make sure he doesn’t burn down the pergola. My dad would kill me. I’ll catch back up with you guys later.”
He took off quickly, leaving her alone again. Destiny also didn’t come back. Jane looked down at the beer in her hand and frowned. Then she placed it on the granite countertop of the massive island.
“Don’t want it?” Roman asked. “I can get you something else.”
“No, no thanks. I don’t drink,” she told him.
“Me neither.”
She shot him a look that let him know she didn’t believe him.
“I don’t,” he said and went to Terry’s fridge and opened it as if he lived there. “I have my reasons.”
“What do you mean?”
He brought her over a bottle of water. “My uncle was an alcoholic. My dad’s brother. He’s the only sibling my dad had, but he gave up on him. It was really hard on my dad and my grandparents. Uncle Joe would get nabbed on a DUI, and my dad would bail him out. He’d just do it again. I think he was into drugs, too, but I don’t have confirmation of that. I don’t know.”
Jane stood there staring at Roman. She couldn’t believe he was telling her so much about himself. This was the longest they’d ever spoken. As a matter of fact, tonight was also the longest amount of time they’d ever been in each other’s company other than classes in school.
“Sorry,” he quickly apologized. “I didn’t mean to ruin the party for you. Wow. Smooth move, Lockwood.”
“No, it’s fine,” she murmured and stared at her shoes.
“Want to go down and mingle?” he asked.
She peered over the ornate, iron railing and swallowed hard. The idea of mingling with any of her classmates brought bile up in her throat. She didn’t see any that were vicious, though.
“I should check on Dez and make sure she’s okay,” she admitted.
He chuckled, “Destiny? I’m quite sure she’s fine. We’re talking about Destiny here.”
She smiled unsurely and said, “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
Laughter from the end of the hall past the den drew their attention, and Jane looked that way just in time to see one of Stephanie’s friends coming down it. She was adjusting her bra strap and pulling down the hem of her micro short red mini skirt. Her hair was rumpled. Her makeup was smudged. She stumbled, and the guy walking behind her helped by holding onto her elbow.
“Sky, you’re drunk, babe,” Bart, the guy with her, observed as they came closer. Jane also knew him from school. He played football.
Jane felt her cheeks growing hot. She wanted out of there desperately. This was one of her enemies, one of so many, but one of the more important ones because she was friends with Stephanie.
Skylar just hiccupped and stepped into the kitchen.
“Roman!” she exclaimed and ran over and into his arms as if they were long lost relatives. Then she kissed his cheek and left a blemish of bright pink lipstick there. He pulled back as if she smelled bad.
“Sky,” he acknowledged.
Then her eyes fell on Jane. “What the fuck? Is she here with you?”
“You remember Jane from school, right?” he asked Skylar.
Jane wanted to scurry away, crawl back into the shadows where she preferred to hide out from these people. She thought Destiny said none of this crew would be here tonight. It was literally the only reason she’d agreed to come.
“Fucking Jane Livingston? Clean any horse stalls lately?” she asked on a drunken laugh and then belched.
“Just ignore her,” Roman said and actually stepped closer, placing his hand on Jane’s lower back. “Skylar’s a lousy drunk.”
“Fuck you, Roman,” she blurted, pointing her finger at him and twirling it. “Wait till Steph hears about this.”
“Come on,” Roman said and led her away and down the stairs. “Just ignore them.”
“Not a problem. It’s my specialty,” she joked, earning a chuckle from him.
She could hear Skylar puking in the kitchen sink. Gross.
He led her to a room in the back of the house that resembled a theatre room which Jane had seen on the remodeling shows on t.v. that Nana Peaches watched. There were leather loungers and a huge projection screen probably ten feet across by eight feet high. It seemed that some of the boys and even a few girls were in the middle of a video game tournament. Roman pointed out Destiny, and Jane caught her eye. Her friend waved excitedly and came over.
“Sorry!” she said. “I got distracted. Everything okay?”
“Sure,” Jane lied.
Dez scowled. “Wait, are you sure? Did something…”
“Absolutely,” Jane lied again. “I’m having the time of my life. Can’t you tell?”
Dez laughed and said in a conspiratorial whisper just barely audible over the loud surround sound speaker system and the music blaring from the other part of the house, “Oh my God! Charity Vance just told me that Skylar just hooked up with Bart. Can you believe that?”
“Completely unfathomable,” Jane responded with sarcasm. By the looks of Skylar in the kitchen just a moment ago, the hookup just took place in the other room. Beside her, Roman chuckled.
“Anyway,” Dez said, “Brian’s here. Did you see? He’s playing this round. He said he’s almost finished. Then he asked if I wanted to go out by the fire with him. Awesome.”
“Great,” Jane said, trying to be encouraging when all she wanted was to go home.
“Hey, if this sucks, we can leave,” she said. “I know some of Steph’s friends showed up. I thought Terry said they wouldn’t be here.”
“Most of them are out at the quarry tonight,” Roman said.
“Oh,” Dez answered. “Wanna’ go, Jane? I’ll go home with you. It’s fine.”
“No, don’t,” Jane interrupted. Destiny was a good friend. She always was, and they never did anything like this, mostly because of Ja
ne. She owed her friend one night of just being a regular teenager. Dez had done so much for her over the years that this one time could be about her. “Just let me know when you’re ready. I think I’m gonna go out to their barns and look at their horses.”
“You sure, Jane? I’ll leave if this is sucking for you…”
“No, I’ll go with her to the barn. I’ll make sure nothing happens,” Roman answered for her. Jane looked up at him with a frown. “Go have fun with Brian. He’s a good guy. You can trust him to behave. Besides, if he doesn’t, just tell me. I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks, Roman,” Dez said and kissed his cheek before trotting back to watch her crush play some sort of violent war game.
“Ready?” Roman asked, turning to her.
“Um, sure,” she said. “I can go by myself. You don’t need to babysit me if that’s what you’re doing.”
“I want to,” he said firmly and led the way again. “I babysit my little brother. I’m not babysitting you. Not at all.”
This time they went out through another way on the lower level but managed also to avoid the bonfire crowd. Jane wasn’t sure if he was doing it to skirt the people there for fear that more of Stephanie’s friends were present at the fire or if he just didn’t want to go that way. They walked up a steep hill and came out on the other side of the house. Low, ambient lighting lined the brick walkways and dotted the landscaping with little slivers of silvery light. The moon was nearly full, so it also helped light their way.
True to his word, Terry’s friends were out in a pasture lighting off fireworks and firecrackers. Jane just hoped none of them misfired and shot at them instead.
“So, you don’t want to live here after graduation?” he asked out of the blue.
“What?” she said stupidly. “Um, no. I don’t want to stay here.”
“How come?”
She snort-laughed. “Seriously? You’re asking me that?”
“After graduation, most of these idiots will move away to college. It’s not like you’d have to see them anymore.”
“No, I probably wouldn’t. They aren’t the only reason I don’t want to live here. It’s just going to be hard.”