The Easy Way Out

29

To celebrate her 16th birthday, Ashley took a leisurely walk to the local department store to shop for a new pair of shoes or anything else that might catch her fancy. The afternoon had settled over the hushed neighborhood trying to catch its breath in the heat.

She pulled open the front door and wandered in, the musty thrift store smell greeting her. Ceiling fans spun lazily, a poor substitute for air conditioning. She sauntered down the center aisle then veered off toward the displays of juniors' clothing, feeling out of place in the small town store amidst a modest crop of low-income clientele and welfare card shoppers.

She sorted through a rack of tops when a handsome, rugged-looking young man caught her eye. He followed a middle-aged woman, his focus obviously on the purse looped over her forearm. When the woman stopped at a table of folded sweaters, he made his move. He stumbled into the woman, clenching her shoulders to prevent her from toppling.

"Sorry, ma'am," he said. "I'm nothin' but clumsy is what."

She was shaken, finding herself in the arms of the handsome stranger.

"You okay?" He leaned in closer.

She nodded, a little unsteady.

"You have yourself a fine day," he said, before heading to the exit.

Ashley followed him outside and watched him jogging toward an old junker, fishing for the keys in his pocket. She startled him when she came around the tail of his car. "What'd you get out of that? Like a whole ten bucks?"

"What?"

"I saw you in there with your bump and grab. You're an amateur, ain't you?"

He displayed a mouthful of straight, white teeth, unusual for boys in the region. "Where are my manners? I'm Harley. And you are..."

"Vanessa," she said, smiling with high summer cheeks.

Looking her up and down he commented, "Vanessa. That suits you." He unwrapped a stick of gum and grinned. "My last one. Split it with you."

"I don't accept candy from strangers." She leaned against his car.

He locked eyes with hers. "You ain't from around these parts. I'd sure as hell woulda noticed you."

"I sailed in on a breeze," she said.

"What breeze?" He tugged at the neck of his t-shirt. "Look at you. Not a hair outta place in this heat."

She bent down, finding a white pebble among the gravel. "How about that? A lucky stone."

He wasn't looking at the stone. "Ain't your boyfriend gonna get mad you talkin' to strangers?"

"Well, he ain't here."

"He's a damn fool to let a red hot thing like you roam around on her own." He worked the gum around his mouth.

"I'm partial to fools. How 'bout you, Harley?"

"I'm whatever you want me to be."

########

As the sky went purple, Harley parked his car on the side of the road beside a grove of pecan trees. He took the cup of soda from her hand, reached across the console, and kissed her. One kiss led to the next and in short order, the kisses deepened, his spearmint tongue finding hers, his hands roaming. When he reached for the button on her jeans, she pushed his hand away. The passion intensified. Harley made another attempt and once again, he was rebuffed.

"I like you, Vanessa," he whispered.

"I can see that. It's about time you took me home. It's a school night... Guess you don't have much use for school."

"I did pretty good when I was at it."

She pulled out of his arms, took the cup from the console, swirled the melting ice at the bottom, and drew a drink through the straw.

"Ain't even late," he said, watching her fixing her hair and makeup in the vanity mirror.

"You taking me home like I asked?"

"Surely don't want to."

"It don't change the fact that I got homework to do."

He started the engine, vigorously chomping his gum.

Ashley wiped her tongue across her raw lips. "And Harley, this might be romantic for all your other girls--"

"--Ain't no other girls--"

"--parking out in a pecan grove watching the sunset. But I'm not common."

"I know it."

"If you got it in your head that I'm gonna let you make love to me on the side of the road somewhere..."

He kissed her hand tenderly. "You are something special, Vanessa. By God, I'll put a diamond crown on your head and take you to the finest places to show you off."

She grinned a flirtatious smile as he put the car in gear.

Thirty minutes later, his old car squeaked to a stop at the intersection of the paved road and the trailer park's gravel driveway.

"Here?" he asked.

"Yep. You can drop me off right here."

He leaned across the seat for a kiss.

"You gonna be my special friend, Harley?" she whispered.

"I aim to be a helluva lot more than that."

He kissed her lustfully. She withdrew, dewy-eyed, and opened the car door.

"Well, okay then," she said. "So you can call me Ashley."

"Why would I do that?"

"Cuz that's my name," she said as she got out of the car.

In disbelief, he watched her walk the pathway toward her aunt's trailer, gravel crunching under her feet. He had no idea what the hell had just happened.

########

Morning broke but the heat didn't. Ashley plodded down the sidewalk, school books in her arms, lost in thought.

An older model sedan slowed beside her with a man wearing an ear stud behind the wheel. He lowered the window and raised his blue-tinted sunglasses. "Good morning, Miss Chavers. May I offer you a ride to school in air-conditioned comfort?"

Ashley grinned and, without a moment's hesitation, got into the front seat. "Thanks, Mister Albertson. I missed the school bus." She sighed.

"Tardiness often robs us of opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces."

"You didn't just make that up, did you now?"

"No, Miss Chavers. That's Machiavelli. You know what it means, don't you?"

"Has to do with being punctual, or something like that."

"That's right."

When she leaned closer to the air vents on the dash, basking in the cool air against her face, he took the opportunity to ogle her legs.

"Such a pretty day," she said. "Seems a shame to waste it on school."

"What are your plans following school?"

"This afternoon?"

"No, I was referring to your plans after you graduate high school next year. College perhaps?"

"Something to take me out of this run-down old town. Maybe could be college."

"If you applied yourself I'm sure you'd have no problem getting into any number of fine colleges."

Ashley chuckled. "If I applied myself?" She gave him a flirtatious smile. "That's cute."