Clouds As Witnesses (RUBY DA CHERRY/$UICIDEBOY$)

Chapter 10

Shay didn't realize they had fallen asleep until a bright light had invaded their safe haven from the rest of the world. She should have known their refuge wouldn't last forever. Now they would have to face the reality of what had just happened, as surreal and blissful as it had seemed at the time. Where was the light coming from? Last she knew, they were still in the garage, now extremely humid and muggy since the car had been off for God knows how long with no air conditioning or any insulation filtering from the outside world or the rest of the house.

She heard Ari's tired groan a few inches from her ear, then felt him shift against her to sit up and rub his eyes. She kept her eyes closed, trying to ignore the blinding luminescence that threatened to assault her vision. Maybe if she ignored it for long enough, it would leave her alone. That is, until she felt Ari stiffen, still half on top of her and still borderline naked from the waist down. Her eyes snapped open and she looked up at him, his face scrunched and covered by his hand as the light was shining almost directly in his eyes. Her gaze flicked toward the car window to determine the source of it, and her worst nightmare came true. There was Scott's stupid face pressed up against the window, a flashlight in one hand and a shit-eating grin forming as he put the pieces together in his head to figure out just what had happened while he was gone.

"God damnit." Shay hissed, her fist making her way to Ari's side to nudge him off of her. When his eyes finally attended to her, they held a silent apology even though it wasn't really his fault they were out here in the first place. Shay knew when to accept blame, for the most part.

At last, Scott spoke, his voice muffled by the thick window. "Y'all fucked in my car?" He shook his head, but surprisingly didn't seem pissed. In fact, the little smirk showed quite the opposite. "You know you have keys to the house, right?"

"We didn't fuck." Ari lied, extremely unconvincingly. Thank God Ari wanted to study film behind the camera and not in front of it, because he was failing as an actor.

"Uh huh." Scott said flatly, popping open the car door with ease. "So what's that?"

He motioned to the used condom Ari had neatly tied and placed next to their discarded clothes, including her underwear, completely betraying the whole 'secret' part of their secret entanglement. Ari opened his mouth to respond, but what excuse could he make for that? That he'd fucked someone else at prom, brought the condom with him, and then fell asleep in the backseat on top of his prom date in his boxers? Unfortunately, Scott wasn't that dumb. He opted to say nothing instead, and Shay felt the blistering heat of a thousand suns rush to her face. The garage was seemingly getting hotter by the second. She couldn't wait to go inside and dive straight into the guest bed, never to see Scott again. She would have to avoid him for all of eternity now. It was the only answer.

Thankfully, he didn't press the issue too much further. "Um, Diane called me since y'all were too busy to answer ya phones. You had a lil' too much to drink and fell asleep at Tori's. You're welcome."

"Thanks." Shay mumbled. She knew her mom wouldn't be too angry at that excuse. Much better than saying "sorry, your daughter is over here fucking her friend- yeah, the one that's at your house every day."

"You didn't see anything, right?" Ari asked stupidly. Shay braced herself for the answer, but to her good fortune, Scott shook his head.

"Nah, I'm sure the thirty seconds it lasted was done way before we got back."

"It was not thirty seconds." Ari huffed quietly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, prolly seemed like thirty minutes." Scott rolled his eyes. "You forget, I've been doin' this way longer than you."