Eyes Wide Open

ten

Dash showed up at my house Friday before school. I didn't even realize he was there until I walked outside and saw his car parked across the street.

When I walked down the driveway, he rolled down his window. "Uber for Blake?" he called out to me.

I rolled my eyes at him and jogged up to the passenger side and got inside. "Giving me rides now?" I asked him.

"Girls like you deserve to be chauffeured," Dash replied with a wink.

"Girls like me?"

As Dash pulled away from my house, he answered, "Yeah. You know, blind girls." He smiled at me to show he was joking.

"Dick."

While he drove us to school, Dash reached out a hand, palm-upward. He didn't even look over at me to see if I would take it; I just did, instinctively.

"Do you want to go on another errand with me later? After school?" he asked.

"Yeah, okay."

Strange how I didn't even hesitate, how no part of my brain screamed at me that dealing drugs with Dash was a bad idea. I hadn't even considered the moral implications of the choices I'd been making. With Dash, I felt invincible, like the rules didn't matter anymore.

When we pulled up into the school parking lot and got out together, it felt like everyone was staring at me, wondering who was the girl that Dash was hanging out with.

"Is everyone staring at us?" I asked him quietly as we walked towards the entrance.

Dash just shrugged. "Who cares?" Then, he grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. "They're all a bunch of boring nobodies."

I considered his response as we approached my locker. Dash leaned against the lockers, looking at me. "I'll meet you in the parking lot at 3, okay?"

I smiled at him. "Okay."

Instead of doing the little salute he sometimes did to me as a goodbye, Dash grabbed my face and gave me a peck on the lips. Then he walked away, as though he didn't notice everyone in the hallway gawking at him, at us.

As I opened my locker and started pulling out my books, I realized that I was in deeper than I had ever intended to go. Deeper with Dash, with my feelings for him, with the things we did together.

But the thought of pulling back, of returning to the person I was before, felt impossible now. Dash had a way of making everything else seem dull by comparison. I had made my choice, and I was going to see it through. Whatever that meant.

***

I had lied to my dad and told him I'd joined the photography club, which gave me some leeway to hangout with Dash after school.

I got through the most annoying 7 hours of my life, and when the bell rang at the end of 6th period, I hurried out to the parking lot. To Dash.

He greeted me by saying, "Listen. There's a few rules I need to teach you before we go."

"'Oh, hi, Blake. How was your day?' That's how normal people greet each other," I told him pointedly.

Dash scoffed at me. "Since when do you want to be like normal people?"

He had me there. I stayed silent and gave him a look like touché.

"Alright, first rule of the trade," he continued, "is to never carry more than you need. If you get caught, less is always better. Second, always look confident. People can sense fear, and fear is a weakness. Third, know your exits. Always have an escape plan."