A few weeks later, we took them to our favorite spot on an abandoned country road, the perfect spot to stargaze and play glow-in-the-dark pick up sticks, which we'd invented.
The eight of us fit nicely into the pink SUV and we stocked up on half of 7-Eleven's snack items before driving the fifteen minutes to our destination. I had already hit up the dollar store earlier that day for the glow sticks.
It was almost eleven when Freddy parked on a straightaway beyond city limits, where the road ended around the bend ahead. It had been washed out years before and a new route built nearby, so those with houses on the other side of it used that way. The last house was two miles before the washed out area. The property extended to the part of road we were on, and Scottish Highland cattle grazed with their giant horns, looking way out of place.
Hadley had loved them. This was her favorite place in the world.
We all got out, leaving the stereo on, and Gage and Mara eyed the surrounding area with awe. "Wow. No lights. Weird," she said.
"This is incredible," he agreed. He had a black hat on backwards and flashed his crooked smile at me before turning his attention back to Erika. I couldn't blame him. She had dressed down in old jeans and a spaghetti strap heather grey tank top, which technically had a built-in shelf bra, though it did little good. Thank you, universe.
The only light came from the nearly full moon. I climbed up on the hood of the car and lay back with my arms folded behind my head. Without hesitation Mara followed.
"Looks like someone poured a billion stars onto the sky," I observed.
The others were settling on the blacktop, which I knew was still warm from the day. We had come here many times. At least a hundred, over the years. It was our own piece of nowhere, discovered by accident when we were sixteen and driving aimlessly around listening to loud music one night.
Evie was hard to see at all as she wore a black wig with straight bangs, black and red striped tights, and a black dress with long sleeves and silver buttons and zippers all over it. Her makeup was mostly black, too, making her look like an exotic doll.
"Okay, so," Freddy said in his riddling voice. "If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven't got me. What am I?"
We knew too well, though ironically Freddy did not remember. "A secret," I answered, along with Erika, Mo, Cam, and Gage. I found my cigarettes and sparked one of the joints I'd tucked away in there.
"Yum," she said, smelling it.
"Blue Dream." I passed it to her.
"Okay, I have one, if it pleases the crowd," she offered, leaning down to pass the joint to Mo. "You hear it speak, for it has a hard tongue. But it cannot breathe, for it has not a lung. What is it?"
That stumped everyone for a minute, except probably Evie. But she had her rocks out and was arranging them in the near dark.
"A bell," Cam said slyly as he realized. He took the joint from Mo, hit it, and passed it to Evie. "Good one."
"Smarty pants," I grumbled. My brain didn't do riddles well. I lit a cigarette, fished out another joint, and handed it to Mara with the lighter. "Get anyone in trouble today?" I asked in reference to the mystery shopping.
She sparked it and then traded me. "I took the day off." The music changed, the new song heavy with bass through the hood.
"Hey, this is pretty bumpin' for a pink car," she said teasingly to Freddy, who was hitting the first joint.
YOU ARE READING
I'll Be Holding on to You
General Fiction"Who would you live for? Who would you die for? . . . And would you ever kill?" Some people are just born with tragedy in their blood. Dorienne and her best friends definitely fall into that category, and have spend much of their lives recovering fr...
