s t a y d o w n d e e p

4

I spent the next few days unpacking, sleeping, and online shopping. The unpacking didn't actually take too long, considering I hadn't brought much from Vegas, and I hadn't owned much to begin with. Just my large but plain white bed, a bookshelf with some of my favorites plus a few random unread books I'd collected over the years, my desk, the MacBook sitting on my desk and a closet full of clothes I hadn't so much as touched since my arrival, hence the online shopping.

Even though I put up a fuss, I had to admit, the new job was definitely paying off, literally. I had found the other day, that my card had 500 more dollars on it from my last paycheck. Which was usually spent on food when mother forgot to buy groceries, leaving me to scrounge thrift stores for clothes.

We weren't poor necessarily. Except in the beginning of course. After my dad ran off when I was 4, he left my mother all his gambling debts, and the crippling depression that she suffered from didn't help. But we got through it, financially at least. And after years of working hard to be a solid middle-class family with regular income, things were starting to look up even more.

When I questioned my mother about the money she said, "You're welcome," and went back to typing. So I decided to spend my newly found cash on a gorgeous nylon skater dress that was hanging on the back of my door.

My window had a beautiful view of the marina, and we even had our own dock leading out to the water. I could almost ignore the fact that our home looked like every other vacation home on our street, or the fact that all the others were empty. I could ignore it... almost.

In fact, my days started to fall into a lazy routine, one I might've possibly stayed in all summer, if it weren't for that night.

I hadn't so much as heard from my new friends except Poppy, via txt-message, but that was all about to change.

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2:06 p.m.

That was time my alarm clock read when I was a abruptly awoken from my sleep. My copy of The Bell Jar lay face down beside me, and I was still in my underwear and Ash's green flannel shirt I had fallen asleep in earlier that night. I should have felt ashamed that I kept wearing it, I should have felt ashamed that I couldn't wash it in fear that the smell would go away, that beautiful clean smell. I should have felt ashamed, but I didn't. I pushed the hair back from my face, and searched my pitch-black room for the source of my awakening.

Nothing

It was pure silence, and I had began to think I was imagining it all. That was until I heard it again.

tap tap tap

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," I gasped trying desperately to think of what to do next. I debated on opening the window and fighting whatever faced me, but I realized that's what happens in horror movies before the bitch dies.

I decided on calling 911

My fingers hovered over the emergency button when a familiar voice sounded from directly outside my window.

"Sterling, I can hear you hyperventilating from the other side of the window. It's just me."

I pulled back my curtains, unhooked the latch to the window and found staring back at me, none other than Fern, a lit cigarette dangling from his crooked grin, his face pixelized by the screen.

"Why... how-What the fuck?!" I half-yelled at him.

"Shhh, shhh," he whispered "Keep your voice down, okay? I have a proposition for you." A cheeky little smile settled on his lips.

I looked down to find he had his foot wedged in a spot where a brick had come loose, his arms settled on my flower box. He had apparently scaled the trellis to make it up to my second story window. But what surprised me more, was that on the ground below was Poppy, Marley, RJ, and Connor, all sprawled out on my lawn in different states of boredom. I wondered how long they had been there.

As if answering my question Fern said,

"You're a heavy sleeper."

I looked down again, it disappointed me that the boy I yearned for the most to be in my back yard at 2 in the morning, wasn't.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There's going to be a little 'get together' tonight," he said and I could tell there wasn't going to be anything little about it.

"Down at the south end of the beach," he continued, " The estate section. The rich kids always throw it right before they all leave to go on vacation."

"And...?" I asked

"And, you're coming with us."

I hadn't had a moment to contemplate this when Poppy stood up.

"She's awake, thank god. Look Sterls, you better get your pretty ass to moving, we have shit to fuck up tonight."

"You heard the woman," said Fern, "The night is young, and as much as I'm loving this," he smirked, glancing across my half naked body. I pulled the flannel tighter around me. "Which is a lot by the way, where we're going, you're going to need a little something different." He finished, tapping the ash off his cigarette.

Thank god for that online shopping.

I climbed out of my window 5 minutes later, in the new expensive, tight, dress, with black patterned tights underneath, my hair scrubbed until it looked wild, and a lot of black shit around my eyes.

I looked like a fucking delinquent. We all did. And it felt good.

The moment I would remember forever was not a moment I saw coming. And when I jiggled the screen away from my window leaving me enough space to slip out, I certainly didn't know what the night could hold.

When I got to the ground I saw that Fern had torn up all my flowers on his trellis journey to my window.

"You're gonna fix that," I told him pointing to the mess.

"Anything for you babe," he said pulling me close to his body, his words oozing with flirtatiousness.

Of course I wasn't actually his babe. Not in reality. not in any way that mattered. I didn't belong to anyone, but then again neither did he. We were alike in that way. Neither of us cared, both of us hurt in similar aspects that no one else would understand. We weren't real people, we were just ideas. Idolized and painted to be however the world wanted. He was careless and captivating.

Fern

A name you remember... and I was an endless enigma, for everyone including myself.

Even though, in reality we were just teenagers. Even though all we really had was where the night would take us. Even though we were reckless, and stupid, and our lives were merely fleeting stars in a universe of constellations.
On that night, in that town,

We were invincible.

And damn did we know it.