Thomas and Niko in the City of Trees

Chapter 3 - Part 1

So it's a couple hours later and I'm just sitting there on Lexie's bed, and she's pulling on my arm a little, which is usually a sign that she wants some attention from me, and all I can think about is how this whole thing with Thomas will go down.

Like, will he calm down about the whole stupid thing after a day or two, and then we can just go back to being normal friends? I really hope so. He's been mad at me before, but on all of those occasions, I've pretty much known why. It's usually related to me being an asshole in one way or another. This time, even though I'm thinking in through, even though I'm trying to be as honest with myself as I possibly can, I just can't see how I could have acted any differently. If I am partly at fault, then I don't know what to say sorry for. I don't even really know what the hell went wrong. It is quite the quandary, as you can see.

"What's wrong?" she says.

She really does care about me. I'm not sure what to say, so I keep it simple. "Thomas is pissed at me."

"Why?" She looks kind of bored, to be perfectly honest with you.

"We had a moment at lunch, out by his car."

"A moment?"

"Yeah, like, he asked about you and me, and we talked about it a little, and it got weird."

She no longer looks bored. "What did you tell him about us?"

"He just asked if we had done it before. Like, all-the-way done it."

"Oh."

"I hope you don't mind. I told him we did."

She's playing with this little plastic toy horse her grandpa gave her before he died. She keeps turning it over in her hands. "I don't mind."

"Anyway, he got a little weird about it. I think he's nervous about stuff with him and Madison."

"She keeps asking him about it."

I turn to her. "She does?"

"Yeah. Why, what did he tell you?"

"He wants to," I say. "He says he's waiting for the right time."

"Yeah. I think she's waiting for that, too. I bet they're both nervous."

"They deserve each other," I say. I think this is a pretty clever thing to say, but Lexie doesn't even seem to hear it.

She looks out the window. "I miss my grandma already. I wish she could've stayed longer."

"Maybe I'll meet her next time," I say. She seems happy that I said it.

We go to the window and crack it open and smoke up. I'm feeling kind of blurry and her skin starts feeling really soft as we lie back down on the bed. I keep touching her skin, especially her pale collarbone, because it just feels so nice and soft.

"Niko, if I ever see you smoking again, I swear to god..."

The air is thick. I can see the individual particles of it swimming around the room. I can feel them bouncing off my skin. My shirt is off.

"What do you call what we just did?"

"That's different." She's just talking, but the words sound like notes in a song. "That's from the earth. No chemicals."

We're not wearing any clothes.

—

It's the next morning and I wake up in my own bed. Lexie tried to get me to stay since her parents are both away, but I was kind of worried about my mom. It turns out she was fine, but lately I keep getting this feeling like something's about to go wrong.

I text Thomas to see if he'll come over and help me look at her car. He says he'll come right over. Thomas is really good for stuff like that.

"It's still a good car," he says when he opens the hood. It's already hot and he's wearing a shirt without any sleeves. This will sound so weird, but I like that his armpit hair looks exactly the same as the hair on his head: black and straight. I think it just brings everything about him together, in a way. I know that's a weird thing to say, but it's true. He's looking extra big this morning. I bet he got up and worked out. I'm kind of proud of him for doing that on a Saturday. He drags his toolbox along the ground. "I'm fucking terrified about finals," he says as he looks down at the engine. "What year is this thing? Ninety-six?"

"Ninety-seven."

"Cranks but doesn't start? I can already tell you it needs a new distributor cap. That's about the only thing that goes wrong on old Civics. At least ones of this vintage."

I like that he used the word "vintage." I ask him how much.

"Probably about a hundred and fifty." He looks at me for a second. "Want to split it?"

"What the fuck?" I say. "It's my mom's car. Why the fuck are you going to pay for it?"

"Just offering," he says in kind of a slow, quiet voice. He pauses. He's just standing there looking down at the engine. "I thought maybe you could help me study. Then I would pay half."

"I'll help you study. But you're not paying for shit. I'll be picking up more shifts in two weeks. Marlon says he can give me thirty hours a week this summer. I'll get by until then, easy."

It seems like I've convinced him. We get in his car and drive to the auto parts store.

"Yesterday, that was fucked up," he says completely out of nowhere as we turn right on Fairview. "Sorry I got mad about it."

"It's fine," I say.

"You and Lexie hang out last night?"

I told him we smoked up.

"And you didn't call me after?"

"You were being a little bitch," I tell him. He laughs at that.

We pick up the part. I pay with my debit card. Thomas says if it doesn't fix the problem we can always bring it back, which makes me relax about the whole thing quite a bit. Well, we get back to the car and it takes Thomas about half an hour, and I'm just standing there like an idiot holding his tools for him.

I would take all his finals for him if I could.

The car starts right up. It has a nasty exhaust leak that makes it sound awful, but that's not new. All I can think is how happy my mom will be that she doesn't have to walk to work. I think it makes her feel a lot more confident when she can drive around town like a normal person.

I don't want to invite Thomas up, but his hands are all dirty from fixing the car. So of course I have to. He comes in after me, and I can tell by the dumbass way he's stepping around that he's feeling pretty weird about it. He hardly ever comes into my house.

While he's washing his hands I go knock on my mom's bedroom door. She says I can come in. She's sitting up in bed, on her phone. She actually looks fairly rested.

"Me and Thomas fixed your car," I say.

Her face lights up. I don't remember the last time she looked so happy. "How did you do that?"

"New distributor, or something. Thomas knows all about it."

"How much did it cost?"

"It's crazy," I tell her. "The part was only twenty bucks." I don't even hesitate telling her the wrong amount. I'm sure you can see why it's for the best.

She insists on paying me back. She's actually pretty adamant about it. She has me go over to her dresser and take twenty dollars from her wallet. I'm surprised she has cash in there, to be honest. I can tell she's feeling good about the car, and about paying me back. She gives me a big hug and squeezes me tight for a long time. I start feeling emotional out of nowhere, but luckily I don't tear up or anything. I tell her to try and take it easy, and then Thomas and I leave the apartment.