In the Middle of Nowhere (22 page)

I quickly realized I didn’t have the luxury
of time on my side in order to make such a decision, when I looked
up and found all three of them staring at me. Before I knew it, I
sucked on the slimy, wet joint and held the foul tasting smoke in
my lungs right before I spewed it into the middle of the room,
ending the whole fiasco in a raging, coughing fit.

• • •

“You okay?” Tessa asked, genuinely concerned
for my well-being.

Once I finished choking, I answered. “Yeah.
I’m fine.”

“You’ve never smoked before, have you,
Willow?” Tessa asked as she smiled wryly and took another drag.

I hated being put on the spot, especially
with three pairs of ears waiting for a response. I didn’t want to
lie, but I also didn’t want to admit that I had never smoked
marijuana before, especially in front of the uber-cool Connor and
Rocky.

Thankfully Tessa didn’t insist upon an answer
from me and instead turned toward Connor and transferred her
magical exhaust into his mouth.

Since I didn’t feel any differently after
taking that first hit, I decided to take another one, hoping that
it wouldn’t have any effect on me the second time around. Plus, I
wanted to play it cool and not let the others think that I was
totally inexperienced when it came to drugs.

I inhaled, held my breath and exhaled slowly
this time, luckily, without coughing up a lung.

I passed the joint to Tessa. As I went to sit
back down, I almost fell over. I suddenly felt dizzy and all the
noises in the room became magnified. Between the ticking clock and
Tessa’s giggles, I felt like my eardrums were going to explode.
When I looked at Rocky and Connor, they seemed to be moving in slow
motion. I got scared for a minute because I was lucid enough to
connect the dots in my drug-affected brain and realize that I was,
in fact, high.

Connor moved his hands rapidly in front of
Tessa’s face, which made her recoil in fear. Connor and Rocky
started laughing. I chuckled. Tessa looked so silly being afraid of
Connor’s quick, yet slow hand movements.

“Stop it, Connor!” Tessa shouted in slow
motion.

Connor did it again. Tessa got up and ran
down the hallway toward the area that Jaques had come from the
first time I visited their house. Maybe she went to confer with her
brother, the drug expert, in his cave or maybe she went to use a
bathroom somewhere. Either way, I could honestly say I didn’t care
where Tessa went.

Connor and Rocky burst out laughing again. I
couldn’t control myself. I did, too! The whole scene was absurd and
I finally relaxed and put my feet up again. I took the longest hit
when Rocky handed it off to me for the third time. As I held the
THC-filled smoke in my lungs, I nodded and thought to myself, this
really was good shit.

CHAPTER
THIRTY

Tessa finally joined the three of us. By the
time she did, Connor had already raided her food pantry and popped
us some popcorn. Rocky started the movie Tessa rented and the three
of us sat there and laughed like a bunch of hyenas.

Tessa stood directly in front of Connor and
pouted. “Why didn’t you wait for me?”

Connor looked up at her and pulled her onto
his lap. “Sorry, babe. We didn’t know what the hell happened to
you.”

“You could’ve come and looked for me,” Tessa
said as she rested her head on Connor’s shoulder.

Connor was sidetracked by a funny part in the
movie and chortled. Unfortunately, unlike the rest of us, Tessa was
not amused.

She stood. “Stop watching that, Connor!” she
demanded.

“What?! Why?”

I could see Tessa thinking. She softened.
“’Cause I want to show you that new thing I bought that’s upstairs
in my room.”

Tessa now had Connor’s undivided attention.
Connor sprang up and looked her in the eyes. “Show me.”

Tessa took his hand and they walked away.

I was quite embarrassed because I could just
imagine where they were going and what they would be doing once
they got there. I looked over toward Rocky who rested easily on the
sofa as he ate popcorn and sipped a soda. He was really into the
movie and kept laughing all by himself.

I was still thirsty so I got up and went into
the kitchen. I opened the fridge and searched for something to
drink. I didn’t want another soda, so I settled on a water bottle.
As I closed the fridge and turned around, I bumped right into
Rocky, actually into his hard, muscular chest.

He was much taller than I, so I had to look
up at him.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

I showed him the water. “Just getting a
drink.”

“Why’d you leave me?”

I was confused and didn’t understand what he
meant. “Leave you? You were watching the movie and I was
thirsty.”

Rocky put both his hands on my waist and
whispered. “You’re cute. You know that?”

Nervously I looked around the kitchen, hoping
that somebody, anybody would walk into the room and interrupt the
awkward moment. I even said a quick prayer that Jaques would
suddenly appear.

No one came. Rocky closed his eyes and bent
forward to kiss me. Before his lips could reach mine, I ducked and
briskly walked away from him, straight into the family room.

I sat on the couch and remained rigid, hoping
that Rocky would take a hint and not sit anywhere near me. He
sauntered in and did exactly what I dreaded. Not only did Rocky sit
next to me, he practically sat on top of me. I stared at the TV and
pretended he wasn’t there. Pretending didn’t help for very long as
Rocky’s hand crept onto my thigh and started rubbing it.

“Hey. What’s wrong? I just wanted to kiss
you.”

My heart started beating so rapidly, I
thought it would pop out of my chest. I wasn’t high anymore and
didn’t know how to respond.

“Uh, uh,” I stuttered as I continued watching
TV. “I’m flattered, but—“

“Yum!” someone shouted. “Something smells
good out here.”

Rocky and I turned to the left and saw Jaques
entering from the hallway where he spent most of his time
hibernating.

“You guys got any left?”

Jaques stopped near Rocky and me and waved.
“Hey, man. What’s up? I’m Tessa’s brother, Jaques. And you?”

Rocky stuck out his hand to shake, thankfully
the same hand that had been rubbing my leg. “I’m Rocky.”

The guys shook. “Cool,” Jaques said and
stared at me as if waiting for my name, too.

“We’ve already met,” I said. “A couple of
times actually.”

Except for the pupils, Jaques’s eyes were
completely red. He was as high as a kite and I wasn’t surprised. He
smiled as he remembered. “Yeah, that’s right. Holly, right? Your
name is Holly?”

Rocky chuckled next to me. I couldn’t help
myself and giggled, too. I put on my most serious face and smiled
up at Tessa’s baked brother. “Yes, you’re right. My name is
Holly.”

• • •

I wasn’t insulted that Jaques didn’t remember
my name. At least my prayers were answered when he came in and he
stopped Rocky from making any more moves on me.

I couldn’t believe I actually thwarted “The
God’s” attempt at seducing me. The hottest boy in school wanted to
kiss me and I actually stopped him dead in his tracks. I’m sure he
was flabbergasted that a little ole sophomore like me didn’t want
to get to first base with a big, manly senior like himself.

A part of me almost wished that I was still
on speaking terms with Erica and Taylor. Their heads would spin
with this latest tale. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t
believe a word of it.

Jaques ate the rest of the popcorn and
watched the movie with Rocky and me. Jaques laughed at every joke,
even the ones that weren’t funny. But, because he was there, Rocky
didn’t try to get to any base with me. I never thought I’d be so
happy to be in the presence of crazy Jaques, but I was.

The movie was almost over when Tessa and
Connor decided to come back downstairs and join us. Connor was
disheveled.

“Come on, guys,” she said. “Connor and I
wanna go to the store to get some beer.”

Jaques stood up and fished for his wallet.
“Hey, can you dudes bring me back some if I pay for all of it?”

Connor’s green eyes got big. “Sure!”

Jaques handed Connor a wad of bills.

“Thanks, man,” Connor said.

“No, thank you,” Jaques said before he bowed
to Connor, as if he were addressing royalty.

Tessa rolled her eyes. Rocky and I stood and
followed her and Connor into the hallway and toward the foyer.

When we reached the front door, Rocky leaned
over and whispered to me, “Her brother is the weirdest dude I’ve
ever met.”

I looked up at him and smiled. “Tell me about
it!”

• • •

Connor drove us in his parents’ Lexus to the
same convenience store where I had caught Brian, or his identical
twin brother, earlier in a compromising situation with another
woman. I did realize, though, that I’d have to investigate further
before I could make any accusations against him.

Tessa sat in the front with Connor, Rocky and
I in the back. Rocky ran inside to buy the beer, even though both
he and Connor had fake IDs.

Rocky came out with two twenty packs of
beer.

“Who the heck’s gonna drink all that?” I
asked.

“You don’t know these two,” Tessa said as she
turned toward Connor and ran her fingers through his hair.

“Plus, we gotta bring some back to Jaques,”
Connor added.

Rocky climbed in back with the beer, ripped
open the cardboard and handed one to Connor. He popped open a can
for himself and asked Tessa and me if we wanted one.

“No thanks,” we both said in unison.

Tessa leaned over to Connor. “Let’s take a
drive. I don’t want to go back to my house right away.”

“Doesn’t Jaques want his beer? He did pay for
it.”

Tessa got annoyed. “Did my brother look like
he needed beer? He’s probably passed out by now.”

“Where do you wanna go then?” Connor
asked.

“I don’t care.” Tessa turned to Rocky and me.
“Do you guys have any suggestions?”

I shook my head.

“Where’s there to go?” Rocky asked.

With no real purpose or direction, we headed
south on Webster Avenue. I was concerned because Connor started on
his second beer as he drove. That’s one thing I wasn’t cool with,
drinking and driving, but I didn’t want to seem like a total geek
by saying so. Instead, I kept my eyes peeled to the darkened road
in front of us in case Connor became impaired.

Finally we slowed and pulled into a parking
lot. At first I didn’t recognize where we were, but I then realized
we were at the only elementary school on the island, my brother’s,
called Orchard, where my mother just happened to work. Connor
killed the headlights.

“Why are we here?” Tessa wanted to know.

Connor shrugged. “Where else can we go? It’s
freezing.”

“Again, so why are we here, if we’re not
going to play outside on the swings?” I could hear the annoyance in
Tessa’s tone.

Connor turned toward Tessa and the two of us
in back. He sipped his beer. “I happen to know a way to get into
the school, even though it’s locked.”

Rocky finished his beer, crushed the aluminum
can in his hand and threw it on the floor. “Didn’t you and some
other guys do this a few years ago and get busted?”

Connor smiled. “Yeah, but I was stupid back
then and have learned never to make the same mistake twice.”

“I’m game. Let’s go,” Rocky said as he opened
his door, grabbed the case of beer and climbed out. Connor
addressed Tessa and me. “You two gonna come?”

Tessa looked at me and shrugged. “Sure. What
the hell else are we gonna do besides freeze our asses off out
here?”

Connor got out and Tessa followed. I sat
there for a moment, frozen, not from the cold, harsh temperatures
that now permeated the car, but from the fear of what we were about
to do. I just knew in my gut that nothing good would come of
it.

As I sat there and contemplated my next move,
I could see their three shadowy figures off in the distance,
getting smaller and less visible. I was scared to go, but even more
scared to stay alone in the car, in the middle of the dark and
desolate parking lot.

Against my better judgment, I left the safety
of the car and followed them into the night and into the worst
decision of my life.

CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE