Anything but Ordinary(35)

“So miraculous,” Carter imitated him goofily. Bryce didn’t know whether to laugh or kick him under the table. He chugged his beer down to the bottom of the glass.

“Slow down, there, turbo,” she said, watching the amber liquid disappear down his throat.

Carter responded by looking at Greg and burping. Then he poured himself another. In reply, Greg chugged the rest of his own beer and slammed down his glass.

Two games and two more pitchers of beer later, Greg had won one game, Carter the other, and now they were on the edge of their seats, silently sipping their beer, waiting for their bowling balls to be ejected down the chute. When they spotted them come down the line, both guys shot up like they’d been electrocuted.

Gabby rolled her eyes and announced a girls’ bathroom break.

Greg locked eyes with Bryce, as Gabby took her hand to pull her away. Gabby led her fiercely toward the bathroom door, giving her that look. Her eyes were wide, her head tilted suggestively, as in, I know your secret. Bryce’s heart raced. She had been looking at Greg too much, she knew it.

Gabby closed the door of the dingy restroom and immediately began fixing her bun in the mirror. “So, tell me,” she said, retwisting her thick dark hair.

“Tell you what?” Bryce asked, her muscles clenched.

“Don’t play coy.” Gabby smiled devilishly. “What’s the deal with you and Carter?”

Oh. Bryce’s whole body sighed with relief. She felt like lying down on the dirty tile and going to sleep. “Nothing, really. We’re friends.”

Gabby tightened her ponytail, raising her eyebrows. “Well, there should be something.”

“What do you mean?” Bryce asked, leaning on the sink, catching Gabby’s dark eyes in the mirror.

“He can’t stop looking at you,” Gabby said in high, sing-song voice. “And he’s a doctor.”

“Please. He’s in medical school,” Bryce corrected, scrunching her hair.

“Well, whatever, I’m saying you should totally go for it.” She smiled at Bryce, her bun now perfectly in place. “We gotta get some love in your life. Something is missing, I can tell.”

“Well, we did kiss,” Bryce said coolly.

“What! Why didn’t you tell me?”

Because it was on the same day I found out you were engaged to my boyfriend, Bryce thought, but instead she just shrugged.

“I knew it!” Gabby threw her hands up. She put her hands on Bryce’s cheeks. “I knew there was something. I know you, Bryce. I can always tell with you.”

Bryce removed Gabby’s hands from her cheeks with a pained smile. When they returned to the smoky room, the boys stood up from the table.

“I won!” Greg called. Sweat was starting to dampen his T-shirt. His beer-glazed eyes sparkled.

Greg threw his arms around Bryce in a celebratory embrace, and she let herself for just one moment enjoy the comfort of that place, to go back under the bridge with the train rushing above them.

But the train had passed, and Greg’s arms loosened as he moved away to walk with Gabby. Bryce put a hand to her chest, at the hole she felt when he was gone, almost as if the train had passed right through her.





he next weekend, Bryce folded clothes with her teeth digging into her lip. Though she hadn’t gone to bed until after one, she was up at eight, humming “Hey Jude” in the shower. The water was boiling hot, just like she liked it. She coated her skin with Sydney’s vanilla body cream. Her oatmeal was buttery, covered in blueberries and cinnamon, a taste of home to fortify her for the day ahead.

She had seen bachelorette parties in movies. The purpose was wild fun, she knew that. But underneath the wild fun was the fact running through everything, the fact that the bride needed this one last crazy night before she and her groom would be together forever. Greg and Gabby together forever.

She zipped her old AAU diving equipment bag, packing a few things for the weekend ahead. Her head hurt.

Bryce knew what was happening then. It didn’t come slowly, but it came in levels, like someone was turning up the knobs as the back of her skull was placed on the burner of a stove. Frostbite grew under her fingernails and across her toes. This time, when she was tipped on her head like a rain stick, she felt relief.

Hard dirt under bare feet.

The mute echoes of a place half full of water. It was dark, night. When she reached out in front of her, there was nothing but blank space.

Her eyes adjusted. She confirmed the solidness of the edge on which she stood, and quickly, as the moon darted between clouds, the glint of water.

Then, as if it was what she intended to do all along, Bryce bent her legs. Toes pointed forward, hands crossed in front of her. Nothing fancy, she told herself, and sprung off.

Air held her, gentle and familiar like an old friend. She allowed the breeze to cradle her until the last minute, when she made herself an arrow. She pierced its center and broke the liquid line.

Bryce knew as she hit that water was lifting around her body in a circle of precious, clear pearls, but a diver never gets to see her own splash. It’s too bad, Bryce thought as she went under.

She came to on the ground, the carpet digging spots in her knees and palms as her head moved slowly out of fire.

She never used to fall over after the visions before. And her fingers still felt a little numb. Not now. She shook her sleeping hands, trying to wake them up. She wiped at her face and found a light streak of blood coming from her nose.