She Dims the Stars(24)
September breaks and starts laughing, bent over, her hand raised toward him as she waves it frantically for him to stop stuttering. “Stop! Stop. I’m kidding. Holy shit, your face. I wish you could have seen your face. Are you okay? Oh, wow. Did that freak you out?”
He’s crestfallen as he tries to collect himself and rummages around for another hot dog and bun. “No, it didn’t freak me out.” I know for a fact it didn’t. He watches those Amish shows on TV all the time, and I’m a thousand percent sure he’s got a thing for one of the girls on there.
“I’m finishing my gap year and headed back home. I took the time off to decide if I wanted to get my master’s or not.” Her voice is gentle now as she reaches out and pats his knee. He looks up, and his eyes get big when her hand makes contact.
“What are you studying?” Audrey asks.
September looks beyond me to answer. “Clinical Psychology.”
Audrey’s fingers slip around my bicep, and she grips harder than I think she realizes when she answers in that fake voice she reserves for Cline, “That’s amazing.”
The tent is quiet as the sun begins to peek in through the window screen facing the east. Audrey’s body is pressed up against mine, her face buried in my chest, only the top of her head visible under the blanket. I shake her gently and she curls up even tighter.
“Today’s the big day. You’re jumping off a cliff. Are you ready?”
Her head raises slowly and her eyes appear, sleep rimmed and half open. “Did I tell you I’m afraid of heights?” I move to sit up, but she presses me back down with her hand on my face. “Don’t move yet. I need to get into the right head space. Just stay here with me for a minute, okay?”
“Yeah, okay, I can do that.” Wrapping an arm over her, I pull her closer and stare up at the top of the tent. The smell of the damp nylon takes me back to a memory of my dad, and I blink it away before the feeling can overwhelm me. I try not to dwell on thinking about him in any way other than with a detached eye through making my game. Or talking about him limitedly with my mom. Otherwise, the pain gets to be something I can’t shake.
“Cline stayed with September last night?”
“Yeah.” I laugh and it causes her head to bounce on my chest. “I told you he moves fast.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation to you, she asked if you were single.”
I sit up and she follows, her hair sticking to the side of her face while she yanks her clothes into place. “Did you tell her yes?”
“Were you interested?” Her eyes are searching mine, and for a moment my heart beats off rhythm under her gaze. Would I have been interested in another girl right now? Hooking up with September in her tent with Audrey and Cline in the one I’d brought for us all on this trip? The thought of Audrey in the sleeping bag alone while …
Then there would have been the wrath of Cline.
“No. I wouldn’t do that to Cline.” Or you, I think, but I don’t say it out loud.
Her demeanor has gone cold, and she scoots away to stand up. “Next time a girl asks if you’re available, I’ll let her know you are. I have to go change.” With that, she’s gone from the tent and I’m left to wonder exactly what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.
The sounds from the other campsite let me know our friends are awake, so I get up and change into my swim shorts and grab a towel, stepping out of the tent just in time to see Cline tumbling out of September’s. She’s on all fours, her head poking out of the flap, and he leans down to give her a kiss before he turns and half runs, half hops across gravel to get to me.
“I take it last night went well?”
The grin on his face is more than enough to answer my question, but he does anyway. “I wanna keep her. Can we keep her? Can she come with us?”
“She’s not a puppy, dude. She’s a person.”
His whole face lights up. “I think she might be my person.” He doesn’t wait for a response from me before disappearing into the tent and making a bunch of noise while he changes into his swim shorts.
I start to think about what he’s said. Is it that easy? Can you just meet someone that fast and know? Shouldn't it take longer?
As I’m pondering these questions, Audrey appears on her way back from the bathrooms. She has changed into a bathing suit, but she’s wearing some sort of cover-up on top of it. Her hair is pulled back away from her face, no trace of makeup, and she’s doing that thing with her hands again.
“Cline’s in there,” I call out in warning before she walks into the tent and finds him with his dick hanging out.
“Shit. I need my bag from in there.” Her fingers are tapping faster now, and there’s a look of panic that crosses her features momentarily before she smooths them out again.
“Which one?” I ask, though I think I know.
“The small one with the flowers. I keep it in my purse.”
“I know the one. I’ll grab it.” She doesn’t have time to argue with me before I’m unzipping the tent and crouching inside, ignoring my friend and his half naked ass. The bag is exactly where she says it will be, and it makes a rattling noise when I grab it, so I hold it closer to my stomach to quiet it down. Grabbing another towel, I wrap it inside and slip a bottle of water in there, too, before escaping back out without a word. I hand her the entire thing, discreetly packaged, because I know. And unlike what she may be used to, I’m not judging her.