The Edge of Always(53)

“What, you’re like in a band?” the blonde girl asks.

I look right at her this time. “Sort of,” I say, but that’s all I give her, and I turn my attention back to Bray.

“What kind of music do you play?” Tate’s brother, Caleb, asks. He’s been getting comfortable with the other girl since we got here. They’re probably not together, either, but he’s definitely getting laid tonight.

“Classic rock, blues, and folk rock, stuff like that,” I answer and take a swig of my beer.

“You’ll have to play for us!” Bray says excitedly.

Clearly, she’s about as buzzed as Camryn, and the two of them seem to get along good.

Camryn swings around on the sand to see me, her eyes wide and enthusiastic. “You could. You’ve got the acoustic in the backseat.”

I shake my head. “Nah, I’m not up to it right now.”

“Oh come on, baby, why not?”

There are those puppy-dog eyes and Camryn’s trademark whine, which never fail to make me do whatever she wants. But I play around with it for a moment longer, hoping maybe she’ll give in and say never mind.

Of course, she doesn’t.

“Yeah, man, if you’ve got a guitar with you and know how to play, that’d be awesome,” Tate says.

By now, everyone is looking right at me—even Camryn, who is really the only one of them I’m going to do it for.

Giving in, I get up, head back to the car, and return carrying the guitar. “You’re going to sing with me,” I say to Camryn as I sit back down beside her.

“Nooo! I’m too buzzed!” She kisses me on the mouth and then moves over to sit next to Bray and Elias, I guess to give me some space.

“All right, what do you want me to sing?”

The question was for Camryn, but Tate answers, “Hey, whatever you feel like, man.”

I run a few different songs through my head for a minute and finally choose this one because it’s so short. I mess around with the strings a few times, tune it real quick, and then start to play “Ain’t No Sunshine.” I began not really giving a shit about how good it was, but like always, once I start, I become someone else and put everything I’ve got into it. My eyes stay closed through most of the song, but I can always feel the energy of those around me, whether they’re getting into it or not.

All of them are.

By the second chorus, I lock eyes with Camryn as I strum the strings. She sits in the sand on her knees, her body swaying side to side. The other girls are doing the same, getting into the music heavily. I belt out the last chorus, and that one song is all it takes for me to want to play more. Bray can hardly contain herself, telling me how great it was and being very attentive to Camryn, which makes her all right in my book. Unlike the blonde who has her eyes on me a little more than before.

“Man, you weren’t f*ckin’ playing’ around,” Tate says.

He lights up a joint.

“Play another one,” Bray says, lying against Elias again, as he wraps his arms around her from behind.

Tate passes the joint to Camryn first. She just looks at it for a second, unsure about whether or not she should. I see a trace of pain flash over her face; I know she was recalling her moment of weakness with the painkillers. She shakes her head. “No thanks, I think I’ll just stick to liquor tonight.”

I smile inwardly, proud of her decision. And when Tate offers it to me next, I follow suit, not because I wouldn’t mind a hit or two, but because I can’t bring myself to enjoy it when Camryn won’t.

I’ve never been much of a pot smoker, but it’s all right every once in a while. Right now isn’t one of those times.

I play a few more songs by the bonfire. Camryn finally does sing one with me, and then I just want to kick back with my girl and enjoy the rare high. I set my guitar down beside us on the blanket and pull Camryn onto my lap again.

Tate’s brother has been sucking face with that girl and feeling her up for a while. They don’t talk much, for obvious reasons. The blonde who had been eyeing me earlier has finally taken the hint, I think. Either that or she’s too stoned out of her mind to care about me anymore.

The music from Tate’s Jeep gets loud again, and he walks away from it carrying a bottle of Seagram’s 7, a two-liter of Sprite, and a stack of plastic cups. His girlfriend starts mixing the drinks and passing cups around.

“Have at it, man,” Tate urges us. “Don’t worry about having to drive anywhere tonight. Cops don’t even know about this place.”

“Yeah, sure I’ll have a cup,” I say.

I look to Camryn, recalling the look on her face when Tate passed her the joint earlier. “”I won’t if you don’t want to,” I say.

Aside from not wanting her to feel like she’s betraying herself by getting too drunk, I don’t want her getting so messed up she’s miserable in the morning, either.

“No, I’m good, baby. I’ll just have one cup, all right?”

She smiles sweetly up at me like she’s waiting on me to give her permission, which I find extremely f*cking cute.

“All right,” I give in, not wanting to hurt her feelings, and she takes the cup from Tate’s girlfriend.

We all sit back, drink, and talk about all kinds of random shit for the longest time. Camryn is laughing and smiling and carrying on with Bray about tampons, which I have no idea how that topic came up, nor do I want to know, but we’re having a great time. Music by bands I’ve never heard of before carry loudly through the speakers not far away, and I find myself intrigued by the last few songs that have played, which I’m sure are the same singer.