TEAGAN’S CRYING SILENTLY AS SHE drives down the street like a bat out of hell.
“Where are we going?” I ask, not wanting to push her but also not real crazy about the direction we’re going.“Away,” she says, her voice wavering as she works to hold in a sob. “Away tooooooo … crack-whores-ville?”“Yes.” She shifts to a higher gear and presses the accelerator harder. “Okaaaay.” I pause as I consider my next words. I’m not sure that this isthe best time to engage her in a conversation about what Olga said or did. “How about you pull into that Denny’s over there and we talk in the parking lot?”“I hate Denny’s. I’m not going there.”“You don’t have to eat. Just pull in.” I reach over and nudge the steering wheel.She huffs out an annoyed breath, but downshifts and swings the car into the lot. I have to brace myself against the door and dashboard to keep from being unseated.“Wow. Been practicing stunt driving long?” I ask, trying to lighten the mood.“Shut up,” she says, rolling towards a space and turning off the engine at the same time. We coast into the spot and come to a stand-still. She jerks up the emergency brake and then puts her arms and forehead on the steering wheel.I rub her back, waiting for her to spill her guts.“He lied,” she finally says. “He lied about that … that … supermodel assbag.”“Olga?”She turns her head to look at me. “Who else would I be talking about?” “Sorry. Geez, lighten up, okay? I’m not the enemy here.”She turns her face to look at the floor again. “I know. I’m just … really upset.” She’s crying before the sentence is fully out.I grab her by the shoulders and pull her towards me. “Come here, Tea-Tea.Don’t cry on your steering wheel, cry on me.”She leans towards me like she has no bones left in her body. Her arms hang limply by her sides as she heaves out tear after tear and sob after sob.“Listen, I’m only in the Rebel fan club if you’re the president, so don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe you just misunderstood something. I mean, did he actually lie to you or did this Olga bitch do the lying?”Teagan sits up suddenly, wiping her face with her hand angrily. “No. It was a lie of omission. I asked him weeks ago whether he was ever with her and he denied it. But apparently, that’s a big fat fucking lie. They were together, Quin. Together. As in a couple.”“Wait a minute … I thought you told me he did admit to being with her.I’m confused.”“No, what I said was that he said he was just in some small thing that was nothing and was very short and no big deal.”“Somehow I doubt those are his words. There are way too many syllables involved.”“You know what I mean! He says a lot without saying a lot.” I snort. “Says you.”“Quin! Whose side are you on?!” Her face is bright red, and I’m trying really hard not to fish around for a tissue to wrangle the snot coming out of her nose.“I’m on yours, of course.” I look away. “Gah, Teagan, wipe your nose.My stomach is a mess tonight and you’re making me sick.”She uses the back of her hand, which doesn’t improve my indigestion onebit.I get a text, and since the only people who text me at this time of night arepretty much in the car with me right now I look at my phone.Are you with Teagan?I don’t recognize the number, but I’m pretty sure I know who it is. I respond with my own text: Go away.“Who is it?” Teagan asks, wiping her nose again. “It’s Mick, I think.”“What does he want?”“He wants to know if I’m with you. I told him to go away.”Bring her to RW. Don’t let her go to that hole.“He wants me to bring you to Rebel Wheels. They don’t want you over at the Golden Tooth Legacy.” She huffs out a snort. “Like they can tell me what to do.”I chew my lip, trying to figure out how I can manipulate her into going to Rebel’s place. I’m with Mick. I don’t want her hanging out with the break- dancing alcoholics at her old apartment complex where she still has a place. “Listen, babe … don’t you think you’re better off in a safe place where kidnappers can’t snag your ass and punch your face off?”She hesitates and I hold my breath, waiting for her response. I’m worried I’ve pushed too hard and will end up hitching a ride home.“That’s not going to happen again. No one’s going to touch me. My step- mother knows they’re watching her.”“Let’s hope not. But just to be sure, I’d sleep a lot better knowing you have a wall of muscle between you and the bad guys, if you know what I mean.”“But that muscle is a liar.”“Only some of that muscle is a liar. You still have Colin, and if you ask me, he’s plenty of muscle all on his own.” I can still remember the pile of wasted human being that greeted us at the top of Rebel’s stairs, when he basically rescued Teagan from their asses. One of them was in a coma for a week and the other one had just about every bone in his face broken.Teagan sighs out long and loudly. “Fine. Take me to Rebel Wheels. But I am not sleeping in the same room as him. I’m sleeping on the couch.”“Good. I don’t want you sleeping with that turdle. He needs to come clean and tell you the whole truth.”“Damn straight,” she says, starting up her car and reversing out of the space. “I’m not putting up with any bullshit. I may still be poor and pretty much totally dependent on him for survival, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let myself get walked on. I’m not a friggin doormat.” She spins her car’s back wheels out as she takes off onto the main road.“Hell to the yeah, you’re not. And don’t shoot me for saying this, but I don’t think Rebel would expect or want you to be. Doormattage is not sexy.”“Yeah, well, I thought I knew him pretty well, but now I wonder.”The rest of the ride to Rebel’s place passes in silence. I come up with no less than six conversation starters, all of which I abandon in favor of saying nothing. I want to believe Rebel didn’t lie and that this is all a big misunderstanding, because without his support, I really don’t know what my friend will do. I could probably get my parents to let her stay on our couch for a couple days, but after that I know they’ll tell me she has to go. Our house is just too freaking small and with Jersey there making everything ten times harder than it would be without him, having guests is just beyond my parents’ stress threshold.WE PULL INTO THE PARKING lot of Rebel Wheels as the door to the main office flies open. A girl with long black hair comes storming out, and Teagan barely misses running her over.She screams in surprise and then glares at us through the windshield. “Watch where you’re going, you crazy bitch!” she screams.Teagan yanks her emergency brake up in one quick pull and throws open the door. “I know you didn’t just call me a crazy bitch.”The girl with the hair is no dummy. Even I’m scared at Teagan’s tone. She takes one look at my BFF’s angry expression and hightails it over to her white BMW. She’s in with the doors locked before Teagan even makes it around her Beetle.“That’s right!” Teagan yells at the back of the car as it roars past us. “You better run!”I look at Teagan and start laughing. Her hair is all over the place and one of her boobs is almost out of her dress.“What are you laughing at?” she says.“I’m not sure, but I think I’m looking at a very angry hooker.” I point to her che
THE PLACE IS A DISASTER. I stop in the entrance and take it all in. Dirty dishes cover the coffee table in front of the television. Clothing is draped over all the furniture, most of it way past the stage of needing a washing as far as I can tell. There are art canvasses of different sizes leaning in stacks against the walls and what I guess to be an easel in the corner of the room nearest the windows with a sheet draped over the painting that’s underneath. Paintbrushes are standing in old coffee cans on the windowsill and there are multi-colored paint spatters all over the tarp that’s on the ground and even the walls nearby. It smells like a paint store in here.I could have sworn Teagan told me that she’d been in here before, but she never mentioned any of this to me. I make a mental note to discuss this with her, because if her powers of observation somehow missed all of this, I’m going to recommend she get a brain scan of some sort.“You want something to drink?” he asks, moving o
I’M WALKING DOWN THE STREET wondering how long it’ll be before someone either pulls over and offers me a fiver for a BJ or shoots me in the back.Apparently, not long.A car slows down next to me and I squeak with fright, jumping off the sidewalk and into the weeds. A man’s voice comes at me as I kick at the soggy cardboard boxes that are tangling themselves around my feet.“Hey, sexy. Need a ride?”I spin around, grabbing my purse to keep it close and ready to let loose a string of nasty cuss words, when I recognize the car. It’s a bright red mustang, one I’ve seen parked at Rebel’s place before. Mick is in the driver’s seat.“Go away,” I say, getting my breath back and stepping onto the sidewalk.I walk as fast as I can in my heels.He drives along slowly next to me, his arm hanging out of the window and hugging the side of the car. “Come on, Quinlan, don’t make me beg.” He’s laughing at me, I can tell by the tone of his voice.“I don’t see what’s so funny. And stop calling me Quinl
MY MOM STICKS HER HEAD in the door to my room. I can see her through a crack in my covers. “Teagan’s here, sweetie. She brought you lunch.”I close the crack made by my bedspread so I can’t see her happy face anymore. “Tell her I have ebola virus and to stay away.”I hear some whispering that includes Teagan’s voice. The door to my bedroom shuts.“Get up, you skanky ho. I have Taco Bell,” she says.I peek out of my covers. I have always been unable to resist the siren song of The Bell, and she knows it. I’d pretty much dive into a pool full of oh-my- god-those-are-not-Baby-Ruths for home-delivered Taco Bell. Dammit. Teagan has brought out the big guns.The fact that she barely has any money to her name tells me how far she’s willing to go for me right now. I resign myself to the fact that I have to respect that kind of dedication and eat every crumb of whatever she’s brought me.That’s what friends do for friends. I will just have to sacrifice. “What kind of Taco Bell?” I say.“Do you
WE’RE STROLLING UP THE SIDEWALK that leads into the health clinic to retrieve the no-baby pills when a familiar face comes walking out in the other direction.“Alissa, hey!” I say, fully expecting her to smile politely like she always does and greet me back. We were never really close friends or anything, but the two of us having the same major and her living in Teagan’s dorm had us crossing paths a lot over the last few years. She’s a lot more serious about life then either Teagan or I am, but that doesn’t stop her from always being polite.She’s a good girl like that.Alissa looks up at me, her eyes bloodshot and red-rimmed. Her gaze drops to the sidewalk and she makes as if to go right by Teagan and me without a word. It’s then that I notice her belly.“Alissa?” I grab her by the arm as she’s about to walk past me like I’m a stranger with a bad haircut.“Don’t,” she says, pulling away slightly as she keeps on going. I stand there with my mouth hanging open as she walks away.“What
TEAGAN’S ON THE PHONE WITH Rebel and I’m driving Alissa’s Toyota. She’s asleep in the backseat. Apparently, being carjacked is exhausting work for a pregnant person. I keep checking her in the rearview mirror to be sure she’s still breathing. So far, so good.Teagan hangs up her phone and drops it into her purse.“What’d he say?” I ask, glancing at her before going back to looking out the windshield.“He says she can stay with us until we figure something out.”I grin. “Sweetness. Now we just need to figure out how I can wrangle a spot in the apartment for myself and we can live together as one big happy family.”Teagan is looking at me, but I just keep my eyes on the road. I don’t want her making me get all gooey.“You don’t mean that,” she says.“Nah.” I play it off. “I’m cool with the ‘rents. Who’s going to keep Jersey off the cat turds if I move out?”“He’d be fine without you,” Teagan says, censure in her voice. “He’s not your responsibility.”“Anyway, what is the plan for her?”
I DON’T KNOW WHY I expect my life to be easy peasy. Nothing ever goes as planned.“Who’s this?” Mick asks as I walk into the family room with Alissa next tome.Arranging my face to look as cool as possible, I gesture to the couch. “Goahead and have a seat, Alissa. Rebel and Teagan will be right up.” She looks at Mick with a tiny smile and then follows my orders.“Mick, this is Alissa. Alissa, this is Mick. He’s Rebel’s brother.” Mick walks over and holds out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”“You too,” she says, giving him what looks like a very limp handshake. “Can I get you a drink of water or something?” he asks.“Sure,” she says. “That would be nice, thank you.”He turns towards the kitchen and frowns at me when he’s no longer facing Alissa. “Can I talk to you for a sec’, Quin?”I shrug. “Sure.” Alissa’s already been through enough crap for one day. I don’t want to make a scene in front of her by arguing with Mick, so I follow him. Besides, I still need to apologize about twenty times
TEAGAN IS ON SPEAKER-PHONE as I put on my makeup in my bedroom mirror.“So, what did you guys finally decide to do with Alissa?” I ask, putting on my eyeliner. I’m going with the smokey-eye look tonight. I figure since this will probably be our one and only date, I might as well play it up right. Mick is going to be speechless with lust. I wonder if I’m going to leave him hanging or indulge a little. Talking about Alissa kind of makes me lean in favor of not.“She’s going to stay here until further notice. She doesn’t want to talk much, though, so it’s kind of frustrating.”“What do you mean she doesn’t want to talk much?” I smudge the liner under my right eye. Perfection. I grin all vixen-like at my reflection. Mick is so going down.“She won’t say anything about the father or what his reaction is to the whole thing, so I have no idea if he’s even in the picture or knows what’s going on. And she says very little about her parents, other than they’re ultra religious and she’s now cons