Page 22 of Forgotten Pieces

“Why are you stoppin’?”

I give her a stern look. “I know what goes on over there.”

“And why do you not wanna go?” she asks with a cute pout on her face.

I cross my arms and lean against the truck at my back, giving us some distance. “How old are you?”

“Old enough,” she responds, copying my pose against the truck at her back.

“I doubt it. You’re still in high school.” I take a stab at that, especially since I saw Donnie giving me the eye while we were playing beer pong.

“Well, I’m eighteen.” Her hands move to her hips. “And why are you complaining? You are the one at a high school party.”

“I’m here with my cousin.” I nod my head over to Donnie.

“Donald Maclan is your cousin?”

“Yep,” I say as I grab the back of my neck. I really hope she hasn’t hooked up with him or this would be weird.

“That doesn’t give you an excuse for being here.”

“I’m here to make sure he doesn’t get in any trouble.”

She looks over in his direction. “Well, then you should keep him away from Brooks.”

“Aren’t they best friends?” I ask as I notice the two of them goofing off.

“For some reason,” she answers reluctantly.

“Then why keep him away?” I am curious not because Donnie gets in a lot of trouble but I do want to keep an eye out for him. He is a smart kid.

“Because he is bad news. Missing a few things up here,” she says, knocking on her head.

“I’ll keep that in mind when I see them hanging out.”

She smiles at me and glances toward the trees. I just shake my head and laugh because there is no way I am getting busted making out with a high school kid regardless if she is legal or not.

Her friend Laney comes running over breaking up our staring contest. “T, come on. It’s getting too cold out, we are gonna head over to Drew’s house.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” Tacoma says and Laney walks off. She turns back toward me. “You wanna come along?”

“Nah, I’m gonna stay here with Donnie.”

“You know no one calls him that.”

“He told me.”

She looks at her friends and then back at me. “You sure you don’t wanna come? It could be a lot of fun.”

I can tell by the way she says it, she is still hoping to hook up. “I better pass. But how about we be friends?”

“Friends?”

“Yeah, you know friends. People you hang out with and have mutual things in common with.”

“What do we have in common?”

“We live here.”

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