Page 32 of Absorbed

“Middle school?” He looked at a spot in the sky as if it held the answer. “After skating so long, it was pretty easy. Crashing in water hurts way less than crashing on concrete. Do you surf?”

Stacey shook her head. “I used to boogie board. My dad lives in Orange County. When I visited in summer, my stepmom would take me to the beach. I didn’t have any friends there, so sometimes I’d make friends while waiting for waves.”

“Chillest people ever, right? Whenever anyone I knew was going to the beach, I always begged to go along.”

Stacey nodded. “Do you want to live at the beach someday…like, when you’re an adult?”

Jessie shrugged. “For a while. And the mountains. Mostly I wanna go wherever the next ride is.” The sun was setting over the parking lot, and the orangey-glow reflected in his eyes. “What about you? You’re going to Harvard or Stanford or something, right?”

“I wish. Probably a UC.”

“Why not? You’re like the smartest in your class.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Yeah, you are. You know it. Everyone knows it.”

Stacey shrugged. “There’s a few of us with high GPAs. But being at the top of our class in Mesa Valley doesn’t turn heads at Ivy Leagues.”

“You do speech and debate, too, though, right? And I’m sure you rocked the SATs.”

“Wow. Jessie Thomas, have you been stalking me?”

“Come on. You’re like…untouchable.”

Stacey’s head jerked back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I dunno. Maybe that’s the wrong word. I mean, you're one of those people we all know will be someone important someday. You’re gonna cure cancer or be a hotshot lawyer or president or something. It’s obvious. You’re way better than most of the people around here.”

“Me? Better than…what are you talking about?”

“Until a week ago, I was sure you thought you were better than all of us, too.”

Stacey was stunned and her mind raced.Is he messing with me?“That’s what you really thought?”

Jessie smiled and pushed his shoulder playfully into hers.

“I spent the beginning of summer feeling like a total loser around all of you.”

“Dude, seriously? I—”

Melissa’s familiar cackle interrupted Jessie.

Stacey looked up to see the other five guards coming around the corner of the theater. No way was she going to continue this conversation in front of everyone. Most of the cars parked by the mall had disappeared while she and Jessie were talking.

She checked her watch. It was 8:30. The inky blue sky disappeared behind the yellow humming glow of the parking lot lights. Tiffany handed Jessie and Stacey each a corndog and Desiree passed them lemonades.

“We found them sitting in the air-conditioned food court,” Tiffany said. “I told them it was unfair to keep you guys out here in the heat alone, starving.”

“Yeah, don’t be too thankful for Tiffany’s bleeding heart,” Mark said. “Once she sat down she enjoyed the AC too much to leave for an hour.”

Stacey’s stomach grumbled as the smell of the grease hit her nostrils. She hoped no one else heard. “Thanks.” She took a long swig of the cold lemonade.

Jessie dipped his corndog into mustard and bit a third of it off. “I’d have done the same thing,” he said, his mouth full.

“Told you,” Melissa muttered to Tiffany over her shoulder, her hands in her back pockets. The lace of her padded bra peeked out of her tiny tank top. Stacey sensed the agreement to stay in the mall was more to prevent Melissa from spoiling the night by attacking Jessie. Melissa had refused to make eye contact with Jessie for more than a week and had switched shifts at least twice to avoid him.

“There’s more than an hour for them to go inside now if they want,” Melissa purred.

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