Page 112 of Absorbed

Stacey stopped and looked up at him. “I love you too, Gabe.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and nestled her head under his chin. “Thank you for always being my very best friend.”

Murphy snored the entire ride home. “I swear she’s smiling,” Gabe said.

“It’s the two hotdogs I bought her.” Stacey grinned.

“No way. She’s happy because she chased MY tennis ball in the surf for more than two hours. You made her walk up and down Main Street twice just to buy two stickers and not share your ice cream with her.”

Stacey shook her head. “I told you! Dairy gives her terrible gas. We could die of asphyxiation on the way home!”

“That sunset was great though. I’ll give you that.”

“Wasn’t it?” Stacey sighed. She thought about her art journal. She wanted to paint the sunset they’d seen in it, maybe even write a poem to capture the moment. “Hey, if I tell you something, do you promise not to laugh at me?”

Gabe turned to look directly at her. “You know I can’t promise that, Chapman, but I’ll do my best.”

“Nevermind.” Stacey put her elbow on the window frame and rested her cheek in her palm.

“Come on.” Gabe tapped Stacey’s arm. “I was kidding. You can tell me anything. You know that. But I’ll be serious now…” After a beat he patted her knee. “Tell me!”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Okay. Well, I’ve been taking art lessons with Ms. Moreno this summer.”

“What? You’ve been going to school?”

“Not really. It’s at night. Not like a real class for credits or anything. I just went a few times.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” Gabe shrugged. “So…you’re thinking of doing art again?”

“I mean, I always liked it, ever since I was a little kid. But I never thought I could do anything with it, so it seemed like a waste if I wanted to go to a major university.”

“But that’s changed?” Gabe tilted his head, confused. “You think now thereissomething you want to do with art?”

Stacey smiled. “Yeah…I think so. Last night I was working on something in the art lab for a long time, and by the end Ms.Moreno said something that made me think about my art in a whole new way.”

“What way is that?”

“I know it sounds weird, but for the first time ever, instead of thinking about what anyone else said or thought or did, or what I should be or do because of what the rest of the world might think—I just created what I wanted, for me, with no intention of ever showing it to anyone. And it feltso good.”

“You lost me.” Gabe threw up his hands. “So now you want to do art, but never show it to anyone?”

“Not exactly.” Stacey laughed. “That’s the thing. Once I tuned out all those other people’s opinions, I finally made something I’m kind of proud of. Ms. Moreno thinks I might be able to make it into a song.”

“I thought you said it was art.”

“Yeah, it was, at first. The art led to me writing this poem, and the poem could maybe be a song. I want to do art because I think it maybe opens my mind up to write lyrics. Maybe I want to be a songwriter. Is that totally crazy?”

Gabe’s face lit up. “I don’t think it’s crazy at all. You know more about music than anyone. Can I read it?”

“Yeah.” She bit her lip. “I think I want to show it to you when we get back to my house. To see what you think. But you have to promise you won’t make fun of me if it’s totally lame.”

“Stacey, you are one of the smartest, most talented people I know. If you want me to read it, I know it won’t be lame. What’s the poem called?”

“It’s called ‘Out of the Blue.’”

Gabe smiled. “I like it already.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Plunge reopened a week after Jessie’s accident. But everything was different.

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