Page 56 of Absorbed

As the light outside faded, Stacey considered calling Gabe.He definitely hates me by now.He just wanted to go to Tower Records. To seeCable Guy.But she blew him off.He’s better off without me.

“Good thing I have you to hang out with on a Saturday night.” She rubbed Murphy’s slobber off on the couch cushion.

When the movie ended, Stacey turned off the TV and stared at the blank screen. She still hadn’t heard from Jessie. She thought back over her conversation with Melissa. Jessie was working with Melissa at the pool until nine.

“Maybe I shouldn’t wait for him to call me,” she told Murphy.

In a sleeveless flannel and cutoffs, her braid hanging over her shoulder, Stacey pulled into a dark corner of the parking lot of The Plunge at 8:55.

She sat in her car with the lights off, watching through the chain link fence. The pool lights were still on, and the cover hadn’t been pulled over the water yet. Desiree, Chad, Tiffany, and Mark were all in their swimsuits at the deep end. Mark flipped off the diving board. As tall a guy as he was, big gut and all, Stacey was impressed by how well he landed it.

Melissa’s small red Mercedes convertible was still in the lot, but she and Jessie weren’t on the deck.

When it was clear no one else was coming out of the lobby door, Stacey approached the lobby entrance, staying hidden in the shadows.

The lights in the guard shack and lobby were off. Metallica was blaring on the outside speakers loud enough to cover the squeak of the hinge as she pulled open the door. Stacey tiptoed across the lobby. She was about to pull open the door to the office when she heard voices in the girls’ restroom.

No light showed under the door. Stacey inched up to it, listening. The voices echoed, but were muffled by the music. They were definitely male and female, and Stacey recognized the distinct shrillness of the voice that she’d grown to loathe. Melissa. Jessie had to be with her. But Stacey couldn’t make out what they were saying. She eased the door open, careful not to let it make a sound, and stood behind the partition.

“What’s going on with you and her?” Melissa asked.

“Nothing,” Jessie replied.

“It doesn’t seem like nothing,” she hissed. “Are youwithher now?”

“No. Why would I bewithher? I told you: I don’t want a girlfriend.”

Confident they had no idea anyone else had entered, Stacey peeked around the privacy wall. Beneath a small frosted window in the corner of the cavernous shower stall, a street lamp outside cast an orange glow over them. Jessie was leaning casually against the wall of mint-colored subway tiles, shirtless in his red boardshorts, and Melissa was facing him, her back to Stacey, in a pair of white cotton shorts and her red two piece.

“You were with Stacey last night, weren’t you?” she asked.

Jessie shrugged.

Melissa hesitated. “What did you…do?”

“What difference does it make?”

“It matters to me,” Melissa sniffed.

“Why?” He leaned forward, and put his hand on Melissa’s waist. “You’re not mad anymore?” He pulled her body to him. “Do you want to pick up where we left off?”

Melissa locked eyes with him. Stacey swallowed hard. She could feel again what it was like to be wanted by Jessie. Towantto be wanted by him.

Melissa tilted her chin and let him kiss her. His right hand slid down her waist and reached under the bottom edge of her shorts. His other hand slid up her ribs to her breast.

Stacey’s heart was pounding. Her eyes welled.

Jessie turned Melissa to lean her up against the wall. Stacey turned away. The noises they were making were all too familiar. She didn’t want to see what was coming next.

Stacey snuck back out the door. In the Silver Bullet, she kept her headlights off, hoping the rest of the crew hadn’t noticed her pulling out of the parking lot.

A block away, she pulled into a 7-11 that was notorious for not checking IDs. She bought a large Mr. Pibb, a lighter, and a pack of Marlboro Reds. She’d snuck one of her dad’s cigarettes the summer before with Gabe, and could still remember the foggy feeling she got in her head. Maybe that fog would replace the pain in her chest and blur away the image of Jessie with Melissa. Back in her car, she put in her Eagles Unplugged album and lit a cigarette before pulling out of the parking lot.

For the next hour and a half, she drove with the windows down, lighting one cigarette after another. As “The Girl from Yesterday” evolved into “Life in the Fast Lane” on the stereo, Stacey reminded herself that in a year she’d be leaving for college. Mesa Valley would be a distant memory.

Stacey threw herHeart Shaped WorldCD out the window and into a ditch alongside the road. She was finished fantasizing about love. And she was done with Jessie Thomas.

Chapter Sixteen

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