Page 41 of Side Trip

“Okay if I leave my stuff here?” Judy asked Kevin.

“Uh, I guess.” Kevin shrugged.

“Your brother said I could sleep in the guest room. I don’t know where that is.”

“It’s downstairs.”

“Right. Have you seen Todd?”

Kevin shook his head and Judy looked at Joy, hopeful.

Joy crossed her arms. “I’m not telling unless you sober up and drive me home.”

“Even if I could drive, you can’t ride with me. You heard Dad. No passengers. You’ll have to call him to come get you. Now tell me where my boyfriend is.”

Joy lifted her chin. “I saw him with another girl. They were kissing.” Lie. She hadn’t seen Todd at all, not even with another girl. But she felt like being spiteful.

Judy shrieked. “Why, that lying piece of—He told me he was going to pick up more ice.” She glared at Joy, who was shocked Judy would have believed her. “You stay out of sight. Mom and Dad will kill me if something happens to you.” She slammed Kevin’s door.

Joy groaned into her hands. She should have stayed put in her bedroom.

“Let’s get out of here,” Kevin suggested.

“You heard Judy. I can’t.” She didn’t want to make her situation any worse than it was. She’d already screwed up enough tonight.

“I know somewhere private we can go.” Kevin selected two hoodies from the closet. “It’s cool there. You can cover your head.” He gestured the motion. The sweatshirt would hide her hair and face. Nobody would know it was her.

“I guess.” She moped. She tugged on the USC sweatshirt. It fell to her knees and smelled like Kevin. Her stomach fluttered even amid her worry. She pulled the hood over her messed-up hair and shoved her hands into the kangaroo pocket.

Kevin smiled and picked up his guitar. “Follow me.”

She did. Down the stairs and into the kitchen, where they grabbed Cokes and a bag of Doritos, and out through the sliding door to the back deck. She followed him down the steps and through the yard, weaving through Judy’s classmates as the yard sloped downward and into the darkened night. Tall pines blocked the starlit sky like night shades until the tree line ended and everything opened: the sky, the lake. It all glittered. Joy’s breath caught. Beautiful.

Kevin led her past lounge chairs occupied by intertwined couples making out and drinking. She could smell weed, and someone had lit a campfire off to the right. More people congregated around the flames, laughing, drinking, smoking. Joy followed him up onto the dock.

“We aren’t supposed to be here,” he whispered. “My parents don’t want anyone near the water while they’re drinking.”

“Why are we here then?” Joy was in enough trouble as it was, but was secretly thrilled Kevin would take her there. After years of admiring him at a distance she was finally alone with him.

“We aren’t drinking.” His eyes twinkled, reflecting the single light bulb overhead that cast a dull, warm glow around the dock. She smiled shyly and followed him onto the dock.

He walked to the end, slipped off his flip-flops, and sat down, dunking his feet in the water.

“Have a seat. Water’s nice,” he invited.

Joy quickly toed off her shoes, tugged off her socks, and stuffed them inside her sneakers. She plopped down and plunged her feet into the chilly water, making a splash. Kevin leaned back, dodging water drops.

“Sorry.” She cringed. Stupid nerves made her jittery.

“It’s cool.” He strummed a verse of Blink-182’s “Roller Coaster,” which had been playing inside the house. “Did you really hide in Judy’s car?” he asked when he finished.

Joy roughly choked down the Coke she’d gulped. “Yup,” she said, chagrined, then rushed to explain about Judy’s new car and the mix-up with Taryn. Joy shrugged. “I don’t know what happened to her. She was supposed to be here.” Joy had waited on Taryn’s porch for almost two hours until she couldn’t wait any longer. She just had to use the bathroom, since she’d been too embarrassed to pee outdoors.

She’d thought her last-minute plan to hide in Judy’s back seat was brilliant, but she’d only made a mess of things.

Joy dipped her chin, swirled her ankles in the water. “I shouldn’t have come.”

“I’m glad you did.” He bumped shoulders with her. “Want to hang out this summer?”

---