Page 74 of Promise Me Nothing
“You’re watching that one tonight,” Wyatt says.
Lucas rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
I unlock my bike, which now has anincrediblysturdy bike lock after what happened two nights ago. I shake my head. I hate when stuff like that happens, especially since the bike didn’t even belong to me.
Bouncing from home to home, I became very protective of my stuff. But that didn’t stop things from going missing. Eventually, I just whittled things down to only a handful of items that really mattered. And then I protected those things with my teeth bared.
Once I aged out and finally got my own place with Melanie, it was easier to keep my belongings to myself. But I never started ‘acquiring’ things, sticking mostly with a small amount of clothes, some sundries, and my camera.
And a picture book of photos with my mom and dad and Joshua.
Maybe that’s why it’s so mind-blowing that Lucas and his friends have just so… much.Somuch. Just tons of stuff. Huge houses and endless sets of shows and movies and books, multiple cars, closets packed full of clothes and shoes. Drawers full of shit like tools and super glue and batteries.
And bikes.
Lucas has five of them, all looking like they’re in pristine condition, barely ridden. Well, I guess he has four of them now that I got one of them stolen.
I apologized to him like, eleven times yesterday and today. He keeps reassuring me that it isn’t a big deal, that it happens all the time.
“What’s with the face?”
I look at Paige, who is riding next to me down The Strand, beer bottle in a little drink holder on her handlebars.
“Huh?”
“You look upset about something.”
“Oh, just…” I shake my head. “Sorry, I zoned out.”
“Fifty bucks says she was thinking about the bike that got stolen.”
I turn my head back and glare at Lucas, who is riding behind me with Wyatt at his side.
He just laughs. “Come on, H. Let it go. Like the song.”
And then he and Paige start singing the song fromFrozen, badly, and at the top of their lungs.
To say I’m mortified at being next to them, completely overcome with embarrassment and prepared to veer off to the side to disassociate is an understatement.
“Just ignore them,” Wyatt says, as he and I fall back and let Paige and Lucas gain a significant lead on us. “They get a kick out of getting everyone’s attention.”
“Do you ever get used to it?”
He chuckles. “Not really. You just learn to ignore it and remember that people are laughing atthem,not you.”
I hum in agreement.
We ride for a few minutes in silence. Well,relativesilence, since I can still hear Paige and Lucas singing like assholes up ahead.
“So how are you adjusting?” Wyatt asks. “You’re from Phoenix right? It’s gotta be a lot different here.”
I bark out a laugh. “You’re not kidding. Night and day, practically. Phoenix is all orange and concrete and sun so hot you think your skin will fry right off. And Hermosa Beach is more… I don’t know… breezy?”
Wyatt smiles. “That’s a great way to describe this town. In a number of ways. The wind. The attitudes of the residents. The tourists. Things are just ever-changing. Everything blows away and new things come in. Water. Tourists. Businesses.”
“I think I was going a little more literal than that, but sure. We’ll go with your answer.”
He laughs.
