Page 10 of Lily's Eagle

The clubhouse is noisy for a Tuesday night. And almost full too. Just not with any of my close friends. They’ll probably come later, but for now it’s just the old timers, enforcers mostly, who seem to be celebrating something. I’ve just been nursing a beer at the edge of the bar, repelling all attempts at conversation from everyone, even the new girl behind the bar, who has all chances of becoming a favorite around here.

“You’re not in the mood to party tonight, Eagle?” she croons at me. Candy, I think her name is, and her waist length honey-colored hair is what dreams are made of. Just not mine. She also has all the right curves in all the right places, and they’re barely contained by the tight short-shorts and black tank top she’s wearing. I wish I didn’t notice all that in this clinical, matter-of-fact way. Because her heart-shaped lips are perfectly kissable too.

That’s exactly what she wants me to do, I’m sure. But her eyes are wide open and glazed with more than just natural lust. She’s high on something, and that’s a total turn off for me right there. That and the fact that she’s a club girl. My mother was a club girl. She died of an overdose when I was four. I don’t remember her much, but I do know that club girls aren’t for me. Especially when they’re high.

“It’s been a long day,” I say and swirl the beer bottle to see how much is left.

“Come join us, Eagle! We’re a man short,” Torrent yells from the corner table where six of the guys are playing poker, each with a girl in their laps.

I shake my head, take the last swallow of my beer and stand up.

“Some other time,” I tell him. “I got somewhere to be.”

I head out without waiting for his reply.

That was a lie too. I don’t really have anywhere to be.

It’s been a couple of hours since the rec center parking lot was cleared by the cops. I’m sure they carted them all off to the station, so Lily might be getting released soon.

I shouldn’t be going over there to see, if I’m right, but I’m gonna do it anyway. There’s not going to be any cord cutting tonight.

Getting arrested always shakes her up, even though she’ll never admit it. And she’ll need a ride home once they release her.

* * *

LILY

The peace and quiet of the empty street should calm me down, still my racing heart and cool my burning skin. Instead it’s bringing on even worse anxiety. Did I seriously just run away while in custody? Am I a fugitive now? Cross will have a fit if nothing else.

I’m only wearing a t-shirt and ripped jeans, and the night is cold, but the adrenaline still pumping through my veins is enough to keep me hot. I don’t have my phone or my keys, it’s all back there in police lock up. Most of my friends are in jail, and Bea, my high-school BFF lives way on the other side of town. Plus she’s probably not even home. Her and her new boyfriend Ash have been taking long rides up and down the coast these past couple of weeks.

Not that I want to see anyone right now. The last thing I want to do is have to explain what just happened to me.

So I raise my head and start walking. In the direction of the clubhouse, which is a good half hour walk from here. A little shorter if I take the route that goes by the rec center, but I don’t want to do that. I failed so miserably there I don’t even want to think about it anymore. Ever. It just punctuates the fact that I should’ve returned to the reservation ages ago, like I always planned.

People there live in extreme poverty and I can help them. Or just be there to support them. I’ve been emailing back and forth with a non-profit that wishes to open a camp for children there for the better part of a year, but so far we haven’t set a definite start date. I’ve also been in touch with several of my cousins, and aunts and uncles, though most of them are far removed. They all said I could come any time. Don’t know why I’ve been putting it off.

But I’m not putting them off any longer. I’m getting my stuff and leaving tonight.

Anyone at the clubhouse will offer me a ride home as soon as I ask, I’m sure of that. But what I’m really hoping is that Eagle will be there. He’s the only one I can count on to not ask any stupid questions I don’t want to answer. Or more like, he’ll ask a bunch of stupid questions, but accept it that I don’t want to answer them. I don’t want to wish for that, but I do.

The wind is starting to pick up, gusting colder and colder as I walk, pushing a white plastic bag up the sidewalk beside me. Its rustling is the only sound I hear, apart from some sort of humming, which might all just be in my head because this part of town is so quiet. It’s mostly office spaces here, sort of like the business district, so it’s always empty at night.

Because of that, I hear the rumbling of a chopper from very far away. I stop and turn in the direction it’s coming from, walk over to stand under the streetlamp so he won’t miss me. I already know it’s him long before he turns onto my street. The sound of his bike is deafening by then.

And sure enough, it’s Eagle, like I knew it would be. Who else would ride by here just on the off chance that I’d need a ride home? He’s always near. And I never appreciated it enough. I must find a way to thank him before I leave.

I wave him down and he pulls up to the curb and removes his helmet, giving me one of those up and down looks that sometimes make me think we don’t even need to talk, because he already knows everything I’m going to say.

“What’s going on, Lily?” he asks as I walk up to him. “Where’s all you stuff?”

Figures he’d notice I don’t even have my purse. But I don’t answer him. I just climb on the back of his bike and wrap my arms around his waist. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” he asks, chuckling like I’ve said a dumb thing.

“Anywhere,” I say and leave it at that.

He takes a few seconds like he’s puzzling it all out, then does the right thing and doesn’t ask any questions, just puts his helmet back on and drives off into the deep darkness of the empty street. My hair is flying loose in the wind as he takes the first turn off towards the one of the many country roads crisscrossing the hills and redwood forests around here. The wind caressing my bare arms is cold, but oh, so refreshing and cleansing.

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