Page 26 of Crybaby

The Planet is licensed to serve alcohol, and despite them all being underage, the establishment makes exemptions for the big boys. Carson’s dad is a big deal in this town, and if he gets what he wants, so do they. Like being open twenty-four hours when every other venue has a curfew of eight o’clock to stop the kids from running around the streets at night.

I enter the diner, and the bell rings, but no one pays attention. I can see the boys throwing dollars into plastic cups lined up along tables. Carson is nowhere to be seen, but I’m pretty sure I saw his car out front.

I walk up to a guy they call Magnus, who seems to hang with him often.

“Hey, have you seen Carson?” I tap him lightly on the shoulder, but I don’t think he can feel it through the rock-hard shoulder muscle under his jacket.

Why do all these guys look like they bounced out of anAbercrombiecampaign?

Magnus is a field favorite due to his trademark dance at the end of every game. Sun-bleached hair from hell knows which sun because I feel like I haven’t seen it in a decade. He looks down at me, still distracted by his game, but sporting the cheekiest grin. I swear these boys could get any girl they want just by flashing those grins.

“Hey, little one,” he says. “Sup?”

He suddenly picks me up while a crowd of boys yells over someone doing an epic coin toss from across the room. I’m being shaken like a cheerleader’s pom-pom as they all bellow, “EEYYYYYOOOO!”

Fuck my life. I really hate being part of any kind of excitement.

Putting me back on my feet, he grabs my face in two massive hands and plants a tight smooch on my lips. “Out back with Blake, tiny dancer!” He turns and throws a coin at someone’s head.

Foss bounces up and yanks my hand. I really don’t like Foss. I don’t know why, but his happy demeanor makes me want to punch him square in the jaw.

“He’s in the stalls,” says Foss, laughing, and bangs open a door in the men’s toilets to reveal Blake passed out on a toilet seat.

“I’m looking for Carson. What’s wrong with him?” I ask, staring at Blake slumped so gracefully in some kind of coma.

“Snow probably,” replies Foss, studying Blake with his head tilted.

He drapes his arm around my shoulders, then goes flying across the room as Carson appears in his place.

“There you are,” I say, suddenly annoyed I’m even part of this now and wishing I’d just stayed in bed.

“Yeah, sorry, Blakey boy has done it again.” He slaps Blake hard in the face with a right hook, but he doesn’t react.

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s just passed out after overamping. Needs water. BLAKEY BOY!” he shouts in his face and drags him off the toilet seat.

Blake already looks like a beautiful undead vampire, but now, he’s stepped up a level. He looks peaceful, but not coming to anytime soon. Carson launches his big body over a sink and turns the tap on hard. I kinda like watching Carson care for him. I’m seeing him in a different light. He covers Blake’s face with running water but to no avail.

“Maybe we should call an ambulance?” I say ’cause he kinda looks dead.

“Nah, he’s cool. Don’t worry.”Carson watches my face, enjoying my concern. His smile makes my stomach leap a little.

“C’mon, I’ll buy you a milkshake. He just needs to sleep it off,” he says and props Blake up in the corner of the men’s bathroom.

I follow Carson back into the diner, where I meet those inquisitive eyes, eyes which set me on fire, and for someone who is a self-confessed pyromaniac, this can only lead to trouble.

What the fuck is she doing with those group of morons? And when Buckets appears, it seems the stupid just continues.

I’m here to pick up an apple pie for my mom. On the rare occasions when she eats, she always asks for apple pie, but it has to be from this shithole.

No doubt it’s got to do with some memory she has of my father. She needs a fucking lobotomy. Or an exorcism.

Or both.

This fucking town can fuck off and blow me. I cannot wait to get out. I thought Darcie felt the same way, but seeing her with Carson and his posse of fuckheads has me thinking that maybe she’s falling for their bullshit just like everyone else.

I know they can be charming and smooth and promise girls the world, but when they’re done with them, they discard them like yesterday’s trash. But as Carson whispers something into Darcie’s ear, it does appear he has a sweet spot for her—as well as a hard dick, a dick I want to rip off and shove down his throat. But of course he does because who doesn’t.

---