Page 25 of Waves of Time

“It never seems to work, though, does it?” Thaddeus said, his eyes glistening, as though he’d said one thing but meant something very different.

And then, something happened. Right there, standing near the trunk of Thaddeus’ car on a typical night in August, Thaddeus stepped toward her, placed his hands along the base of her back, closed his eyes, and kissed her with his lips parted, and Aria fell into a dream. On the porch, people they’d gone to high school with, islanders they’d known their entire lives, whistled joyfully at the sight, but Aria didn’t care, at least right now. Her heart pounded with the brevity of this moment, with how much better it was than in her wildest imagination. And when the kiss broke, they opened their eyes softly and gazed at one another, both shocked and not. When you know you’re going to fall in love with someone, you might as well let it happen as soon as possible. Life was not guaranteed for anyone.

“Hey! Thaddeus!” One of his bandmates called from the porch. “Are you about done playing around so we can do soundcheck?”

Aria bit her lower lip, stirring with regret. She did not want him to go. She squeezed his elbow and said, “Good luck tonight.”

“Every song is for you,” Thaddeus told her before he turned on his heel and hurried up to the porch, where he disappeared into the darkness of the house.

At that moment, Violet sprung from the shadows, shrieking. “Are you kidding me!” She wrapped her arms around Aria, giggling wildly and demanding, “It took you long enough, didn’t it?”

Aria floated into the party beside Violet, feeling as though she’d become someone else in the past five minutes— as though she’d finally grown up. Inside, a friend of Thaddeus’ handed Aria and Violet both beers and introduced himself as Benny.

“Yo! Aria. I’ve heard all about you,” Benny said, then smiled at Violet.

“This is Violet,” Aria introduced them, nudging Violet gently as a way to say,hey, he’s cute. And he was! His blond hair was on the longer side, not unlike some of the members of bands Thaddeus said were his favorites, and his chocolate brown eyes were like a puppy’s.

“Nice to meet you, Violet,” Benny said.

Down in the belly of the basement, Thaddeus’ band had begun to tune their guitars, and the drummer pounded his drums wildly.

“You both were at the last gig?” Benny asked.

“Yeah,” Violet said, smiling. Benny was cute enough for her, all right. “It was a great show. Thaddeus stared at Aria the entire time.”

Benny cackled. “Are you sure that was the reason why? I mean, no offense to Aria. I know how much he likes you. But you know. Sometimes he…” Benny circled his ear with his finger, as though to suggest Thaddeus was slightly wacky.

“No, he was staring right at Aria,” Violet affirmed.

“That’s sweet,” Benny said with a shrug, fine to drop it. “I mean, I’ve known him forever. Seen him through so many highs and lows.”

“I’ve known him since I started high school,” Aria said.

“I remember he talked about you even back then,” Benny said. “Gosh, that was before so much stuff happened in both of our lives. We had a heck of a ride.”

“What do you mean?” Violet asked.

“I don’t want to get into it,” Benny said.

“Why are you being so cagey about your past?” Violet teased.

But Benny’s strange responses had reminded Aria of what she and Violet had seen out the window of the Crab Cabin that evening, and although her stomach bubbled with fear, she heard herself say, “Violet and I saw Thaddeus surrounded by a group of tourists downtown tonight. Isn’t that sort-of, I don’t know, weird?”

Benny set his jaw, then lowered his voice. “So, you know about it?”

Aria’s head swam. “Know about what?”

Benny winced. “I mean, if you’re going to date Thaddeus, you should probably know a thing or two about how he operates.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aria responded.

Benny laughed nervously. “I mean, Thaddeus will do whatever he can to make money. He has to, for his family, which is something I respect to a certain extent. But, you know, there’s a limit to everything.” Benny returned his gaze to Violet, as though he no longer wanted to talk to Aria about Thaddeus.

“What do you mean? What does he do to make money?” Aria demanded, panicked.

Benny rolled his eyes slightly, very sick of the subject. “He doesn’t always work for the kindest of people. Let’s put it that way.” He then sipped his beer and nodded toward Violet to ask, “You want to head downstairs and get a good spot?”

Violet’s voice wavered. “Um. Sure. Aria? You coming?”

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