Chapter 5
Pepper: A basic two-person volleyball warm-up where the partners send the ball back and forth in a “bump, set, and hit” sequence repeated over and over. And over.
Vivienne led her to a gleaming midnight-blue Mercedes parked at the curb. Jess’s eyes bulged. She was not a car person and normally didn’t notice these details—she couldn’t even say what kind of car Tania drove—but she knew enough to appreciate that this was an impressive ride—new and expensive.
Vivienne popped the trunk. Jess added her duffel to Vivienne’s luggage, which seemed excessive, and got in the passenger side.
The creamy beige interior even smelled new, with a hint of vanilla underneath.
One thing Jess knew for sure was she was not going to eat her banana bread in that car.
Vivienne would probably murder her if she got so much as a crumb on the seat.
Jess adjusted the seat so her knees weren’t pressed quite so hard up against the dashboard, then fastened her seat belt. The click ricocheted off the walls in the silent space. “Thanks for the ride. Sorry you got stuck with me,” she muttered.
Vivienne shrugged. “Whatever. It’s fine.” She started the car and punched a few buttons on the display screen. “What kind of music do you like?”
“Anything. Except country.”
Vivienne’s mouth pinched. “All I listen to is country.”
Of course. Jess added listens to country to Vivienne’s long list of faults. “Whatever you want is fine.”
Vivienne shoulder-checked and pulled onto the road. “There’s got to be some country artist you like.”
“The closest I get to country is Backyard Chickens.”
“What? You have backyard chickens?”
Jess snorted. “No, Backyard Chickens is a band. They’re from LA. They’re playing in Sunside in a couple weeks, actually.”
“And they’re country?”
“No, they’re folk rock.… I just meant that their name was sort of…” Two hours and fifty-nine minutes to go. Just kill me.
“Ah. Well…” Vivienne shrugged and turned on a Top-40 satellite-radio station. One of the ubiquitous radio hits that played constantly in the volleyball pavilion filled the air.
Jess took a drink of water.
“So how did you miss the bus?” Vivienne asked as they took a ramp for the highway.
“I wish I had a better reason than I slept in.”
“Ouch.” Vivienne checked her mirror as they merged. “Up late last night?”
“Yeah.” It felt awkward to leave it there, so Jess kept talking. “Venus and Mars are really close together right now, so…” She stared at the passing gray buildings, wishing she wasn’t such a dork.
Vivienne looked at her sharply. “You were stargazing?”
“I know, I know, I’m a nerd.”
“No, it’s just that—” A text message from Winston popped up on the display. “Read message,” Vivienne said.
Jess blinked. “You want me to—?” but before Jess could finish her question, the car started talking.
“Message from Winston. ‘Did you pick up Jessica okay?’ Would you like to reply?”
“Yes,” Vivienne told her car. “‘Yup, I have her.’ Send.”
Jess could hear the resentment in Vivienne’s reply. She shifted uncomfortably. It wasn’t like she wanted to be there.
Vivienne slowed in the thickening highway traffic, tapping her glossy nails on the steering wheel in time with the music.
The silence between them got louder. “How come you’re driving separately?” Jess asked.
“I have some family in Horn Beach. I’m going to stay an extra night.”
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“Yeah.”
The car slowed further. More silence. God. Jess wondered what else she could possibly say without resorting to commenting on the traffic.
Then Vivienne asked a question out of nowhere. “Why does Tania call you ‘Button’?”
Jess blinked. That was … unexpected. And also a question she didn’t want to answer. “Um … I don’t really know. It’s just dumb.”
“Come on, you can tell me.”
Jess twisted her fingers together, the silence growing even more awkward. She tried to think of some innocuous lie to tell Vivienne.… I have a button collection? Fuck. Or, on second thought, they were going slow enough now that Jess could probably roll out of the car without any major injuries.
Vivienne kept talking. “I thought maybe it was, like … cause you’re ‘cute as a button’ or something.”
The words hit Jess hard, crashed right into her broad, broad shoulders and six-foot-two frame. A frame her mom always called “big-boned” or “husky.” “Cute as a button.” Sure. She clenched her jaw. “You don’t have to be mean.”
Vivienne furrowed her eyebrows. “I’m not being mean.”
“Oh right, as if anyone would say I…” Jess waved up and down her giant body. “… am ‘cute as a button.’” She bit her lip so she wouldn’t say more. Stupid to lay out any vulnerabilities for Vivienne like that, or point out how her huge frame barely fit in the front seat.
“I…” Vivienne faded into silence. “Sorry. I was just curious. I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Could you … You know what?” Jess pushed the many strands of hair escaping from her disaster bun behind her ears and tried to find a coherent sentence from the jumble of words swirling up her throat through the emotions.
“I’m actually really tired and I need to, like, just zone out for a bit. Do you mind if I sleep?”
Vivienne snapped her gum, eyes on the road ahead. “Yeah, fine. Whatever. You can recline your seat if you want.”
“Great.” Jess balled up her sweatshirt under her head and leaned against the window, pointedly not putting her seat back. Vivienne wasn’t going to tell her what to do.
It was very uncomfortable. Not that it mattered. Given her sleep-in that morning, there was no way she’d actually fall asleep. But sitting wedged up against the window with a cramp in her neck was better than talking to Vivienne.
Until she had to pee.
Jess cracked her eyes open to check the time. They had been on the road for a little over an hour. She considered … Maybe she could hold it until Vivienne needed to stop? But ten minutes later she knew there was no waiting.
She sat up, biting back a groan at the twinge in her neck. “I, uh … I have to pee.”
Vivienne shot a glance at her. “What?”
“I have to pee?” Jess repeated, wondering what could possibly be confusing about that.
Vivienne sighed. “Are you sure?”
“What are you talking about, am I sure? Yes, I’m sure.”
“Fine. I’ll pull over when I can.”
“Thanks.” Jess tried not to make it sound sarcastic.
“All those cars I just passed…” Vivienne mumbled to herself.
Jess didn’t know what to say, as if it were somehow her fault the human bladder had limited capacity. She crossed her arms and legs and studied the approaching signs.
When an ARCO station finally loomed, Vivienne sighed and signaled their exit.
The parking lot was packed, so Vivienne pulled up to the front door and didn’t say anything as Jess fumbled with her seat belt and scrambled in to find the bathroom.
Still cranky about being scolded for needing to pee, she took her time at the mirror trying to make her hair a little more presentable.
When she came back out, Vivienne was pumping gas.
Jess put her hands in her pockets and watched her. She looked a bit like a commercial for women’s razors or something, in her pink romper, leaning against the shiny car, one golden leg propped against the wheel. “I thought you didn’t want to stop?”
“Well, we’re stopped now. Might as well make it worth it. Do you want to grab a coffee or anything?”
“Am I allowed to have tea in your car?”
“Why wouldn’t you be allowed to have tea?”
“It’s, like … pristine.”
Vivienne raised an eyebrow. “Are you planning to spill it?”
“No.”
“You can have tea.”
“All right. You want me to grab anything for you?”
“Can you get me a French vanilla coffee and some sort of pastry—a muffin or banana bread or something?”
“Banana bread?”
“Yeah.”
“I actually have banana bread.” Jess pointed at her tote. “That I made.”
“You made it?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ll share it with me?” There was a teasing lilt to Vivienne’s voice, like it was so funny.
Jess shrugged. “If you want some.”
“I do.”
“Okay, so just a French vanilla then?”
“And … some gum. And can you get me a scratcher?”
“A scratcher?”
“Yeah, just like a dollar one. I’m feeling lucky.”
Jess’s head was spinning at all the words. This had to be the most she’d ever heard Vivienne talk at once, certainly the most she’d said directly to Jess. “Those things are such a waste of money.”
Vivienne snapped her gum. “Can’t win if you don’t play.”
Jess supposed there was some metaphor somewhere there, but she was starting to get a headache. “Anything else?”
“A Gatorade.”
“Flavor?”
“Surprise me.”
Vivienne’s tank was almost full by this point. Jess suddenly realized she’d have to chip in. “Okay. And … let me know what I owe you for gas.”
“Nothing.” Vivienne waved an airy hand. “I was driving anyway.”
“But I—”
“It’s fine, Jess. You can buy me my snacks.”
The way Vivienne said her name, like they were friends, annoyed her. Because they were not friends at all. Jess headed back inside, elbowing her way through the crowd to the drink cooler.
She pondered the rows of brightly colored bottles. Honestly, what kind of psycho left Gatorade flavor up to chance? Everyone knew lemon-lime or grape were the best flavors. Jess selected a yellow one for herself, then chose blue for Vivienne, to match her car.
The smell of the coffee machine brewing a French vanilla was enticing, enough so that she hit the button again to make a second one.
Jess didn’t normally drink hot coffee, but these things hardly counted.
She arrived at the counter with her four beverages and scooped up two packs of peppermint gum.
“Could I get a scratcher too, please?” she asked when it was her turn.
“Which one?” The cashier, a woman around Jess’s age, was pretty, with short hair, freckles, and wide eyes. Her name tag read BETH.
“Hmm…” Jess leaned over to examine the tickets in the display case until a colorful design caught her eye. “I guess this ‘Lucky Lolly’ one.”