Chapter 4
June
“June, give me your number. Let’s go out tonight.”
“I’ll think about it,” I answered reluctantly, as I headed home.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like the idea of hanging out with them. The real reason was much more embarrassing: I had no idea what to wear. I’d never gone out at night except to take out the trash.
My life is so exciting, isn’t it?
I looked through my closet in search of something cute.
Jeans, jeans, and more jeans.
Okay, I give in. I’ll wear these.
My drawers were even worse as I rummaged and only found T-shirts. I knew that’s what I’d find, but I kept digging through my dresser as if I could conjure up something gorgeous out of thin air.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t updated my summer clothes in a while. Sweatshirts and windbreakers has been my battle uniforms in Seattle. But it was too hot for that in California, so I had to change my style, if you can call wearing something like an oversize T-shirt and jeans style.
I opted for a white T-shirt and a pair of comfortable jeans.
I gave myself the once-over in the mirror with just enough time to brush my hair and groom my eyebrows.
I went downstairs to find my tennis shoes.
“June, sit down.” My mom’s voice sounded anything but promising. She was sitting on the couch, and regarded me cautiously. “My painting collection is selling better than I expected. A gallery curator wants to see my new pieces . . .”
Normally, I automatically tuned her out every time she started talking about her doodles or art in general.
“. . . and he invited me to have dinner with him.”
My ears perked up when I heard this.
“Is that a joke?” I demanded, as I rummaged through the shoe rack on the door. I folded my arms and turned around to face her.
“What did you think I said? He can help me exhibit at more than one gallery. He wants to talk about exhibiting at the Hammer Museum. If someone wants to buy a piece, I’d make a mint, June. And after everything we’ve been through—”
“Get to the point.” I cut her off, annoyed at how long she was taking.
“We could be here for another year.”
“And you’re telling me this because?”
“Because I want you to come to dinner with me.”
I scoffed. “Forget it, Mom. I’m not gonna be your third wheel.”
I saw her place her hand on the pile of papers on the glass table. “June, please, be serious. It’s a very important evening for me, and I want it to be important for you too. If I sell my whole collection, we probably won’t have to move for a while.”
Is this a trap? Is the woman who gave birth to me really trying to pull one over on me?
I stared at her until a light bulb went off in my head.
“Does that mean I could graduate from my new school?”
“Of course.”
She was leafing through her sketch folder when suddenly, she looked straight at me.
“June, where are you going?”
“To the skate park with friends.”
My response seemed to throw her off guard.
“Sorry, what?” Her eyes widened. If her hands were free, she would’ve definitely used them to close her mouth.
Yeah, I made friends on the first day of school. It’s so weird, isn’t it?
“Aren’t those dangerous?” she frowned.
“Mom, the ’90s are over. You’re not a teenager anymore. Chill.” I groaned as I walked to the end of the hall and put my hand on the doorknob.
“Honey, your jacket.”
I pretended to grab my jacket and left with my phone.
“Be home by eleven,” I heard her yell.
>> <<
“Jeans and a white T-shirt. Simple but effective.”
I wasn’t expecting to hear that from Brian, especially while I was sitting next to Amelia in the back seat with him looking at me in the rearview mirror.
“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” I inquired, my eyes drifting from his shoulders to his arms. Tattoos that I hadn’t noticed before adorned his tanned biceps.
“This is my best friend, Blaze,” he said, as he motioned to the passenger seat.
A nice-looking guy wearing a charcoal-colored beanie smiled at me. His skin was as pale as alabaster, contrasting with his onyx eyes.
“I’m June. Nice to meet you.”
He didn’t chuckle at my name, so he was automatically okay in my book.
Amelia sighed impatiently and shook her brother’s shoulders with both hands. He still hadn’t started the car. “Are we going or not?”
We got to the skate park around nine, and I quickly realized that it was swarming with kids and families.
The sun had just set, and a cool, light breeze brushed my bare arms. I rubbed my shoulders in an attempt to warm up.
“Cold?” Blaze asked.
“Nah, I’m good,” I said out of pride, eyeing the blue cardigan that he was holding.
He smiled and shoved the cardigan under my nose.
The breeze made me miss Seattle. At least Seattle hit you in the face with the cold. It didn’t trick you by being 75 degrees outside when you left the house only for the temperature to plummet as soon as the sun set.
“How was your first day of school?” Blaze asked hesitantly.
His voice was delicately melodious—soft and kind. I caught him fiddling with his hoodie sleeves, indicating that he was feeling uncomfortable.
“Better than I expected,” I said as we walked into the park.
“Considering that you met these two”—he motioned to Brian and Amelia—“I’m guessing you had extremely low expectations.”
Amelia pushed him so hard that he lost his balance.
“It’s always the same with you, Blaze. Be grateful that we’re your ride. If it wasn’t for us, you’d be sitting on the couch right now watching Gilmore Girls with your mom.”
Blaze’s cheeks turned pink, and he looked down bashfully. “I’m so sorry my mom’s Korean and my dad would prefer to put me up for adoption instead of letting me use his car.”
“Fine, play the victim. You can fool June, but it won’t work with us,” Brian teased as I smiled slightly.
As they bantered back and forth we reached another area of the park. The vibe changed completely: no families, just groups of students—some younger, some older than us.
A weird, pungent, smoky odor filled my nostrils.
“Do you know how skate parks began, June?” Blaze asked me.
I shook my head.
“In the ’70s, there was major drought, so people used empty pools to roller-skate or skateboard,” Blaze explained.
“Man, Blaze is really into her,” Amelia whispered in her brother’s ear, making me slightly uncomfortable.
“June, I won’t ask you again, but if you’re cold, you can put my on cardigan.” He held it out again and I shook my head again.
Blaze strained to look me in the eyes.
“No, no, really . . . I’m . . .” I stuttered.
The skate ramps bent and curved around themselves, tapering at some points and widening at others. There was every kind of ramp from beginner to expert level. Most kids were concentrated in the widest part of the basins, trying out new tricks and routines.
As soon as we sat down near a small café, Brian left to join a group of guys in football jerseys.
“Who are they?” I asked Amelia as Brian bent over a petite brunet. They were making out so passionately that I had to look away.
“Brian’s teammates. They have a game in a couple of days.”
The weird odor made me gag and cough. It hung in the air everywhere. If I came home reeking of that stench, my mom would force me to take a bodyguard with me.
Amelia pulled a blanket from her bag and laid it out on the grass. We’d been sitting and talking for around ten minutes when Brian came back in a weird, indecipherable mood.
“You’re still not getting any, huh,” his sister teased as she waved at the girl.
“Come on, for once he seems like he’s truly in love. Don’t torture him.” Blaze grinned.
I moved closer to Amelia to make space for Brian, whose eyes were still glued to his girlfriend.
“I’ve never met anyone like her.”
“My best friend falls in love with my brother. Groundbreaking,” she commented sarcastically.
“I told you. Ari and I are meant to be.”
“June, you’ll have to excuse my brother, he’s crazy. He believes in that whole soulmate bullshit,” she mocked him cynically.
“Do you believe in soulmates, Blaze?” I asked, curious about his point of view.
“I don’t know. Unlike Amelia, I definitely believe that you only find true love once in a lifetime, though.”
Incredible. Out of an entire group of friends, the only person who didn’t believe in love was a girl?
“How about you June?” Brian inquired, catching me off guard.
If they only knew that the extent of my existential ponderings was limited to whether lasagna or pizza was better.
“I don’t know. My parents are divorced. My dad got remarried and had two more kids. So, I don’t really believe that you only find true love once in your life.”
Brian looked crestfallen by what I’d just said, and stared into space.
“Sorry about your parents. But maybe they just weren’t meant to be together,” Blaze commented in an attempt to reassure me.
“Yeah, well, luckily my mom hasn’t met anyone since,” I mumbled.
“Good. Parents are freaky at that age! It makes you want to use earplugs all night,” Amelia joked.
I smiled as my gaze wandered to the park.
I managed to make out an off-white cloud in the dark sky illuminated only by streetlamps.
Little by little it disappeared, replaced by the outline of a tall blond guy wearing a jacket that showcased his muscular shoulders.
He looked like Jackson, the guy who’d picked a fight with Brian in class.
But he wasn’t alone. A blond cheerleader and a curly-haired cheerleader stood out from the rest of the group.
And, of course, he was there too. James. It hadn’t taken me long to realize how easy it would be to fall under his spell.
“Let’s see. June, what do you think?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” I asked, feigning confusion.
“What do you think of James Hunter? I’d like the opinion of someone who doesn’t know him,” Blaze continued as Brian theatrically groaned.
“Why do you ask?” I inquired.
“Your opinion of him says a lot about who you are,” Brian interjected.
“June, they just want to know if you’re like all the other girls at school,” Amelia explained, coming to my rescue as she pulled out a vape.