Chapter 17
Though the euphoric feeling ebbed a little the longer I sat in the backseat of Derrick’s car, it didn’t dissipate completely over the drive.
Soft rock pumped through the speakers, a song I didn’t recognize, but enjoyable all the same.
Derrick drove into Jefferson and then out the other side, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.
His window was down, and his elbow stuck out the side, letting in the cool night air.
I had my face practically pressed against the window, staring at the rows of corn that we passed, ones that looked a little more ominous in the moonlight. “Where are we going?” I asked, raising my voice to be heard over the shout of the wind.
Derrick leaned his head toward the middle of the seats. “We’re almost there.”
I had no idea where “there” was, but I didn’t mind it, either. I was so used to Mom having control over where “there” was, but putting it in the hands of Hudson and Derrick felt less like I was relinquishing my control, but more so trusting them with it. Trusting Hudson with it.
It was a strange feeling.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out where our destination was.
Without much warning, Derrick twisted the wheel sharply to the left, cutting into a path that’d been cleanly made through the corn.
The dirt road was filled with potholes that rattled the car, and with how many times Derrick hit them hard, I was surprised nothing underneath the cab fell loose.
It was then that I found out how Betsy had come to sound the way she did.
Hudson turned around in his seat to face me, and the glow of the dashboard lights backlit the blond wisps of his hair. “We have a friend who lives out here. Their name’s Tee. They’re having a bonfire tonight.”
“We’re throwing it for you,” Derrick interjected, grinning. “It’s your first time sneaking out, so we’re throwing a celebratory bonfire. You’re our guest of honor.”
“Me?”
“It’s nothing major,” Hudson hurried to say, as if sensing my growing anxiety. His blue eyes held mine tightly. “It’s going to be us three and two others. We usually roast marshmallows—”
“Simon reads some of his god-awful poetry,” Derrick piped in.
“—and hang out,” Hudson finished, not even blinking in Derrick’s direction. “For an hour or so. How does that sound?”
I pressed my palm to the bare skin of my knee, squeezing. The car still rocked back and forth with each pothole, almost like Derrick was seeing how many he could hit, but my attention had been captured by Hudson. “Can we stay longer than an hour?”
He chuckled. “For a girl who normally goes to bed at nine-thirty, can you last longer than an hour?”
I had the biggest urge to stick my tongue out at him, but that would’ve probably aided in his “toddler” argument.
Derrick interjected between us. “We can leave when you want. Ol’ Betsy is your chariot tonight. And there’s not even a chauffeur fee.”
The corn on either side of us dispersed enough for a house at the end of the dirt driveway to come into view.
It was taller than it was wide, with a giant wraparound porch like a house from a movie.
Derrick didn’t slow as he drove past it, leaving the dirt road and thumping along onto a two-tire track lane that sliced into the grass.
Hudson grabbed the handle above his head. “You could slow down, you know.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, do you want to drive?”
“You know Mouse likes to dart out from the field. If you hit her, Tee would skin you alive.”
Derrick huffed, but I felt the car decelerate a little. “Cats have nine lives, don’t they?”
Derrick didn’t drive much farther before a flickering fire came into view, one that trickled glowing embers into the sky. It also mostly obscured the two huddled figures who stood with their hands out. I could only see that one was shorter and one was taller.
“Hey, losers!” Derrick called as soon as he popped open his door, pulling himself out into the night. “Who’s got the marshmallows?”
I looked around the clearing as Hudson and I climbed out.
Aside from the roiling fire contained by a metal ring, there wasn’t much to look at besides trees and corn, both at a safe distance away from the flames, and a large wooden barn that was mostly swamped with shadow.
I wrapped my arms around myself, because even though the trees nearby blocked off some of the wind, my sweater was still a pitiful barrier.
And then—warmth. Warmth accompanied by the heavy scent of citrus.
Hudson draped his jacket over my shoulders, the heaviness of the jean material weighing me down.
As gently as he could, he eased all of my hair out from underneath the collar.
A shiver slipped down my spine. “That’s okay,” I began, but Hudson shook his head.
“The sweater I have on is much thicker than yours,” he said, curling the collar against my throat. “And your legs are bare. Plus, I always run hot.”
I didn’t look away from him. Even though I knew there was a softer side to Hudson, it always surprised me when it slipped through, startling me speechless for a second. “Are you sure?”
“Take the jacket, Gem.” Then, careful not to get my hair caught in the zipper, Hudson zipped the jacket up to my chin, bundling me in.
I touched the zipper when he turned away toward his friends, not sure why my heart was beating so fast.
Derrick, who’d nestled up beside the tallest of the two strangers, rushed to make introductions. “Gemma, this is Tee Bryant. Tee’s a junior at Jefferson, lives on this lovely property right here, and if you’re ever in the need for jelly snacks, come to them.”
“Jeez, give her my star sign while you’re at it,” Tee muttered to him, but their expression cleared into something friendlier when they looked up at me.
Their hair was cut into jagged points near their jawline, though they’d tucked most of it behind their ears.
The hooked piercing on their eyebrow glinted as they quirked it up.
“Hudson said you looked prudish, but I don’t really see it. ”
“I said she was voted that,” Hudson quickly interjected, shooting them a look. “Not that she was.”
“I think I was the one to say she looked it,” Derrick whispered back, and then grinned at me. “But don’t worry, Milady, we accept all sorts around here.”
Tee elbowed him in the ribs. “Anyway, nice to meet you. I’ve been needing someone to break up the monotony of testosterone.”
Derrick responded by throwing his arm over their shoulders. “You love it.”
I let my gaze shift past Tee and Derrick to the shorter shadow beyond the fire. “I’m Simon,” he said as soon as our eyes met, and even from here, I could see his wide, braces-covered smile. “I go to Jefferson, too.”
I recognized both of them from the gas station last Saturday, the four of them all laughing as they walked the aisles. Back then, I’d wanted so badly to be a part of that group, to laugh along with them, so being in front of them now felt surreal. “Nice to meet you. Both of you.”
Either Simon or Tee had laid a quilt on the ground, and on top of that was a plethora of marshmallows and graham crackers waiting to be snacked on.
Derrick ripped open one of the packages and began launching the white puffs at Simon, and Hudson began trailing after him to pick them off the ground.
“Stop wasting the food!” he shouted, sounding very much like a parent chastising their kids.
“Please tell me you’ve had a s’more,” Tee said as they crouched beside me, breaking open a container of graham crackers. “I know this is your first time sneaking out, but please tell me it’s not your first bonfire.”
Did I really give off that much of a “sheltered” vibe? “Not my first. I went to a camp this summer, so I’ve had plenty of s’mores.” I took the roasting stick they offered to me, gaze landing on their fingertips. “Wow, I love your polish.”
It was a sort of iridescent purple that seemed to glow in the firelight, and though it was chipping—to the point that my mother would’ve taken it off my nails herself—it was beautiful. Tee wiggled their fingers. “Want me to paint yours? The stuff’s up in my room back at the house.”
I imagined saying yes. What would the iridescent color look like on my nails?
Beautiful, of course. I probably wouldn’t have been able to stop looking at it, much in the way I was doing with Tee’s nails.
That was on my rebellion list, painting my nails.
But Mom would demand to know where I got the polish from, and it would open a whole can of worms. “Maybe next time.”
“I’m surprised Hudson brought you, you know.” Tee speared their marshmallow and turned toward the fire, sticking their feet out to warm the soles of their shoes. “That’s not, like, a knock against you or anything. Hudson has a hard time making friends.”
I sat down beside them, tucking my legs underneath me. The glow of the flames warmed my cheeks, but I looked beyond them, to where Hudson now helped Simon shove a marshmallow onto a stick. “We were kind of forced together.”
It was the plot twist of the century, me being here.
Last week this time, I would’ve died if someone told me I’d be hanging out with the Grim Reaper and his friends after curfew.
If someone told me that I’d sneak out of my bathroom window on a school night, I would’ve confessed it to Mom long before it could’ve happened.
And the guilt was still there, of course, but for now, it was easy enough to put it on the backburner.