27. Third Wheel
twenty-seven
Third Wheel
O n the Friday that starts Christmas break, we go to a drive-in a few towns over. They’re having an all-night Christmas movie marathon. Taryn backs out at the last minute, so it ends up being just me, Gage and Jasmine.
It doesn’t take long to figure out that a drive-in during winter is a dumb idea.
It’s cold and raining, so we can’t sit on the hood of the car and hang out like we do when we go in the summer.
Gage and Jasmine are getting cozy in her front seat while I’m stuck in the back.
I’m not jealous of their developing relationship.
Gage and I will never be anything but friends.
I just hate the feeling of being the third wheel.
Gage leans over to kiss Jasmine, completely blocking my view. A sharp rap on the window stops him.
Jasmine turns her head. “Raymond!” She opens the door and throws herself into the arms of a muscular guy with dark hair that’s cropped short.
An expression of pure jealousy spreads over Gage’s face.
Jasmine and Raymond are talking to each other in rapid Spanish. Gage looks at me and raises his eyebrows. I shake my head. Jasmine wraps her arm around his waist and turns to face us. “Jess, Gage, this is my cousin, Raymond. He’s a Marine. He just got back from Iraq.”
Gage’s face melts in relief at the word cousin. He sticks out his hand. “Iraq, huh? See any action?”
Martin looks down at Gage, like he's an annoying kid. “A little.”
Jasmine still has her arm around Raymond. “Don’t let him kid you. Ray was right there when they took Baghdad.”
“I bet you have some great stories,” Gage says.
Raymond shrugs. “A few.”
“Why don’t you join us?” Jasmine indicates her car. “You can sit in the back with Jess.”
Raymond looks at the backseat of Jasmine’s car and laughs. My legs barely fit in the little space. He would have to fold himself in half. “I think I’ll pass. I was heading to the snack bar when I saw your car. Can I get you guys popcorn or something?”
I’m dying to get out of the cramped backseat and away from Gage and Jasmine, even for a few minutes. “I’ll come with you. I need to stretch my legs.”
Jasmine moves away from the door. Raymond takes my hand and helps me out. When I’m out of the way, Jasmine slides back into the seat beside Gage. He puts his arm around her. “I’d like a drink and some popcorn.” He says it as if I’m a waitress. “Don’t hurry back though.”
The snack bar is a little cement building with a grungy counter on one side and disgusting bathrooms on the other. The only person here is a bored teenage girl behind the snack counter.
Raymond steps up to the counter. “Two popcorns and two sodas. Do you want anything?”
I shake my head. “Hot chocolate?”
"Sure." He reaches into his pocket, pays for the food and then pulls out a cigarette.
“You can’t smoke that in here,” the girl behind the counter says.
“Sorry.” Raymond turns to me. “Do you want to go back to Jaz’s car, or do you want to hang out with me?"
“I guess I’ll hang out with you. That car was making me claustrophobic.”
Raymond chuckles. “I can imagine.” He leans against the side of the building under the awning so he’s out of the rain and lights his cigarette.
“It looks like we're in the same boat. My buddy has a girl with him tonight. I went to the snack bar to get away from them. My girlfriend is in San Diego for the holidays.”
I lean against the building beside him and sip the hot chocolate. I don’t like the cigarette smoke, but I don’t want to go back to the car with Jasmine and Gage either.
Raymond blows out a long breath of smoke. “So... should I be worried about that guy with Jasmine?”
I shrug. “Probably.”
He shakes his head. “I guess my cousin can take care of herself. Have you ever seen her mad?”
I laugh. Jasmine definitely has a temper. I watch Raymond smoke for a minute. Questions catch on the tip of my tongue. I’m not sure if I should ask them. After a long moment, I let them out. “Iraq, huh? What was that like?”
He flicks his cigarette butt into a puddle, retrieves it and puts drops it in a trashcan. “Weird. Hard to describe. Not like you see it on the news. I actually went into one of Saddam’s palaces. I have pictures.”
“That must have been cool.”
“It was—rich, over-the-top, like you wouldn’t believe.
” He turns towards the movie and watches for a minute, without really watching.
“The rest of the country isn’t like that.
The whole place is kind of destroyed right now.
It’s a different world. Torture, bombings, people disappearing in the night—all of that’s their norm.
Lots of things you wouldn’t want to know about.
” He doesn’t say it like he expects me to be impressed.
I think about everything I want to ask him, about what it's like to go to war, what it might be like if Jacob or Matt end up over there, but I barely know him. We sit in awkward silence, me eating handfuls of popcorn and him smoking.
Jasmine comes around the corner, crying.
“What happened?” Raymond and I ask at the same time.
“Nothing, I just…Gage–”
Before she can finish, Gage comes around the corner. “Jasmine, wait, I didn’t–”
If Raymond was looking at me the way he’s looking at Gage, I’d shut up and run. Gage isn’t that smart. He keeps talking, trying to apologize, or more likely trying to justify whatever he did.
Raymond doesn’t wait to hear what Gage has to say. In a quick motion he has Gage pinned against the cement building by his neck. I eat another handful of popcorn, enjoying this more than I should.
Jasmine lets Gage hang there for a minute. Then she waves her hand like a queen granting a reprieve. “Let him go.”
“Are you sure?” Raymond says without releasing his hold.
“Yeah. I just want to go home,” Jasmine says.
Raymond escorts us back to Jasmine’s car. Gage takes my spot in the backseat.
It's a long, icy ride home. Gage sits in the back with his arms folded, for once not even trying to talk his way out of being in trouble.
As soon as Jasmine drops us off, I confront him. “What did you do?”
He shrugs. “Nothing. You know Jasmine. She gets mad over dumb things.”
“Dumb things like what?”
He squirms. “It’s been nearly three weeks. We’ve seen each other almost every day.”
“And?”
“You know how she acts around me. Like, I don’t know, like she’s ready for something more.”
I'm piecing together what must have happened, and my blood boils. “You think that makes it okay?”
“You think it's okay for her to send me all these mixed signals, lead me on and then get mad when I–”
"If I'd known you were such a creep, I would have never let you near my friends." I stalk toward my house.
He slumps against a tree. “You don’t need to be jealous, Jess.”
I whirl around to face him. “Jealous?”
“Yeah, it’s nothing personal. Jasmine’s a lot more my type, besides–”
“Who do you think you are?” I move closer, getting in his face. “Not everyone wants to be with you, Gage.”
“Calm down, Jess.” He puts his hand on my arm.
I slap him. Hard. “Don’t touch me Gage! In fact, do me a favor, don’t touch me or any of my friends ever again!”
“What’s going on?” Jacob emerges from the direction of my house.
“Just a little disagreement.” Gage has his hand over the cheek I just slapped.
“A disagreement?” Jacob asks.
I face him. “Your brother thinks that knowing someone for a couple of weeks entitles him to certain privileges. I disagreed.”
Jacob looks at Gage with the same look he got from Raymond earlier. “What did you do?”
“Stay out of this. It’s none of your business,” Gage growls.
“Jess, what did he do?”
I’m furious. I’m trying to keep from crying. It’s been a stupid night; stuck being the third wheel, trying to figure what Gage did to make my best friend cry, trying to figure out why it bothers me that Gage chose Jasmine. I don’t feel like explaining any of this to Jacob. I head toward my house.
“Wait.” Jacob reaches out to stop me.
“Stay out of it, Jacob. Gage is right. This is none of your business.” I push past him and go inside.