Absorbed

Chapter Eleven

I ndependence Day was the most anticipated movie of the summer and the lifeguard crew was especially excited for an activity in a dark, dry, air-conditioned space, away from the screaming kids at The Plunge. As soon as the pool closed, they piled into Stacey and Chad’s cars, but had to wait for Mark to change and lock up. By the time they finally got to the theater, there were only tickets left for the 10:00 p.m. show, and a line was already wrapping around the building.

“We’ve got four hours to kill,” Tiffany said matter-of-factly. She stepped into line, draped her towel across a spot on the sidewalk and sat down.

Desiree and Melissa linked arms and stepped back. “We’ll go find food,” Desiree said, nodding in the direction of the mall.

“This place is pretty skeezy,” Chad said, scanning the parking lot and the people jumping into line around them. “Let’s stay in two groups. I’ll go with them.” He turned toward Mark. “You four good to stay together here?”

Mark nodded. “We’re cool.” They commenced their elaborate handshake.

Jessie set his towel down. Stacey nodded eagerly. She sat beside Tiffany, grateful for the towel to shield them from the still-hot, grimy sidewalk. They each handed Chad ten dollars, and he went with Desiree and Melissa to the food court in the mall, promising to return with dinner.

Tiffany pulled a pack of UNO cards from her purse. “No cheating this time,” she told Mark and Jessie, while passing out the cards.

“Me? A cheater?” Jessie feigned innocence.

“You didn’t like that you kept losing,” Mark told Tiffany.

“What are you guys talking about?” Stacey asked.

“A couple of weeks ago, when we were playing Uno after work, Jessie kept laying down more cards than he was supposed to each hand, and Mark kept hiding cards under his butt.”

The night they hung out after night swim ended, they were playing Uno? Stacey froze in amused shock. So much for the bong and group orgy.

“Don’t listen to her. She has no proof,” Mark responded.

“When you stood up, cards were stuck to your thighs!” Tiffany shook her head and rolled her eyes, chuckling.

“All lies,” Jessie said.

Mark gleefully slid a card up the leg of his shorts.

“See!” Tiffany pointed at Mark.

Mark opened his empty hands like a magician and shrugged.

Winking at Jessie, Stacey lifted a card and tucked it under her bra strap. They all laughed.

The four began playing round after loud, ruthless round of Uno, oblivious to the crowd waiting in line. After a few hands, it was obvious no one was going to play fair.

“Uno!” Stacey proudly held her one card up.

“No way!” Mark scoffed. “She’s definitely hiding them in her back pocket.”

“Am not! You’re the cheater, not me!”

“I know how to get the truth out of her.” Jessie squeezed Stacey’s thigh above her knee. She squealed and wriggled with delight. He grabbed her wrists and held them together with one hand while he reached around to grope her pockets with his free hand.

“Get off her, Jess,” Tiffany said, swatting his hands away from Stacey’s wrists. “I thought you had smoother moves than that to grab a girl’s butt.”

Jessie let go, nodding, his eyes locked on Stacey’s. “Oh, believe me…I do.”

Although she’d secretly loved Jessie’s wrestling with her, Stacey was grateful for Tiffany’s solidarity. An hour had passed quickly, and her cheeks and stomach hurt from laughing so hard.

“Why aren’t they back with the food yet?” Mark demanded, uncovering two cards from beneath the towel. “I’m starving.” He dropped his stack of cards onto the discard pile.

Jessie added what was left of his cards to the pile as well. “You should go find them.” He leaned back against the stucco wall.

“We can stay and save our spot,” Stacey said.

Mark nudged Tiffany with his elbow. “Want to be on my search and rescue team?”

Tiffany nodded and they both stood. “If they come back without us, make them stand in line so you can come find us at Hot Dog on a Stick.”

Stacey nodded, scooching back to lean against the wall next to Jessie. Ever since the treading water contest, she felt more relaxed around Jessie: gorgeous, guitar-strumming, skater-boy Jessie, with golden hair and washboard abs. As Mark and Tiffany walked away, Stacey reminded herself to be cool. No awkward rambling, Chapman.

She unwrapped a piece of gum and put it in her mouth, then offered Jessie the green Wrigley pack. He took a piece, and Stacey shoved the pack back in her pocket.

Jessie slid over until he was shoulder to shoulder with her, twirling the silver gum wrapper around his finger. “So, how old were you when your parents split up?” he asked.

It took her a second to respond. “Um… I was a baby, actually. You?” She stuttered, confused about the sudden seriousness of the conversation.

“I was nine.”

“I’m sorry. I bet that was hard. I don’t even remember my parents together.”

“Mine weren’t ever happy.”

“Mine still fight, too, and they’ve been apart for like 16 years.”

Jessie exhaled. “We haven’t heard from my mom since she left.”

Stacey looked at Jessie, shocked. “You haven’t heard from your mom since you were nine?” The idea of a mom being the one to leave seemed unimaginable to her.

Jessie shrugged. “My dad had like three girlfriends—that I knew of—before she left. And he drinks a lot. I guess she got fed up.”

Why didn’t she take you and your brother with her?

Stacey was afraid there was no good answer. If Jessie had a mom that would walk out the door and leave him and his brother behind, especially with a dad who drank too much, he probably didn’t want to talk about her.

“I’m really sorry, Jessie,” was all she could think to say. Then, as an afterthought: “Maybe some people aren’t meant for monogamy. Or motherhood.”

“That’s what I think, too. She sends cards every once in awhile, on, like, birthdays or Christmas. Sometimes with money.” He shrugged, folding the smoothed gum wrapper into a tiny airplane. “There’s never a return address, but the last few times they were postmarked in St. Louis.”

“Do you have other family there?”

“Not that I know of.” Jessie stared out at the cars in the parking lot. He was close enough that Stacey could smell the chlorine seeping from his pores. “My little brother wouldn’t shut up about how he missed her. Once our dad smacked him hard for it. Told him he was too old for that shit. He was twelve.” He flung the gum wrapper plane into the gutter. “She clearly didn’t love us anyway. After that, we both stopped talking about her.”

From the corner of her eye, she could see how angry and hurt he was. She didn’t want him to think she didn’t care, but she wasn’t sure what else to say. They sat, quiet, for a long time, until eventually Jessie started talking about his trip to the beach the weekend before, with Melissa and Chad.

“It totally sucked you bailed on us,” Jessie told her. “You’d have had fun.”

Stacey’s stomach fluttered. “Yeah…I got my days mixed up. I made plans like a month before to go to a concert.” She didn’t want to mention Gabe, or how badly that day had gone. “When did you learn to surf?”

“Middle school?” He looked at a spot in the sky as if it held the answer. “After skating so long, it was pretty easy. Crashing in water hurts way less than crashing on concrete. Do you surf?”

Stacey shook her head. “I used to boogie board. My dad lives in Orange County. When I visited in summer, my stepmom would take me to the beach. I didn’t have any friends there, so sometimes I’d make friends while waiting for waves.”

“Chillest people ever, right? Whenever anyone I knew was going to the beach, I always begged to go along.”

Stacey nodded. “Do you want to live at the beach someday…like, when you’re an adult?”

Jessie shrugged. “For a while. And the mountains. Mostly I wanna go wherever the next ride is.” The sun was setting over the parking lot, and the orangey-glow reflected in his eyes. “What about you? You’re going to Harvard or Stanford or something, right?”

“I wish. Probably a UC.”

“Why not? You’re like the smartest in your class.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Yeah, you are. You know it. Everyone knows it.”

Stacey shrugged. “There’s a few of us with high GPAs. But being at the top of our class in Mesa Valley doesn’t turn heads at Ivy Leagues.”

“You do speech and debate, too, though, right? And I’m sure you rocked the SATs.”

“Wow. Jessie Thomas, have you been stalking me?”

“Come on. You’re like…untouchable.”

Stacey’s head jerked back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I dunno. Maybe that’s the wrong word. I mean, you're one of those people we all know will be someone important someday. You’re gonna cure cancer or be a hotshot lawyer or president or something. It’s obvious. You’re way better than most of the people around here.”

“Me? Better than…what are you talking about?”

“Until a week ago, I was sure you thought you were better than all of us, too.”

Stacey was stunned and her mind raced. Is he messing with me? “That’s what you really thought?”

Jessie smiled and pushed his shoulder playfully into hers.

“I spent the beginning of summer feeling like a total loser around all of you.”

“Dude, seriously? I—”

Melissa’s familiar cackle interrupted Jessie.

Stacey looked up to see the other five guards coming around the corner of the theater. No way was she going to continue this conversation in front of everyone. Most of the cars parked by the mall had disappeared while she and Jessie were talking.

She checked her watch. It was 8:30. The inky blue sky disappeared behind the yellow humming glow of the parking lot lights. Tiffany handed Jessie and Stacey each a corndog and Desiree passed them lemonades.

“We found them sitting in the air-conditioned food court,” Tiffany said. “I told them it was unfair to keep you guys out here in the heat alone, starving.”

“Yeah, don’t be too thankful for Tiffany’s bleeding heart,” Mark said. “Once she sat down she enjoyed the AC too much to leave for an hour.”

Stacey’s stomach grumbled as the smell of the grease hit her nostrils. She hoped no one else heard. “Thanks.” She took a long swig of the cold lemonade.

Jessie dipped his corndog into mustard and bit a third of it off. “I’d have done the same thing,” he said, his mouth full.

“Told you,” Melissa muttered to Tiffany over her shoulder, her hands in her back pockets. The lace of her padded bra peeked out of her tiny tank top. Stacey sensed the agreement to stay in the mall was more to prevent Melissa from spoiling the night by attacking Jessie. Melissa had refused to make eye contact with Jessie for more than a week and had switched shifts at least twice to avoid him.

“There’s more than an hour for them to go inside now if they want,” Melissa purred.

“I hear we missed a killer game of Uno,” Chad said, ignoring Melissa. He unfolded another towel to sit beside Jessie, and began arranging the cards into a neat pile.

Desiree sat beside Stacey. “What if we played a game no one could cheat at? Like ‘Would you Rather?’”

“Absolutely! I’m going first,” Mark said.

“Of course you are.” Tiffany shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You love coming up with the foulest, most impossible choices.”

The seven lifeguards crowded onto the three towels: four girls on one side, the three boys across from them.

“Melissa,” Mark began, “would you rather step barefoot into a pile of poop or vomit?”

“Eeewww…” Desiree squealed. “Why?”

Melissa sneered. “Animal or human?”

“Think about it.” Mark tapped his temple. “Does it really matter?”

Melissa considered, and shook her head. Looking queasy herself, she answered, “Vomit, I guess.”

“I knew it,” Mark said.

“As if anyone would choose shit.” Melissa rolled her eyes. “My turn. Chad, would you rather lose your penis in a freak accident, or keep it but never have sex again for the rest of your life.”

Chad shielded his crotch with one hand. “Oh, I need to keep it. I can always find a way.” He motioned with his hand and nodded knowingly.

Stacey laughed nervously, checking the faces of people around them to see if anyone heard and was offended. This game always turned raunchy, but she wished it hadn’t gotten sexual so fast. She hoped her Would-You-Rather wouldn’t be too embarrassing.

Mark wobbled his head at Melissa, mimicking her high-pitched voice. “As if any guy would choose to lose it.”

Melissa’s perfectly plucked eyebrows lifted as she wobbled her head in return.

The others chuckled.

“Stacey,” Chad said. Her heart jumped into her throat. “Would you rather be a virgin forever, or have sex with a different guy every day for the rest of your life?”

Six pairs of eyes were on her. Stacy reminded herself to be cool. Her heart was racing, but she grinned and let out an awkward, grunted exhale through her nostrils. She shrugged one shoulder like her choice was a simple one. “Different guys, for sure. I could travel the world finding worthy partners.”

Mark whistled his surprise. Chad let out a high-pitched wolf-howl. Tiffany and Desiree said “wow” in unison. Stacey caught Melissa’s furrowed brow and narrowed gaze out of the corner of her right eye, but looked directly at Jessie instead. His eyebrows were raised and lips were turned in a coy smile as he nodded.

Stacey liked the approval her mock-confidence was earning her, especially from Jessie. Now she had to one-up Chad’s challenge. Her eyes locked on Jessie’s, and before she let herself think about it, the words fell out of her mouth. “Jessie, would you rather give up God, girls, or boards.”

Stunned, the other guards’ eyes grew wide. Stacey could hear her heart beating in her ears, but kept her face relaxed. Even the crowd of strangers around them was hushed in collective astonishment, and everyone’s attention was on Jessie.

Without flinching, Jessie stared right back at Stacey. “God would have to go.”

After the movie, Stacey and Jessie dropped Tiffany and Mark back at The Plunge at 12:30 a.m. She rapidly blinked to stay awake as she pulled out of the parking lot. She’d bought a large Mountain Dew at the theater, hoping the caffeine would help since she’d opened at the pool fourteen hours earlier. But when she offered to share it and her popcorn with Jessie, she became hyper aware of each bite and sip, afraid he might think she was hogging it all. In the end, she let him have most of it, and now Stacey found it hard to keep her heavy head from bobbing. She concentrated all of her attention on the dashed yellow line in the middle of the winding road.

“That final scene was killer!” Jessie slapped the dashboard excitedly.

Stacey startled. She shook her head and tightened her grip on the steering wheel.

“The Fresh Prince and Cousin Eddie saved the world. Epic!”

“Um hmm…” She rolled the driver’s side window down, deeply inhaling the cool, dusty scent of the foothills.

“You know, there’s supposed to be a meteor shower this weekend,” Jessie said.

“Really?” Stacey yawned. “That’s cool.”

Jessie put his hand on Stacey’s thigh.

Stacey’s breath caught. Wait…what is happening?

“We should check it out. Friday night?”

Her heart was racing. He’s fully hitting on me! She bit her lower lip so she wouldn’t squeal. “Yeah. Sure!” Her voice cracked. Stay calm. She cleared her throat. “Sounds good.”

She was thankful Jessie’s street was coming up. She needed to contain her excitement long enough for him to get out of the car.

Stacey pulled the Silver Bullet up to the front of Jessie’s apartment and put the car in park. She turned to say goodnight, but moved too fast and bumped her knee hard against the emergency brake. He yanked his hand off her thigh.

Please, Stacey… She closed her eyes and rubbed her knee. Don’t ruin this by being a dumbass!

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded and looked up. He was staring at her. In the dark car, Jessie’s blue eyes looked navy, a glassy sea that caught the headlights reflecting off his apartment windows.

Nervous, Stacey pulled her arms tight around her waist, her hands clenched.

The side of Jessie’s mouth lifted into a slight smile. He touched Stacey’s cheek gently with his right knuckles. “Relax,” he whispered.

She flattened her palms on her thighs, pushing them toward her knees to get the sweat off.

He reached his left fingers up to swipe a long strand of her hair off her forehead and tucked it behind her ear.

Stacey’s stomach clenched and she wet her bottom lip. Her mouth filled with saliva in anticipation of a kiss she’d fantasized about hundreds of times. In her dreams, Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” would be playing for this moment.

Sliding his hand behind her neck, Jessie leaned over, and gently tugged for her to lean toward him.

Stiffly, she leaned in and swallowed hard, digging her fingernails into her knees.

Jessie tilted his head to the left, so she tilted hers opposite his. Stacey briefly puckered her lips, then relaxed them. She closed her eyes, then fluttered them open again to make sure his were closed, too.

The smell of popcorn on his hot breath closed the space between them before their lips touched.

Jessie’s mouth pressed hard against hers. She felt his full lips. His tongue began to ease her mouth open, so she dropped her jaw open like a fish. Unsure what to do, she barely moved or breathed, letting his tongue caress hers.She could hear her heart pounding in her ears. Jessie Thomas is kissing me!

She relaxed her hands as she absorbed the touch and taste of Jessie’s mouth. The strength of his hand behind her neck, and the lingering saltiness on their mouths. The wetness of their kiss and roughness of their chapped lips rubbing against one another. She felt tingling that scared and excited her in places she’d never realized had such sensations. She squeezed her legs together tighter.

As Jessie pulled back, he gave her bottom lip the slightest tug between his teeth.

She sat there, her mouth agape, as Jessie set his hand on the passenger door handle.

“Happy Fourth of July, Stacey,” Jessie said.

Part of her wanted to grab Jessie’s T-shirt with both hands and pull him back, and part of her wanted him to walk away before the shaking she felt inside became visible to him. She smiled meekly.

“G’night.” Stacey sat, unblinking, following Jessie with her eyes as he got out and walked to his apartment. At the porch, he nodded back at her one last time before going inside.

As soon as his front door closed, she put the car in reverse. She pulled out of his apartment complex, her left foot bouncing.

When she was finally parked in front of her house, engine off, she sat with the seatbelt still latched and put both hands to her mouth.

Jessie kissed me.

She looked at herself in the rearview mirror. “I have a date with Jessie Thomas!”