Chapter 25 Orange Crush #3
“This was back when we were young enough that we didn’t have our own ways to procure contraband.
Allie’s dad used to go to town every Saturday to do his laundry.
He was a devoted collector of quarters for this purpose, because the laundromat didn’t have a change machine.
It did have a vending machine, though, and pop was seventy-five cents.
So if you put a dollar bill in, you got a quarter back.
He used to bring home two cans every Saturday afternoon, one for me and one for Allie.
He would say that our pop raised the last two quarters he needed for the dryer. ”
“Aww. I bet buying you guys pop was actually the point.”
He hadn’t thought that at the time, but he suspected she was right. “So he would bring the pop home and—”
“What kind?”
“Of pop?”
“Yeah. It’s hard for me to imagine you, even a young you, imbibing a mass-produced product from an evil corporate overlord such as Coca-Cola.”
He had to think, but only for a minute. “Sprite for Allie and orange Crush for me.”
“Orange Crush!”
“What’s wrong with orange Crush?”
“Nothing. I just haven’t thought about orange Crush in like twenty years. Also, if I was going to assign you a pop to like, it would be something a lot less cloying. Dr Pepper, maybe. But anyway, let’s hear the rest of the story.”
“Whoever was playing shopkeeper would take the two cans and open the store. The customer would come and make a point of examining the options, but of course if I was the customer, I’d ‘buy’ my orange Crush, and if she was, she’d ‘buy’ her Sprite.”
“And then what?”
He had to think, but again, only momentarily; the memories were coming with more ease now, and they didn’t feel so discombobulating.
“We’d go over here.” He led her around the side of the house where the hammock was and lined himself up and sat.
The hammock was wide and made of rope, so there had been plenty of room for both of them.
“We’d lie perpendicular like this so we could push off the ground with our feet.
” He demonstrated. “The point wasn’t relaxation but making it into almost a carnival ride.
We’d get going as high and fast as we could and then we’d wait until it stopped on its own before we were ‘allowed’ to open the pops.
It was a self-inflicted exercise in delayed gratification, though for what purpose, I’m not sure.
” He shrugged as he used one foot to stop the swinging. “It was just part of the game.”
Blair was standing over the hammock, and the sun filtering through the trees had a stippling effect on her skin and hair and clothing. Little bits of sunshine shimmered all over her.
Before he could overthink it, he pulled her down to join him. He wasn’t sure what his aim was. Well, that wasn’t true. But it wasn’t as if he thought they would get it on right here on the hammock.
She came easily, laughing as she flopped next to him. He’d been bracing with his feet, making it easier for her to mount the hammock. Once she was situated, he let go, and the hammock swung.
“Ahh!”
“If you want to use the hammock properly, if you want to read here, or just contemplate the treetops, you have to lie the long way.” He maneuvered them accordingly.
They settled with one of his arms around her.
She was half on her back, half resting on his chest. He could feel her relax as the hammock rocked.
He could feel himself relax, too. As much as coming here had meant stepping on an unexpected land mine of history, this was a good place.
He inhaled its familiar scent. It was an earthiness, which he realized was probably not the right word for a lake.
But there was the smell of life and of decay at the same time ripe in the air.
Layered over that, though, was the familiar orange scent of Blair’s hair, which had splayed out on his chest. Tropicana, he’d thought earlier, and that hadn’t been a compliment. But maybe he’d been incorrect. Maybe it was more orange Crush, and that was a compliment.
The sun dappling through the trees was hitting both of them. He held up his free arm and rotated it, watching the play of light and shadow on his skin. He felt lazy—in a good way, like a self-satisfied cat. It was an unfamiliar sensation.
They lay there a long time in silence as the hammock gradually came to rest.
“Jack,” Blair whispered. She held up her arm as he had done earlier. The sun had moved. The pattern the light made on her arm was subtler than that it had made on his.
“Hmm?” He pulled her in tighter to him. It probably wasn’t a smart move. It seemed an awfully romantic gesture.
“This place is perfect.”
His phone dinged, saving him from getting cuddly with Blair in a way that was uncalled for.
Allie: I may have screwed up. I stopped in town on my way home and ran into Mary.
Before I could think better of it, I mentioned that you were at my place for a few days.
I was assuming you were going to see your dad while you were here, but as I was driving home, I thought I shouldn’t have said anything.
Jack put his phone back in his pocket, pushed down the dread rising in his gut, and snuggled back up with Blair on the hammock.