The Nights Were Young (4 page)

V

“I think these are too short,” Marie said, staring into Kate’s mirror at the jean shorts she was wearing.
They were a pair that barely covered her butt and hugged low around her stomach.

              “They actually look really good on you,” Kate said. “I’ll have to watch out for you. Those guys are going to be drunk and trying to get with you all night.”

Kate put on a tank top and checked herself out in the mirror.

              It was Tuesday night; they were in Kate’s home, a double wide trailer in a neighborhood called Hidden Oak Shores. Marie had permission to be out at Stephanie’s home until eleven that evening. (Stephanie was a nice girl from class that Marie had never spoken more than two words to.) Kate’s mother worked night shifts at the hospital, and her step-father worked off and on out of town. They had the place to themselves, but they were not going to stay there.

              “I don’t want to get molested all night,” Marie said.

              Kate laughed. “You’re not gonna get molested. You’ll be fine. These are the good guys. If anyone messes with you, my brother will kick their ass.”

She stood next to Marie. Marie saw in the mirror how she looked like something that would completely infuriate her mother, short shorts and a tight shirt – she was terrified, but she smiled. Her nerves were racing, but at least she didn’t feel boring, and she didn’t feel ugly, especially when she sucked in her stomach. Her chest wasn’t as big as Kate’s and she wasn’t a supermodel, but Marie, for the first time, felt attractive.

              “I wish I had contacts,” Marie said. She adjusted the frames of her glasses. “My mom doesn’t want me to get them until after graduation.”

              “You don’t look bad. You’re like a – sexy nerd,” Kate said, laughing.

              “Thanks,” Marie muttered.

“Come on. I want to get there before they drink all the beer.”

              They got into Kate’s Oldsmobile and sped out of the gravel driveway. Marie stuck her head out the window and took in the moonlight as the Oldsmobile sped on winding roads further and further from civilization. The night felt young, wild, and everything good in it was yet to come. Freedom was kissing her; she was falling hard for it.

              They traveled past empty fields that wrapped around the shores of the lake and led into woods, past the old grain silos and abandoned buildings. It was a land that time had seemed to forget to carry forward with the rest of Crossfalls, abandoned to its ruin. They arrived at an old picnic area. It was on the shores of the lake, high on a hill that overlooked the water and nearly hidden in the trees of the untamed woods. The tables were rusted and broken, and trash littered the area. Kate parked next to an old, beat-up red truck. Its doors were open, and the speakers blared a roaring blues guitar from the past, a type of music Marie had not heard since she was twelve. There were a few other cars and a group of people, maybe ten, at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the water.

              Kate smiled. “Welcome to the cliffs.”

              Marie got out, her stomach turning with nerves. Kate grabbed her hand and marched her straight into the party. Brandon was there with his truck, sitting on the tailgate and drinking a beer. There was a girl who was dressed in even less clothing than Kate and Marie. She seemed older.

              “Get outta here,” Brandon said jokingly, laughing, and chugging more beer.

              “Piss off,” Kate said. “Joey baby, give me two beers.”

              One of the boys reached inside Brandon’s truck and handed her the drinks. He was skinny and awkward as he fumbled for the beers to hand to Kate. “Here you go K-Kate,” he stuttered.

              “Thank you, Joey,” Kate said, and she winked at him.

              He turned red and beamed. “You’re totally welcome.”

              Kate stood still, smiling at him, and he stood awkwardly still, gawking back at her.

              Finally, he moved. “I think I’m gonna have one, too.”

              Kate laughed softly and whispered to Marie, “He’s so much fun.”

              “I think he likes you,” Marie said back quietly.

              “Well duh!” Kate grabbed Marie’s hand. “Come on, Marie. Bye Joey!”

              Kate walked Marie closer to the truck. They stood a few feet from the tailgate.

              “Who was that?” Marie asked.

              “That’s Joey. He’s cute right? And he’s totally in love with me. It’s adorable.”

“Who’s this?” Brandon asked, eyeing Marie.

              “This is Marie,” Kate said. “Don’t mess with her or I’ll kick you in the balls.”

              “Whatever,” he grumbled.

Kate opened their beers and handed one to Marie. “You better chug that, girl. We’re gonna get you drunk tonight.”

              Marie downed some. The taste wasn’t as bad as she always thought it was. Her mother had told her beer was one of the worst drinks she could ever have. Her mother said that real women drink champagne or nicely aged wine. Screw the wine, Marie drank more beer.

              “When are we gonna change that music already?” the older girl said. She was leaning against the truck near Brandon and tugging at her hair.

              “No one’s changing that!” said a voice from behind the trees.

Marie turned around.

Travis walked forward.

Her breath shortened and her body froze for only a moment, but it was long enough for her beer to slip from her hand.

“Shit,” Marie whispered.

She crouched down fast and picked it back up. She brushed her hair out of her face and put her hand on her hip, leaning, trying to look relaxed despite her racing heart.

“Damn, Marie,” Kate said. “Get it together.”

Travis strutted forward, carrying a water bottle full of some clear drink and sat next to Brandon on the tailgate.

“You’re just gonna have to live with it,” Travis demanded, “‘cause Jimi’s it and I ain’t gonna let you change it.”

He smiled at the older girl and swigged from his water bottle. She put her hands on his thighs and leaned up to kiss him.

              “You’re an ass,” the older girl said.

              “So,” Travis said back. He let her kiss him again, but he turned away quickly after. “Where’s my beer?”

              Brandon handed him one.

              “Where’s my joint?”

              “We ain’t got one lit up yet,” another boy said. “Brandon’s got it.”

              “One second,” Brandon said.

Brandon stumbled to the passenger door of the truck and reached inside, returning with a small, rolled up, white thing that was foreign to, as she could tell from their faces, only Marie.

              Marie leaned close to Kate, a little closer than she intended - the beer was hitting her.

“Is that weed?” she whispered.

              Kate giggled. “Yes ma’am. Don’t freak out, you don’t have to do any.”

              Brandon sat back down next to Travis and lit the joint. He puffed twice, and then handed it over to Travis as he violently coughed out smoke.

              Travis wore a devilish grin as he inhaled and then breathed out the smoke slowly.

It was the strangest and most captivating image Marie had witnessed – Travis’s smoking was supposed to be terribly wrong to her, but he moved so slow and calm that she forgot it was wrong, the way a blood-red moon would sometimes rob her attention for minutes.

              Kate elbowed Marie. “Quit staring. You’re about to drool on yourself."

              Marie shook her head and came to her senses. “What? I was just zoning out.”

              “Sure,” Kate taunted.

Suddenly, Joey jumped up behind Kate and poked her ribs with his fingers, scaring her.

“Joey, you dick!” she yelled, and she slapped his arm. “What do you want?”

              “I want you to dance with me, baby.” Joey was drunk now, smiling stupidly at Kate. He put his arms around her and started swaying to the slow blues song that was coming from the truck speakers.

              “Don’t call me baby,” Kate said, though her tone seemed inviting of it.

              “Just dance with me.”

Kate gave in and started swaying with him.

              Marie glanced back to Travis, and to her disbelief caught him staring at her. His eyes darted away back towards the older girl. She started kissing his neck, but he looked back at Marie and smiled a strange, dorky smile that surprised her. She couldn’t help but giggle, and then he laughed, as if he didn’t notice the girl against him, as if he only saw Marie – right before the older girl grabbed his face and buried her tongue into his mouth. This only lasted a few seconds because Travis pushed her gently off of him.

              “Not right now,” Travis said. He got down from the tailgate. For a moment he glanced at Marie, but he turned and walked away from the truck and towards the woods.

              The older girl followed him. “Travis, what’s wrong with you?”

              Marie could hear them speaking to each other in the darkness, but she felt it wasn’t right to listen. So she walked around. People were talking and shouting and drinking and smoking. She looked up. The night was clear, and the breeze was soft. Somewhere out beyond the cliffs, her mother was at the house, sitting still in one of the rooms as Marie had seen her do sometimes. If Kate had not taken her out, Marie would be alone, too, in one of those rooms, those lonely rooms in that still, silent museum of a house. But Marie was out in the night… where she belonged, surrounded by shouts and drunken laughter, and the smell of smoke and the sounds of the lake waves rushing against the bottom of the cliff.

              She stood at the edge of the cliffs and watched the waves in the lake meet the rocks at the shore, and they beautifully crashed and died at their destination, only to be reborn out in the water and race forward through their short lives to meet the shore once again. And in that moment Marie knew she was different, from her mother, her father, and from many others that came in and out of her life. Those people raced forward for money, for job promotions, for the social status that comes with owning a house like those in Crossfalls Estates. But Marie wanted to race forward for the shore, for the experience of risk and adventure and the shattering of rules and conventions, and to make mistakes and be shattered by them like the waves shattered upon the rocks, only to be born again out in the water, out in life, where she could say she had lived and learned, loved and lost. Marie longed to live like a wave.  

              “Hey, Marie!”

              She turned around. Brandon was standing behind her, and he was wearing nothing but his boxers.

              “Uh… no!” she shouted.

              “Relax,” he said. “I’m not gonna attack you. Want to see something cool? Come on!”

              He ran off back towards the woods beyond the truck.

              Travis was leaning against the truck. He, too, had taken his shirt and shoes off, and he awkwardly glanced back and forth at Marie and the ground. He made eye contact with Marie and smiled, and she smiled back, her stomach churning nervously, excitedly. She raised her palm and waved at him. He waved at her, and his mouth opened like he might say something, but he looked down, too embarrassed to speak, and he turned and followed where Brandon had gone towards the woods.

              Kate strolled up to Marie, opening another beer. “Come on girl. Let’s go watch these dumb boys do something really stupid.”

              “Can we split that?” Marie asked.

              “Yeah, babe.”

Kate handed her the beer and they shared, walking past the truck and then beyond the tree line into the woods. About twenty feet later they came out on another edge of the cliff that overlooked a clear area of water. There were no rocks, no shore, just the lake.

              Brandon was lined up with every other boy at the party, including Travis, and all had stripped to their boxers and undershirts.

              “They’re gonna jump,” Marie said.

              “Yeah,” Kate answered, “like a bunch of morons.”

              The older girl was grabbing Travis’s arm and whining something into his ear.

“Kristen, it’s fine,” he said back to her. “Let me go.”

Kristen – this older girl’s name was Kristen.

What a terrible name
, Marie thought.

Travis stumbled a little and yanked his arm out of Kristen’s grip. “You boys ready?”

They lined up along the edge, Travis standing the closest to it. Marie wasn’t sure if he would get the chance to jump because he was swaying and seemed drunk enough so that he might just fall. She shook a little, worried for him. He looked back, looking around at everyone’s face, searching for someone. He finally saw Marie, and he stared at her a few seconds, and then he looked back out over the water.