18 Things (11 page)

Tammy had sent me a text message thirty minutes ago with the plan, telling me to meet at Nate’s house. He lived two miles away, and keeping a steady jog, I arrived in twenty minutes, albeit a little out of breath and sweaty and probably with messy hair, but that last one was nothing new. He waited in his driveway, a bulky backpack slung over his shoulder and his guitar case in his left hand.

Just seeing him gave me goose bumps. I didn’t know what that meant, and I tried not to think about it.

“I grabbed you one of mine in case you need an extra at the lake,” he said a little too boisterously with his deep voice, holding out a blue Michigan hooded sweatshirt.

“Shh!” I warned as we set off down the sidewalk, the leaves of the overhead trees rustling as a breeze blew over us. “Did you leave your parents a note in case they wake up to find you gone?”

“Yeah. Right on my bed. Even signed it Cantankerous Little Monkey. But they’d be fine with it. They’ve woken up to find me gone before.”

“Wow, I wish my parents were so forgiving.”

“Did you leave one, too?”

“Yup, on my desk. But I’m dead if they find out.” I gave him a flat look, letting him know I meant business.

“No worries. We’ll be back before they wake up.” He lifted his hand, then raked his fingers through his shaggy hair.

“I can’t believe I’m fully awake and haven’t even had my cup of coffee. Must be the adrenaline of sneaking out.”

In the dead of the night, his big shoes sounded too loud against the concrete. “Good, because we got places to go and people to see.”

He kicked a rock, sending it skittering across the sidewalk, then into someone’s driveway.

I watched him walk, temporarily distracted by the handsomeness of his tan face… the coffee colored hair sweeping across his forehead, the golden brown eyebrows always drawn together in thought, those laughing ocean blue eyes and long lashes, the square jaw and wide, slightly smiling mouth. I tripped over a rock and lost my footing, falling down entirely.

“Whoa! Are you okay?” Nate reached down and held out his hand. I just sat there, feeling my heart beat rapidly, and then he grabbed my hand when I didn’t respond. He tugged me up and inspected me. “You look like you’ll live. Can you handle walking, or do I need to carry you?”

I smiled at him, in spite of basically making a total fool of myself, and moved my feet forward. “I can walk. So, what exactly is the plan?”

Letting loose of my hand, he said, “All I know is Tammy orchestrated the whole thing. She’s picking up Kyle, Nicole is picking up Sean, and you met me at my house since we’re closest to the beach.”

Footsteps were the only sound for moments. It was weird how quiet the dark could be. I thought about all the people resting inside each house we passed, oblivious to us walking by in the middle of the night. So much happens in the world. I wasn’t used to this type of calm, and I should’ve sensed peace. Instead, the silent night disturbed me. Then, we crested a hill, and the sidewalk turned to sand, and I felt at home again.

“Where do you want to set up camp on the beach tonight?” he asked.

I took a few steps forward, scanning the beach. “I get to pick?”

Nate jabbed my arm. “It’s your list.”

Pressing a hand on my stomach where I felt butterflies, I said, “Oh, right. Number eleven: sneak out. Are you sure we should do this?”

He pointed skywards. “How about hiking to the top of the sand dunes?”

I gawked at the hill, but he shoved my arm lightly.

“Race you to the top!” His hair whipped in the wind as he sprinted a few steps, then looked back at me.

I ran, feeling my feet under me. I was sure Nate purposefully slowed his pace or I never would’ve caught up with him. Up ahead, all I could see was sand and sky until finally, we were at the top.

We almost collapsed with laughter as we reached the peak of the mini mountain. Nate retrieved two blankets from his backpack, then we stretched across the warm polyester, listening to the song of waves rolling in and watching the stars twinkle.

My own mind remained tranquil for once, and I hummed the old Christmas carol,
Silent Night,
while mapping out the constellations… then sighed. “Shouldn’t we text the others to let them know where we set up?”

“Yeah.”

He pressed his lips together and slowly pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, and I thought maybe he was just as content as I was with only the two of us being here.

He typed a message to Sean and Kyle.

“I know this probably sounds strange since I just snuck out for the first time, but I’ve never felt more at peace than this moment,” I said.

Fireflies flitted past us. I wished I had a jar to capture them, like Conner and I did not too many years ago.

“I know what you mean,” Nate murmured.

The moon rested full and bright, the same way it looked the night lightning struck Conner. And with Nate and me sitting on the blanket alone, it seemed the lunar effect caused strange things to happen again. Not that I was complaining, this time.

We traced our names in the sand, then he snapped a picture of us next to our designs. We lay on our backs, staring at the cumulus clouds in the light of the moon, and looked for pictures in the piles of puffy cotton. He saw a hand pointing at him, an eagle, and a hamburger. I spied a dragon breathing fire, a crab, and a woman’s face.

“Nate and Olga sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Tammy said, hiking up the hill with the rest of the Jedi Order.

I pointed at her. “Don’t even open that Pandora’s box.”

Nate bowed his head.

Did I offend him
? That was so not what I was going for.

What would’ve Conner thought about all this? Whenever I pictured him, he was buttoning his Kurt Cobain grunge style flannel, holding up three fingers in the Scout Sign, reminding me to always be prepared. But you can’t prepare for falling in love, which is why I didn’t want to. Give me my place on the school math team over having a boyfriend any day. Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, that’s something I could fall in love with. Something precise, a formula I could figure out that always worked and never disappointed, never hurt.

“What took you guys so long?” I asked, trying to avoid staring at Nate’s frown.

He fidgeted with his phone, flipping it over as though he’d never before looked at it.

“Well, I can’t speak for Nicole and Sean.” Tammy eyeballed them with a quirked brow. “But Kyle and I stopped for supplies at Meijer Grocery. Thank God they’re open twenty-four hours.”

She overturned a plastic bag, dumping a package of peanut butter cookies from the bakery, a Family Size bag of SunChips, and an assortment of king-sized candy bars.

“How do you keep your model figure?” Nicole asked.

“Cheerleading.” Tammy bounced on her toes and winked at me. “Pretty soon, Olga will have a rocking body too.” Turning to Kyle, she asked, “Did you bring the energy drinks?”

“Got ‘em in here.” He retrieved a six-pack from his bag, then gestured for Sean to take one and pass it around.

The sounds of cans popping open echoed around our circle of friends.

“Alrighty then. Who wants to bury my butt in the sand?” Sean rubbed his hands together.

“Just your butt?” Kyle slapped Sean’s behind like a good-natured football player, and Sean jumped. “Or your whole body?”

Sean massaged his tooshie. “The whole enchilada. I’m making it number two on my life list, baby.” He lay down in the powder soft sand. “But be careful of Jimi Hendrix.”

Nicole patted his afro, which was especially poofy with his braids gone.

“Just bury your head in the sand and wait for your friggin’ prom,” Nate blurted out as we all grabbed a fistful of dirt and dumped it on top of Sean.

Tammy pursed her lips. “Okay, that was random.”

But I wasn’t confused. “Nice, Bender,” I told him before turning to Tammy. “It’s only right he quote The Breakfast Club since we’re starting one of our own. You’re all still coming next Saturday to The Morning Star Café, right?”

Nate nodded and Tammy’s eyes darted between the two of us.

“Oh, so that was like, a movie reference?” she asked.

“Yes, an eighties classic,” I answered in a slow, exaggerated voice as everyone laughed.

“Very funny,” Tammy said as we finished covering Sean’s legs and worked on his arms. “Speaking of prom, remember when Kyle asked you to be his date because I told him to? Let’s see if that can work again. Nate, I think you should ask Olga out on a date. Oh yeah, let’s get this bucket list started tonight!”

She punched Nate in the arm.

I seized her hand in a Vulcan death grip. “Yes, let’s get it started by telling people
exactly
what I think about them.”

Nicole launched her hand in the air. “I second that one!”

“You know who was good at telling people what they think?” Calm emanated from Kyle’s voice, the way he always spoke. “Conner. That’s why he was such an epic songwriter. And we found one for Olga in his song book this past week. I think he wrote it as a birthday present for you.”

My heart raced, and a warm feeling hit my core. Not just because of Conner, but because Kyle’s a good buddy, changing the subject like that. Really, all my friends were awesome, the way they protected me and stood up for me, even when Tammy stuck her nose where it didn’t belong.

“Really? Why do you think that?” Tears formed in my eyes.

“Because it says ‘Olga’s Birthday Song’ next to the title.”
I leaned toward him. “Which was?”

“You’ll see. Okay, where’d you put Breedlove?”

Nate pulled his guitar out of its case, as way of answering, while Sean punched and kicked his way out of the sand.

“That was short lived,” Nate said, waving toward Sean.

“Word. It’s not as fun as it sounds. Can I play? Huh, Nate? Can I?”

Nate smiled and nodded his head, then handed Breedlove to Sean. “Stop wiggin’, man. Play
Time of Your Life
by Green Day.”

Sean stroked the guitar like a pro, but then again, we didn’t nickname his afro Jimi Hendrix just because of his hair.

“Conner titled this one
Ode to a Septic Tank,
and from what I gather, it’s written from Olga’s perspective,” Nate said.

A sidesplitting laugh escaped my lips. On Halloween of our kindergarten year, we decided to dress as army men, girl in my case. At the time, my parents rented a small house, and after trick-or-treating, his family along with his sister’s best friend all came over for a bonfire and some cake… since it was also my birthday. That night was really the beginning of our parents’ friendship, and the four of us kids raced around the acre of land we had out back, playing a combination of tag and hide-and-seek. Conner and I clearly losing, he sought out a form of camouflage, but there hadn’t been any rain for days. Poop replaced mud when he came upon our ruptured septic tank and dared me to jump in, saying, “This is war! Don’t be a girl.” I didn’t want to be labeled a sissy, least of all by my comrade, so I answered, “Yes, Commander!” He claimed he never meant to almost drown me, didn’t expect me to actually plunge into the foul mess, or for the poop pile to go so deep. But the truth was I could never say no to him, something he used to his advantage frequently.

“Wait, don’t sing yet! Let me get out my iPhone to record.” Nicole dug in her purse. “Okay, hit it.”

Sean strummed the acoustic bass guitar, Nate sung, and Kyle drummed a beat on his lap.

“Experience comes in many forms/And one I remember, breaks all the norms/Playing outside with Conner, his face wears a grin/When all of the sudden, a septic tank I fell in/Swamped in poop/I couldn’t breathe/I flapped my arms and tried to scream/A septic tank is what I fell in/A few minutes felt like hours, nobody prevailed/Then my mom came around/Her face went so pale/She rushed over with great alien speed/Like mothers do when their child is in need/She lifted me out of the fume/A bath could not have come too soon/A septic tank is what I fell in/I got washed up and was put in a dress/Never again did I want to see that awful mess/All of you can have your laughs/Like I do when Sean raps/Mom often does when she says I’m full of crap/I answer her defensively/Conner tried to drown me/A septic tank is what I fell in.”

Nicole, Tammy, and I rolled on the ground as Sean set Breedlove down and shouted, “Boo-yah! Stop, drop, and roll! You just got burned from the grave, Olga! How does it feel?”

A patch of sea grass bowed in the wind, directing my attention to the sparkling water like an omen, a good one this time. The perfect, round moon shone brightly on the horizon, illuminating everyone’s smiles.

“Pretty good actually.”

“Sure did,” Nate said, jumping to his feet. “Body Slam!”

Nate lifted Sean, then slammed him down in Hulk Hogan fashion.

“Boys, please.” I clasped my hands in faux prayer. “Last time you started your WWE tricks, Conner broke a toe!”

Anytime one of the guys impressed the other, their reward was a Body Slam, and apparently they’d already acquainted Nate with this tradition. Again, another example of why I’d never understand boys.

“You’re right, ‘Mom’. We should really be more responsible.” Sean sat next to Nicole and ripped open the bag of SunChips.

“I’m loading this onto YouTube as we speak.” Nicole had already reviewed
Ode to a Septic Tank
on her phone.
Nice.

I smiled. “I don’t know whether I’d kiss or slap Conner for the song if he was here right now.”

“Definitely kiss,” Nate said, staring at me, like he was ready to fill in.

Well, he did sing the song.

“You two are weird.” Tammy chucked a Twix bar at my head.

“Right you are,” Nate said. “Which is why it’s time we all form a love circle and hold hands and sit crisscross applesauce.” He picked up Breedlove. “No beach night is complete without a rendition of Kumbaya.”

Nicole joined in last. “Nate Barca, you’re gonna make me barfa. This is the first and last time I sneak out with you.”

I saw the song as another tribute to Conner, who no doubt sung this tune many times on Boy Scout trips. I looked out at the waves as we belted out the lyrics, the violent surf pounding in and clinging to the shore with frothy fingers.