Bad People (34 page)

He didn’t stammer, and resisted the urge to clear his throat before he started to talk, which he believed would make him sound young and nervous.

The girl brightened when S/D handed her the card, almost is if she were expecting it. Almost without looking at it she said, “‘Ardiss!’ That’s me!”

He smiled, forgot not to smile, but since she was smiling he guessed it was okay. His cheeks flushed, he could feel them, but there was nothing he could do about that.

“What’s your name?” she asked him.

He told her, “S/D” and she just accepted it, he didn’t have to explain it, which was great. And then he was explaining it anyway, unable to stop himself, like he had Tourette of the over-sharing gland: “It’s short for Stephen-David.”

“Ah, two first names.” She said, like people came in with that every day.

“The two lamest names possible—” he said defensively, “—Except possibly Richard-Michael. Smashed together to make one pretentious annoying stew,” he shrugged. She laughed and he was surprised that he found her so easy to talk to. He wondered how old she was, but he didn’t dare ask her. He guessed twenty. “But we don’t get to pick our own names, right?”

“I don’t know about that Steve-Dave,” said Ardiss. “I mean after all, you did: ‘S-whoosh!-D.’” She cut the air with her hand, stiffened like a karate-chop as she pronounced the “whoosh.”

“Yes, I do spell it with a slash.”

“I knew it. You look like a slash kind of man.”

S/D had to look away. He turned quickly to make like he just wanted to drop his books and coffee on the table. Really he just didn’t know what to do with himself. That was the very first time anyone had ever called him a man, and that felt like the first sunrise, and it had come from no less than a beautiful girl—a beautiful woman, rather.

The books hit the table.

“What are you reading?” she asked. “Not the school stuff. What’s that big fat red one on top?”

“
Battle Royale
,” he said. “It’s a Japanese novel.”

“No kidding? I didn’t know that was a book too. The movie is great. Not the sequel though. Is it a manga?”

“No,” he said, and then continued too excitedly: “There is a manga. But this is the original prose version. The movies good too, but nothing compares to the novel. I’m not kidding.”

“I’d love to read it.”

He handed it to her. “Take it.”

“After your done,” she said, dubious of his enthusiasm it looked like.

“I’ve read it before.” Four times. “I just brought it along in case I got bored.” He put it on the table.

“Well, thanks, S/D!” She picked up the book, turned it over and examined it with interest, smiling. “I guess it’s up to
me
now to make sure you don’t get bored.”

He felt he should have had something to say there. Something ready. What could he say?
Hey, I’m a senior, what grade are you in?
He was at the end of what he could honestly say and still sound cool. Then it occurred to him; she was just being nice to a customer. What else could it be?

She must have sensed his distress. She grabbed a little remote control from under the counter. She pointed it at the satellite radio receiver on a shelf, just out of reach, her side of the counter. It played jazz now, which he liked but knew he didn’t know anything about. There was a class; he should have taken it.

“Is that satellite radio?” he asked.

“Uh,” she looked. “I think?” She squinted, she seemed nearsighted. He thought she would look even cooler and cuter, if that were possible, if she were wearing glasses. That was something he could say to her, he could say that right now.

“If it’s Sirius, then ‘Coffee House’ is good sometimes.”

“No pun intended,” she said smiling.

The he realized how stupid and cliché and on-the-nose his suggestion had been. “Coffee House” in a coffee house. He wanted to run away.

She played with the remote. When she got to the channel, which was all acoustic versions of songs, and was playing Jem’s cover of “Maybe I’m Amazed,” which he recognized and was not a great song for it to land on. Or maybe it was; it all depended on what she did next. Why couldn’t it be The Sundays’ version of “Wild Horses” instead?

Ardiss stood in her tiptoes to see the readout on the player. “Yes,” she said, “that’s the channel.”

He continued struggling with what to say next, and this time he lost. Every thought left his head when he looked at her. He sat down, and pulled his textbook toward in.

A history text—history of science actually, and he thought it might pass. “Well, I guess I’ll study now. I’m a college student. UW.”

“I’m thinking of taking some classes,” she said. Of course she didn’t have any reason to doubt him, but the way she accepted it made him feel low.

She picked up the copy of
Battle Royale
, and came across to his side of the counter. “Can I sit here and read while you study?” she asked. She sat down and opened the book. “It’s slow this time of day.”

He smiled and opened his text and his notebook.

A couple hours later they were still hanging out. She had to get up two or three times to make drinks for customers, and once a man had come in, ordered a tea and sat at the window counter looking out at the street, and the little bit of rain that was falling.

At four another girl came in, another worker. It didn’t look like Ardiss liked her much.

“Well, that’s my shift,” said Ardiss.

“Okay, cool,” said S/D.

Ardiss got up, went behind the counter again, did some things, pulled a grey hoodie over herself and put the hood up. She got her keys and stuff and came back around the counter again.

She passed his table, clutching the book. Halfway to the door she turned back. She waited a second, as if anticipating that he would do something. He should have asked for her cell or email in all this time, but he hadn’t. Now they weren’t alone and he would have to say something out loud, and in front of the other barista, but he didn’t have time to say anything, as it turned out.

“You coming?” Ardiss asked.

He was, and had to stop himself getting up too quickly and knocking over the table.

They walked out together. Ardiss put her arm under his saying, “I just live a couple blocks. We can hang out. No one is home.”

“Cool,” he said. He still wasn’t talking enough, but he thought it might be better to stay quiet rather than risking saying something that made him sound like a douche. She wasn’t asking him anything about himself, which was working out well, but what if she started to? Would he lie? What if she asked him where he lived? What if she asked him anything about anything?

This wasn’t like being with Kim Abbott or some other high school girl. With Kim his overwhelming emotions were guilt and frustration. Now with a girl like this—a woman, he felt elation, but also fear. He could blow this. He could so incredibly blow this, and he thought about begging off, of getting out now so she would never find out the truth.

But he wasn’t going to do that. He didn’t want to.

He realized he was being far from just quiet, he was being non-existent, when Ardiss asked him, “Hey you. Still with me?”

“Oh yeah,” he said.

“Or did you have to be someplace else?”

“No.”

“You can hang out.”

“I can hang out.”

She stopped and faced him and then turned him to face her. She reached up and put her arms around his neck. “Good,” she said. She kissed him, her mouth open and her lipstick wet. He met her kiss and, at first, he didn’t know what to do with his hands. He rested them on her tiny waist and she release his neck to take hold of his arms and prompt his to wrap them tight around herself. That felt good, better than the body of any girl had ever felt.

“You’re coming home with me,” she said, just pulling away enough to move her lips. He felt her breath when she talked. “You’re coming home with me and we have the whole afternoon together if we want. All alone until dark.”

Chapter 38: Luke

Luke went to Ardiss’s work to see if S/D had come in and, if he had, how that had gone. He had called her, three times, but she wasn’t answering. He assumed she might not have been able to hear her phone at work. But when he got to her work around six he found that she wasn’t even there, though Heather was.

Heather smiled when she saw him, “Hi Luke!” she said brightly. A big smile, and he wondered what was behind it. She wanted to say something else but she didn’t.

“What,” said Luke.

She shook her head. “Looking for Ardiss? She’s not here. She was here but she went home. Early.”

“Okay,” he said. He turned to go.

“Have you been trying to call her?” said Heather, which made Luke turn back.

He looked at her.

“Did you guys have a fight? Did you guys break up?”

“We aren’t together.”

“Not exclusively.”

Luke walked back to the counter. “That’s right.”

“That explains it.”

“Tell me what that explains.” Heather was getting flushed and excited. “Heather. Tell me.”

“That guy.”

“That’s a friend of ours,” said Luke.

“He was really cute.”

“So what.”

“They were walking really close together.”

“That’s fine,” said Luke. Good, Ardiss was doing what he told her too. S/D was falling for it.

“And kissing.”

“No.” Not possible.

“I saw them. They were kissing. Deep. I tell you, her toes were curling.”

“That didn’t happen. Where are they now.”

“Home probably. Ard told me to stay out until at least eight. She expects me to stay here until an hour after my shift ends. They want the place all to themselves.”

Luke took out his phone, dialed Ardiss again. It went straight to voicemail. “She’s not picking up,” he said. He was looking at Heather but speaking to no one. “She always picks up for me.”

“She must have turned it off. But like you say, you’re not a couple.”

“What?” said Luke. It took him a moment for her last statement to filter in. His thoughts were racing. Ardiss wasn’t going to fuck S/D.

“Cunt,” said Luke.

“Yeah,” said Heather, laughing.

Luke had meant
her
, had meant Heather for putting this lie and the false image in her head. But she thought he had meant Ardiss.

“You hate her,” said Luke.

“Yeah. I hate her.” Heather licked her lips.

“Go into the back,” said Luke.

“What?”

“
Go
in the back with me,” he said with more insistence.

She swallowed, then stammered. “I—I have to lock the front first.”

Luke came behind the counter and gripped her arm. “I’m not playing around. In the back,” he said.

He pulled her into the storage room, spun her around and pushed her against a table that was waist high to her. Her hands splayed to find support on the tabletop. Luke reached under her apron and torn open her jeans. He pushed them down, and her underwear. Then he pushed hard in the middle of her back to make her lean lower into the table.

“Ohmigod,” she whispered.

He undid his pants and entered her. No way was Ardiss going to fuck the kid. No way was Luke going to have Heather thinking that. “You understand,” he said. “You understand,” with each thrust. She moaned but didn’t say anything.

“Listen to me!” he shouted. “You understand! Say yes!”

“Yes,” she managed.

“You understand. Say it.”

“I understand,” she said. The words barely choked out of her.

He finished and pushed her aside. He fixed his clothing, and pushed his fingers through his wet hair. She had turned over, and was still leaning again the table. He pants were at her ankles and she had pushed the apron deep between her legs.

“Don’t tell anybody,” he told her.

“I won’t.”

He took a step toward her. She flinched as if he expected him to hit her or something. She had no reason to expect him to do that, because he was calm now. Unreasonable of her.

“You wanted it, you know. You wanted me to fuck you.”

“Okay.”

“No! Not ‘okay,’ you
wanted
me to. Understand?”

“I did,” she said. “I promise I did. I won’t say anything to anybody. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, just don’t say anything to anyone. To Ardiss or anyone else. Don’t tell anybody.”

“I wouldn’t. I won’t. I won’t, I won’t.”

“Calm down,” he said. He turned and walked out.

He thought about going to Ardiss’s, but he knew he couldn’t. He walked the short distance to her house anyway. He couldn’t let S/D see him there. Ardiss’s room was on the ground floor; he could go in and look through the window, if the shades were up. He might even see if they were inside from the sidewalk. The lights would be on. He couldn’t be seen, but he wouldn’t be seen as it was already dark.