ONE
The camera panned down from a clear blue sky, the sunlight saturating the fluffy clouds in sweet warmth. A cookie-cutter suburban neighborhood lined with the same houses painted in different shades of beige and grey exuded normality and life. People of every length of the spectrum littered the streets; washing their cars, pushing babies in strollers down the sidewalks, mowing their lawns.
Cue a girl padding down the pavement, feet hitting the ground with a hypnotizing cadence, loose hairs escaping the ponytail swinging in the air. Short, organized breaths pushed past her lips. Sweat trickled down her forehead and soaked through her black sports bra.
Once more, the camera backs up to a more aerial view, zooming past this wealthy area and to the other side of town. Past the high school, past the theater, past the abandoned, overgrown mall. It followed a black sedan through the bumpy streets, focusing on the chipping paint and donut for a but passenger rear tire. Loud music was streaming through the speakers, the volume just enough to turn heads.
And finally, the main character fills the screen.
He nodded his head ever-so-slightly to the punk beat. The sky appeared a more greyish white as he drove further east, though it came naturally to him. His profile glowed in the afternoon moisture. Brown hair pushed back from his forehead with a lick of gel and scruff on his chin and cheeks and down his neck gave off the impression that he cared just enough.
He approached a small house in desperate need of a power wash, pulling onto the grass since the driveway was full.
When he stepped out of his vehicle, he was overwhelmed by the muggy heat. It was sticky and mosquitoes swarmed him. The curse of being in this dark, tree-hidden house. Almost immediately, his white t-shirt began to cling to his skin from the sweat forming on his back. He swatted away the bugs and all but ran to the front door, feeling relieved by the air conditioning.
He was greeted by some half-hearted hollers. “Julian!”
A smile pushed its way onto his lips. He was already smelling weed and food, probably being cooked by Ellie. He walked into the living room and found just a few of his friends sitting around, passing the blunt around.
“Just in time, JuJu,” his best friend Matt said slowly. “Rotation just started.”
Matthew Ivanov was new to Pines End in grade eight and the day he walked into his first period geometry class, finding an available seat next to Julian was the day they became inseparable. It only took one conversation about the school year ending soon and they just clicked. Julian invited Matt over to play Call of Duty and the rest is history.
Smoke clouded over the room. “Can you grab me a drink?” Mabel asked and batted her eyelashes dramatically. Julian rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen, but not before grabbing the blunt that was in between Mabel’s fingers and putting it between his lips instead. She gasped, making the entire room laugh.
He smoked gingerly, taking his time so he could get more than his fair share. Ellie was, as he expected, slaving away at the stove. “Wanna’ hit?” Julian asked, holding towards her.
She jumped, having not heard his arrival over her music playing through a speaker on the worktop. Ellie shook her head, gesturing towards what appeared to be pasta and sauce cooking, her eyes already tinted pink. “If I get any higher, I’ll definitely burn myself,” she chuckled nervously.
Ellie was on and off again dating Matthew, and their relationship was hard to explain. She was the shy type, a bit of a loner even. He was loud and rambunctious, they were polar opposites, and Julian didn’t know how they ever worked in the first place. When they were all together hanging out, she preferred to stay quiet, just observing everyone else in the room. Often she cooked for them, as she was currently, because she had a talent for it.
Quite literally, as she’d been accepted to a culinary school out of state, but she just couldn’t do it for Matt’s sake. She was a year older but none the wiser since she just declined the scholarship to stay with him. Ellie was a sweet girl with skewed priorities. They broke up every other week, but never for long.
“Smells great,” Julian smiled, before holding the blunt in his lips and grabbing a handful of water bottles.
Out in the living room, they’d apparently grew too tired of waiting and started rolling another one. “Julian! It’s practically a roach now,” Mabel’s best friend Kiana complained, and he just grinned, passing it to her. He plopped down next to Mabel, wrapping his arm around her.
Mabel and Julian were nothing more than well, for lack of better term, friends with benefits. She sometimes hinted at maybe being something more, but he wasn’t interested. Being restricted just sounded completely unenticing. He liked being able to hook up with anyone anytime, no strings attached, no consequences.
There was no reason to get tied down at eighteen anyways. His whole life was ahead of him and eventually he’d have no choice but to settle with one girl. But for now? He was living his life to the fullest.
“I’m out of smokes,” Matt said, frowning at an empty box.
Kiana pulled out a crushed pack of Newports from her purse, looking in it. “You can have my last one for a dollar,” she said, raising her eyebrows at him. He grunted, fumbling in his pocket to pull out a sweaty dollar bill, handing it to the black haired girl.
“You’re all nasty bums,” Julian said.
Mabel laughed despite being a cigarette smoker, herself. They all fell into the habit from trying to be cool freshman year or so, besides him of course, and got addicted. He never understood the appeal and took pride in his perfect teeth.
The second blunt began to circle around and the group just relaxed. Ellie finally announced the food was ready and they all stood up, going into the kitchen to get their food. As they settled back down with their food, Kiana whined. “You know what would go great with these noodles?” she asked.
“Ice cream,” Mabel said, high as a kite.
“Well . . . no. Ciggies,” Kiana said, her voice more high pitched like a child. “Who’s the least high to run to the gas station?”
Everyone looked around slowly, their eyes landing on Ellie. She was perched up on Matthew’s lap, shoveling small bites of pasta into her mouth quietly while whispering with him. Finally, she looked up. “Wha - Me? I just cooked, I’m tired,” Ellie frowned.
Julian felt bad for her. Her solidarity was taken advantage of sometimes. As much as he didn’t want to, he knew Ellie would give in despite her original protest and she really didn’t want to either. He wanted to get some snacks, anyways. Kiana was opening her mouth to try to convince Ellie anyways, but Julian’s voice stopped her.
“I’ll go.”
And upon saying that, everyone suddenly wanted something else. He left the house with a grocery list of snacks and sodas and cigarettes and wads of singles, feeling pretty out of it but able to function enough. The gas station was right on the corner of the street Ellie’s house was on, so he walked in a matter of minutes. He caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the window, grimacing at how blazed he appeared.
Julian wandered around the small building, it smelling of Pine-sol and something else. The clerk kept a close eye on him, despite having seen him and his friends in there frequently.
Eventually, with his hands literally full and risking dropping everything, he approached the counter. The balding man looked at him, unimpressed. Julian looked over his findings, realizing he forgot Ellie’s requested iced tea. He held up one finger sheepishly and turned on his heel, not seeing the girl standing in the candy aisle.
However, once he slid past her, he heard a, ”Wow,” and stopped.
She had long, wavy blonde hair that reached her ribs where her cropped shirt cut off, exposing just the smallest bit of pale skin. Her eyebrows were a bit thicker and darker than her hair color, topping her judging brown eyes. Julian’s eyes traced over her thick lips and the way they were slightly curled upward.
“What?” he asked, knowing what she said but wanting to know why.
This girl scoffed, amused but also surprised that he’d turned around. “You reek,” she told him before grabbing whatever chocolate she was there for and walking away. He didn’t really care if he smelled like weed unless he was in public.
He thought for a moment, realizing she was familiar ’til it hit him. “I know you!” he exclaimed, not intending on speaking that loud, but he wasn’t in complete control. “You’re with that tennis loser.”
She whipped back around, her hair going over her shoulder and giving him a better view of her hips. Her lips parted as if she was in disbelief. Julian anticipated her oncoming words, wanting her to say something nasty purely for his own entertainment. Instead, she just turned around again and went to the soda fountain.
He snorted to himself, getting distracted by sour gummy worms and trying to remember what it was that Ellie wanted.
That girl didn’t even try to defend the tennis player. TJ, was his name. He was some loser who was in the IB program and student body president. The only reason Julian even knew who he was was because Matthew invited him to one of the other tennis players party once and, well, Julian fell asleep on the couch from boredom. TJ was the one who woke him up acting wasted from one Corona.
Julian finally went to finish his transaction. “Also, two packs of Newport menthols and a pack of Marlboro reds, please. And a pack of the grape Swishers,” he grinned cheesily.
“Do you just want to buy my entire store?” the man asked, and Julian laughed fakely, handing over his ID.
After he’d finally paid and had three bags full of sugar and salt, he turned around to leave. The girl was standing behind him impatiently, her eyes icy as she looked at him. “Have fun with tennis balls,” Julian laughed, brushing past her and leaving.
--
Finally, the night was drawing close and it was time for everyone to go home.
Despite it being Ellie’s house they all hung out at, even Matt had to go home as it was a school night. His parents adored Ellie and didn’t mind him being around her, but he had a bad habit of skipping school to stay in bed with her.
“Juli, can I have a ride home?” Mabel asked.
He rolled his eyes, forgetting she was a loser without her license. Mabel’s parents even had a car fund set aside for her, she was just too afraid of driving to learn how. Julian didn’t need to answer as she opened the passenger door and slid in.
His car wasn’t anything special. It was old and smelled like his mom, the upholstery on the ceiling falling down in soft bubbles. There was multiple burn holes in the seats, and the back was dirtied up from when he was still small enough to ride backseat. She got a fat tax return one year and got herself a new one, passing the glorious Rosanne to Julian.
Mabel picked at the waterlogged plastic on the inside of the door. “Or would you like to take me to yours?” she asked in all seriousness, seduction wrapped around the words.
However, Julian ignored it, not really in the mood. “You know that guy, TJ?”
“Uh . . .” Mabel deadpanned. “The wannabe frat guy from school? TJ Locklear?”
“Yes!” Julian yelled. “Him. Who’s he dating, again?”
It had been bugging him that he coUldn’t remember her name even after hours had passed. She fell into a completely different crowd than himself. Mabel furrowed her eyebrows, tucking a piece of her dark hair that was flying incessantly from the wind behind her ear. Julian knew she got sort of jealous, but he also knew he made it rather clear he wasn’t interested in her.
She focused on the broken tar underneath the vehicle. “Going after other guys’ girls now? That’s not like you, Juli,” Mabel joked. “He’s dating whatsherface, um . . . Dakota.”
“Jesus Christ. I saw her at the gas station and it’s been bugging me ever since. She’s hot up close, you know?” he said, feeling like an idiot for not having remembered.
“Have you ever talked to her? She’s the most plain person I’ve ever met. I sat next to her in world history and she, like, tried to start a conversation about the Mayans or something. I wanted to actually off myself.”
Julian hummed. “You still wanna’ come to mine?” he asked, suddenly feeling more energy upon driving with more focus.
Mabel kicked her feet up onto the dash, some dirt from Ellie’s lawn falling onto the surface. “Nah, take me home,” she said. Mabel lived on the other side of town, past the high school into the wealthy parts. Her parents were big wig realtor partners and sold nearly half the west side of town. She didn’t care about the money, though. Just wanted to fuck around with her best pals and do illegal things. “You turned me off by talking about the golden children.”
There was some silence between them as Julian thought about that. All he said was that he saw her in the gas station, so why did Mabel have to get so subtly upset? Never in a million years would he speak to Dakota again, both of them knew that.
Mabel needed to lose those feelings for him before she got hurt.
