“This is the only time I can because Kevin uses the car after work.”
I never thought about that. Maybe if I get a job, we can both save up for a car and share it. That would make it easier to save up, rather than just one of us saving. I doubt my mom would go for that.
We park in the same spot as last time. In the farthest corner, away from the streetlights. Kai reaches back and grabs the blankets he brought. The summer is ending, and the nights are cooling down now. Kai places one blanket on the grass and the other on top of us. As we lie down, Kai extends an arm, letting me rest my head on his arm and against his chest.
I look up at the stars glowing.
It feels nice to be wanted like he wants me. He always asks me to hang out. Maybe I should ask him too sometime. He always beats me to it, so I never get the chance. Is it the guy’s job to ask?
“What are you thinking?” he asks.
“Nothing.”
He reaches down and tickles my stomach, making my stomach harden, and my laughter erupts. “Tell me.”
“Okay,” I say in between laughs.
“I was thinking how nice it is that you always want to see me.”
“That’s because I like you.”
I dig my head deeper into his chest as he wraps his arm around me. “I like you too.”
“Are you new to our school? Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you before.”
Why did that pop into my head suddenly? I meant to ask him that a while ago.
“Yeah. I am.”
“Where did you go to before?”
“It was called West High in Salt Lake.”
I’ve also noticed he doesn’t have many friends down here. It doesn’t seem like he talks to anyone at school. His friend Owen doesn’t go to our school.
“Why did you move?”
“My parents split. My brother was already going to college down here, so we moved closer to him so he could help my mom out with me.” He pauses before saying, “That’s why I’m at my brother’s. My mom isn’t doing good with it. I feel bad sometimes, like I’m a bother when she worries about me, so I stay with my brother.”
I swallow the lump in my throat.
“My mom and dad split, too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. After they had my little sister, which was an accident, he didn’t involve himself in our lives that much. My mom got sick of it and kicked him out. She said she was practically raising us by herself anyway, so it made no difference.”
I remember that day vividly.It was on a Saturday night when their yelling woke me up, something that started happening more often after having my little sister. I remember my mom was having a hard time getting Brynlee to stop crying.She would sit on the couch with her head in her hands and cry. I was only ten. I didn’t know what to do. I would go into my sister’s room andshhhher and rub her stomach to calm her. My mom was always upset with my dad and his drinking. That night, he came home drunk and continued drinking. That was the first night I heard my mom tell him to leave and never come back. He didn’t leave that night. It took him a few months to finally leave after that.
“Do you still see your dad?” Kai asks.
“At first, we did. But my mom would only let him come to the house and see us. He drank a lot, so she was worried he would be drunk with us.”
“My dad, too.”
I understand now why his parents split. If his dad was a drunk too, I can’t picture his mom wanting to stay with him. It’s nice that we have something in common. Growing up with a single mom is hard. I watched it with mine, and he’s watching it with his. Even though I don’t know him well yet, it feels like a thread stretching between us, bonding us in a way only addict parents can.
Paige and I are dancing on the dance floor with a bunch of girls we only met tonight. The bass from the song “Get Low” by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz and the Ying Yang Twins is pulsating through my body, making it easier for me to sway to the music. The alcohol has loosened me up. Because of my shyness, I rarely dance in front of others. As soon as the adrenaline kicked in, I made my way to the dance floor in the living room and haven’t stopped dancing since.
