Wanda sits up straighter and speaks up before I can answer. “What are you doing out here, Mr. Truand?”
“Oh, hello, Officer Mendoza,” Davy says, seemingly unfazed by her presence. “Didn’t recognize you out of uniform.”
“It’s Sergeant Mendoza, and I can still arrest your ass, no matter what I’m wearing.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he says, smiling like an insurance salesman.
Two older girls in bikini bottoms and T-shirts get up from a nearby table to throw away their trash, and Davy’s friends start hitting on them in the worst way possible. All I hear is “ass for days” and “bury my face down there” and I want to either die or punch them all in the junk. ?e girls ip them off and after a short but brutal exchange, his friends give up and head to the posole truck like it’s no big deal. Just another few minutes in their day.
Now that the circus is over, Davy seems to remember he was talking to me.
“So anyways, cowgirl, you’re still invited. Remember?” He holds up a nger to his lips and winks at me. It takes me a second to realize that he’s talking about the bon re. I guess. Who really can tell when it comes to this idiot. I don’t respond, and he doesn’t notice. He and his buds are already distracted by the next thing—another car, this time full of more dudes. ?ey race to go meet them. ?ank God. I’m totally embarrassed to be on the same beach as these morons. ?ey’re bringing society down by several pegs, just breathing the same air as us.
“Go far, far away, please,” I mutter.
“You know him?” Wanda asks, suddenly very concerned in a cop sort of way.
Now my dad’s concerned too—in a father sort of way.
“No, no,” I say, waving my hand. “He knows someone I work with.”
“Porter Roth?” Dad says. “I thought he was a security guard, not a beach bum.”
Guess that’s where I picked up that phrase. “He is. I mean, he’s not,” I say. Oh, crap. I don’t want my dad associating the two of them together. “Porter’s not like Davy. I don’t even know if they’re really friends anymore. I ran into Davy on the boardwalk and he started calling me cowgirl because I was buying a scarf, and then he invited me to hang out, but that didn’t mean I was going or anything—”
“Whoa,” Dad says. “Slow down.”
“Davy seems like such a dirtbag, ugh.”
Wanda seems satis ed by my answer. “Stay away from him, Bailey. I mean that. He’s trouble. Every time I bust him, he gets off on a technicality. But he’s barely keeping his head above water. I’m talking serious narcotics—not weed or alcohol. He needs help, but his parents don’t care enough to give it to him.”
Jesus. I think about the vintage clothing store and that weird conversation I witnessed—how mad Porter was catching Davy coming out of the shop.
“But Porter isn’t … ,” I say, and wish I hadn’t mentioned his name before I can even nish.
“Porter’s okay,” she says, and I hope she doesn’t notice how relieved I am. “At least, I think he is. ?e Roth family’s been through a lot, but they’re good people. Still, you’d be better off staying away from that crowd. If Porter’s hanging around with Davy, I’d advise you to steer clear and save yourself some grief.” She says this last part more to Dad than me, and he gives her a little nod, like yeah, he understands. Message received.
Death by association. Porter Roth has now got a big red mark against him in my dad’s book. I’m not sure what that means for me, because I don’t even know what’s going on between me and Porter. But if I did want something to be going on, hypothetically, does that mean it’s impossible now?
I do know one thing: telling my dad about the bon re is out of the question. Because chances that Wanda knows about this little Saturday night hootenanny are pretty good, and he might ask her about it. Problem is, I really want to go now. Grace asked me, and I don’t want to back out. Besides, Porter might be there …
But. (Why is there always a but?)
?ere’s one person I haven’t considered in any of this mess. Alex. Maybe I should ask his opinion. Or at least make an attempt to tell him what’s going on. After all, he’s probably just been carrying on, being his usual awesome self, while I’ve been spending the day wronging him left and right all over town, because I’m a horrible, horrible person. Doesn’t he deserve a say-so in any of this?
LUMIÈRE FILM FANATICS COMMUNITY
PRIVATE MESSAGES>ALEX>NEW!
@alex: That horoscope prediction you gave me kind of came true in a weird way.
@mink: It did?
@alex: I followed your advice and it worked out. I took a risk and had one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. You were right. It’s good to open yourself up to new things.
@mink: It’s funny you say that, because I was going to ask your advice about whether or not I should do something. (This isn’t about flying out there, by the way. Just so we’re clear. Not saying it won’t happen, but it’s on hold for the moment.)
@alex: My advice is YES. Do it.
