Starry Eyed Inside Read online

  After a moment, I waved back.

  Wednesday evening found me on the front porch, phone glued to my ear, discussing with Teigan the epic lameness of Mrs. Fairweather, the principal, whose sole mission in life was to enforce dress code.

  Kai pulled up. It was unexpected, and my heart gave a little lurch. It was second-hand anxiety, though, because of who Kai was friends with. That, and we hadn’t spoken since Monday.

  "Hey, Kai's here. Let me call you back.”

  "It's cool. I have a bunch of reading for history anyway.”

  We disconnected, and I stood, leaning on the railing wrapped around our porch. Kai got out, still wearing his gym shirt from school.

  "Hey, stranger," I teased.

  "Ha, don't start. You know I've had practice.” Kai smirked. "So I'm not the one running off the second school ends.”

  Shrugging, I plopped onto a step, patting the place next to me.

  He obliged. “So, what—you don't take rides no more?”

  "Anymore," I corrected, sticking my tongue out. "And sure, I still take rides, to those that offer.”

  “Touché." He tossed his phone between his hands, back and forth. “So you're not mad?”

  "About the other day?" I shook my head, hating he'd thought that. "No way. I know you were just looking out for me.”

  He nodded, looking out at the street. The days were slowly getting shorter now, and streetlights began blinking on.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So...Skyler's with Bianca Russo now?”

  Kai snorted, leaning back. "Not exactly.”

  "But...then, why—”

  “He kissed her on a dare once, like two years ago, when he was drunk—”

  “Sensing a theme, here.”

  Kai smiled a little. “They're not together. They've never been together, not the way you’re thinking.”

  “How do you know what I’m thinking?”

  “Because you’re a girl and I have sisters, and I listen to this kind of bullshit all day long,” he said. “Anyway, Bianca's a butterface.”

  “What's that?”

  "Everything's fine but her face," he said, poking my thigh.

  "That's so mean." I laughed, loving it.

  "Just saying.”

  We fell into a comfortable silence. As usual, I could see into the Wasserman’s living room across the street, their ginormous TV flickering with the evening news.

  "So, is that why you stopped by? To check up on me? You could have called, you know," I asked, holding up my phone. “Texted.”

  Kai looked at me. "I was on my way home from practice—”

  "This late?”

  He grinned.

  I leaned close, sniffing his shirt.

  "Nope. I have my methods," he said.

  "Like what?”

  "Like taking off my shirt when I smoke, Rory,” he said with an exaggerated wink.

  “Sneaky,” I said, impressed.

  “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, it's been a minute since we hung out so...you know.”

  "I do know,” I said, bumping my shoulder to his, glad things were cool between us. “I’m glad you came by.”

  He bumped back and then got to his feet. “I gotta go. My mom texted a couple of minutes ago, telling me to get my ass home.”

  “Okay. See you tomorrow.”

  He walked down the sidewalk and opened his door, pausing. “You taking the bus tomorrow or you want a ride?”

  “You got practice after?”

  “Always."

  “Yeah, okay. I'll tell my mom.”

  He drove away, the bass from his music lingering long after his car had disappeared.

  "Aurora?" My mom stood in the doorway. "Coming in anytime soon?”

  “Yep.” I closed the gate and followed her inside, to where it was cozy and gold and smelled like chicken pot pie.

  By late Thursday, the tropical depression that was brewing out at sea had turned into a tropical storm. It wasn't major by any means, but the weather was crazy enough to warrant a half-day Friday so we could get home before the real wind and rain hit later.

  Teigan had gotten weed off Brian Beck so she wanted to have a hurricane party with me and Niki, and maybe Leyla and Janelle. In terms of shenanigans, her house was the way to go. Niki's mom was the most accommodating—and Javier gave us rides sometimes—but Teigan's parents were the most lenient, so depending on what we were doing, we planned accordingly.

  “Mom?”

  She turned from the stove, where she was stirring something. "C'mere, taste this," she urged, thrusting her wooden spoon at me.

  I sipped gingerly, wincing from the heat.

  "Sorry, it's hot," she said, frowning as she tossed in more spices.

  "I noticed," I said, licking my bottom lip. "Um, it's good. Needs…"

  "Cumin, right? I knew it.”

  "I guess.”

  I stood beside her for a minute, watching the trees blow fitfully outside the window.

  “Mom."

  “Hmm?"

  "Is it cool if I stay at Teigan's tomorrow night? We have a half day.”

  "There's a storm tomorrow," she said, as if I didn't know.

  "I know. We're gonna have a sleepover.”

  She shook her head. "I don't think that's the best idea. You should be home in case anything happens.”

  "Mom," I groaned, trying not to whine and failing. "It's not even a hurricane—”

  “It doesn’t have to be to inflict damage.”

  I rolled my eyes. Swear to God, my mother picked the most inconvenient times to get parental.

  "I know you're not rolling your eyes at me.”

  "Well, I think you're being unreasonable," I mumbled.

  “Honey, you're at Niki's or Teigan's every weekend. Would it be so bad to spend one Friday night with me and Dad? We can do breakfast for dinner—I'll even make crepes.”

  I could see this was a lost battle.

  "C'mon...you loved breakfast for dinner when you were little," she coaxed, pushing my hair from my eyes.

  Exactly. When I was little. Maybe Mom just missed me, missed being together. She'd gone from seeing me before, during, and after school every day for three years to hardly seeing me at all.

  "Fine. But can I go over on Saturday?" I asked, relenting.

  “As long as things have calmed down, I don't see why not.” Now she was using the Calm Teacher voice. Ugh.

  “Awesome.” I shuffled back to my room to call Teigan.

  She answered right away. “Hey."

  "I can't go. My mom's freaked out over the stupid storm.”

  "Yeah, I don't think Niki can come either.”

  "Why not?” I asked, secretly glad Niki couldn't go. I hated missing out.

  "Javier got a bad progress report or something.”

  "So Niki has to stay home?" I asked, confused.

  "Or something, I don't know. Call her.”

  By the time we got out of school Friday, the wind was whipping through the trees in the parking lot. I loved storm weather, especially when it got us out of school.

  "You wanna go to the beach?" Kai asked, slipping his backpack onto his shoulders. "Everyone's heading out there right now.”

  I didn't bother asking who "everyone" entailed; I already knew.

  "Yeah, I'm down." There was something forbidden and exciting about going to the beach when a storm was coming. The sky was the color of steel, low-lying clouds swirling past. I grabbed a hold of Niki. "You want to come with?”

  “Can't," she said. "I promised my mom I'd be early today. But I'll see you at Teig's tomorrow.”

  Teigan could come, so we grabbed our bags and followed Kai down to his ride. The new boy, Finn, was there. He was an army brat, apparently. With his freckles, shaggy blond hair, and dreamy blue eyes, I could see why Niki had been lusting. He and Kai chatted up front while we rode in the back, the wind wreaking havoc on our hair.

  I texted Niki, letting her know the object of her affections was inches
away.

  Stokes Beach, a surf favorite, wasn’t far, and within minutes we were pulling into its sandy parking lot. I recognized Rocco's Jeep right away. I unbuckled my seat belt. It had been one week since the kiss, and for once, I wasn't looking forward to seeing Skyler. Well, that wasn’t quite true; every cell in my body yearned for him. But I did have some semblance of self-preservation and having him ignore me over and over was going to hurt.

  Teigan linked her arm through mine. I looked up at her, and she smiled, kissing my cheek.

  She knew me, knew my faces. I was glad she was with me.

  Our beaches didn't have the biggest waves, but on the right days there were some steady, decent swells. Storms brought out all the die hard surfers, from old locals to high school hotshots. There were a bunch of them out there today; dark smudges against a colorless horizon. I wondered if Skyler was out there, which one he was.

  Finn eased down onto the sand beside me.

  "Where's Kai?” I asked, tying back my hair. It was getting on my nerves.

  "Went back to the car to roll a joint," he said, squinting in the afternoon sun.

  "You going in?" I teased, nodding toward the water.

  He smiled. "Not too much surfing where I'm from.”

  "I thought you were from all over," Teigan said, kicking off her flip flops and wiggling her toes in the sand.

  "I am." He picked up a handful of sand and let it sift through his fingers. "Nowhere like this, though. I was in Texas before I came here, way inland.”

  I nodded, stuffing my socks into my sneakers.

  Kai showed up, puffing away. Sitting, he handed Finn the joint. "You guys want any?”

  "No, we’re okay,” I said. Teigan looked like she was considering it, though. "Tomorrow!" I hissed, pinching her arm.

  Kai shrugged and looked out on to the water, laughing suddenly. "Ah, what an asshole!”

  I tried to see what he saw. “Who?"

  "Rocco completely wiped out. That had to hurt.”

  Sure enough, Rocco trudged out of the water a minute later and collapsed on to the wet sand. Two others came out right after, one of them kicking water onto Rocco before walking over to us. Skyler.

  I turned to Teigan. "Talk to me," I whispered, my heart thundering harder than the waves on the shore.

  Leaning in, she launched into a cringe-worthy account of some guy's boner during Spanish class. She had me giggling in seconds with her colorful language and facial expressions.

  "Hey, Aurora." Sean stood in front of me, smoking Kai's joint.

  "Hi, Sean," I said, looking up at him. He looked a lot different in the daylight, sober and bright.

  I made sure not to look too far left, where Skyler drifted in my peripheral. Dripping wet, shirtless, he stood beside Kai, accepting the joint when it was offered. He made me as nervous as he ever had, except it was even worse now because he knew.

  He didn't acknowledge me so I didn't acknowledge him…and after a while it became a little easier to pretend I didn't care.

  Eventually, he picked up someone's skim board and began coasting up and down the shore, very obviously showing off. Part of me wanted him to fall on his ass, but he never did. Instead I just sat there and watched him be perfect. Graceful.

  My heart was fickle bitch, betraying me over and over again.

  This was it, the moment of truth.

  Teigan, Niki, Leyla, and I sat in a little circle on Teigan's floor.

  After trying—and failing—to follow an online video's directions on how to roll a joint, we opted for the little glass pipe Leyla had borrowed from her older sister. Well, more like stole...but Shay was in college and would never know.

  I was super-nervous. What if I tripped out? What if I got paranoid? I'd heard stories. Teigan’s parents were indulgent as hell, but what if they came home and knocked on the door?

  "Okay, so…” Teigan picked up the lighter and the pipe. ”I guess we'll just smoke this and if we want more we'll just pack it again.”

  She tried several times to light up, but nothing happened, except for the nugget looking a little singed on top. Frowning, she glanced at the rest of us.

  "Did you cover this thing?" Leyla asked, pointing to the hole on the side of the pipe. "I think you have to plug it and then let go.”

  This time, Teigan's face turned purple as she coughed. She handed the pipe to Niki, who then gave it to Leyla, who then gave it to me. I watched everyone's reactions, not wanting to look too spazzed, even though they kind of did already.

  "We can refill it," Teigan wheezed, now lying flat on the floor.

  I took as big a hit as I could handle, immediately feeling the burn deep inside my lungs. At first I felt a little weird, but then the jitters mellowed out into a slow warmth.

  It didn't take long for the giggling to start. Leyla said something about sucking so hard, and it was over. We were all over the place after that: laughing hysterically, making runs to the kitchen for munchies, and smoking more once the high began to wear off.

  "We should call the boys," Niki suggested, her normally expressive dark eyes now silly little half-moons.

  "What boys? The boys?" I asked, trying on a pair of Teigan's toe socks.

  "Yeah. You think Finn's with them?" she asked.

  I looked up, forgetting the socks. "You like him a lot, huh?”

  She grinned, all dreamy and slow. "I think he's hot. He smiles at me during lunch sometimes.”

  "Shut. Up," Teigan said, reaching for my phone. “We need to make this happen. Rory, text Kai.”

  "You text Kai.”

  "You guys are friends; he'll come if you text," she insisted, tossing the phone into my lap.

  "The whole point of this was for us to smoke together,” I said, throwing it back at her. “I don’t want anyone seeing how dumb we look, let alone the boys.”

  "Maybe we can go to Sonic," Leyla moaned from somewhere on the bed. "Oh man, their tater tots.”

  Teigan handed me my phone, again. "Kai's on. Ask him."

  She'd called him? I snatched it up, glaring at her. “Kai?"

  "Rory? What's up?”

  “Nothing, just chillin'. What are you up to?”

  “Chillin’.” I could hear muffled music on his end. “Where are you?”

  "Teigan's house.”

  “Cool.”

  We fell silent. Niki inched closer, motioning for me to continue. For a second I forgot what they wanted me to say, but then I remembered. "Um, Kai.”

  “Um, Rory.”

  "Can you come pick us up?”

  "I guess so. We're not really doing anything right now.”

  "We smoked,” I blurted.

  "No shit," he said with a chuckle. "Well, give us about fifteen minutes. You wanna meet us outside? It's kinda late to be ringing the doorbell.”

  Damn! We'd have to sneak out. I hadn't thought about that. “Yeah, okay.”

  "He said fifteen minutes," I said, hanging up. "But we have to meet them outside.”

  My phone chirped. I jumped, picking it up immediately. It was a message from Kai.

  Doesn't Teigan live in a gated community?

  Thankfully, Teigan's house wasn't too far from the front gate. We slipped out of her house and walked along the sidewalk, trying to keep it down. It was hard though. Everything was funny.

  "So where're we going?" Kai asked, once we'd stuffed ourselves into the backseat. Rocco, who was sitting shotgun, offered Teigan his lap but she turned him down. She was either paranoid or just didn't want him knowing the effect he had on her.

  “I don’t know; you’re the driver,” I said, buckling my seat belt.

  “You’re the big adventurers,” he shot back, grinning at me in the rear-view mirror.

  "Sonic," Leyla said. I giggled; she hadn’t stopped talking about tater tots.

  "I could go for that," Rocco agreed, elbowing Kai. "Tell Skyler to meet us there instead.”

  Wonderful. So much for secret stony times.

  Kai turned up the
music so loud my butt was vibrating. I wasn't just feeling it; I was feeling it. We sang along to songs we knew, tickling our fingers out Kai’s open sunroof. Moonroof? I was about to ask when he pulled into Sonic, tucking into one of the little drive-in spaces.

  Seconds later, a loud horn blared at us from the space next door. Skyler and Sean got out and walked over, hanging in the windows. "You guys getting food for real?”

  “Nah, we’re here for the view.” Kai turned to us. "What do you guys want?”

  Skyler's eyes flickered to me, but I looked away before he could. Boy-anxiety threatened to seep through the lingering hazy sweetness, and I pushed it down, not wanting to think about any of that just then.

  Leyla leaned forward, rambling her order, stopping only to let Kai repeat it back to the speaker. Niki and I crossed the lot and went inside for the restroom, trying not to look too blatantly high beneath the bright neon lights. I felt like everyone who saw us knew for sure.

  When we got back, the carhop was already delivering our food.

  "That was fast," I said, sliding back into my spot.

  "You were gone for a while," Teigan said.

  "No, we weren’t,” I said, checking my phone.

  "Whatever, get in. Let's go," Rocco said, clapping his hand against the side of the car.

  "To where?” asked Kai.

  “Your mom’s,” Rocco said, stealing one of Leyla’s tater tots.

  Kai made a face. “Unhelpful.”

  Skyler stuck his head inside Kai's window again. “We can go to the garage apartment, but we have to be quiet. Really quiet.”

  "What garage?" Niki asked, yawning as we followed Skyler and Sean back down US 1.

  "It's an apartment above our garage. No one's living in it, so we go there to smoke sometimes," Rocco answered.

  “But…” My mind raced through all sorts of scenarios. “Are your parents home right now?”

  "Yeah, but they're asleep.”

  "We have to be really quiet," Kai reiterated.

  “And you guys think this is a good idea?” asked Teigan.

  Rocco glanced back, and I didn’t miss the way his eyes trailed over her. “Their room’s on the other side of the house. Don’t worry about it.”