“So what happened with blondie last night?” Finn asked.
My mind flashed back to platinum hair and blistering, blue eyes. It was weird that I could remember her eyes so easily. It made me uncomfortable.
“She lived. I dropped her off at the hospital and dipped out.” I shrugged.
For some reason I left out the part about going to jail and her being the governor’s daughter. I’m not sure why I cared, but it felt wrong to tell that part. She’d been through enough already and I was almost positive I’d never see her around this part of town again, so there was no need to disclose that bit of information.
Finn nudged me with his boot. “So, The Pit booked us again for next weekend. There’s supposed to be some agents coming around town then too, so we need to look sharp. I got a new song I want to bang out. Let’s meet up here tomorrow afternoon. You hear me, Tiny?” He tossed an empty beer can at Tiny, who was making out with some black-haired girl in the corner.
“Yeah, dude, I heard you. Practice. Tomorrow. New song. Got it.” He went back to kissing the chick.
Tiny was a big boy, but chicks dug bass players and he was one of the best.
I didn’t stay long, just long enough to get high and grab my strings. I stopped for gas on the way home and stuck my last twenty bucks in the tank. Being broke sucked donkey cock and at this point I was strongly considering selling some powder to make some dough. A dealer in my neighborhood had offered me a job, but I wasn’t quite that desperate. I’m getting there now, though, and I’d been debating dealing and making enough money to get out of my old man’s house.
When I pulled up in my driveway, there was a white car parked on the side of my yard. The passenger-side door opened as I shut my door and grabbed my guitar case out of the back of my car. I was close to turning away from the car and rudely walking into my trailer when the sun caught the sandy locks of the girl from the night before.
She shyly smiled over at me as she shut the door and walked toward me.
“Shit,” I said out loud to myself.
This was the last thing I needed. Helping some strange chick was out of character for me and all I wanted was to stick last night in the back of my head and forget about it completely. Parts of me wanted to turn and walk away. Maybe if I did she’d take the hint and just leave, but something held me in my spot.
Next door, my neighbor Carlos pulled up in his apple-red Impala. Loud Mexican music blared from his car speakers and the sounds of children laughing spilled outside when he opened the front door to his trailer and called to his girlfriend in Spanish. Across the street two guys started to argue and cuss each other over what I could assume were drugs. And of course, the never-ending sounds of the cars on the interstate filled any quick moments of silence.
The blonde’s eyes left my face for a brief moment and skirted the trailer park around her. Her face stayed neutral, though. I could only imagine how disgusted she was. I bet politicians and their families practiced the unbiased face so whenever they went to the shitty neighborhoods they could get the people’s votes without seeming like stuck-up assholes. Her impassiveness pissed me off. Parts of me wanted her natural reaction. I wanted to see her lips and nose curl up in repulsion. I hated her composed stance when I bet every nerve in her body screamed for her to run to safety.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
“What are you doing here?” I asked rudely. I made the face of disgust that I’m sure she wanted to make.
She blinked away her shock at my non-welcome. Then her eyes met mine directly. Her eyes took me in and I felt as if she looked right through me. She nervously picked at her fingernails and bit the inside of her mouth. Finally, she dropped her hands and spoke.
“I just wanted to say thank you for last night. Most people would have left me there to die.” She fiddled with ends of her hair.
She had more nervous ticks than any other person I’d ever met in my life. She was like a little fawn on the edge of escape. She looked out of place. Her clean appearance stuck out among the dirty rock road and rusted trailers that surrounded her. Her name brand clothes and expensive purse were begging to be swiped by the nearest hood rat. She had to be smarter than this. Didn’t she know she’d walked through the gates of hell for that pitiful thank you? Didn’t she sense the danger that was all around her? She needed to leave. She was too fresh for such polluted air.
“You’re welcome. Now go back to your side of town,” I snapped.
I didn’t mean to sound so rude, but it pissed me off that I was once again worried about her. It felt unnatural to me and it was starting to freak me out.