Way to Go (12 page)

“Who, Maisie? I didn't notice anything. You guys are crazy.”

“Oh my god, I'm soooooo super happy you came to the carnival, Dannypoo!” said Lisa.

“If you think she's so stupid,” I asked her, “why are you pushing this?”

“I'm not suggesting that
I
sleep with her, I'm suggesting that
you
sleep with her. What I think of her is beside the point, and you've told me you like her just fine.”

“I do like her,” I said. “She's really nice and easygoing.”

“She's also hot, Dan,” said Kierce. “So what are you waiting for? Remember the Golden Rule, my man.”

I looked at Jay, who said, “It's up to you, man, but I'd say that she definitely likes you. She kept talking about you. She says you're ‘super-duper nice.' ”

“I'm not sure I like her that way,” I managed to squeeze out.

“I understand if you don't want to date her,” said Lisa. “She's as dumb as a brick. But you could definitely get into her pants if you wanted to.”

“Wow, that's classy.”

“Oh, for crying out loud, Danny, why do you have to be such a romantic?” she said. “Think with your dick for a change!”

“You sound like Kierce,” I told her.

“Rule Thirty-two million: Boobs and sex and girls and panties and sex. When in doubt, listen to the brain in your pants. Go team,” she said, in a surprisingly good imitation of Kierce.

“You got that right!” he said, reaching over to grab her hand. She snatched it away.

“Don't get any ideas. I'm still pissed off at you, homophobe.” She turned back to me. “Danny! Everything doesn't have to be some big huge
thing
. You're seventeen. Nobody expects you to get married and have a baby. You should be trying to get laid, and if Strawberry Shortcake there is the best option, then you should take advantage of it.”

“Yeah, we'll see,” was all I said. I was glad when they finally dropped me off at home. I'd had enough of all three of them.

SIXTEEN

“Um, I was wondering,” said Maisie, “if I could maybe hang out with you guys sometime after work.”

We were finishing our shift a couple of nights after the carnival, and Lisa and I were getting ready to leave.

“Yeah, for sure,” Lisa said. “If you don't mind driving around with a bunch of fools. What are you doing now?”

“Really? Nothing! I don't have any plans! Let me just grab my purse!”

Maisie bounced away happily.

“What was that all about?” I asked.

Lisa raised her eyebrows at me. “She wants ya, tiger,” she said. “Who am I to stand in the way of true love?”

We'd made plans to meet the guys on Main Street. We eventually spotted them huddled with a group of people in the small park in the middle of town. Lisa pulled up by the sidewalk and pressed on the horn.

In a few seconds, Jay and Kierce came running across the park and up to the car. They did a double take when they saw Maisie, who waved cheerfully and scooched into the middle of the backseat to give them both room. Kierce immediately reached around the seat and poked me in the arm. I turned and gave him a dirty look, but he just grinned at me.

Before their doors were even closed, Lisa burned rubber. Old Bessie shuddered, and something behind the dash began to clink as Lisa pushed the car to the brink of its power. An awful-smelling smoke wafted from the vents.

“If this car blows up, it's been nice knowing you guys,” Lisa said. “But we don't have time to worry about that. We're on a mission.” The car chugged along toward the outskirts of town, and she threw her bag onto my lap. “There's a tape in there with a baby-blue label. It has
Bitches Don't Quit
written on it in pink ink.” She turned to the backseat. “That's my girl Naomi's motto.”

“I love it!” squealed Maisie.

I flipped quickly through a pile of tapes and came up with the one she wanted.

“Side B, please. Rewind to beginning. Press
Play
. Thank you, co-pilot, that will be all.”

“Hey!” whined Kierce. “I should get to be the co-pilot. You're my little woman, after all.”

“I really wish you'd stop talking about me like that,” said Lisa. She didn't sound like she was joking. She seemed to have less patience with Kierce each time I saw them together.

The tape crackled on, and Lisa cranked the volume. “Highway to Hell” reverberated through the car as she pressed on the gas and we accelerated into the night.

“Where are you taking us?” asked Jay.

“Patience, soldiers.”

“You guys are awesome!” Maisie exclaimed.

Lisa chugged along the empty two-lane highway for a few miles and then, without warning, cut the wheel and spun onto an almost hidden gravel road. Without slowing down, she barreled over the potholes and ruts in the overgrown road. Tree branches popped in and out of the open windows, scratching at our hair, but she kept gunning along before finally coming to an abrupt stop in front of an abandoned farmhouse.

“Wow,” said Kierce, “I should have worn a diaper.”

“Where are we?” I asked, but Lisa didn't answer. She just grabbed her bag and got out of the car. Reluctantly we followed her into the darkness.

“Are you going to kill us dead, Lisa?” Kierce asked.

“Wait a minute,” Jay said. “I know this place. My uncle took me here a few times when I was a kid. There's a little lake behind that house. We used to come here to go swimming.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!” said Lisa. “Come on, it shouldn't be far.” She took off behind the house, Jay and Maisie close behind her. Kierce and I exchanged wary glances, and then followed them.

“Man,” Kierce whispered to me, “this is totally your chance. Don't blow it!”

I ignored him.

Just as Jay had said, there was a small calm lake surrounded by trees and reflecting the bright night sky. Lisa followed a path through the weeds, and then sat on the edge of the bank and began removing her shoes.

“How did you find out about this place?” I asked.

“Denise told me about it. When I mentioned that I wanted to go swimming in a lake for a change, she said that when she was in high school, she and her friends would come here and get drunk and go skinny dipping.”

“
Hello!
” said Kierce.

“Not so fast, big guy, I'm gonna keep my underwear on, and if you don't want me to leave you here, you should keep yours on too. So who's coming in?”

“I am!” To my surprise, Maisie couldn't get her jeans and T-shirt off fast enough. She ran to the edge of the bank and did a cannonball into the water.

“It's beautiful!” she yelled.

Lisa and the guys stripped to their underwear and followed Maisie in.

“Drop your pants, Disco Dan!” yelled Kierce.

“I'm good,” I said. “I'm just going to stay here.”

“If you don't get in, I'm going to jump up on that bank and push you in, clothes and all.”

“Fine, fine.” I slowly stripped down to my boxers and sat on the bank, letting my feet slip into the water first. It was surprisingly warm compared to the ocean, and I was about to slide the rest of the way in when Jay jumped out and yanked me by the legs into the water. I rose, choking and splashing, to the sight of the four of them laughing at me.

It was a beautiful night, and we floated around, occasionally splashing each other, but mostly just lying on our backs and looking up at the stars and talking.

Maisie turned out to be more interesting—and smarter—than any of us had given her credit for. Apparently, she wanted to change the world. She told us that it was her dream to go to medical school and work in Africa, treating kids with AIDS.

“We don't know how bad some people have it,” she said. “Imagine growing up without a mom, in that kind of poverty, knowing that you were going to die.”

“It would suck,” said Kierce.

“Yes, Kierce, it would probably suck,” said Lisa sarcastically.

“You know what I mean.”

“You guys are getting awful heavy,” said Jay.

“My fault, sorry!” Maisie said. “I have an idea!” She swam over to the edge of the lake and climbed out of the water. She shook out her hair, and water streamed over the goose bumps that popped up on her legs. Her wet bra was practically transparent, and I knew that the other guys were getting an eyeful. I turned away, and Kierce caught my eye, shaking his head at me, disappointed.

“Let's play truth or dare!” Maisie hollered.

Kierce and Jay groaned along with me, but Lisa yelled, “Come on guys, it'll be fun! I'll go first. Truth!”

“Awesome!” Maisie said. She thought for a moment and then said, “What's the most embarrassing thing about your family?”

I cringed, but Lisa didn't seem fazed. She swam over and climbed up to join Maisie on the bank.

“Embarrassing? That's an easy one! How's this? My mom is a nutbar. Nervous breakdowns, suicide attempts, the whole bullshit thing. My dad couldn't handle her so he took off, and I came here for the summer to—I don't know—get some
space
from it all.”

I couldn't look at her. The whole thing was really awkward, and I wondered what she was trying to prove. Maisie stood next to Lisa, looking uncomfortable. Nobody knew what to say, and then Lisa finally broke the silence.

“But guess what?” she said. “She followed me here, and now she sits in my aunt's house all day, with the curtains closed, smoking cigarettes and staring at the wall.”

I glanced at Kierce. I could tell from his confused expression that Lisa hadn't bothered to tell him about her mom.

“Don't worry, kids,” Lisa said. “We've all got problems, so whatcha gonna do?” With that, she took a flying leap and cannonballed into the lake, right in the middle of where the rest of us were treading water.

“Your turn, Dan!” Jay yelled. I could tell he was trying to change the subject. “Truth or dare?”

Everyone turned to look at me, and my heart started pounding. I plugged my nose and let myself slowly sink underwater. After a few seconds I surfaced and took a breath. “Dare, I guess.”

“I got one!” yelled Kierce. “I dare you to swim over to Maisie and make out with her in front of us.”

“Yes!” yelled Lisa.

I wanted to sink back under and not come up. “Come on, Kierce,” I said, “don't be a moron.” I didn't dare look in Maisie's direction.

“What do you mean? It's truth or dare. Do you want me to dare you to say a bad word? Don't be such a chicken-shit. You don't mind, do you, Maisie?”

She didn't say anything. I glanced up to where she was still standing on the bank, and saw that she'd crossed her arms over her chest and was looking at the ground, obviously embarrassed.

“You're such an asshole, Kierce,” I said, awkwardly paddling to the edge of the lake. I crawled out, grabbed my clothes and walked back up the pathway toward the car.

“Come on, Danny, act your age, for Christ's sake,” he yelled after me.

“Speak for yourself, dick!” I hollered back.

I pulled on my shorts and then sat down on the front step of the old house. After a few minutes, Maisie came up the path and sat down next to me. I was glad that she'd put her T-shirt back on.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Hey, don't apologize. That was super awkward! At least you didn't have to stand there in front of everyone in your wet underwear!”

We both laughed.

“I don't know why he has to be such an asshole all the time,” I said.

“Yeah, well, maybe he thought he was doing you a favor,” she said.

I stayed quiet. I wasn't sure I liked where this was going.

“I was thinking,” she said, after a pause, “maybe sometime you and I could, I don't know, hang out, after work or something…”

“Sure,” I said. “You should start hanging out with us more.”

“I kind of meant just the two of us, like a date”—she laughed nervously—“or as much of one as you can have in Deep Cove.”

“Maisie,” I said, feeling like the biggest jerk on the planet, “I really like you, but—”

Before I could finish, she jumped up and said, “That's okay. It was kind of a stupid idea…I just thought…you know…you never know.”

“Hey!” I said, reaching up and grabbing her by the hand to pull her back down next to me. “Seriously, I think you're awesome. I just really don't think I want a girlfriend right now.”

She looked me in the eye. “You like Lisa, don't you?”

“No, it's not that.”

“It's okay, I won't say anything to Kierce. I totally understand. Anyway, it's no big deal. At least it'll be nice to not feel awkward around you at work anymore.”

“You were feeling awkward?”

“Totally! For like, weeks now! I can't believe you didn't notice. I talk a lot when I'm nervous.”

“I'm kind of dense like that.”

She stood up again. “Seriously, no big deal, let's pretend I didn't say anything.” She turned and looked back down the path. “Let's go see if those guys are ready to go home.”

When we were back at the car, Kierce told Maisie to take the front seat. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the backseat with Jay. “I was trying to do you a favor,” he whispered.

“I get it,” I told him, “but why don't you let me take care of myself from now on.”

SEVENTEEN

The next morning, I was playing checkers with Alma when my dad came in from the garden.

“Kierce is out in the driveway,” he said. “Were you expecting him?”

“No.”

When I walked outside, Kierce rolled his window down. “Can you come for a quick drive with me?”

“Uh, sure, I guess so.”

As soon as we pulled out of the driveway, he started talking really fast. “My mom told me
an hour ago
that I have to go to Ontario with her
tomorrow morning,
and Lisa isn't answering my calls, and I just want to see her before I go because I'm worried that she's going to ditch me while I'm out of town, and I almost wish I had a job so I didn't have to go, because Rule Ninety-seven: When the cat's away, the mouse will play, and I never thought that I'd be the cat!”