Lexi headed down to the beach and sat in the sand, waiting.
“There you are,” Zach said a few minutes later, sitting down beside her. “I’ve been looking all over for you. ”
“Where’s Mia? She went looking for you. ”
Zach shrugged and handed her a bottle of rum. “Here. ”
“Hey, you’re not supposed to be drinking,” Lexi said.
“Last one, I promise. Here. ”
She hated to drink like this, without mixers or anything, but she didn’t want to upset him, so she took a sip.
“She doesn’t give a shit about what I want,” he said and lifted the bottle to his mouth again.
Lexi didn’t know if he was talking about his mother or his sister, but it didn’t really matter either way. “Yes, she does. ”
He took another long drink, handed it to her. “Maybe I don’t give a shit what she wants. ”
Lexi sighed. “Yes, you do. ”
He looked at her, his eyes wild. “I love you so much. ”
She knew exactly what he was feeling: it was the universe of her own emotions. She was afraid of watching him go; he was afraid of letting her stay. “I know,” was all she could say. She believed him now, believed in his love, and that was everything.
They needed to be strong for each other, and she would be the one to start. “I’ll never stop loving you, Zach. ”
In a taut voice, he said, “Come here,” and took her hand and led her deep into the woods.
There, they kissed and undressed and made love in a way that was new; sad, maybe, and a little rough, with their bodies communicating all the difficult words they couldn’t say. When it was over and they lay there, spent, staring up at the starlit sky, Lexi reached for the rum bottle and drank until their future didn’t seem so sharp and a nice fuzziness blurred the edges.
Finally, unsteady on their feet, they left the copse of trees and returned to the party, which was now completely out of control. There were more than one hundred kids there, talking, laughing, dancing. Boys were tossing a football back and forth; a bunch of people were gathered around the kegs; more stood around the huge bonfire. On the cabin, a sign read: Class of 2004—Good Bye and Good Luck.
Mia shrieked when she saw them and stumbled toward them. “Where were you guys?” she said, handing Lexi a half-empty bottle of rum. “This is our night. The three of us. Okay?”
They stood there, a little drunk, staring at one another, an island in a sea of seniors. Mia reached out for Zach’s hand, then for Lexi’s, and, with that touch, the connection returned. They were them again.
“Let’s party,” Zach said, smiling at his sister.
Lexi could see the love between these two, and as much as it hurt to know that they would leave her, she was glad the fight was over. They needed this last summer together.
They merged into the party and became a part of it, laughing, drinking, dancing until the moon rose in a dark sky and the air turned cold. By two o’clock in the morning, the party was winding down. Kids lay sprawled on the ground, on the grass, on the porch.
Mia started to say something and stopped. “Wha was I saying?”
Zach laughed drunkenly. “You said you had a surprise for us. You’ve been saying it all night. What is it?”
“Ha, thass right,” Mia said and fell sideways. Her head smacked on a rock and she moaned, “Shit. Tha hurt…”
Lexi helped Mia sit back up. “She’s bleeding, Zach. ”
They all burst into laughter at that.
Lexi tried to use her sleeve to wipe the blood off Mia’s forehead, but her balance was off and she kept poking Mia in the eye instead, and Mia just laughed harder.
Mia lurched up suddenly and stood there, swaying. “Oh man…” She clamped a hand over her mouth for a second and then stumbled sideways, falling to her knees in the sand and vomiting. The wretching sound and the smell made Lexi almost sick, too, but she went to Mia anyway, held her hair back.
“I am so hammered,” Mia finally said, wiping her mouth with her sleeve and sitting back on her heels.