Freshly showered and eager for sleep, I walked into the kitchen and noted a freshly corked whiskey bottle with a drained glass of ice next to it. I picked up the glass, slipping a piece of flavored ice into my mouth, knowing it was pointless to check my bedroom.
He was gone.
“You ever been kissed, Red?”
“No,” I snapped quickly at Laz, who was skipping stones across our pond.
I looked at him closely. In the last few years, he’d become my very best friend. We took turns mastering our own self-made bike trails and sneaking turnips off of the Jameson farm. We spent our nights fishing and swimming in the pond between our two houses. There hadn’t been one day that we weren’t side-by-side, aside from the time he had to head to Memphis for his aunt’s funeral.
We often went to Laz’s best friend Cedric’s house to practice shooting. Cedric liked to hunt and would fire off round after round with his rifle, while I used my father’s gun and was careful with my only box of bullets. Both boys seemed impressed with my ability to shoot, but Cedric was always quiet when I was around and looked at me as if I were interfering. It took a while for him to grow warm to me, but once he did, he would spend some of his summer with us.
“You can’t miss,” Cedric would note as he studied the target closely then study me. “You’re a marksmen.”
I felt a tremendous sense of pride when both boys agreed and smiled at me.
Cedric and I would lie on the grass, listening to crickets when Laz had to go home early. He would tell me about how he would be a soldier one day. How his father had been one and his grandfather too. I would simply listen to him talk, dreading the inevitable trip home. Cedric would always give me an odd look when we parted with a quick “night.” I would run home and shake from head to tail at the horror of being caught and sigh in relief when I made it to bed, my latest adventure unnoticed.
Amber would start to ask questions when I got home, saying “Where have you been?” and “Promise not to tell.” I felt guilty for leaving her a prisoner in that house but was thankful she now had school as an escape.
I had Laz as mine. Today was the last day of summer before we started at separate schools and Laz had been quiet all day. It was if he knew everything was about to change. He was going to be a freshman, and I was still stuck in middle school. I’d watched his body change and wasn’t immune to the heavy looks he got when we went into town together. Laz had somehow charmed my mother into letting me out of the house. I didn’t ask questions and took my freedom without hesitation. As I stared at Laz now in long cutoff jean shorts and nothing else, I felt a slight twinge of something I’d never felt. When he’d asked me the question, I’d immediately crossed my arms over my budding chest and stood awkwardly in my too small bathing suit.
Laz laughed at my posture and shook his head slowly. “Uncross your arms, Red. It’s just a kiss.”
“Maybe I don’t want a kiss.”
“Sure you do. I see the way you look at me.” I huffed and rolled my eyes. I’d never wanted to kiss him. I’d never even thought about it until he’d asked me. Well, maybe once. I picked up a few rocks, tossing them beside him. Laz kept his eyes on me for only a second before he dropped the rest of his rocks and wiped his hands on his jeans.
“See you later,” he said, pulling his T-shirt over his head. I stood with my handful of rocks, stunned. The sun was still high in the sky. I was sure I had a whole day of freedom left. I panicked as he began to walk off in the direction of his house.
“Wait!” I shrieked as I followed him.
He turned and gave me a bored look.
“Why are you leaving when we have the whole day?”
“To do what, Red, skip rocks? My friends are down at the river getting high while I’m playing patty cake out here with you.”
I wrinkled my nose at the thought, and he rolled his eyes. I spoke without thinking. “I could go with you. I could get…high.” The only thing that occurred to me was smoking meth, and I knew in that moment there was no way I was doing that. I shrugged as I took the last step to face him. He’d grown a good foot since I’d met him.
“Not that kind of high, Red.” He must have seen the relief in my features as breath rushed out of me.
“Look, I’ll see you later, okay? I’ll come to your window tomorrow.” My heart was sinking as I watched him start to walk away and the words stumbled out. “I want you to kiss me.”
Laz stopped and looked back at me. “No you don’t.”
“Don’t tell me what I want, Lazarus Walker. I said I want you to kiss me.”
I stopped my moving mouth as he approached, pushing my shoulders out, and looked up without flinching when he again stood before me.
“And I never said I wanted to kiss you,” he taunted as he studied my face.
“Well, you brought it up, you ass, so sumthin’s got to be done about it.” I put my hands on my hips and raised a brow in challenge.
“You look like a circus clown. Why would I want to kiss you?” He smiled, his blue eyes shining the way they always did when he knew he was aggravating me.
“You are all talk,” I huffed. “You’ve probably never kissed a girl a day in your life.”
“Sure I have. Kissed Lucy last week.” I felt the burn in my face as I confronted him.