Chapter 29

It was the summer I turned seventeen.

"You're not actually gonna do it?" Lizzie said.

"Oh yeah?" I said. "Just watch me."

We were standing on the darkened alley behind Razer's, a hometown pub that had dancing on Saturday nights. Jake was inside. I was sure of it. I'd seen his motorcycle outside, along with the bikes of two of his closest friends.

Lizzie looked up toward the small window. "How do you know it goes to the rest room?" she asked.

"Selena told me," I said.

"Your sister?" Lizzie said. "But she's not twenty-one either."

It was true. Selena was nineteen, two years older than me, but still two years away from the legal drinking age. Yet somehow, she'd gotten a fake ID, probably courtesy of her boyfriend, Jake's brother, who had some interesting connections that Selena rarely discussed.

Looking at the window, I wondered if I'd be able to fit through it. From down here, the window looked tiny – just a thick, horizontal slab of hazy glass, propped open by some unseen mechanism.

Too bad I didn't look more like my sister. I'd have simply borrowed her ID and gone straight through the front door. But I didn't. So instead, I was standing underneath that foggy window and wishing I knew for sure what exactly was on the other side.

Supposedly, Lizzie and I were spending the night above my Mom's coffee shop, just a few blocks away. In reality, I was making good on a dare. That was the official reason. Unofficially, I was determined to dance with Jake Bishop, just like I'd always wanted to.

"He probably doesn't even dance," Lizzie said.

That's where she was wrong. I knew him. He was the kind of guy who was up for anything.

Most of the guys that I knew hated to dance. Probably, they were afraid of looking stupid. But Jake, he never cared what anyone thought. And no matter what he did, he never looked stupid.

"He will if I ask him," I said, sounding a lot more confident than I felt. Every once in a while, he'd let me hang on the fringes with him and his friends. Sometimes, I felt like their mascot or something, like a kitten or a puppy, too eager to please and too inexperienced to fully fit in, no matter how hard I tried.

Funny too, because I tried like crazy.

Maybe I amused them. Or maybe I got a pass for being Selena's sister, not that she ever hung with that crowd. But as for me, I loved almost all of them, especially Jake. He was a twenty-two-year-old bad-ass with a terrible reputation. Until now, I'd been the kid who adored him. But I wasn't a kid anymore, and it was time for him to see that with his own two eyes.

I looked down at my skimpy black top and short black skirt. "How do I look?" I asked.

Lizzie grinned. "Slutty."

"Hey!"

"It was a compliment," she said. "Honest."

"Oh. Then, uh thanks." 

Near the delivery doors, we'd found a rickety old ladder, along with a few empty crates. I'd skipped the crates and gone straight for the ladder, dragging it underneath the window, where it now stood waiting.

I reached into the tiny pocket of my skirt and handed Lizzie the key to my Mom's coffee shop. My heart was hammering, but I couldn’t help but smile. "See you later on," I said.

"Wait," she said. "After you go in, should I move the ladder? Or leave it?"

I gave it some thought. If things worked out tonight, I'd definitely be needing that ladder again in the future. No need to give the pub-owners a heads-up. "Can you put it back where we found it?" I asked.

She nodded, and then paused. "But if the ladder's gone, how will you get out?"

"Easy," I said. "I'm gonna walk out the front door."

And if I was really lucky, Jake would be joining me. For once, I could be the girl on his arm. As long as I'd known him, he'd never had a serious girlfriend. But he had girls. Lots of girls. And I heard things too.

One of these girls, Roxie Claymore, who was like five years older than me, claimed he was the best lay in the tri-city area. Even if she hadn't said it straight to me, that didn't mean I wasn't listening. Jake didn't know it, but I'd been saving myself for a reason. Someday, I vowed, Jake Bishop would be my first.

Lizzie took the key and stuffed it into the pocket of her jeans. "Remember," she said, "you promised to tell me everything." Her voice lowered. "And I mean everything."

After a quick nod, I started climbing. Lizzie moved forward and gripped the base of the ladder, holding it steady as I climbed. When I reached the top, I peeked through the hazy glass. I saw the outlines of a single bathroom stall, along with one lone sink. I gave the glass a tentative push and peered down through the slim opening.

The tile floor was a long way down, but just underneath the window was a sturdy-looking metal cabinet. It wasn't that far down. I wriggled forward until the upper half of my body was firmly inside the rest room.

I was halfway there.

Sure, my clothes might be getting grimy, but I'd worn black on purpose, just in case. Besides, lots of Jake's girls dressed in black, so he must really like it, right? I felt myself smile.

My smile faded when I noticed something else – urinals on the side wall. Oh crap. This was the men's restroom? I felt myself swallow. Should I jump inside fast? Or leave while I still had the chance?

In front of me, the restroom door opened.

I heard the hum of music and rowdy voices. I tensed, holding myself motionless, half in the window, and half out. A moment later, the door opened wide. Someone walked through it and stopped short.

My heart skipped a beat, and my hands grew clammy.

It was Jake.