PRESENT DAY
“You couldn’t have just kept your mouth shut?” Eden is whispering into my ear from beside me. She is rubbing her forehead, massaging her temples.
We are currently sitting in a holding cell at the Culver City Police Department. Our parents have been called, and the longer we are waiting for them to turn up, the more visibly anxious Eden is becoming. Clearly, she has never been arrested before. The process is unsettling for her, and if we were alone right now, then maybe I would, like, put my arm around her something. But we’re not. We have companions in here, such as the wasted woman in heels who is throwing herself at the floor in protest, wailing and yelling.
“Cop was a prick,” I mutter back to Eden. I hate cops, or at least these ones. I sink back against the wall, watching all of the officers as they mill around the station. Phones are ringing, words are being said. “They all are.” This is a lie. There is one officer who I will make an exception for, and only one, and that is Officer Gonzalez from the Santa Monica department. I like him.
“We wouldn’t even be here if you’d just walked away,” Eden says, heaving a sigh. She’s mad at me again, because the only reason she is even sitting in this cell right now is because of me. I dragged her into it with me, and although I do feel guilty about it, I also know that she has nothing to worry about.
I groan and lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I stare at the floor. “My mom will get us out of it,” I tell her, stealing a glance up at her. She is sitting next to me, but there are inches that separate us. We aren’t touching. We can’t. Not when there are people around.
Eden rolls her eyes, but she still doesn’t look at ease. “What? Because she’s an attorney?”
“Because she’s done it before,” I admit, sitting back up. There are always benefits to having a mom who is a lawyer. A civil attorney, sure, but she still knows her way around criminal law too. She hates it when I get myself into trouble like this, so she will always do anything she can to get me off lightly. She has been on a break from work for the past five years while we have dealt with the mess that we found our lives in, but she has never lost her skill. “She always gets me out of it.”
“Before,” Eden repeats. She looks at me, her eyes narrowing with curiosity. “How many times have you been arrested?”
“Once. Twice.” I shrug as my lips curve into a playful smirk. “Maybe a couple more than that.”
“What for?”
“Um. Stupid stuff,” I admit. I have to think about it for a moment, though. It’s been a while since I last got arrested, and it was always stupid stuff. I stand up and pace in a small circle in front of Eden, cracking my knuckles. “Fighting, vandalism, disrupting the peace,” I say, letting the words roll nonchalantly off my tongue. It’s not like I’ve ever robbed a convenience store or anything, so I’m not too ashamed to tell her. I throw her a look, unable to stifle my laugh. “And trespassing.”
“At least you haven’t killed anybody,” she says, and she almost smiles.
“Not yet,” I say. I can picture Dad’s face so clearly . . . “I’ve got someone in mind.” My tone must be too solemn, probably because I am mostly being serious, and Eden’s entire expression contorts with horror. She really believes me. “Eden,” I say, cracking up into laughter, and I shake my head at her.
“I haven’t figured out your sense of humor yet,” she states as she crosses her arms over her chest, defensively pouting. Then, teasingly, she adds, “I didn’t even know that you had one.”
I smile at her, nodding in surrender. I like it when we’re like this. I never act like this around anyone except my brothers. I feel like I can be playful around her. “Good one.”
“Bruce, Munro,” a voice suddenly calls out, catching us off guard, and I spin around to find Officer Greene scrutinizing us from the other side of the bars of the holding cell. He isn’t the officer that arrested us, but he has been the one dealing with us while we’ve been here at the station. He’s not as much of an asshole as the first guy. “Your parents are here,” he states.
“We’re going to die,” Eden is spluttering under her breath as she gets to her feet. “Oh my God. We’re actually going to die.”
“Shut up,” I tell her. I fire her a warning glance. She needs to relax. “Let me do the talking.”
“Follow me,” Officer Greene says as he unlocks the door of the holding cell.
Eden is close behind me as we follow Officer Greene through the station, and I can hear her deep breathing. Sure, Mom and Dave aren’t going to be impressed, but we haven’t actually had any charges pressed against us. At least not yet. I guess that’s what we’re about to find out. Officer Greene leads us into a smaller, private office where our parents are waiting for us.
I look at Mom first. She knows I’m having a bad day, but right now, she can’t afford to show her sympathy. She has her professional mask on—the taut expression she used to wear whenever she had important cases to work on. Her features are hard, her lips pressed tightly together, and she narrows her eyes straight at me. Every time I do something like this, I don’t anger her as much as I sadden her. It reminds her that I’m not okay, that I’m off the rails, that I’m losing this war. Dave has enough fury for the both of them, though. With his hands on his hips and his body rigid, he glowers at Eden and me. His chest is puffed out and his cheeks are flushed red.
“What the hell are you two playing at?” he snaps at us, but Mom quickly steps in front of him. She’ll handle this better than he can.
“Officer . . .?” she says, looking at Officer Greene. She dramatically squints to read his badge, even though I know her eyesight is perfect.
“Greene,” he says.
“Officer Greene,” Mom begins, clearing her throat. She is about to get serious with him now, and she shakes his hand. “Can you explain to me why they have been arrested for trespassing? By the way, I’m an attorney.” There is a small, innocent smile playing on her lips as she raises her eyebrow at him. She knows what she’s doing, and I love when I get to see this side of her. So in control, so strong. These days, I don’t often get to see that.
“Trespassing under Penal Code 602 within Culver City High School,” Officer Greene informs her, but his discomfort is evident. He is shifting his footing. “Only specified areas of the campus were open to the public for this evening’s celebrations, and they were found in a hallway in a closed block.”
Mom nearly rolls her eyes. It seems she was expecting something more arrest-worthy. “Really? They stumble into the wrong hallway and you arrest them?”
“Ma’am, I was not the arresting officer,” Officer Greene tells her, holding up his hand. “Officer Sullivan doesn’t have much patience and your son here was showing a bit of attitude when asked to leave.” He glances over at me. “They were given several chances to do so.”
I almost laugh out loud. Officer Sullivan not having much patience is the understatement of the year. The guy couldn’t even give us five minutes to leave. Mom flashes me a threatening glance, so I bite back my laughter and look down at the ground.
“I was in that school tonight and I do recall seeing ‘NO ENTRY’ signs,” Mom says, her voice strong and firm. She is narrowing her eyes challengingly at Officer Greene. “But ‘NO ENTRY’ signs are not the same as signs warning that trespassing is an infraction and, therefore, neither of them were properly informed that they were committing an offence. They cannot be arrested on the grounds of your colleague’s short temper.”
I am still trying not to laugh. I lift my head to look at Eden, but her expression is still so dominated by fear and anxiety that I can’t help but laugh even harder. I’m trying to hold it in, so I press my hand to my mouth in an effort to stifle it.
“How about,” Officer Greene says as he extends his hand to Mom again, “we save both of us the paperwork and I let this one slide?” He gives her a tight, knowing smile.
“Respectable decision, Officer,” Mom says, and she shakes his hand. She shoots Dave a look that I can’t quite register, and he nods. She needs to stay behind to deal with this.
“Alright,” Dave says, clapping his hands together. I can hear the seething anger in his tone as he orders, “You two, out to the car. Right now.” Then, he pushes his way through Eden and me.
“Someone’s mad as hell,” I mutter. Dave will probably have his say once we get outside. He will tell me I’m grounded for another ten years, and then he’ll probably give Eden a hug and tell her it’s all okay.
I nudge Eden forward and we follow Dave out of the station and into the parking lot. I don’t know what time it is, but it’s dark and a cool breeze has picked up. I seriously doubt we’ll be continuing the Fourth of July celebrations now. We head over to Mom’s Range Rover, and when Eden and I pull open the back doors, we find that Chase is already asleep across the backseat. It’s ironic, really, that our parents are mad at us for getting arrested for trespassing when they are illegally cramming four of us into this backseat.
“What’d you do this time?” Jamie asks, studying me curiously.
My eyes flicker to meet Eden’s, and I can’t fight the smirk that toys at my lips. “Something I shouldn’t have.”
We climb in and I move Chase out of the way, and the four of us are squeezed in side by side again, and I honestly don’t know how I am to survive this drive back home. It was unbearable on the way here, and that was when Eden and I hadn’t even spoken yet. Now, it is going to be even worse having my body pressed against hers after kissing her an hour ago.
I am waiting for Dave to start yelling at me, but he is only silently sitting in the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel a little too tightly. Maybe he is keeping quiet because his daughter is here. Even if he is planning on saying something, he doesn’t get the chance to, because Mom turns up. She pulls herself up into the passenger seat and slams the door shut behind her again, then crosses her arms over her chest as she stares out of the windshield.
“Nice going, Mom,” I say in an effort to lighten the mood. I even sit forward and place my hand on her shoulder, trying to catch her eye. “You’re killing ’em.”
“Don’t even talk to me, Tyler,” she says, shaking my hand off her. She doesn’t turn around, or even so much as glance at me. She only continues to stare ahead out of the window at nothing. “One of those days I’m just not going to turn up. I’m so disappointed in you.”
“I’m disappointed in you too, Eden,” Dave finally speaks up. His voice isn’t as sharp or as acidic as it usually is, but it’s still coarse. He switches on the engine and begins to drive, navigating our way out of the parking lot. “What the hell were you doing inside in the first place? I’m pretty sure the event was outside.”
“No. The event was definitely inside,” I remark. I am looking at Eden out of the corner of my eye, absolutely loving the alarm that crosses her features when I say this. The fact that this is so wrong is almost . . . fun. Our parents can’t ever find out we were making out in that hallway. The secrecy is exhilarating, and I want to see just how much I can get away with. In the darkness of the backseat, I run my finger down Eden’s thigh.
“Cut it out with the attitude,” Mom snaps at me, and I realize that she really is mad at me tonight. “I just had to sign for both of you to get out of there when I could have easily just left you all night, okay? So here’s an idea, Tyler: Just sit there and be quiet for once in your life.”
Damn. It’s rare that Mom talks to me like that. I don’t really take it to heart, though. I know I drive her insane, and I know she is allowed to get mad at me sometimes. I take her advice and keep quiet for the entire drive back home. I focus on Eden instead, on touching her inconspicuously whenever I get the opportunity. I brush my hand against hers, press my knee to hers. She is staring out of the window and her face is illuminated orange from the streetlights as we pass under them, lighting her up and letting her glow. It makes the journey go in quicker than it did earlier, and it is nearing midnight by the time we are all spilling in through the front door. Dave has Chase in his arms, still fast asleep.
“I don’t even know what to say to you, Tyler,” Mom is murmuring as she locks up the front door behind us. Dave is carrying Chase upstairs, and Jamie is following. “I’ve just—I’ve had enough.” She turns around to face me as she takes a deep breath. In her eyes, I can see how tired she is. “Eden, just go to your room. Get some sleep,” she says, and she gives her a tight smile, politely hinting for her to leave us alone for a second. Eden gets the memo, because she doesn’t even hesitate, only nods and heads upstairs.
I am left alone in the hall with Mom, and she walks through to the kitchen, so I follow her. I’m sort of embarrassed now. I hate doing this to her, so I keep my head low, too ashamed to meet her eyes.
“I know you’re having one of your bad days, Tyler,” she says quietly, her tone softening. She heaves a sigh and leans back against the countertop, pressing a hand to her face. “But . . . but please. Stop doing this. I’m worried you’re going to get yourself into more serious trouble one day.”
Like selling weed? I frown and give her a single, clipped nod to let her know I’m listening carefully. “I’m sorry, Mom,” I say. I am. I’m sorry that I am always going to let her down.
“I know you are,” she says as she stares back across the kitchen at me. The smile she gives me is sad again. I tear her apart sometimes, and I really wish I didn’t. “Goodnight, Tyler.”
“Night,” I mumble, and I turn around and leave the kitchen. I head upstairs for my room, but before I get there, I spot Eden disappearing into hers. We didn’t exactly cover everything we talked about tonight, like: What happens now? Before she closes her door, I quickly step into her room. She spins around and flinches at my sudden appearance. “Hey,” I whisper. I study her room for a minute, not exactly sure what I’m even going to say.
“Hi,” she says blankly. “What’d your mom say?”
“Nothing,” I say. I think Eden’s still mad at me for getting her arrested, so I decide to start by apologizing. “Sorry for taking you down with me. I should have just left when the cop told us to.”
She frowns. “It’s fine.”
I am about to say something more, to ask her about what happens between us now, but my ringtone cuts through the silence. My phone is vibrating in my jeans, and I quickly pull it out to find Tiffani’s name flashing on my screen. Please not now. She always calls me if it gets to midnight and we haven’t talked that day yet.
“Tiffani,” I tell Eden. Sometimes, I just ignore her calls, but I really can’t afford to do that right now. Not when she is currently blackmailing me. Right now, I need to keep her happy, because when Tiffani isn’t, she makes it known. “Sorry, I gotta talk to her. She’ll get mad if I ignore her. I’m sorry,” I say, glancing back up at Eden. She is staring at me with wide eyes and she looks almost pale again. I feel like such an asshole. I tell Eden I’m attracted to her and I kiss her, then I ditch her to answer a call from my girlfriend? My phone is still buzzing in my hand. “I’m really sorry. I have to,” I whisper. I feel so guilty. I wish I could explain. I wish she knew that it’s complicated.
The call will ring off if I don’t answer it, and Eden’s crushed expression is too much to bear, so I quickly turn around and leave. As I’m walking into my own room and closing the door behind me, I accept the call and press my phone to my ear. There is no emotion or enthusiasm in my voice when I say, “Hey, what’s up?”
“Happy Fourth of July, baby!” Tiffani squeals down the line, and I almost hurl my phone straight across my room.