Reunited (9 page)

A red neon sign for Lucky’s Diner flashed in the distance, so Alice headed toward it, without even bringing it up for a vote. Lucky’s looked like an old-school greasy spoon, the kind of place where if it wasn’t cooked in a fry-o-lator, they probably weren’t serving it. When they pulled into the parking lot, Tiernan could see that the neon
L
on the Lucky’s sign flickered on and off so that
LUCKY’S
temporarily turned into
UCKY’S
.

Alice parked in the only empty spot she could find next to a long-haired dude by a motorcycle.

“Nice wheels,” he called out as they exited the Pea Pod.

“Thanks,” Alice said.

The motorcycle dude was older than them, but not by much—twenty-one or twenty-two—and cute in a scraggly sort of way. Tats on both arms, three days worth of stubble on his chin, the kind of wiry, skinny guy muscles that come from working outdoors. Tiernan usually went for guys with more of an indie rock vibe to them, but there was something captivating about this one—the hint of a bad-boy gleam in his eye.

“Is it a ’seventy-seven?” he called out.

“’Seventy-six,” Alice said, quickly wiping the sweat off her forehead before turning to face him. Without the breeze of the moving van, the heat was stifling.

“It’s in good shape,” he said, moving his gaze from Alice to Tiernan. “
Damn
good shape.”

Tiernan smiled back at him, but only with the corner of her mouth. Maybe she liked him; maybe she didn’t. Of course, Summer hadn’t even bothered to acknowledge his presence and was already halfway across the parking lot.

“Thanks.” Alice giggled. “My parents just had it redone for me as a graduation present.”

Tiernan cringed. Nothing like mentioning the ’rental units to kill a good flirtationship. But, in a way, Tiernan always thought it was kind of sweet the way Alice had absolutely no moves whatsoever. She was just 100 percent pure Alice, take it or leave it.

“Anyway,” Alice kept blathering, “we’re pretty hungry, so we should probably go.” Then she turned around and actually started to jog toward the Ucky’s entrance.

“See ya around,” said the dude, his gaze lingering on Tiernan.

“Maybe,” Tiernan replied, giving just a hint of the other half of her smile as she slowly walked away. Mona Lisa had nothing on her.

When she entered Ucky’s, Tiernan was hit with a much-needed blast of air-conditioning, and she stood under it until the breeze made the hair on her arms stand on end. She’d just started to shiver when the hostess came over, pointing them toward the last available booth.

Summer sat down first and Tiernan plopped herself onto the bench across from her, which left poor Alice with the unfortunate task of choosing sides. Tiernan could practically hear the silent eenie-meenie-minie-moe going on in Alice’s head before she finally slid in next to Tiernan, her bare legs making a farting noise against the green vinyl seat.

“You gals here for the festival?” A chunky waitress with streaky blond hair and eighties bangs plunked three ice waters on the table. She was about Tiernan’s mom’s age and she wore a polyester uniform two sizes too small. Her name tag said
WANDA
.

Tiernan looked up from their menu. “What festival?”

Wanda flashed her a big gummy smile, shaking her head like Tiernan was being sarcastic, which,
for once
, she actually wasn’t.
“Y’all are pulling my leg, right?” she asked in a sticky Southern drawl.

According to Wanda, the Eyes of the World Music Festival—named after a song by the Grateful Dead (barf)—was starting tomorrow, in the next town over. Hotels, motels, and campgrounds for miles around were filled to capacity with (Wanda’s words) “Birkenstock-wearin’ patchouli-oil smellin’ hippies.” Hence all the
NO VACANCY
signs.

“Shoot,” Alice said, when Wanda had walked off. “I really don’t feel like driving another thirty miles tonight.”

“Can’t we just stash the Pea Pod in a parking lot and camp there?” Tiernan asked.

Alice shook her head. “Aside from the fact that it’s illegal, I promised my parents we’d only stay at campgrounds.”

Again with the parents.
Tiernan wouldn’t be surprised to find out Alice was rooming with them in her college dorm.

“Well, camping in a parking lot does not sound safe to me at all,” Summer added. “Who knows what kind of random people might be roaming around at night?”

“Bunch of folks are camping out in this farmer’s field off of East Mountain Road.”

Two boys in tie-dye T-shirts had slumped into the booth across from theirs while Wanda was still busy clearing the dishes from the last people. From the newness of their Tevas, Tiernan guessed they were frat boy hippies as opposed to the genuine article (the key differences being showering on a daily basis and
listening to Dave Matthews). The one who spoke to them was tall and skinny, with a puka-shell necklace and a patchy goatee. His friend had a stumpy ponytail and Guatemalan print shorts.

“Guy who owns the place charges five bucks a head,” the one with the ponytail added.

“I don’t think so,” Summer jumped in. “But thanks.”

“You are most definitely welcome,” said the tall one, who, judging from his bloodshot eyes, was either highly allergic to something in the West Virginia air or, more likely, just plain high.

Wanda gave the boys’ table a perfunctory wipe with her gray dishcloth, then hurried off. The short one adjusted his ponytail and leaned across the aisle. “So, where you guys from?”

“Massachusetts,” Alice offered, after no one else did.

“No way.” The stoned one laughed. “We’re from Vermont!” Tiernan wasn’t sure why, but New Englanders away from home were always jazzed to meet other New Englanders.

“We came down with a bunch of people from school. This band we know from UVM is opening up for RatDog.”

Summer rolled her eyes.

“We’re not going to the festival,” Tiernan explained. “We just happened to be passing through.”

“Crazy,” Ponytail added.

“Totally,” said Tiernan, openly mocking him. Not that he noticed.

“My name’s Toad.” The long-haired one pointed to a silk-screen picture on his T-shirt of a toad driving a car. Underneath it read, “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.”

“And I’m Phred. Phred with a
P-H.
” The ponytailed one extended his hand.

Tiernan smirked. These guys were priceless.

Alice was the only one to return Phred’s handshake.

“I’m Alice. And this is Tiernan and Summer.”

“You’ve got extremely soft skin, Alice.” Phred grinned, still holding her hand captive.

Alice blushed, slipping her fingers from his grasp. “Thanks. So do you. I mean, your skin’s not
too soft.
For a man. It’s, like, totally normal.”

As opposed to the way Alice was acting
. Someone needed to jump in and save her fast, or the girl might end up drowning in her own words.

“So, what’s it like out in this field?” Tiernan asked. “Is it total hippie bacchanalia, or what?”

“Kinda,” said Toad. Phred just laughed.

Wanda distributed their dinners—a basket of Lucky’s country fried chicken for Alice, Cobb salad (no cheese) for Summer, and a plate of buffalo wings and an orange soda for Tiernan (from the “orange” food group, naturally).

“Maybe we should go stay in the field,” Alice said, chomping into a chicken leg. “I mean, it’s only one night.”

“More like a night
mare
,” Summer said, under her breath. “Surrounded by a bunch of dirty hippies with greasy, unwashed hair and smelly bare feet? No thanks.”

“Oh, come on. They seem like nice enough guys to me,” Alice said, her voice extra casual.

“Only because P-H Phred wants to get in your pants,” Tiernan whispered.

“Shhh!” Alice put a finger to her lips, glancing over to Toad and Phred’s table to see if they’d heard. Fortunately, the boys were both deeply entranced in a game that involved a fork, a balled-up straw wrapper, and Toad’s open mouth.

“I just figure it’s the simplest option,” Alice continued. “Plus, I might end up going to school with them at UVM if Brown doesn’t let me in.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a great opener,” Summer cautioned. “Hey, guys, guess what?
Your
school is my
safety
.”

Tiernan sneaked another look at Toad and Phred just as the projectile straw wrapper pegged Toad in the eye. So, they were a little on the dorky side. But if Alice was into Phred, who were they to put the kibosh on her hookup? Clearly the girl needed all the help she could get in the romance department. And going to a hippie party was bound to be more fun than being holed up in some boring motel room with Alice and Summer.

“My vote is that we stay in the field,” Tiernan announced.

“Great!” Alice smiled, turning her attention to Summer. “I mean, if that’s okay with you?”

“Does it matter?” Summer asked flatly.

Tiernan licked some buffalo sauce off her thumb. “Well, it
is
two against one.”

“So, my opinion doesn’t even count?” Summer sounded snippy.

“Last time I checked, we still lived in a democracy,” Tiernan shot back.

“Guys,”
Alice tried to interject, but Summer wouldn’t let her.

“First off, we don’t even
know
them,” Summer said. “And second, spending the night at some loud, sketchy hippie-fest isn’t exactly my scene.”

“Maybe instead of just thinking about yourself you should think about
Alice
,” Tiernan spat. “Not to mention the fact that she’s been driving all day long. I don’t think it’s fair to make her get back on the highway for another thirty miles. Do you?”

Summer sighed, then leaned across the table, whispering, “And neither of you are concerned about heading off into the middle of nowhere with Ben and Jerry over there?”

Alice shrugged. “They said there’s a whole field full of people. It’s not like you have to be their best friends.”

Tiernan stole a french fry off Alice’s plate. “Sometimes the devil that you don’t know,” she said, winking at Summer, “is actually better than the one you do.”

“FINDERS, KEEPERS”

I’M CALLING THE COPS ’CAUSE

YOU STOLE MY HEART

AND NOW.

NOW, NOW.

NOW YOU WON’T GIVE IT BACK TO ME

AND YOU SAID IT’S NOT A CRIME

BUT I’M BETTING YOU’LL DO TIME

FOR TAKING SOMETHING

THAT NEVER BELONGED TO YOU

—from Level3’s second CD,
Rough & Tumble

SUMMER LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW AS THE PEA POD RUMBLED
past a slant-roofed barn, then out onto the farmer’s field. She couldn’t believe Alice and Tiernan had just forced her to come to this freakapalooza, especially after the day she’d had. It wasn’t as if she needed their sympathy, but a shred of ordinary human compassion would have been nice. Then again, this wasn’t the place for ordinary anything.

High school and college kids milled around the field decked out with rainbow clown wigs and glow-stick necklaces. Older people in Grateful Dead T-shirts and Indian-print skirts sat in lawn chairs swilling microbrews. In the middle of the field was a bonfire surrounded by the largest drum circle Summer had ever seen, with dancers flailing and twirling all around it, hypnotized by the steady rhythm.

Not exactly like the last time she’d gone camping with Alice and Tiernan back in sixth grade at the Girl Scout jamboree. Unless you counted the two-hundred-pound bearded guy in the Girl Scout uniform.

Alice followed Toad and Phred’s beat-up Honda Civic to a quiet area at the far edge of the meadow. In the campsite next
to them, two bikini-clad girls stood in an inflatable baby pool, painting their bodies blue.

“Welcome to the neighborhood,” Toad said, hopping out of the van and nodding at the blue girls. Apparently he and Phred had appointed themselves their personal tour guides for this circus sideshow.

“You guys wanna check out the bonfire?” Phred asked.

“Hells yeah,” Tiernan said, pulling her camera from her bag. She was never one to miss a party, even if it meant hanging out next to a raging inferno in hundred-degree weather.

“I need to make a quick phone call first,” Alice said.

“No worries,” said Phred. “We can wait.”

Alice shook her head. “That’s okay. I’ll catch up with you.”

“I think I’m just going to stay in and read,” Summer said, getting back in the van. She would have given anything to be back home in Walford right now, curled up in her bed, alone with her thoughts. But since she was stuck here, she figured she might as well nab the top bunk before Alice or Tiernan got the chance. It
was
her old spot, after all.