The Nights Were Young (6 page)

VII

It was the day after the party by the cliffs
. Marie did not speak much to anybody. Kate had texted her saying she felt sick from the night before and was not at school. Marie was exhausted herself, and barely made it through classes mindlessly.

              At her locker she was lazily setting in some book and taking another out when a voice spoke to her. She recognized it instantly, and some energy shot back into her.             

              “So did you get in trouble?” Travis asked. He leaned against the locker next to hers, smiling and smacking on strong mint gum.

              Marie could not respond right away. He made her tremble as she took one of her text books from her locker. “Kinda,” she answered slowly, trying not to stutter.

              Travis was looking around the hall as he spoke to her, too cool to make eye contact. “Kate skipped out today. Brandon’s pretty mad because she doesn’t know how to handle a hangover.”

              “Yeah I know. She texted me and told me she felt bad.”

              “I’m surprised
you’re
not in bed.”

              “What? Why?”

              “A girl like you – a lightweight?” he said, smiling. “That’s surprising.”

              She shut her locker and kept her head down so she wouldn’t look at his eyes. “You don’t even know me,” she said, and she started walking towards class.

              She turned around for a moment to look back at him. He was still standing there, and he seemed surprised that a girl would simply walk away from him. He jumped forward, and by the time Marie turned back around he had caught up to her.

“Well I’d like to get to know you,” he said.

              “Sure you would.” She rolled her eyes.

              “No really! I think we should hang out some time. What are you doing this weekend?”

              “I’m not even allowed out. I’m grounded.”

              “Oh come on. I’m sure you can come out at least after school or something.” He stood in front of her, smiling and looking at her with his brown eyes. “I’m really nice. I promise.”

              “I’ll bet you are.” Marie looked away down the hall. She wanted to look less interested in him than she was.

              “Is this about last night?” He leaned in and spoke lower, “Look, I didn’t mean to fall on you. It just--”

              Marie laughed a little. “No, it’s not that.”

              “Then it
is
something. What is it?”

              He wouldn’t take his eyes off hers.

              “I think,” Marie answered nervously, “you’re a player. That’s all.”

              He burst into laughter so loud that others stopped to look. “What are you talking about? I’m not a player.”

              “Kate said you hook up all the time, with a lot of girls.” Marie started to walk forward around him.

              He moved in front of her. “Well don’t listen to her.”

              “What about that girl last night?” she asked, taking a step back from him.

              “Who? Kristen? What about her?”

              “Is she your girlfriend?”

              “No,” he said quickly. He looked down and ran his fingers through his hair. “She’s not anymore. We had a thing, a weird thing, but it’s done. Look, Marie…”

             
Oh God, he remembers my name
, she thought.

              “I’m not trying to just get with you,” he said. “I’m sincerely just asking to get to know you. You seem like a cool person.”

             
Cool? Really? A cool person?
Marie looked down the hall at the door to her classroom. There were just seconds left before the bell rang. Travis’s class was probably on the other side of the school, and he probably didn’t care that he would be late.

              “Can I have your number?” he asked.

              She walked past him towards her class.

“I don’t know,” she said.

              “Well, what about this weekend?” he called after her.

              “I don’t know!”

She didn’t want to look back; still she glanced around to see Travis still standing there in an empty hall, waiting for a reply. Smiling, she continued forward and walked into the classroom.

**********

              Marie didn’t see Travis for the rest of the school day, but she thought about him. Maybe he was genuine, but her instincts told her his intentions were simply physical. She had decided a long time ago she would never go all the way with a boy who already had with someone else. It was trashy, a lesson her mother had taught her. With that in mind, she was almost certain Travis could not be a candidate for her. He was good looking, but he was probably full of ego. But he knew how to have a good time and could probably show Marie a really good time, but he was probably just trouble at the end of things.

              By the time Marie had finished talking with her English teacher about college applications and left the building, the parking lot was virtually empty. There were a few faculty cars, Marie’s Mustang, and one black Camaro parked not too far from hers. As she walked to her car, she noticed the husky jock from the lunch table leaning against the hood of his Camaro. His eyes groped her.

              She approached her car.

He hopped up and walked to her. “Marie, right?”

              “Uh… yes.” Marie said, unlocking her door.

              He extended his hand. “My name’s David.”

There was a transparent grin stretched across his face.

              Marie hesitantly shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

              He waited for her to say more, but Marie kept quiet, hoping he would get the hint and leave her alone.

“You’re Marie Wrangler right?” he asked.

              “Yes that’s what I said.”  

              “I’ve been asking about you.”

Well that’s not
creepy, she thought.

“You don’t really hang out with too many people,” he continued.

              “I guess not. Look I need to go.” She tried to get into her car.

              “Hold on a minute. I just wanted to talk to you a bit.”

He grabbed her by the arm when she tried to turn away.

“Hey!” she yelled instinctively.

He loosened his grip and put his hands back in his pocket, then tried too hard to act embarrassed.

“Sorry about that. I guess I get ahead of myself sometimes. Look uh – I’m having a party this weekend out at my parent’s lake house. It’s about an hour and a half from Crossfalls and uh – I wanted to see if you wanted to come. I can give you a ride if you’d like.”

              While he was talking, a beat-up red truck drove into the parking lot. It was Travis. He honked the horn and smiled. There was some decades-old blues music blaring from his speakers. He parked next to Marie and turned off the engine. Her shoulders dropped and she felt able to breathe easily again.

              “What the hell is this guy doing here?” she heard David mutter.

              Travis jumped out of the truck and strolled up to them. He seemed unusually excited.

“What’s up grounded girl?” Travis asked with a grin, a much more genuine one than David’s.

              “Do you mind, trailer trash?” David said. “We’re talking.”

              Travis laughed. “Calm down, fatty. I might have a candy bar in my truck for you.”

              Marie burst out in laughter. She shut up quickly when she saw David’s scowl and his clenched fists. She covered her mouth, trying to keep herself from laughing. Travis was watching her, grinning, happy he’d made her happy.

              David shook his head and stood in between the two. “So you want to come or not, Marie?” he asked. “The party’s gonna be pretty awesome.”

              “I’m sorry,” Marie said. She cleared her throat and forced herself to speak seriously. “I don’t think so.”

              “For real?” David raised his voice. “You don’t want to come? You don’t even have to pay for anything.”

              “Look,” Travis interrupted. “She said no.”

              David whirled around and shoved Travis. “Am I talking to you, trailer trash?”

              “Hey!” Marie shouted. “Don’t call him that!”

              The jock whipped around and put his finger in Marie’s face. “Stay out of this.”

“Don’t put your hand in her face!” Travis ordered.

“Then tell the bitch to shut up for a minute,” David said, turning around to face Travis.

              Travis lost it. He reared back and slugged David hard across the face.

“What’d you call her?” he screamed.

              Marie jumped back to avoid the rampage. David and Travis fell to the concrete; David shoved Travis’s face down and got on top of him. He brought his fist down, but Travis dodged aside and David punched the hard pavement. While he screamed in agony Travis threw him off and stood. David furiously charged at him and knocked him against his truck. Travis kept shoving his hands away so that David could not get a grip on him. Before Travis could throw another hit, David punched him hard in the stomach, knocking his air out.

              “Travis!” Marie yelled.

              David pushed Travis back against the truck and stepped back. He was rearing his foot back ready to kick Travis when Marie jumped on his back, locked her arms around him, and nearly brought him down again. David threw her off of him. She landed on the ground and he was ready to hit Marie. He stopped himself, but he was heaving with anger.

“Dumb girl,” David said. “Go stand over there till I’m done.”

              Travis was standing straight again.

              David turned around and laughed. “Let’s go, trailer trash!”

Travis charged forward and they locked. Travis got in a few punches to David’s face and chest while David returned more against Travis’s chin. They were both bleeding by the time Marie noticed the school’s security guard racing to them.

              “Guys, the guard is coming,” Marie said.

              They immediately stopped and turned around. The school’s security guard, an overweight, middle aged man in a faded blue uniform was running towards them.

              David fled instantly, scrambling into his Camaro and revving the engine. His tires screeched and smoked when he sped out of the parking lot. Travis did not even bother hurrying away. He leaned against his truck, breathing heavily. He was drenched in sweat, bruised and bleeding. Marie touched some of the cuts on his face.

“Travis, why’d you do that?”

              “He’s deserved an ass kicking since third grade,” he said, still heaving to catch his breath. “And you heard what he called you. I’m not gonna let anyone call one of my friends that.”

              “So we’re friends now?”

              Travis smiled, and even with a bleeding lip and a swollen, red eye he didn’t seem bitter, and he didn’t seem to care about the pain. “We’d better be.” He stared at her happily, his one good eye darting back and forth between her eyes. “You need to get out of here, pretty girl. I’ll see you around.”

              The guard finally reached them. He was furious. “Get your hands on the hood of the trunk right now!”

              “See you later, pretty girl,” Travis said fast.

              He broke into a run for the football fields on the side of the school.

“Damn it!” the guard yelled. He looked at Marie; he decided to chase Travis, though he was not going to be successful. Marie watched her hero sprint across the parking lot and disappear around the corner. The guard followed after, and then she was alone.

Pretty girl
? Those words made her heart beat faster.

              Travis had at least earned something. She pulled a piece of paper from a notebook in her bag, then wrote seven digits on it and placed it on the driver’s seat in Travis’s truck. At the bottom of the paper she left a message:

                                         
Thank you,

                                                        Marie

              **********

              That night was usual. She ate a quiet dinner with her parents, though only half of what had been on her plate. Her mother performed her ever-constant nagging of finishing college applications while her father nodded and agreed with her.

“I’ve almost got them done,” Marie answered. “We can mail them next week.”

              “Good,” her mother said. “Make sure you let me look at them before you put them in the envelopes.”