yolo (16 page)

“Do you need a ride?” Chestnut asked. “We could take you to a gas station.”

“Uh . . .” Emily had no idea what she needed anymore.

“We'll be fine,” Brandon said, shaking his head. “We'll just call a tow truck. I'm sure they'll be here in no time at all.”

“You sure?” Liz asked. “I feel terrible.”

“We're fine,” Brandon said. “Really. Just go get Artie, and pull yourselves together. For him.”

Chestnut and Liz nodded, and Emily was surprised that she actually felt a little pang of emotion as they made their way to their car, turned it around, then sped down the road.

“Well . . . ,” Ana said with a sigh. “At least they have a game plan.” She looked at Brandon. “Why didn't you want their help?”

“We are
finally
free of all of the craziness that's happened today,” Brandon said. “We made it through a diner holdup, a convenience store holdup, a drug pickup, a drop-off, a child, a pool hall brawl, and a car crash. We're
so
close to the Steins', I can taste the Jose Cuervo. I don't want to mess it up by riding with Chestnut and Liz. We'll just call for a tow truck and, in the meantime, have someone come down from the house to get us. Easy.”

“Only one problem,” Emily said as she stared at her phone screen. “I don't have any bars.”

Brandon pulled out his phone and his shoulders fell. “Well, I didn't see this coming. . . .”

“It's because we're so close to the mountains,” Emily said, glancing their way. “Reception is going to be spotty.”

“Or nonexistent,” Ana said as she peered over Emily's shoulder. “Looks like we should've taken that offer for a ride.” She looked pointedly at Brandon.

Brandon was still cursing under his breath as he climbed up on top of Emily's car and held his cell over his head. Finally, he joined Emily and Ana who had crawled back into the car to wait, and reclined their seats a little. As Brandon slid into the backseat, Emily started to laugh. She couldn't help it. As she thought of all of the ways that she had planned for this day to go, this ending had never even been a remote possibility.

Ana sat up and looked at her. “You're freaking me out. Why are you laughing?”

Emily finally got ahold of herself for long enough to speak. “Because this has to be the single most ridiculous day in the history of the world,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I mean, if I'd sat down and tried to
make up
a bad
day, I wouldn't have been able to come up with this shit in a billion years.”

“Truth
is
stranger than fiction,” Brandon said.

“So, how much money did we actually leave the pool hall with?” Ana asked as she turned in her seat.

Brandon pulled the wad of bills out of his pocket and counted out $2728, most of it in singles, fives, and twenties. “Not a bad haul for us today,” he said.

“Us?” said Emily. “You earned it. That's your money.”

“Nah,” said Brandon. “This whole day has been a team effort.”

“Yeah.” Ana laughed. “It takes more than one idiot to mess up a road trip this badly.”

All three of them cracked up at this point, and Emily felt all of the tension and frustration of the past eight hours slip away.

“Oh my God,” she said as the realization set in, “has it only been
eight hours
since we got on the highway?”

“Jesus,” said Brandon. “It feels like it's been eight
days
.”

“We managed to pack a lot of living into this day.” Emily smiled.

“YOLO, bitches,” said Ana. “YOLO.”

“So,” Brandon said as he leaned forward. “What's the plan?”

“I don't know,” said Ana. “But we need to come up with something quick.” She rubbed her hand up and down on Pickle's tummy. “This poor little guy hasn't had anything to eat for a while. And the last time he had water was at Buck and Blanche's place. So, what do we do?”

Emily could only shrug. “I've got nothin'. I guess we just wait for somebody to drive by and try to flag them down.”

“Are you crazy?” said Ana. “What if it's some backwoods serial killer?”

Emily laughed. “Oh, c'mon. After our day?”

“After our day, that's even more likely,” Ana pointed out.

“I guess I'll have to walk to get some help,” said Brandon.

“Don't even try it.” Ana was having none of it. “That's just asking to be kidnapped and killed.”

“So the options are that we're picked up by a highway killer,” Brandon said, “or I get kidnapped and killed while walking along the side of the road. How is the first option any better?”

“At least then we'll be together.”

Despite how morbid Ana's conclusion was, Emily couldn't help but smile at the comment. Leave it to Ana to somehow turn the potential moment of death into an opportunity for strengthened friendship.

“Hey, Emily, can you pop the hood?” Brandon asked.

“You're not going to be able to fix the car,” Ana said.

“Obviously. But that way if someone drives by, they'll know we're having car trouble.”

“I think it's pretty obvious,” Emily said as she tried to pop the hood, but no matter how many times she pulled the level, the hood didn't move. “Looks like that's not happening.” She sighed and sat back in her seat.

The sun had slipped behind the mountains and the sky had turned a lovely shade of indigo. Through the cracked
windshield, Emily could see stars twinkling to life. As the sky grew darker, there were other lights in the sky, too, including three bright, red-carpet style beams that broke through the trees and lit up the sky. Emily knew they had to be coming from the Steins'. Jacob knew how to throw a party, and the setup was always fantastic, from music to drinks to food. There was always something for everyone.

“This sucks,” Ana mumbled.

“Major,” Brandon added.

Emily was about to suggest walking up the hill to the Steins', when two more lights appeared, this time coming toward them up the highway. Brandon was out of the car in a second and in the middle of the road, jumping and screaming while waving his arms in the air.

“Does he really think they're not going to see him?” Ana asked. “It's not like he's hidden.”

“He's just trying to help,” Emily said.

“I know.” Emily could hear Ana's smile as she said it.

As the car got closer, Emily could see that it was a silver sedan. Even when the car started to slow down, Brandon continued to shout and jump like he was flagging down an entire fleet of planes. Emily was impressed by his dedication to saving them, but she couldn't keep out of her mind the possibility that Big Dog had found them. And no matter how many people laughed at his antics and called him Stanley, she couldn't get out of her head that he was a real, legit, drug dealer. That still counted for something.

“Well, look at this.”

Emily stared out the window, not believing her eyes. Brandon had stopped jumping and was also staring, though probably for a different reason.

“Dios mio,”
Ana said. “Talk about fate.”

There, in the car that had just pulled up to rescue them, was Chris.

Emily felt like she would melt when Chris threw an arm over her shoulder as he surveyed the damage to her car.

“And all of you are okay?”

“Amazingly,” Ana said.

“And you didn't get their insurance information?”

“They were career criminals,” Brandon said. “Do you really think they have insurance?”

“Good point.” Chris nodded slowly, then pulled Emily closer. “I'm just glad none of you were hurt.”

“What about cell service?” Ana asked. “So we can get a tow truck out here?”

“Not in this part of the mountains,” Chris said, shaking his head. “Once you get up higher, there are satellites to help out, but where we are now . . . nothing.”

“You know,” Ana said slowly, like she'd just come up with a brilliant idea, “we could just go to the party. You could come with us, Chris.”

“I wasn't sure if it was some kind of private affair,” Chris said.

“Oh please,” Ana said. “Jacob and Madison don't know the meaning of
private
.”

“Madison sure doesn't,” Brandon said, earning a stern glare from Ana.

“Well . . . if that's okay.”

Emily didn't catch on until Ana stomped her foot.

“Oh, right, yeah, definitely,” she said quickly, turning to Chris and trying to get her bearings. “Please come. Yeah.”

Chris smiled and shook his head. “What about your car?”

“We can call someone when we get to the Steins',” Ana said as she hustled to the destroyed car and climbed into the backseat so she could start pulling things from the trunk. “Okay, if we go now I should still have enough time to shower and change and get my makeup on.” She reappeared holding a suitcase.

“I thought you gave the money back,” Chris said slowly. “Please don't tell me it was one of those hoaxes where you gave them an empty suitcase and now you've got the cash and you're going to try to get away with it.”

“This is my party gear,” Ana said with a frown, as if that should've been completely obvious. “How would I get ready without my party gear?”

Chris narrowed his eyes and looked at Emily. “And yours?”

Ana held up a small backpack. “And it's not even full. I don't know how she does it.”

Emily rolled her eyes as she took the bag, then motioned for everyone to head to Chris's car. Chris and Brandon went quickly, but Ana held Emily back.

“So how amazing is this?” she hissed. “It's totally fate.”

Emily had to admit that things were finally starting to come together. Chris's reappearance was almost like the universe was apologizing for the day it'd put her through. And she definitely accepted that apology.

Once in the car, with Emily in the front seat, and Brandon, Ana, and Pickles in the back, Chris said, “When we're higher up on the mountain, I'll give the police a call.”

“Is that going to be a problem?” Emily asked. “Getting the police involved, I mean.”

“Nah, it's my Uncle Bud,” Chris said. “It'll be fine. He'll do me a favor.”

“Wait, Bud as in Sheriff Bud?” Brandon asked. “Dude . . .”

“We were pulled over by your uncle earlier today.” Emily relayed the whole story to Chris. “That's seriously your uncle?”

“Yeah, it was,” Chris said, nodding. “Though . . . I think he's looking for Chestnut and Liz. But from what you said, they're not really horrible people, are they?”

“Well, no . . .” Emily thought about what might happen to them, and to Artie, if they were caught now, just when they were planning to let everything go. “Do you think you could talk to him?”

Chris sighed. “It's asking a lot, but maybe I can convince him to focus his efforts elsewhere. Big Dog might be a good place to start.”

It wasn't long before they'd made it up the mountain and pulled into the lane that led to the gates of the Steins' driveway.
Emily, Brandon, and Ana all cheered when Chris parked next to another car. Finally they'd made it, and they were all still together and in one piece.

The music was thumping, and they could see the crowds of people through the huge glass windows, as well as groups hanging out in the driveway, or making their way around the back of the house where there was a full Japanese garden, gazebo, and an infinity pool. The house itself was a minimalist modernist's dream, with steel and glass and sparkling white and black. It looked like something out of an architecture magazine, and with the party going on it was like something from a movie.

“Where are we going to change?” Ana squealed as she stepped out of the car. “There's totally no time for a shower anymore. I have to find Madison.” She rushed toward the house with Brandon trailing behind her, Pickles in one hand and her party suitcase in the other.

“So any development between those two?” Chris asked.

Emily just shook her head and smiled. “I don't think they've realized it, but they're totally getting back together. And this time, I completely support the decision.”

“What about you? Do you have to go off and change?”

Emily looked down at her jeans and T-shirt and knew she should change or she'd never hear the end of it from Ana, but there was something she had to do first. She'd started the day vacillating about her relationship with Kyle and she hadn't forgotten all of the texts and e-mails he'd sent her throughout
the day. But now that she'd finally made a decision—that he wasn't the right guy for her—she had to let him know.
Before
anything happened with Chris.

“There's someone I have to talk to first,” she said as she led Chris to the glass double doors at the front of the house. “It's important.”

“Don't tell me,” Chris said. “You have to speak to a man about some black-market organs you've got to get rid of, before the Colombian government blows your cover.” He only seemed to be half joking.

“Close,” Emily said. “Old boyfriend.”

“Ahh.” Chris nodded. “How old?”

“Breakup was recent, but the relationship ended a while ago.”

Inside the house Madison seemed to appear from nowhere, her blond hair twisted and pulled to one side to show off a silvery, shimmering tank over a black skirt.

“Emily!” She leaned in and kissed Emily on each cheek.
“Ma chère, ça va bien, non?”
Madison often seemed to be under the impression that she was a French native, especially when she'd had a few drinks.

“Well, thanks. You look amazing, by the way.”