“What is this guy doing?” Ansen asked.
Katie leaned forward, squinting her eyes. “Looks like that Salinger guy from Ashleigh’s party,” she said absently.
I looked at him closer. I slowed down and as we passed him; his hair swept up slightly in the wind. He turned to look at us, and my heart started to beat hard in my chest.
“Holy shit, it is Salinger,” Ansen said.
I pulled over and he kind of jogged up. I leaned over, closer to the passenger-side window. “What are you doing out here?” I asked him.
“My Jeep’s in the shop and I needed some stuff in town.”
“I can give you a ride,” I said.
Salinger opened the passenger-side door and Katie hopped in the back with Ansen, who tucked her into his side, making her giggle.
“Thanks,” Salinger said, jumping into the passenger seat and closing the door.
I pulled back onto the road; gravel spit out behind us. Salinger put one hand on the dash and the other held his hair out of his face since I had the Scout’s hardtop off. “Crazy running into you,” he said with a smile, which made my stomach plummet at my feet.
“Yeah,” Ansen agreed, “what? Your girlfriend doesn’t have a car or something?”
Salinger laughed.
“What?” Ansen asked.
“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
My heart beat even harder.
“You’re not dating that Lyric girl?” Katie chimed in.
“Nah, she’s just a friend,” he explained.
Ansen laughed. “Friendzoned.”
Salinger shook his head but laughed. “I’ve been very honest with Lyric.”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “So she’s into you, you know it, and she sticks around thinking you’ll change your mind.”
He shook his head.
“I bet she thinks you’re leading her on,” I said.
His mouth gaped open, ready to defend himself, I thought, but narrowed his eyes instead. “What happened to your face?” he asked. He lifted a hand, like he was going to touch my skin, but let it drop.
I shook my head. “Got plastered and ran into a door,” I lied.
I glanced in my rearview, Katie and Ansen were too entrenched in each other to notice I’d lied or didn’t want to call me out on it, I wasn’t sure.
“Oh,” he said, looking disappointed. I hated how that made me feel inside, but I wasn’t about to tell him what actually happened.
“What did you need in town?” I asked him.
“I need a few things for work. I work the night shift and don’t have a lot of time, so you’re really saving me here. Thanks.”
“You hungry? Want to come eat with us?” I asked.
He narrowed his eyes and smiled. “Where are you going?”
“Here,” I answered.
I found a parking spot at Chuck’s.
“Stay there,” he said, as I threw my Scout in park. “I’ll get your door.”
If I looked surprised by this, he pretended not to notice. He rounded the front of my car and reached my door, opening it for me and helping me out.
Katie squeezed through and he helped her out as well. “How come you never do this for me, Ansen?” she asked him.
“What would I do that for? Then you’ll expect it every time,” he said.
Salinger’s mouth dropped open a little in shock. Ansen and Katie started to argue, so I left them there. He sped ahead of me and opened the door to Chuck’s and we walked through. It was packed. It was always packed, actually. There was no other food joint in my entire county. Not even a McDonald’s would put a restaurant in our sleepy town. It worked out anyway, because Chuck’s had pretty decent food. Well, it was always hot, anyway.
“Going to school?” he asked me.
I swallowed, hoping my neck wasn’t turning red. “Nah,” I answered, hoping he’d drop it. He did, but you could tell he wanted to ask me more. “Are you?” I asked.
“I take online courses right now.”
“Why online?”
“Just because,” he said vaguely.
We reached the counter and I watched as he studied the menu.
“What’ll it be?” Chuck asked.
“I’ll take the usual,” I told him.
Chuck looked over at Salinger. “What about you, sir?”
“I’ll take your chicken sandwich.”
“That’ll be seven dollars even,” Chuck said.
I swung my hobo bag onto one hip and reached for my wallet.
“It’s on me,” he said.
I put my wallet away. “Thank you,” I said as Chuck handed him his change.
I mentally calculated what I had left over from money I’d gotten from graduation. Definitely need to figure out a way to make some cash.
“No problem,” he said.
Suddenly a hand bolted toward me and I instinctively ducked, raising my hands. Chuck tsked under his breath, gently reaching for my chin, and examined my face.
“Sterling still hittin’ on you?” Chuck asked.
Sterling’s abuse wasn’t new to anyone in town, but his asking in front of Salinger after I blatantly lied was utterly humiliating. I know my throat turned red for certain; I felt it. Chuck noticed, shook his head, turned, and yelled out our orders to the cook. I pivoted, searched for a table, and noticed there was one in the back corner along the windows nearest my car. We sat down and I looked out. Ansen and Katie were yelling at each other.
“Classy,” I told him.
He ignored my comment, my attempt to distract him. “Who is Sterling?” he asked me.
I brought the backs of my hands up to my heated cheeks. “He’s a mean drunk. My stepdad,” I offered.
“You live with him?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered shortly.
“Why don’t you get out of there?” he asked point-blank.
I thought of my little sisters, even my mom. “Can’t.”
“Yeah, you can.”
I studied him. “Trust me.”
He nodded his head. “Listen, I don’t really know you, but if you ever need a place to crash, I’ve got a couch.”
“Thanks,” I said and genuinely smiled.
He smiled back, reached into his pocket, and took out his phone.
“What’s your number?” he asked.
I rattled off my digits as, I assumed, he programmed them in.
Ten seconds later, I got a text.
Hey, Lily, it’s Salinger
“Thanks,” I repeated once more.
“Any time,” he said.
We both looked out the window again to see that Ansen and Katie were now making out against my car.
“Idiots,” we both said at the same time.
Chuck came over and set our sandwiches down. I smiled up at him and Chuck brushed my hair out of my eyes before he rushed back to the kitchen.
Salinger watched me intently, setting my stomach on edge.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said.
“What are you studying?” I asked him.
“Psychology.”
I laughed.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“It’s just ironic that you happened upon the town’s biggest nut case.”
He took a bite of his food and swallowed, wiping his incredible mouth with a napkin. “Who?”
Me, I thought. “Ansen,” I told him, and he laughed.
“What are you going to do with your degree?” I asked.
“Um, go into counseling.”
“That’s cool.”
I’m a loser, I thought. Ansen was right. This guy is actually going places. I’m just a worthless girl who smokes weed all day and is going nowhere.
“You working anywhere?” he asked, sealing the nail in my coffin.
“Uh, no, I’m in between jobs right now,” I lied.
“You should come work with me,” he offered. “They’re pretty desperate for night crew. We just stock stuff all night and go home in the morning. The pay’s all right.”
I cleared my throat. Holy shit, the prospect of working next to him actually appeals to me. “Yeah, uh, maybe I’ll do that.”
I opened my mouth to ask him a question, but he distracted me.
“Where are your friends?”
I glanced outside. They weren’t there. I looked around Chuck’s, thinking they might have come inside without our noticing, but they weren’t inside either.
I shrugged. “They’re an enigma.”
“What a bunch of nutters,” he joked.
“You should open up a practice here when you’re through with school. Business would be booming.”
He laughed but shook his head. “I don’t stay in any place longer than a year.”
“What? Weird. Why?”