Page 102 of Saints & Sailors

“Nah, we’re just admirers,” Jack spoke up. “Ian’s got an acoustic, but it’s more a prop than anything.”

Ian threw a potato chip at Jack who simply caught it in his mouth.

The act made us all laugh.

“Saylor’s been singing a bit,” Scott announced. He reached over and squeezed my arm. “Been teaching her a thing or two on the piano, as well.”

The boys looked my way and I blushed. Feeling all things shy about my new hobby. We’d all loved music since forever, but there was something vulnerable about actually going out and singing. Even if they were covers.

“Shit, Say’s about to become the next pop princess,” Jack teased.

“Oh, fuck off,” I shot back, unable not to flip him off. And then, I turned to Scott. “Sorry.”

He was too busy laughing and shaking his head. He playfully wagged his finger at me. “Language.”

And then my friends were back asking Scott a ton of questions about his band and his instruments.

I sat there beside him, happily eating and drinking in his stories. Feeling a sense of pride as my father had my friends entranced by tales of his own youth.

“We good to go?”

I was sitting in the passenger seat of Dreux’s Bronco. It was ten in the morning, Thursday, November twenty-third, Dreux’s birthday. We were not going to school that day, and our parents were none the wiser. Scott had gone in to work around six thirty and I distinctly remembered setting a seven a.m. hair appointment for Angela. Friday was the last day of school before we were off for a week for fall break. I doubted we’d get in too much trouble if we were caught.

Dreux was sitting beside me, glancing my way for confirmation. Dressed in a T-shirt and navy swimming trunks, he was all set for swimming. He’d stowed his wallet away in a brown pouch he wore across his body so that it wouldn’t get wet while he was in the water. Smart.

I touched my tank top, thinking of the bikini I had on underneath.

For a week, I’d worried over what to wear. It wasn’t that I didn’t have a swimsuit I brought with me from LA, but that I wasn’t sure if it were cute or not.

I cared about the silliest things when it came to Dreux.

On Monday, I’d enlisted the help of Cameron and Vanity for a trip to the mall.

“Black bikini. Thong. And a mini skirt. That’ll get ’im,” Vanity declared about what I should wear.

“Okay, whoa, Vanity.” Cameron was quick to hold her hand out.

All I could think about was the fact that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d worn a skirt.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t a makeup, dress, or feminine type of girl. I just hadn’t had the opportunity because my closest friends were dudes. And it was while hanging with Cameron and Vanity that I appreciated their insight because, back home, the guys would’ve been no help in the fashion department.

“Wear something clean-ish,” I could just imagine Jack suggesting.

God, I loved those idiots.

They’d gone back to LA far too soon. But I was happy with the fact that Scott liked and approved of them.

The guys wouldn’t have been helpful, but thanks to Vanity and Cameron I’d found a cute tiny black string bikini. It wasn’t a thong, but it was cheeky. I’d even painted my toes pink for the occasion.

As I sat beside Dreux with my beach bag on my lap, I was as ready as I’d ever be.

“Yeah,” I said, giving an earnest smile. And then, being probably completely cheesy, I dug into my bag and grabbed the little gift bag I had inside. I held it out for Dreux. “Happy birthday.”

Dreux furrowed his brows, surprise covering his face as he accepted the bag and sifted inside. He pulled out the fuzzy pair of hanging baseballs I got for his rearview mirror and grinned. And then he reached in and took out the more personal item, and I could’ve sworn he was blushing as he fingered the pink beaded bracelet I’d made him. “You got me this?”

“Well, I made it.” Cameron had trays of beads and it felt like a nice idea at the time. I’d never done that before, for a boy, but everything about Dreux felt right.

Besides, I totally stole his bracelet weeks ago.