Page 39 of Rough Start

“Anyway, what my dad claims he didn’t know was that when he’d drive the box trucks back to town, they were filled with pilfered merchandise. There was a gang in Vermont that was embezzling stolen items from a gang in Maine, and the whole thing blew up, so we had to leave town.”

“That’s insane!” Lyndsey breathed. “So, you’re like, on the lamb!”

“You have a lamb?” Kate asked.

“You’re a moron, Kate,” Lyndsey stated, and Eliana laughed. “On the lamb, like on the run. Does the mob have a hit out on you?”

“More like an MC,” Eliana said, still laughing. “I don’t know if they’re after me and my dad or not, but it was made pretty clear that we weren’t allowed back in town. They pretty much run the whole county, so in exile we remain.”

“And you haven’t heard anything from Kye? You never kept in touch?”

“I tried for a while,” Eliana confessed and felt her throat starting to constrict with emotion. “I’d text or call, but he never kept the same phone number for long, so I don’t know if he ever got any of my messages. I wrote him a letter once, but the only address I had was to his old foster home, so I doubt he’s even read it. I don’t know… I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. Two ships in the night…”

“First loves are a bitch,” Kate concluded and wrapped a tan arm around her friend’s shoulder as Lyndsey poured more drinks.

“It’s fine. I’m over it,” Eliana lied and dutifully downed her beverage.

“Of course you are!” Lyndsey agreed. “Look at you! Class valedictorian, head sorority sister of Kappa Delta Epsilon, second cutest girl at this party!”

“Second?”

“After me, of course,” Lyndsey boasted with a sure smile.

“What about me?” Kate snapped.

“You make top ten at least,” Lyndsey said callously.

“Whore,” Kate muttered, and Eliana snorted in laughter.

“The point is!” Lyndsey said loudly to interrupt Kate’s temper tantrum. “Eliana, you’re amazing, and your friends love you. You don’t need this Kye asshole to have an incredible life. You seem to already be on top of the world.”

“You’re right,” Eliana said, but she couldn’t help the feeling of longing that still drew her to the boy who danced with her every night in her dreams.

“What you need is a solid rebound,” Kate suggested. “Nothing serious, just a good old-fashioned fuck fest!”

“It’s been four years, I think we’re past the rebound phase,” Eliana replied. Regardless, Kate jumped up from the bed and retrieved her softball bat from the corner and provocatively placed it between her legs.

“We’ll get you a fat donkey schlong!” she yelled, wiggling the bat and raising her eyebrows with less than subtle perversion, and Lyndsey howled in laughter.

“Donkey schlong!” she yelled in chorus with Kate, and the two began chanting the phrase. Eliana turned seven shades of red and fled the room as the two girls chased her still crying “Donkey schlong” to the amusement of everyone at the party.

* * *

Anyone who hadn’t stumbled home or passed out on a random piece of furniture was tucked into the living room binge-watching old movies. Eliana, who had drunk way more than intended, excused herself from the dwindling party and made her way back up to her room. Kate and Lyndsey had eventually relented in their effort to ‘donkey schlong’ her into having rebound sex with any guy at the party, and Eliana was grateful.

The room was dark and empty when she entered which suited her just fine even though she tripped into two boxes as she did. Collapsing on her bed, she shed the jeans she wore over her swimsuit and pulled on a set of warm sweatpants and a t-shirt that proudly displayed the Harvard logo. Lying in bed under the covers, she saw the photograph still sitting on her nightstand. Slowly picking it up, Eliana felt transfixed by the memory.

Like a restless ghost, the memory of that night couldn’t be ignored. As hard as she tried to think only of the good moments, the image of Kye’s stoic face when her dad had literally torn her from his arms still haunted her. He hadn’t even reached for her. Hadn’t once said her name. He hadn’t come after her.

Squeezing her eyes shut, a fresh round of tears leaked from the corners. Hadn’t she wasted enough time over the last years crying over him? Sighing in frustration, Eliana rolled onto her back and dug her cell phone out of her discarded pants pocket. Scrolling through the old contacts, she pulled up the last number she’d ever had for Kye and dialed it.

It went straight to voicemail.

“Kye?” she asked after the beep. “I doubt you’ll ever get this, but fuck it. My friends are right. I don’t need you. You always said you were riding with the Demons for us, for me, for our future. But you know what? You’re a liar. You didn’t do it for anyone but yourself. If you hadn’t been caught up in all that bullshit, we could have had a life together. Maybe it took four years and a college degree to figure it out, but I. Don’t. Need. You.” Her emphasis was pointed on each word. “That’s right. I have a college degree! I graduate on Sunday, and I did it all on my own. Law school, here I come!” Her head was swimming, so she draped an arm over her forehead. “I’m going to go on to be a big, successful lawyer, probably start my own practice in New York, and one day you won’t even be a memory anymore. Goodbye, Kye Driscoll. I hope you’re happy with your stupid motorcycle club, an-and your guns, and your drugs, and your criminal record, and-and your stupid donkey schlong!”

Eliana forcefully hit the ‘end’ button thinking it somehow equated to slamming the phone on him. She tossed her cell onto the floor and rolled over before falling into a restless, drunken slumber.

“Don’t forget these,” Kye said, tossing the black thong at the woman who was lacing up her knee-high boots. She smiled and crawled up the bed where he was reclining bare-chested against the headboard. Giving him a firm kiss on the mouth, she stuffed her underwear into the pocket of his jeans.