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“Look,Brandi, it’s not my fault it took you a fucking hour to leave. If I’m late one more time, my mom is going to take my car away. No way am I riding the school bus again, just because you wanted to flirt with some guy.”
“Your mom isn’t really going to take your car away. She always says that, and it never happens.” Brandi whined dramatically. “My house is five miles from here, and I’m still drunk. And I only stalled so long ‘cause that guy lives out this way too. I thought I could talk him into giving me a ride home.” Since the rejection still stung, Brandi’s lip jutted out in a pout. “I put all night into him too. There were other guys there I coulda hooked up with. I— Hey!” Panic entered her voice when Melinda pulled over to the side of the road. “For real? You’re making me walk the rest of the way forreal? It’s dark and I’m all alone and—”
“Cut the shit, Bran,” Melinda cut her off with cold finality. “You sneak out of your house and all the way into town on foot all the time. And that’s twice as far. Plus, this is the field you go through to get from your house to Becky’s almost every school night. Cut through the barley and go home. You’ll be home before I will. Quit acting like this isn’t normal for you. I. Can’t. Be. Late. I woulda taken you all the way home if you left when I asked you to thefirsttime.” She leaned across her friend and shoved her door open for her. “Over an hour ago.”
Brandi got out of the car with a snarl. “Fine! If I’d’ve known you were gonna be a bitch and not take me all the way, I would’ve just stayed there. Thanks for nothing!” She slammed the door in furious indignation, completely forgetting that she’d begged her friend to take her tonight and had promised that, no matter what, she would leave when Melinda wanted to. Now Melinda squealed off with her middle finger flying high out the window of her car, and Brandi gave her two back with a few shouted suggestions of what her former friend could do with them for good measure.
Then, with a sniffle and a self-pitying sigh, she started the long trek home.
Brandi pulled off her heels and wished she’d worn a jacket tonight. Not that it was cold, just that since she was walking the rest of the way home, she felt a little underdressed. Her hot pink sequined halter dress looked downright modest compared to most of the outfits the other girls wore to the rave tonight. But that was at the rave. And this was a country road out in the middle of Bumfuck, USA.
When a particularly sharp rock bit into her heel, Brandi yelped out a curse. She was so sick of living so far away from everything. Out in the middle of nowhere, where she had to beg rides off three different friends just to go to a rave. Then couldn’t even stay for the whole thing either.
Oooh, Melinda had a curfew and was too goody-two-shoes to break it. “Won’t even be late to take her friend all the way home,” Brandi said in a whiny mimic of her friend, totally bypassing the dozen times her friend warned her that she had to leave. Not to mention the innumerable times Melinda had been late because of her in the past.
Nothing ever happens in Harmony, she thought morosely. Nothing but farms and more farms. But at a rave, everyone felt like they were all the same part of one living organism. The music and the dance melding humanity together unlike anything Brandi had ever known was possible. She loved the hot press of bodies, loved how they used bubbles tonight, and that plus sweat made them all slick, so everyone slipped and slid against each other’s overheated and ultrasensitive skin. She’d throbbed inside and out, turned on by the tight press of all those hot, sweaty bodies grinding against hers. Especially Mr. Tall, Dark, and Delicious with the dreamy eyes and too long hair. A little of Brandi’s pique faded as her mind lingered on the last few hours, when he’d been pressed so tight to her ass he’d practically been fucking her right there in the middle of everybody. His hands had been everywhere on her too. God, he’d been so hot for her she was sure he would jump at the chance to give her a ride home. But… nope. Not even when she made it clear she was willing to give him the ride of his life in return either. The chill of his refusal chased away the heat from earlier, and Brandi was back to feeling petulant.
Out on the streets, her skin felt too exposed and too cold with the sweat drying in the open air. It left gooseflesh in its wake.
And now Brandi couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was following her. Without looking back, she picked up her pace. Not a run, not exactly, because if someone was following her, she didn’t want to let them know she was onto them, but faster than a walk. She probably should cut through the barley like Melinda had told her to do. Going around was going to take twice as long, and now she felt exposed, but there was enough pique left at her friend that even with this unsettling feeling she kept to the road.
The back of her neck felt like someone had it in a Vulcan grip, and no matter how hard she tried to convince herself to cool it, she still felt her shoulders climb all the way up to her ears. There was something just a little off out here tonight though, and even though she couldn’t have put what she was feeling into words, it wasn’t good, that was for sure. Melinda was right about one thing; Brandi had walked every inch of these backroads under the cover of darkness. She could find her way home blindfolded from here, and she’d never once had a moment of fear. But there was just this feeling that she couldn’t shake tonight.
“Hey, wait up.”
Brandi squealed and jumped about a foot in the air when a big hand landed on her shoulder. Even as she turned to face her assailant, her arms pinwheeled. She flailed her shoes around like ineffectual nun chucks.
“Whoa whoa whoa!” protested a melodic male voice. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Brandi took two hasty steps out of reach before letting herself stop and take a good look at him. She was out in the middle of a country road in the dead of night; she wasn’t about to let anybody get too close. Then she let out a whoosh of relief when she saw who was following her. It was the dreamboat from the rave.
“Oh! You scared the crap outta me!” She slapped at his shoulder with equal parts flirtation and exasperation. He really had given her a fright. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? I thought you were some kind of stalker dude after me. I was about ready to start running.”
“Stalker? Me?” he asked, one brow arched and his lips quirked as if amused by the idea.
“I know, right?” She forced a girly giggle and gave his shoulder another halfhearted shove. “What are you doin’ out here? I thought you said you weren’t interested.” The pout was back, but she was careful to make sure it was an appealing one. Secretly thrilled he’d followed her, but she wanted him to sweat a little for giving her the cold shoulder first.
“I wasn’t interested in leaving,” he told her with eyes nothing but dark shadows in the moonlight. “Then without you there, I wasn’t interested in staying. By the time I figured that out, you were long gone. I didn’t think I’d get a second chance to see you until I just recognized your dress.”
Fuck making him sweat. A huge smile bloomed across her face. His words filled her tummy with butterflies, and she fluttered her lashes at him. Looking back, she couldn’t see where he left his car to catch up with her and wondered briefly why he’d walk so far to meet up.
“Over there on Crawford,” he answered her question and gestured at the distant corner where she thought she could see the outline of a car.
“What’d you park so far away for?” she wanted to know.
“It’s the closest place that has a big enough spot to get outta the road.”
“Oh, yeah, huh.” Brandi looked around at all the boring barley and shrugged the thought off. Then she looked at her knight in shining armor.
“You did scare me though. So bad I gotta pee now.” This time, her giggle was genuine. “I guess you didn’t scare the crap outta me after all. You scared the piss outta me.” She didn’t stop to ponder why he wasn’t laughing with her. She thought it was funny as hell. “Here, will you hold my shoes for me? I’m gonna make like a farm girl and use the field real quick. Then we can go.” Without waiting for his reply, Brandi thrust her favorite pair of sparkly heels his way and turned to stumble into the stalks. It was almost harvest time for this crop, and the feathery tops were so tall they tickled her chin as she barged her way through. When she started humming a song fromOklahoma, it occurred to her with a hiccupping burp that she was still more than a little intoxicated. The thought only brought another giggle.
The barley pressed close as she wove her way through the stalks, and the familiarity of a life spent traipsing through these fields comforted her. She didn’t want to go too far, but she also didn’t wanna be so close he could hear her.God! What if I farted?The horrific thought sent her scuttling across an extra couple rows. Just in case.
“That’s plenty far enough. Don’t you think?”
“Oh my God!” Brandi squealed in giggling alarm and whirled around to face him. “I told you I gotta pee! What are you doing? Go away.”
