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“In about forty minutes.” He catches a lock of my hair and brings it to his nose. “You smell like…” He sniffs twice. “Apricots and vanilla.”
I move my head to get him to free my hair and look at the large rusting screen which is now holding an odd glow to it. It slowly gets brighter and brighter until a faded image takes shape. It’s a soap commercial, complete with sexism in a bottle.
“You got into a fight on my first day.”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
Fiery eyes roam over my face as I look at him expectantly. “He said something I didn’t like.”
“Do you fight everyone who says something you don’t like?”
“Yep.”
I can’t fight my smile. “Me too.”
We laugh together gently, and he edges closer, just enough that I can feel his body heat.
His eyes flicker to my lips as that familiar smug grin plays at his. “Do you want to kiss me, Lilith?”
“Oh God,” I groan and push his face away. “You really love yourself.”
“You were tempted.”
I shake my head. “You’re incorrigible.”
“You were still tempted.”
Narrowing my eyes, I slap his chest and shift away slightly. Being cautious about my skirt and legs. “You can stop staring at me now.”
“You. Were. Tempted.”
“If I kiss you will you leave me alone?”
“No.”
I grin and try to unsnap my gaze from his but it’s impossible. He’s a magnet and I’m his opposite, we’re always going to be drawn together. “I thought you don’t date white chicks, anyway?”
“I don’t.”
“So why are you trying to kiss me?”
His eyes glint with humor. “You’re not white in the dark.”
I laugh, unable to stop myself, and then shiver as cold seeps into my bones.
“Cold?” Nash asks, appearing out of nowhere, his eyes round with concern. Nok moves to grab the popcorn and drinks as Nash climbs into the truck bed, making it a tighter squeeze. He grabs a rolled-up blanket and shakes it out over the side. Dust sprinkles into the air.
Joseph helps but doesn’t climb in after him, he grabs a couple of beers from the crate by Nok’s feet and moves to a car that pulled up at the right of us.
I sip my beer and listen as Nash and Nok converse in another language. Nash seems mad about something or maybe it’s just familial ire. Satan knows my sister and I have enough of that between us. They both settle either side of me, seeming perfectly comfortable. Whereas I feel flanked.
Though I feel a lot warmer and less exposed when the blanket is draped over the three of us. I’m not so worried about anyone being able to see my panties, not that anybody is even looking this way.
“This is really cool,” I tell them both as the sound of the advertisements get louder. People are still rowdy, but Nash already said they’ll settle down when the movie starts.
The beer gives me a warming buzz and the two bodies either side of me add to that warmth.
“Nok, I thought you were going to sit with Vienna in her car?”
My body solidifies in a split second. I don’t want Nok to go.
“She cancelled, had to work.”
“Vienna is Nok’s girlfriend,” Nash explains, leaning closer to my ear.
“She’s not my girlfriend. She’s just somebody I fool around with from time to time.”
I keep my eyes on the screen and remain silent. I don’t care who is with who.
“My brother likes to fool around with girls,” Nash whispers and Nok hears him.
“Means he’s probably good at it,” I mutter and grab a handful of Nok’s popcorn from his lap. Nash falls quiet and Nok laughs silently but I feel it shaking his side of the truck. I bet Nash can feel it too.
Nok says something to him and whatever Nash says back has Nok laughing even louder; something I can tell he rarely does.
“Sitting right here,” I murmur, feeling like a fucking doorstop between them.
“Sorry.” Nash gets comfy and puts his own popcorn on his lap as I finish off my beer and look for a place to put the empty bottle.
Nok tosses it out of the truck bed. It lands on the gravel with a thud.
“Don’t litter,” I admonish. “It’s bad for the environment.”
He laughs again as though I’m hilarious when I was being serious.
“An animal could cut itself on the fragments, or a mouse could get stuck inside. Don’t be an ass.”
He stops laughing. “You’re serious?”
“Deadly.”
“You care about mice?”
“All life is precious,” I murmur, feeling petulant and stupid all of a sudden.
Nok stands and jumps out of the truck bed, landing with grace and ease. I bet he does free running; he has the body for it.
Shit. I think I pissed him off. “Dude, I didn’t mean to—”
He grabs the bottle and dumps it by the crate of beer in the truck bed.
Nash’s jaw hits his chest, he looks as dumbfounded by Nok’s act as I feel.
