Next Day Gone Page 2

  Corinne filled her daughter’s chest of drawers with Levi’s, shorts and t-shirts because that’s what Willow asked for, but she also bought her dresses and pretty shoes in the hopes that Willow would one day give in to her more feminine side. On occasion, she did. Her father, Alex, a prominent cardiologist at St. John’s Hospital in Asheville, played an important role in their community, and the family was often invited to fundraisers and galas. Willow had a soft spot for her daddy and gave in to dressing up when it was him that was asking.

  Willow was a natural beauty with her long, blonde hair and clear blue eyes. She wasn’t against wearing makeup every now and then, but usually she didn’t take the time. There were no sweet-smelling perfumes in her bathroom. She rather liked the scents she found in the forests that surrounded her, and she preferred showers to bubble baths. The truth of the matter was that Willow quite liked being a girl but found many of the truer stereotypes of her gender irritating. She was a tomboy, and she liked it that way. In her way of thinking, the girlie girls she knew with their smudged eyeliner and the deep side parts in their over processed hair had an annoying habit of being high maintenance and overdramatic.

  Except for Edie Heath. Edie was the exception. She was the coolest girl Willow had ever met. The two of them had known each other since third grade. They’d smoked their first cigarettes together, and the first time they’d gotten drunk was at Edie’s house one weekend when her dad was visiting his brother in Charlotte. They’d gotten sick together, too, and ridden their bikes to spend some of Edie’s grocery allowance on medicinal tacos and cherry slushies at the Gas ‘n Stash.

  Edie was Willow’s best friend. Edie knew why Willow hung out with boys. She also knew the rumors running around school that Willow was easy, that she was a lot more than friends with the guys she shot hoops with were lies. She was aware that Willow made out with some of the boys, even allowing a couple of them to get to first base, but Edie knew the words “slut” and “whore” didn’t apply, no matter how many times they were tossed around.

  There were no secrets between the girls. Except one, and it was a doozy. Dark-haired, dreamy-eyed Jason Griffin.

  The night Willow and Jason met at Christina Moore’s pool party the previous June, Edie had been hanging around the spiked punch bowl―or rather the collection of half full two-liter soda bottles― chatting up some of her friends about cheerleader camp while Willow was being tossed into the deep end by several members of the baseball team. When her head popped up out of the water, she saw a blurry image of a guy standing near the edge of the pool, his jeans and the lower half of his Journey tour t-shirt soaked in chlorinated water.

  “Damn,” she sputtered, moving wet hair from her face. “That sucks.”

  Jason finished chewing the chip he’d put in his mouth a few seconds before he suffered the aftermath of the baseball team’s hijinks and looked down as his shirt for a moment before meeting Willow’s eyes. “Yeah,” he agreed. It kinda does.”

  “You are at a pool party,” she reminded him. “And standing right next to the pool.” He wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t totally convinced that he was mad. Her hair was plastered to the side of her face so she bobbed down and dunked beneath the surface. When she rose again, she wiped the water from her eyes and caught his gaze. “You know what Steve Perry might say if he were here?” He lifted an eyebrow as if waiting. “’I’m standing in the sleet and rain …’” She began singing the next line but stopped when he picked it up.

  “’Don’t think I’m ever gonna make it home again …’”

  Willow snorted and grinned up at him. “So, the t-shirt isn’t just for show then.”

  “No,” he responded, “and pool water is hardly sleet or rain.”

  “Okay,” she shrugged. “But you’re a little impressed.” Her grin was still in place, and Jason couldn’t help but reciprocate the gesture.

  “Yeah,” he admitted. “A little bit. Here,” he said, leaning over and offering her his hand. “I’m sure you can get out on your own, but I feel obligated now that you’ve sung to me.”

  He was strong and lifted her out of the pool easily. Now that she was close to him, Willow realized how nicely he filled out the t-shirt. She pegged him for a football player but hadn’t seen him before.

  “You don’t go to Redwood High, do you?”

  “No,” he said, looking around for a towel. He located one and draped it over her shoulders, only sort of pretending he didn’t notice the wet fabric of her t-shirt clinging to her chest. “It’s mostly dry, anyway.”

  “Thanks.” She wiped her face. “So …”

  He smiled. “I just graduated. Chestnut Hill.”

  “Ah.” She scrubbed her head with the towel, then shook her hair out. “Football?”

  He shrugged. “Not so much.”

  “Really? You’re big.” He laughed. “I mean, it looks like you play.”

  “You into football?” he asked.

  “Well, I’m from the south, so I love football.” She gave him a crooked grin. “I just don’t love football, you know? I follow it, but I can’t quote statistics or anything like that.”

  He found a lounge chair that was empty and gestured for her to sit. Her shorts sloshed as she plopped herself down. She pulled her knees up and he sat on the lower part of the lounger.

  “How do you feel about boxing?”

  “Boxing?” She watched as he smiled. She liked the way his dark brown hair flipped around his head. He didn’t have curls, but his hair wasn’t straight, either.

  “Honestly, I don’t have many feelings about boxing. I’ve never watched.”

  “Huh. Well, let me know if you ever want to change that.”

  The conversation went on from there. Introductions were made, and the low-key flirting continued. Jason couldn’t help but appreciate how pretty Willow was. Her drying hair was slicked back away from a clean, honest face. Her eyes were a deep, clear blue, and her smile showed up often without much to persuade it. He’d asked for her phone number before he realized she was only fifteen years old.

  When he made his excuses and left her still sitting in the lounge chair, Willow was sure she’d never see him again. But a couple of weeks later, she did.

  Jason had been Willow’s first, and for the last two months, the two of them had been meeting up at the Crabtree Visitor’s Station where Jason worked and had sex in the back room after he locked the place up for the day. Willow never told Edie about any of that.

  If it was just about the state of her virginity, Willow wouldn’t have had an issue. She wished she could talk about that with her best friend. It was the fact that Jason had turned eighteen months before she’d met him at the pool party she was hung up on.

  When they talked on the phone, it felt different to her than the conversations she’d had with other boys. She’d never been in a serious relationship, and she didn’t know why at the time, but she felt like he might be different than the guys she was used to hanging around with. Maybe he wasn’t a boy she just shot hoops with or played baseball with on Sunday afternoons. Maybe he wasn’t just another boy she let kiss her while his hands pretended they knew what to do with a bra strap. He was eighteen and, in the grand scheme of things, that wasn’t really that old … but in the eyes of the Redwood Police Department―and maybe more importantly, at least to Willow, her parents―he was too old for her. She wanted to see where it went. If he wound up being just like the high school boys she saw every day, it wouldn’t matter that no one knew about him anyway.

  Willow tried not to think about Edie and the secret she kept from her. Instead, she focused on Jason’s kisses, and what they would do once they’d climbed the two miles back to the visitor’s center. She focused on the rain that had soaked through her thick hair and was now dripping down her neck.

  “Let’s go,” she told him, pulling away and reaching for his hand. He smiled at her again and kissed her once more before he made a sweeping gesture with one arm.

  “Right behi
nd you, hiking queen.”

  She rolled her eyes at him, but she returned his smile with one of her own. She gently pulled him along with her as she began the upward climb away from the falls. Jason was right. She was the hiking queen.

  THE POOL HOUSE

  It was seven fifteen when Jason pulled his old Jeep Cherokee out of the lot at the visitor’s center and headed back toward Redwood. The pre-football game get together that was being held at Dane Cooper’s house had kicked off at six, but Willow wouldn’t be there until closer to eight. The Redwood Hawks had done well for themselves in the last several years. Dane, a senior, was the quarterback, but he thought he was God himself. A lot of other people in town did, too, so it worked out well for him.

  As they climbed down Blue Ridge Parkway, Willow’s phone started to ping, indicating four missed calls. A section of her long, blonde hair streamed out of the partially opened window as she checked her messages. She heard Elton John’s voice coming through the radio lamenting about a candle and the wind, and Jason reached down to change the station.

  “You weren’t in sixth period,” Edie accused. “Again. Tompkins didn’t say it, but I’m pretty sure there will be a quiz on Monday. I’ll grab your book for you.”

  Willow erased the message and listened to the next one. Now, Will Smith was getting jiggy with it, but only for a second or two. Willow smiled as Jason hit another of the programmed buttons.

  “It wouldn’t kill you to clean out your locker once in a while, you know?” The snark in Edie’s voice made her chuckle. Since seventh grade they’d each memorized the combination to the other’s locker. Edie’s had always been the clean, organized one.

  “I grabbed your geometry book, too. I know you don’t need to study for the test next week, but I do, and you can help. Don’t forget the party at Dane’s tonight.”

  “Who called?” Jason asked, glancing over at his girlfriend as Steven Tyler crooned about not missing a thing. Jason’s hand went back to the steering wheel as Aerosmith and the sound of tires on wet pavement filled the interior of the car.

  “Edie, Edie,” Willow paused, then heard the third message begin. “And Edie.”

  “It’s seven,” Edie announced. “Dane’s dad ordered a shit ton of pizza, but if you don’t get here soon, you’ll get stuck with the plain cheese crap. What in the hell is taking you so long?”

  “She’s watching out for me,” Willow told Jason. “Trying to make sure I don’t eat inferior pizza.”

  She turned in her seat and watched as Jason smiled, his eyes never leaving the road. She studied his profile. His hair was a dark brown that lightened up in the sun. The tips flipped around his head. It always looked messy, even right after a haircut, and gave him a playful look although he was often quite serious.

  “Pizza is very important. I think Edie might be a keeper.”

  Willow laughed. “Without a doubt.” Her smile faded and her brow furrowed when the final message began and she heard her mother’s voice.

  “We missed you at dinner,” Corinne stated. “I was hoping you’d come home for a bit after school. I know you have that party at the Cooper’s tonight. Don’t forget your curfew is eleven, and we have that luncheon tomorrow. I think the blue dress would look―”

  “Willow?”

  Willow decided to listen to Jason instead of her mom and hit the end button before Corinne’s message had the chance to play out. She dropped the phone in her lap and reached over to run her fingers over his leg. The denim was worn and soft and warmed from his skin beneath.

  “Sorry,” she said, loudly enough to be heard over the wind rushing in from her window. The air was turning colder, but she enjoyed the sharp chill of it on her face.

  “You goin’ to that party?”

  “I told E I’d be there, and Mom thinks I’m going.” She was quiet for just a moment. “You wanna come?” Willow knew the answer, and after the words were out of her mouth, she wondered why she’d even asked the question.

  “I wish you were older.”

  Willow kept her eyes on Jason’s profile. She wished she was older, too, but they’d been having this same conversation for four months now. Her dad’s voice drifted through her mind. If wishes were fishes, we’d all cast nets into the sea …

  “We could just take off, you know …” Willow blinked, Jason’s voice pulling her from her thoughts. “Mom would never even know I was gone, and I’m eighteen,” he paused, “I mean, I should be out of her house now anyway.”

  Willow sighed. Things weren’t exactly the way she’d like them to be in the Larsen household, but she had to admit that compared to what Jason had going on at home, Willow had it made.

  “You know I can’t drop out of school,” Willow said quietly. If a 3.8 GPA wasn’t enough for her mom, she couldn’t imagine what kind of shit would hit the fan if she decided to quit altogether.

  Jason sighed and the windshield wipers swiped the glass in front of them again. “Where is this stupid house again?”

  “It’s up a couple more blocks.” As Jason drove, the cars that were parked alongside the curb grew denser. “This must be it,” he said, finding a spot to slide into. He shut his lights off, nearly bumping into the Corolla in front of him and pushing the two of them forward against their seatbelts.

  Willow wanted to apologize for not being older, for making it necessary to keep their relationship a secret, but she’d done that so many times it had become annoying. She freed herself from the restraint and gave him a smile instead. “Call me tomorrow?” The luncheon she had to go to had been temporarily forgotten.

  “Sure,” Jason said, still sulking.

  “Hey.” Willow reached up and touched the side of his face, urging him to turn and look at her. “I love you.”

  Jason watched her for a moment, his eyes searching her face in the near dark. When she smiled at him, he relented and leaned forward for a kiss. “Go. Eat pizza. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Willow kissed him again before gathering up her backpack and scrambling out of the car. She didn’t wait for Jason to leave knowing he didn’t want to be seen. She couldn’t have even if she’d wanted to. He was out of the parking spot as quickly as he’d pulled into it, and all Willow could see was red taillights for a few seconds before Jason took the first right and hightailed it out of the neighborhood.

  It was obvious that there was a party going on, but this gathering hadn’t been planned in secret while the parents were out of town. There would be a ton of food splayed on tables and an assortment of soda, AriZona teas and SoBe juices packed in coolers beneath party shelters erected in the backyard. The music would be played at a reasonable volume and turned off at a time prearranged with the neighbors. It was too cold for the pool, and parents would be on the lookout for kids wandering up to the second-floor bedrooms. It would all be very respectable; an adult approved party celebrating a winning football season for Redwood High School, which is why Corinne knew about it, and why Willow didn’t have to lie about being there. She would, however, keep quiet about the fact that in those sodas and other drinks would undoubtedly be a certain amount of alcohol, and that there were other places for teenagers to satisfy their less than wholesome urges than in guarded bedrooms. It had been that way since the beginning of time. Willow assumed it would always be that way.

  “Nice of you to show up, Larsen,” Josh said as Willow reached the Coopers driveway.

  Tyler took a long drink of soda and then tossed the can in a trash bin that rested near the open garage door. “Fashionably late, I see.”

  “Two hours isn’t fashionably late,” Marcus jeered. “That’s just late.”

  “You can stop with the sweet talk, boys,” Willow handed back as they walked through the garage. “Just say you missed me and be done with it.”

  “Hey, Will.” Willow looked over to see a brown-haired kid with glasses about ready to pop a chip loaded with onion dip into his mouth. He felt the same way about geometry that Edie did, and the two of them had been askin
g for help during lunch the past couple of weeks. It wasn’t that Willow liked math, she was just good at it.

  “Dylan,” Willow said. “Hey. E and I are getting together at my house on Sunday to study for the geometry test if you want to come. Three-ish sound okay?”

  Dylan crunched on the chip as he nodded his head. His overlong hair flopped with the gesture, then he smiled, showing off his braces. “That would be great. Thanks.”

  “Well, it’s about time.” The sound of Edie’s voice caught Willow’s attention. Kids were milling around, and the group of boys had dispersed. She’d shed her cheerleader uniform but traded it in for a Hawks hoodie and a pair of jeans. Willow could hardly remember seeing Edie in an outfit that wasn’t green, white and black. Go Hawks! Willow chuckled to herself and grabbed a root beer out of one of the coolers.

  Edie’s skin was the color of fine porcelain and was dusted by a fair amount of cinnamon colored freckles. Her red hair was much more Ann Margaret than it was Little Orphan Annie, and her eyes were a light golden brown. She smiled at Willow, that one canine on the right side turned at a playful angle and her lips shiny with her strawberry flavored N.Y.C. lip gloss. She hated that crooked tooth, but she seemed to rather enjoy the lip gloss.

  “You’re all wet.”

  “Got caught in the rain.” She popped the top of the can and quickly put her mouth over the escaping foam. “Any pizza left?”

  “Mr. Cooper just brought out like another ten boxes. Looks like you lucked out.”

  “Good. I’m starving.”

  “You go up to the falls?”

  “Yeah. I need my own car. It takes so damn long to get up there.”

  Had Edie not known her so well, she might have argued, just like Parker had, that she had plenty of trails at her disposal that didn’t require the use of her thumb at the side of the road. Unlike Parker, Edie knew Crabtree Falls had been Willow’s favorite place since she’d been little and knew that saying anything about it was a waste of breath.