“Not today,” he answers casually. He looks at Oscar. “Actually I was waiting for you guys.”
“You were?”
“Yeah, I saw you head up to the trail earlier. You had to come home sooner or later.”
A light in the big house flicks on and then off again. Ren looks toward the house and frowns. “Something happen? Monty steal one too many beer cases and get carted off by the Consequences PD?”
“Maybe. But that’s not why I was waiting.” Spence clears his throat and fixes them both with a look of sympathy. Considering it’s Spence, this seems as abnormal as a jackrabbit playing Tic Tac Toe. Oscar can feel Ren’s rising tension. He takes her hand.
“Spill it,” Oscar orders. “What’s going on?”
The boy scratches at his head and seems to mull over his words carefully. “Look, I don’t have a problem with whatever’s going on between you, but not everyone feels that way.”
“Eh, whatever. I can handle Monty.”
“I’m not talking about Monty. He can be a dipshit but he doesn’t have a big mouth.”
For some reason a cold finger travels up Oscar’s spine. “But someone does?”
“Yeah, “ Spence admits slowly. “Someone does.”
Ren sucks in a breath. “Goddammit, why can’t Bree mind her own fucking business?”
“Who says Bree had anything to do with it?”
“Well who the hell else is a hair-flipping tattling little gossip?”
Spence exhales and glares at his sister with rare annoyance. “Jesus, Ren. You guys think you’re fucking invisible or what?”
Oscar lowers his head, understanding perfectly. Why were he and Ren kidding themselves that no one around them would notice anything was up? Here they were in an isolated place in the middle of a dull summer and lately they’ve been all over each other. He’d found a way to justify it, telling himself that they’d broken no laws and no one should raise an eyebrow over two teenagers getting together, not in this day and age. But now he silently curses his own fantastic idiocy. It’s not that simple. Not when the two teenagers in question both have the same famous last name.
Spence squirms, apparently regretting his brief outburst. He sighs and runs his hand through his dark hair again. “Look, this is the deal. Oscar, as long as you make my sister smile I won’t be getting all up in your shit. But we all know my mother’s an evil bitch and right now she thinks she’s found something to get bent out of shape about. I just wanted to warn you, that’s all.” He hops over the low fence and starts to walk away into the night. He spins around once and repeats, almost apologetically, “That’s all.”
As soon as the night swallows up Spencer Savage, Ren exhales and buries her face in Oscar’s chest. His arms circle her body and he imagines himself creating a protective cage where she’ll be safe. Safe from Lita, safe from the judgment of strangers, safe from the world.
“It’ll be okay, baby.” He hears his own confidence, tries to make it real.
“Will it?” she asks in a small voice. It’s the first time she’s ever hinted at doubt.
“Of course,” Oscar whispers. He kisses her mouth, her cheeks, her forehead.
She pulls back a few inches and tilts her head back, peering up at him defiantly. “I meant what I said. I love you. Not like a silly, giggly kind of crush that my sisters fall into every other week. I love you and it doesn’t matter what time or anything else does to us. Even if the worst happens and we’re ripped apart it will change nothing. I’ll still love you, Oscar.”
Ren is suddenly crying and he rubs her back, whispers nice things, tries to soothe her. Something about her desperate tone alarms him. Ren isn’t like this; she doesn’t dissolve into hysterics. The words she choked out were so strange, impassioned.
“I know,” he assures her. “I know. I’ll still love you too. Anyone who wants to whine about how we’re too young or too reckless doesn’t understand a fucking thing about us. It’ll be okay,” he says once again, her face cupped between his palms. “I swear it.”
There’s no way to know how much time passes as they stand at the fenced edge of the cemetery in the moonlight and hold one another. It’s late but the hour is irrelevant. Oscar breathes her in, kisses her occasionally, and wonders what on earth in his history of casual conquests led him to deserve a girl like this.
Finally she pulls away from him, murmuring that she’d better get back to her room before anyone decides to make a stink about her absence.
The porch light is on at the big house. They hear voices, female voices, talking quietly so they circle around to the back. Ren has permanently disabled the lock on her window so that she can climb back inside without alerting anyone. Slowly, she raises the small, square window and cautiously ducks her head inside. She looks back with a smile of relief and Oscar gives her a small boost to help her through the window. Once she’s inside, she leans through the window, kisses him quickly, and then is gone without saying anything else. No more good nights, no more I love yous. Oscar likes how she knows they’ve already said all the words they need to say tonight.
As he walks away and heads in the direction of the brothel, he cups his hand around his pocket, the pocket he’d stuffed the rock into. On one hand it seems like a childish thing to do, scavenging for a souvenir. Hell, two months ago he would have howled with laughter over the idea of doing such a mushy, pussified thing because of a girl. That was a long time ago though. Everything is different now.
There’s music coming from the little house. It’s the kind of music with screeching lyrics about violent things. It’s Monty’s music. Oscar isn’t going to worry about running into the eldest Savage brother though. Chances are Monty is still balls deep inside that squirrel-faced snatch who’d followed him home. He’ll probably pass out at some point. With any luck he already has.
Oscar lingers in the darkness, thinking about the promises he made to Ren, about how everything would be okay. It will be okay. Nothing on earth could make him let go of her as long as she wants him. Whenever Mina gets herself cleaned up and returns he’ll have a talk with his flighty mother. She has her flaws and they are substantial but Mina Savage is nothing if not romantic. The idea of clandestine lovers will appeal to her. Mina will help them until he and Ren are old enough to be free from everyone else’s temper tantrums. They can’t stay in Atlantis of course but Oscar’s had enough of the scorching desert anyway. He wants to show Ren what the rest of the world looks like. He wants to show her everything.
A pinprick of light catches his eye. It’s a few yards to his left, very close to the old fake brothel. Oscar waits for a few seconds and it returns. A tiny orange light that flares and disappears, the light of a cigarette. He tenses, getting ready for a showdown with Monty.
But the owner of the cigarette shifts and Oscar can make out a female profile. “You’re running around pretty late, young man.”
Before he clearly sees her face he recognizes the voice, even though she hasn’t spoken directly to him since the day Mina deposited him here. Annoyance pricks at him. What the hell is it with this family that they’re always skulking around in the darkness waiting for someone to talk to? First there was Spencer accosting them in the cemetery and now Lita prowling around the sagging front porch of the brothel. It creaks under her heels as walks across the rotting floorboards.
“It is late,” he agrees. “Past my bedtime in fact so you have yourself a good night. I’m turning in.”
Lita Savage chuckles. It’s a gravelly, unpleasant sound, probably because her throat muscles aren’t used to laughter. “Come here for a minute.”