And then there was Anna.
It was unusual for a first named storm to form so late in the season, even more unusual for it to become such a perfect storm and do such damage. Nobody could remember an “A” storm having such an impact. All the same could be said of Daniel’s Anna. From four houses down, she had come out of nowhere. She was as electronically unpopular as he, and Daniel found in their long walks and talks the sort of company he had been hunting for in the digital wilderness. In the two weeks he was out of school, and the neighborhood was without power, they hardly moved beyond holding hands, kissing, and lingering embraces. For Daniel, it was an inconceivable enough. He had gone from emotionally and romantically stunted to just right.
As he returned to school, and Anna continued her studies at home, Daniel found that he was moving into the world as an adult, despite his virginity. That last was now something he treasured and savored, rather than something he meant to destroy and conquer. He moved into the world as an adult with a secret, a man with a silly love in his heart, a girlfriend down the street that hardly any of his friends knew—and Daniel figured it was their loss.
••••
“Dude!”
Roby waved from across the courtyard, a goofy grin on his face. Daniel dug his thumbs into the straps of his backpack and hurried over to meet him.
“I’ve been trying to call you for two days, man.” Roby threw his arms around Daniel and slapped his backpack.
“I’ve had my phone off,” Daniel said.
“What for?”
Daniel shrugged. “I got kinda used to not being reached at any time by whoever,” he said. He left out that the “whoever” was usually his mom trying to get him to come home from Anna’s house. “How’ve you been? Did you guys get much damage?”
Roby rolled his eyes. “Did we get much damage? Dude, we had half our windows blown in. Someone said the gusts got over one-sixty up on the hill behind us. We were in the eye wall for like an hour.” He nodded his head. “What about you guys?”
Daniel shrugged. “Lots of trees down. One big one into the house. But it wasn’t that bad.”
“Sounds like you got lucky, then.”
“I don’t know about that,” Daniel said.
“Hell yeah you did. Didn’t you hear about Jeremy’s house?”
“Jeremy Stevens?”
“Yeah, dumbass.” Roby’s eyes widened. “You remember the party, right? The night of the storm?”
“I guess,” Daniel said. Some of that night drifted back to him. He remembered a ride in a cop car, loud music, having a little to drink—
“That’s weird. I’d kinda already had forgotten about that.” He scratched his head. “Probably because of all that came after. I mean, I had the worst two nights of sleep—”
“But you remember the video, don’t you?” Roby narrowed his eyes. “Dude, it’s all anyone’s been talking about.”
Daniel stared at him.
“The video of you and Amanda Hicks? Full frontal nudity? What the fuck, man?”
“Oh shit,” Daniel said. “Oh fuck. Fuck me, dude.” Sudden images of Anna sitting in front of her dad’s computer, two hands over her mouth, Daniel spinning naked before her. “I’m totally screwed,” Daniel said.
Roby laughed. “You have no idea how lucky you are, you shit! That video is like urban legend now. If you were one of the fifty or so people to see it, you’re like in this cult.”
“What do you mean?” Daniel was pretty sure he was going to throw up on the pavement. He felt like everyone walking past was looking right at him, smiling.
“Jeremy’s house had flood damage. His home computer is toast.”
“You’re shittin’ me.” Daniel still felt sick. It was going to take days to pass. “But everyone’s okay, right?”
Roby waved his hand. “Like that’s more important. But yeah, it wasn’t even from the storm, not directly. Their pool burst open and flooded half the downstairs.”
Daniel clutched his shirt. “And the computer?”
“I tried everything.” Roby frowned. “Couldn’t save your little video.”
“What do you mean? You went over there and tried to salvage it?”
“Like I want to see your little prick.” Roby glanced around the courtyard. “I told Jeremy I would try and get their family stuff off the drive, pictures and documents and what-not, which I did.”
“You did.”
“Yeah. I plugged the drive into my computer. Worked like a charm. The motherboard was the only thing that got wet.”
Daniel was about to explode. “For fuck’s sakes, Roby, what the hell did you do?”
Roby smiled. “I put you in my debt for let’s see . . . like, forever.”
“You deleted it.”
He raised his eyebrows and grinned coyly. “Or I kept a copy. You’ll never know.”
“Dude—”
“Speaking of which, we still have a ton of debris to round up and get rid of. I told mom that you’d be coming over this week and helping me do my share.”
“Seriously, man? You’re gonna blackmail me?”
His friend smiled. “Nothing I do to you will be worse than what I prevented.”
“But you’re my friend!”
“Yeah, well, then you should’ve gotten in touch with me at some point the past two weeks.”
“Man, I’m sorry, I’ve been busy. And hey, it’s not like we don’t go all summer without hearing from each other—”
“Yeah, but this was like the storm of the century. I was dying to talk to you about everything that was going on.” Roby frowned. “I tried to get my mom to drive us by last week and see how you guys were doing, but my dad is still militant about the gas. We’ve been driving everywhere at like twenty miles an hour. I thought he was gonna cut a hole in the floor and go Flintstone on us.”
Daniel laughed.
“I’m serious, dude. He got all end-of-the-world. You shoulda seen him. We were on rations for the first week.”
The more grave Roby tried to look, the harder Daniel laughed.
“I’m glad you think my suffering is funny.”
“Ditto. But hey, at least you got to spend a ton of time with your girlfriend, though, right?”
“I wish. She has an aunt and uncle nearby. She went to their house after the party and stayed there for the storm. I just saw her a week ago as she was heading back to Columbia. I think she’s gonna come back down in a few weeks, if her parents and NOAA say it’s alright.”
Daniel laughed.
“I’m not kidding,” he said. “Her parents have already set up hurricane rules for our weekends together.”
“Guess what?” Daniel asked. He figured now was a good time to fully explain neglecting his friend the past weeks. “I kinda met someone after the storm.”
“Yeah?” Roby’s eyes lit up. “A girl?”
“Guess what her name is. I’ll give you a hint: It’s real ironic.”
“Like real ironic or Alanis Morissette ironic?”
Daniel thought about that. “I’m not sure, actually.”
“Her name’s Wendy,” Roby guessed.
Daniel laughed. “No, but close.” He shrugged his bag higher up his back. “Her name’s Anna.”
Roby stopped laughing. “Serious?”
“Yeah, and we’re like boyfriend and girlfriend.”