October 19
Twenty-Four Years Ago
8:30 P.M.
Arnold was gone for a while. Leo rocked back and forth on her heels. She was still a bit drunk from the vodka and Mountain Dew. “He’s not coming back,” she said.
“He totally is.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because Arnold likes you,” said Mish.
“What?”
“He told me.”
“Oh,” said Leo.
“I know he’s like so old,” said Mish. “And it’s Arnold!” Mish made a face.
“He’s like nineteen,” said Leo. “That’s only three years.”
“Do you like him?”
Leo blushed. She hadn’t really thought about it, but Arnold was cute in his own way. “I don’t know, maybe, why?”
Mish huffed, then changed the subject. “I wish Dani were here, she was fun,” she said, meaning Arnold’s older sister.
“Yeah,” said Leo, wondering why Mish would care whether she liked Arnold or not.
Dani Dylan was kind of a legend in the trailer park. She was loud, brash, and had a real mouth on her. The kind of girl Leo’s mom told Leo to stay away from. Dani liked to say she was an accidental hooker, not a hooker hooker.
“I just met this guy at the club,” she told them once, sucking on her cigarette. “And I slept with him in his hotel. The next day he leaves me like two one-hundred-dollar bills. He thought I was a prostitute!”
“Oh my god!” screeched Mish while Leo’s ears went red.
That was last year. Mish told Leo her mom said she saw Dani the other day, getting out of a red Camaro. “Supposedly she’s dating the manager of the Chili’s where she works,” said Mish. “A real sugar daddy.”
“Gross,” said Leo. “Isn’t he like thirty?”
“Older, I think,” said Mish.
Arnold finally returned. He looked left and right and took a seat on the sidewalk with them.
“Hey, how’s Dani?” asked Leo. “We never see her anymore.”
“She’s all right.” He shrugged.
Mish crossed her arms over her chest. “Heard she has a new boyfriend.”
“I guess you could call him that.”
“You don’t like him?” asked Leo.
He shrugged. “Not really. But what’s she going to do? Stay here. I mean, you know what I mean.”
“Yeah.” She did know.
“At least he doesn’t beat her like the other one,” said Mish.
Leo nodded. During the accidental-hooker phase, Dani had sort of slipped into real-hooker hooker territory. One of her boyfriends was also her pimp and beat her so badly she had to go to the hospital. Arnold never talked about it.
Leo thought that maybe Arnold looked out for them because they reminded him of his sister. Or maybe he was just nice. Sometimes he was the only person she could talk to who wouldn’t judge.
“So what do you have for us?” asked Mish.
“Come see,” said Arnold, pulling out a plastic bag from his jacket.
What Arnold had was poppers. “Have you done these before?” asked Leo as Mish stuck the tiny amber bottle up her nose.
“Yeah,” said Mish, shrugging as if it were no big deal. “With Arnold.” She and Arnold exchanged a look. Arnold frowned, as though embarrassed for some reason.
“These aren’t like addictive,” he explained. “I didn’t give her crack. I would never.”
“Arnold, do you even deal crack?”
He didn’t answer, just looked uncomfortable.
Mish sucked in a breath and handed it to Leo.
Leo stuck it under her right nostril. “Now inhale!” said Mish.
She did. It burned, it felt as if it were frying her brains, like it went right up her nose and into her mind. It was dizzying. “Oh my god!”
“Right?” said Mish gleefully.
Leo started laughing hysterically.
“Take another hit,” said Mish.
She did. And another. And another. Arnold joined them, snorting and laughing the loudest.
The three of them passed the bottle among them, laughing hysterically. The high lasted only a few seconds, but it was intense. Leo had no idea what was so funny, only that whatever was in the little bottle was like inhaling a lot of fun.
“Wait! Don’t finish it; we’ll need more for the club, when we get out to the dance floor,” said Mish, taking the bottle back.
They smoked instead, Arnold once again providing for them. He shook out a couple of Camel cigarettes from his pack and they each took one. Leo’s head was pounding from the alcohol and the poppers, so it felt good to slow down a little, smoke a little nicotine, which took some of the edge off. Arnold bought them beers from a deli and once more, they sat on a curb, drinking.
Mish took out the Polaroid once more and held it up. “Say cheese, you two,” she said.
Leo and Arnold looked up from their beers. “Cheese!” they said, as the flash went off and the camera made a whirring noise and spat out another photograph.
“So, Sparkle, huh? Anyone playing tonight?” he asked.
“No idea,” said Mish, sucking on her cigarette and blowing smoke rings. Mish didn’t seem too high or too out of it. She’d drunk the vodka like a pro, and while she laughed at the poppers, she seemed to be in control. But that was Mish—high tolerance, high maintenance, always cool.
In contrast, Leo felt as if she were out in a sea, a great big sea of illicit fun that she’d never realized was out there. How easy it all was. How scary that it was so easy, although the fear was part of the fun, that edge of danger that made it so delicious. Did Mish do this all the time? She seemed to know how to get liquor, and she’d done poppers before. What else did she do?
Mish flicked her cigarette on the ground. “Okay, thanks, see you around.”
“Hey, you can’t just leave,” said Arnold.
“Why not?” said Mish, jutting out her chin.
“Told you I would collect,” he said.
“Well, what do you want?” said Mish, hands on hips.
Arnold pretended to think on it. “How about a kiss?” he suggested.
Mish screwed her face. “Ew! Never!” Mish had a boyfriend. She didn’t have to put up with this kind of thing from Arnold, the neighborhood loser.
But Leo was already leaning toward him. She couldn’t see clearly, she was high, this was fun, Arnold was fun, he was a friend, and all he wanted was a kiss. She could do that. Why not?
“I’ll kiss you,” she offered.
Mish wrinkled her nose, obviously opposed to the idea. “Ew, no! Don’t kiss him! We don’t owe him anything!”
But Arnold was already leaning over, and Leo leaned closer as well. She closed her eyes, prepared for a full tongue bath, but he gave her only a peck on the lips.
“That wasn’t too bad, right?” he said with a smile. “So, Sparkle?”
Mish once again looked repulsed. “You’re not coming.”
Arnold slung an arm around Leo’s shoulders. “I think that’s for the birthday girl to decide, don’t you think?”
What could it hurt? Arnold had given them drugs for free. Mish had her boyfriend, so why couldn’t Arnold come with them? Was Mish embarrassed to be seen with two people from Woods Forest Park? Screw that.
Leo put her arm around Arnold’s waist. “The birthday girl says Arnold’s welcome.”