From the side of the building, the whir of skateboard wheels caught his attention. Quickly, Auden glanced behind him, then back to the man with the pork pie hat, but he was nowhere in sight. Only a bright beam of silver light remained, blinking rapidly before fading into nothing, as though it was never there. It had to be the reflection of the lights from the parking lot. Life changing indeed.
Darrin wove back around from the side of the building, drawing closer, and circled around Auden with his cigarette dangling from his mouth. He wobbled, then stumbled, almost eating the pavement. “Fuck.”
“That’s why you don’t smoke and ride.” Auden chuckled, but then stopped when he noticed the music no longer playing.
“Like you could do better.” Darrin pushed the skateboard forward and backward with his right foot.
Softly, Auden shoved Darrin off the board. “Hey, did you hear that? Someone was playing ‘Space Oddity’ on a flute.”
Darrin tilted his head and closed his eyes, listening.
“No… not now. Like a few moments ago.”
Opening his eyelids, Darrin shook his head. “I didn’t hear anything, but I wish I had. You already know I can’t hear that great out of my left ear from popping those damn firecrackers when I was nine.”
Auden searched around the mostly empty parking lot. “What about a man dressed all in black? Did you see him? He bumped in to me and ran off or something.”
“Sounds like several people at our school, Auden.”
Auden gave a half-hearted shrug and hopped on the board, skating his way to his beat-up van, not being able to get the flute melody out of his head.
He performed a quick kickflip with the board and shoved it upward, catching it in his right hand before handing it back to Darrin.
“I eat my earlier words.” Darrin took another drag of his cigarette and flicked it into the parking lot. Pulling out the pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket, he opened the lid, yanked out the chewed gum from inside, and plopped it back into his mouth.
“I could’ve given you a new piece.” Auden had several packs in the glove compartment inside his van—Jenny. He named the van after the song “867-5309/Jenny,” even though the tune was horrendous. It was ironic that people believed Jenny was actually out there in the world—well, here she was now embodied as Auden’s van. After he’d turned sixteen, his parents had offered to buy him a new car, but when he’d seen the black van, it was the only thing he’d wanted. If he ever got the guts to finally leave and road trip across the country, it would be perfection and have enough room to sleep in. But to date, he’d never left—he was still here, even though he’d graduated a little over a month ago.
“Gotta conserve.” Darrin patted his back pocket where his wallet was. “I’m on a budget with the bills and all.”
Auden fished out his keys. Darrin went to yank them from his hand, but Auden was too quick. “No, not yet. I need to be drunk before I let you drive Jenny.”
“All in due time then.”
“Co-rrect.” If Auden was going to go with Darrin to the party, he knew he’d have to drink to get through it. “So are we going straight to this shindig or your place first?”
“Party.” Darrin pointed in what Auden assumed was the direction to Heather’s. He had no clue where she lived since she’d never had a get-together that he knew of. Auden had actually been partied out lately, but before he quit going to them after summer ended, he’d live a little a few more times.
As he was about to turn right onto the street from the parking lot, he caught sight of a man standing at the edge of the street, holding a large object. Auden blinked and then blinked again, but the person was still there—the same stranger who’d bumped into him earlier. Whatever the object was, it was hidden underneath a sheet of black cloth. Auden turned to Darrin. “See that’s the—” He stopped mid-sentence when he flipped his head back to the side and saw only a silvery light in the stranger’s place. And then it was gone.
“The what?” Darrin asked over the music in the van.
“Nothing… only the street.” Something in his head was playing tricks on him. “Just give me the directions to the party.”
Darrin told him how to get to Washington Street as he smacked his gum. If he started blowing bubbles again, Auden would have to throw him out of Jenny and make him walk the rest of the distance to the party.
The van didn’t have anything but a radio to listen to. In the back, he kept a portable record player with loads of vinyl for when he wanted to park somewhere and have some quality music time.
“This is it!” Darrin shouted, punching Auden in the bicep.
They turned onto Washington, newly constructed homes lining the road. Rows of cars were parked up and down both sides of the dimly lit street. Heather was going big with this one, and he wasn’t a fan of huge parties. They always led to increased drama.
He parked half a block from the house in a spot that must’ve recently opened. Feeling a bit nervous, Auden chewed on the nail of his middle finger as he walked around the front of the van to meet Darrin.
“You all right?” Darrin asked, juggling his lighter.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Auden shoved his hands into his pockets and stared straight ahead at the two elm trees, with recently cut branches.
“I don’t know, maybe because you start doing weird things with your nails when you’re anxious about something. Sometimes you run the tip of a pencil so hard over them in class, I think you’re going to make permanent craters.”
“It’s nothing.” It was something. He wasn’t sure if Lark would be here, and if so, would she still be wearing that leotard? She’d had it covered with her oversized jacket and black boots in the parking lot, but the image of the leotard painted on her lithe body would forever be ingrained in his mind. He should’ve said something better when he’d seen her.
Darrin lit up a new cigarette and blew smoke at the two flecks of stars in the night sky. “She’s not going to be here, man. Heather didn’t invite any of the juniors besides Scott.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The nerves slipped away, but in its place was—what? Disappointment?
“For fuck’s sake,” Darrin groaned. “Just admit it. I saw the two of you come out of your van at Shannon’s last party.”
“We were talking.”
Darrin squinted an eye at him. “Mm-hmm.”
They had been—sort of, among other things.
Through the dark, they approached a large two-story house covered in off-white brick. In front of it was a long, cracked driveway. A few familiar people from school were standing outside in the front yard beneath the light from the porch—most of them with red cups in hand.
Just as Auden and Darrin were about to pass a group of guys whose faces Auden recognized—but not their names—a large beefy hand plopped down on his shoulder. “Hey, Auden, where’ve you been?”
He stared at the broad shoulders of one of the football players from school, the guy’s eyes already glazed and red.
“Work.” Auden tried to back up to go inside but Darrin had already joined the group of guys.