Opening the door, I reminded myself that I was eighteen years old and mere weeks away from graduation. If I’d told them my plans, they probably wouldn’t have batted an eye, which only made me feel stupid and realize that I was the one holding myself back.
Once outside, I found Taggish leaning casually against the side of his house. He pushed away as soon as he saw me.
“Took you long enough,” he said.
“You could have given me a warning. You haven’t said anything at all about what we’re doing. I didn’t even know when.” I followed him when he started toward his car.
He shrugged carelessly as he opened the driver’s side door. “I’ve been busy. Get in.”
This was such a bad idea.
“Mara, come on!” Taggish had already started the car, and I still hadn’t opened the door. He dipped his head down to see me through the open window. “It’s now or never. What are you going to do?”
Another choice.
I climbed into the car.
Taggish barely waited for me to close the door before he began backing out of the driveway.
“Hey!” I hurried to buckle my seatbelt.
“We’ve got to hurry. I didn’t think it would take you so long.” Taggish drove confidently.
It felt weird to be sitting in his car. It was cleaner than I expected and smelled good, like his cologne or body wash or whatever. He rested his elbow on the console between the seats, and it kept bumping into my upper arm.
“You ready for this?” he asked, glancing at me just long enough to smile before turning his attention back to the road.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know what this is.”
I waited for him to tell me, but he didn’t. Instead, he grinned. I couldn’t tell where we were going. I mean, I knew where we were, but I couldn’t figure out our destination. Taggish didn’t offer any information.
Finally, I asked him about his game earlier that day. I’d seen him loading his baseball gear into the trunk of his car at about nine that morning. I’d already been awake for an hour, stressing about what would happen that night. What was happening right now.
“We won. No thanks to me.” He shot me a wry look. “I had to sit out for the first three innings.”
“I’m sure you made up for it for the final, um—” Gosh, I couldn’t remember how many innings were in a baseball game!
“Six?” Taggish supplied for me, amused.
“Yeah, six.” My entire body blushed. Thank goodness it was dark in the car, although he could probably feel the heat coming off me in waves. How embarrassing!
“I got on base twice,” he said with a shrug, and while I thought I understood that was a good thing, I couldn’t be sure and didn’t want to flaunt my lack of baseball knowledge any more than I already had.
“What about you?” he asked. “What did you do today?” He flipped on the signal and turned left onto a street I’d never been on before. We were in a residential area with modest homes that had been there long enough that mature trees grew around them.
“Where are we?” My anxiety was off the charts. My palms itched. I was hot enough to combust.
“Relax, jeez.” Taggish reached out to place his hand on my knee to stop my leg from bouncing mercilessly. His touch might have stopped the bouncing, but it did nothing to calm my anxiety.
“Are you sure you want to do this? Because I can turn around and take you back. The guys will go on without me. Although, I should probably drop off my supplies.”
What? I turned to face him. “Guys? Supplies?” I asked. “We never said anything about getting anyone else involved.” I was going to hyperventilate.
Taggish rolled his whole head, not just his eyes. “We can’t pull off an epic senior prank by ourselves, can we?”
Epic? “Just how epic are we talking?”
Taggish squeezed my knee, which he still held. It did nothing for my nerves. “One for the books, baby.” He let my knee go so he could use his hand to steer the car to the curb and turn off the headlights.
Breathing deeply, I took in my surroundings. I didn’t recognize any of these houses. “Where are we?” I asked again.
Taggish shifted into park and killed the engine. He flashed me a grin and stuffed his keys into the pouch on the front of his hoodie.
“Let’s go.” He didn’t wait for me, just got out and left me sitting by myself in his car.
I hated not knowing what was going on. Taggish walked around to the back of the car and opened the trunk.
My heart lurched into my throat as another black-clad figure approached the back of the car. “Dude, what took you so long?” I recognized the voice. Braden White. I’d seen him often enough at Taggish’s house to know the two were good friends.
“I told you, I had to go pick someone up.” Taggish gently closed the trunk. I saw him framed in the rearview mirror, his eyes on me, Braden standing beside him.
“Who is it?” Braden skirted around the back of the car and made his way to my open window. He leaned down until we were face to face. “Mara?” He stood back up. “Dude, what is she doing here?”
Taggish joined Braden, and then the two of them were staring down at me. “Are you coming or not?” Taggish asked.
I took in the pair of them and noticed for the first time that they each held what looked like oversized rolling pins. What on earth?
I bit my lip. Taggish raised a brow in question. I couldn’t do it. I saw it the moment he realized I wouldn’t be joining him. His lips settled into a rueful smile. He turned to Braden. “Come on. Let’s go. The guys are probably wondering if we’re coming at all.”
Braden frowned, his eyes jumping between Taggish and me. “But what about her?”
“She’s staying here.”
Braden’s frown deepened. “But—”
Taggish tugged on Braden’s sleeve. “We’ve got to hurry.” He took several steps down the dark street, Braden following close behind. Watching them, I rolled my lips between my teeth.
What should I do? They were almost out of sight. If I didn’t decide right then, I’d have to search the street to find them.
Just do it, Mara!
Squeezing my eyes tight, I reached for the handle and opened the door.
Taggish and Braden were almost a football field away, two dark shadows in the night. Dirt and sand on the road scrunched under my feet as I jogged, keeping my eyes trained on the shadows so I didn’t lose them. About halfway down the street, they were joined by several more black-clad figures.
“How much do we have?” I heard one of them ask.
“Ten rolls,” Taggish answered. He looked up as I approached. At first, he seemed surprised, but then he smiled that easy smile of his like he’d known all along I’d change my mind. “Guys, do you know Mara?”
Several sets of eyes focused on me. I couldn’t tell who everyone was with their hoods over their heads, but if my guess was right, this group represented about half of the baseball team.
“Actually, maybe it’s better if you don’t make introductions,” I murmured.
Taggish snorted. “It’s Mara’s first time, so go easy on her.” His comment was met with a few snickers. Braden laughed outright and nudged my arm with his elbow.