Page 61 of Kiss Kiss Bang
The feelings had just grown more and more the last month and she’d devised a plan, she’d even written it down. She was going to finish school and then get her license as an X-ray technician and then she’d support him through his mechanic’s license after he got his GED. Maybe they could rent a little apartment outside of Brownsville. She had budgeted it and with the part-time job she had at the local bookstore, she could pull it off. She was positive.
“You look fucking great.”
“Thanks,” she said as he opened her door. She jumped in, then watched him walk around to his side. He wore one of his nicer shirts, a navy blue button-down, one that she loved.
He motioned to her notebook as he began to drive. “What do you have there?”
“I’ve thought about it, and you’re right. We can do this. So I’ve made a plan. I don’t like that you dropped out, but we could save and then I’ll start X-ray tech school in the summer and—”
“Tech school? What happened to college?”
“We need to get out of here and I was reading that there’s always jobs for X-ray techs and they make really good money, Con. And then after I finish you could work on your mechanic’s license and I’ll help. I’ll have a job.” She pointed to her notebook. I have everything detailed here. I even printed out the forms. It’ll work.”
“If you planned it, it’ll work. You’re the smartest girl I know.”
She smiled wide. “As long as we stick together, right?”
“Exactly. You and me against the world, Liv girl.” She closed her eyes, content that he was on board. “Where are we going, by the way?”
“There’s a party at Helm’s.”
Helm? He was bad news. Why would they be going to party there?
She turned her body toward him. “What? Why?”
“We’ve been hanging out. He invited me,” he said matter-of-factly.
She looked around and just then noticed that they were in fact in front of the building where Helm and most of the school lived. It was a low income building known to be bad news. When they parked, they could hear the music from the party blasting. “Who’s going to be here?” she yelled over the music.
“The usual people.” The usual people were the kids from the area who weren’t all that great. “I heard TJ is coming, but I’m not sure. I think Colin might be here.”
“Colin? I thought he was in juvie.”
“Got out. Haven’t seen him yet.”
If Colin and TJ were there, then it was absolutely not a place she wanted to be. Damn. Damn. Damn. “TJ and Colin?” TJ was bad news. Real bad news.
“And TJ’s crew?” By crew, she meant gang, or close to it.
“Don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Let’s just go and see what’s going on.”
Usually when Connor was this adamant about getting out of the house it was because something bad was going down at home. It had been getting worse lately. “Was your mom home?” she asked.
His grip on the steering wheel tightened and she saw the way his jaw ticked. “Yeah, and so were some guys.”
That’s all he had to say. She understood and she would do whatever had to be done to make him feel better. When her mother had overdosed and almost died, Connor had been the one to flip her over so that she didn’t choke on her own vomit and the one to wait with her until the ambulance arrived, and then he’d stayed with her at the hospital while her mother recovered. He had always been there for her and she for him.
Once they arrived at the apartment complex where the party was taking place, it was immediately evident that this was not a good idea. The bass thumped from a guy who’d brought his own DJ equipment and had set it up in a little grassy area outside the back door of the first floor apartment. Truthfully, it looked like the entire complex was at the party from the way people were just loitering around the area. From the corner of Olivia’s eye she saw three guys shoving two other guys. People were smoking pot out in the open, and holding bottles of beer in their hands. Connor must’ve noticed her tense up, because he grabbed her hand as they walked in. “Chill out. Act cool. No one’s gonna mess with you while you’re with me.”
“With you? This isn’t our scene, Con.”
“Diego’s cool, we’ve been hanging out.”
She stopped, which caused her to pull on his arm as he kept moving forward. Looking over his shoulder, their hands still entwined, he asked, “What?”
“Is that where you’ve been going? I thought you were working those nights you haven’t gone home. You’ve been with Diego?” Diego was TJ’s brother and not much better than TJ.
He turned and walked back to her. “Stop worrying, babe.”
