Page 56 of Love at First Ride
I don’t really want to go back to my empty apartment. The one I’m going to be kicked out of soon.
You could drive to Rapture, a little voice says in my head. I sit for a moment. Stare out of the window.
I’m twenty-three. I should be out having fun. Spending money like there’s no tomorrow. Except I can’t earn any.
I don’t want to live with my stepmother, so it seems increasingly likely that I’ll have to return to England and try and find a job. Say goodbye to Canyon. A place that I used to despise, but recently, I’ve grown increasingly fond of. I’ve realized that people like me more when I’m myself, and don’t try and fit in with everything that’s American.
I want to go to Scotch & Smoke tomorrow night. And maybe it’s with the hope of colliding with AJ again, but it’s also because, if I have to leave, I want to make the most of the time that I have left.
I switch on the engine.
This time, on the road out to Rapture, I can better see where I’m going. I sail past the faded billboard from the real estate developer, past the signs that say the police aren’t welcome. Long grass peppered with wild poppies lines the broken road and stetches for miles on both sides, pale and arid.
When Rapture comes into view, my heart starts to thud. I think about what I would say to AJ if I saw him again. What if they grant me a wristband, and then he was there tomorrow night? Could I be brave enough to ask him to have a drink with me?
Given my track record, I doubt that.
When I enter Rapture, there are a few people around. A few of the stores are open, but the entire place still feels like a ghost town, patched up with corrugated iron and crumbling at the seams. I head to the empty lot outside Scotch & Smoke. The last time I was here, it was pitch dark. There are some cars and a line of motorcycles outside the entrance, the ground beneath my feet hard and cracked.
I get out, close the car door behind me. Put my hands on my hips.
I look up at the sign for Scotch & Smoke. I recognize the same older man who spoke to me the night I came to find AJ, only now he’s asleep in a chair on the porch with his feet up, a black cowboy hat lined with what looks like crocodiles’ teeth covering his eyes.
I approach the stairs. Play with my fingernails then clear my throat.
After a moment, he raises his hat. ‘Help you?’
‘Hello. I, uh, came to ask about a wristband for tomorrow night.’
‘Sorry, honey. We’re all out. Come back next week.’
He tilts his hat forward again. I find myself backing away toward my car. A little voice saysask to speak to Echo.
I get back to my car door, my fingers hovering over the handle. Then I turn back, raise my voice a little.
‘Would it be possible to talk to Echo, please?’ I ask.
Once more, the man lifts his hat. He gives me a hard stare, then takes his feet off the box they’re resting on. ‘Echo don’t talk to just anybody.’
I walk back to the foot of the stairs. ‘Is he here?’
He looks me up and down. His eyes narrow. ‘Who wants to know?’
I swallow. ‘My name is Hollie Palmer. The mayor of Canyon is my stepmother.’
He put his hands on his knees, gets to his feet, then looks me up and down one more time. My heart begins to thud again. ‘You best come inside,’ he says.
I offer him a hopeful smile, but he’s not friendly. I climb the steps. He opens the door to the bar, and I follow him inside. Somewhere near the back, I can hear the clacking of balls: a game of pool being played. Unlike last time, there’s no music playing. It feels almost peaceful.
The man leads me off to the right, through a door marked ‘Only Team’. For a split second, I wonder why the words aren’t the other way around. In a darkened corridor, I’m led to a second door. On it, in black Sharpie, is scrawledMayor of Rapture.
The man taps twice on the surface.
A deep voice comes from the other side. ‘Yeah.’
‘Wait here,’ the man grunts at me.
He goes inside. The door is slammed in my face.
