Page 35 of Jar of Hearts
The first time Geo laid eyes on Calvin James, she was sixteen.
It was a day like any other. She was with Angela and Kaiser, the three of them leaving the 7-Eleven down the street from St. Martin’s, refreshments in hand. Grape Slurpee for Angela, blue raspberry Slurpee for Geo, and a Big Gulp Mountain Dew for Kai, who didn’t like Slurpees at all. The red Trans Am was parked two spots over from Angela’s cute little Dodge Neon, a gift from Angela’s parents the day she turned sixteen. Her father was a VP at Microsoft, and her mother came from money, so Angela was rich. It was something Geo’s friend neither bragged about nor tried to hide. It was what it was.
The Trans Am was surrounded by four guys, and they all looked about the same age, early twenties. All of them were smoking cigarettes and drinking beer out of cans hidden in paper lunch bags. It was two-thirty on a Thursday afternoon. That right there should have been the first red flag.
The older boys—guys? men?—looked over as the trio approached the Neon, taking note of their matching white button-down shirts with the St. Martin’s High School crest on the breast pockets. Angela and Geo wore identical maroon-and-gray plaid kilts, knee socks, and black loafers. Kaiser was wearing gray dress slacks and a maroon tie. Geo sensed her friends’ postures changing as they got closer. Kaiser, tall but skinny, seemed to shrink a little as the older guys stared himdown. Angela, on the other hand, blossomed with the attention, adding a slight swing to her hips that hadn’t been there a few seconds ago.
“St. Martin’s girls,” one of the guys said, loudly enough for them to hear. His friends laughed. “One of them your girlfriend, bro?”
Kaiser didn’t answer. He simply waited by the back door of the Neon on the driver’s side, his designated spot when they were in Angela’s car, looking as if he wished he could disappear.
Angela placed her Slurpee on the roof as she unlocked the car, her cool gaze belying her excitement at having been noticed by older guys. The three of them got in. Geo rolled her eyes as she shut the door and buckled her seatbelt.
“They’re too old,” she said to Angela. “And they’re drinking. In the middle of the day, which means they’re at least twenty-one. Why aren’t they at work?”
“They probably don’t have jobs,” Kaiser piped up from the backseat, comfortable speaking now that they were safely inside the vehicle. “They don’t look like they’re in college, either.”
“Don’t be judgmental, Kai,” Angela snapped, flipping down her visor so she could check her face. She had checked it five minutes before they’d gone into the 7-Eleven, and she’d checked it five minutes before that, when they’d gotten into the car to drive over here from school. Satisfied that she hadn’t suddenly gotten a pimple in the last three hundred seconds and that her face was still perfect—which it was, there was no denying that—she flipped the visor back up. Her dark eyes cut past Geo toward the group, still looking over at them. “Maybe they work nights. You don’t know anything.” To Geo, she said, “And what, you prefer the boys at school? Look, that one there is cute.”
“Which one?” Geo said, sipping her Slurpee. She didn’t dare look.
“The tall one. Good lord,” Angela said, her voice slightly breathless. “Seriously, he’s beautiful. Jared Leto face, Kurt Cobain vibe.”
Geo chanced a glance in their direction. The tall one was pretty good-looking, she supposed, if you liked the whole bad-boy thing, which Angela did. Ripped jeans, black T-shirt, hair a tad long andbrushed back off his chiseled face. He saw her watching him, and she turned her face away from the window. “Ang, come on, let’s go. I have to finish my English essay beforeMelrose Place.”
“Yeah, can we go already?” Kaiser said, sounding moody.
“He’s coming over,” Angela said.
“What?”
“He’s walking toward the car,” Angela hissed. “Roll down your window, see what he wants. God, I hope the Trans Am’s his.”
“I’m not rolling—”
The tap on the glass made them both jump. Geo couldn’t help but laugh. Stuff like this always happened whenever Angela went anywhere. Her best friend met guys just by walking down the street; in fact, that very thing had happened the day before. A car turned around in the middle of the shopping center parking lot, nearly hitting someone, just so the driver could ask for Angela’s number. She said no, unimpressed by his car, an old Jetta covered in rust spots.
Geo cranked the window down. His smell was the first thing she noticed, and it wafted into the car, an intoxicating blend of Budweiser, Calvin Klein Eternity cologne, and Marlboros. IfYour Parents Would Hate Himwere the name of a cologne, this was exactly what it would smell like.
“Can we help you?” she said. Her voice was sharper than she intended, and she knew it sounded prissy.
Angela smacked her arm, then leaned across Geo to smile at the guy through the window, her hair tickling Geo’s legs. She was doing damage control. God forbid the hot guy didn’t like her because of something awkward Geo said. The guy smiled back, first at Angela, then at Geo. He held her gaze, and she felt a flutter in her stomach. Angela was right. He was beautiful.
“Bro,” he said finally, nodding to Kaiser in the backseat without breaking eye contact.
“Hey,” Kaiser replied, but it came out a squeak.
“You left your Slurpee on the roof.” He was speaking to Angela, but he hadn’t taken his eyes off Geo. “Didn’t want you to drive away and have it fall.”
“Oh shit. Thanks for telling me.” Angela opened her door and got halfway out, reaching for her drink on top of the car.
“Blue raspberry, right?” he said to Geo, nodding at her oversized cup.
“How’d you know?”
“Your tongue is blue.”
“Oh.” She blushed. “I guess that’s a dead giveaway. Although I’m not sure why you’re looking at my tongue. That’s kinda pervy.”
