Liz pushes her hair from her face. “Of course, something slow and safe. Gag.” She imitates a puke noise.
Kota swipes his hair to the side; she studies his hands. The softness in her eyes catch him off guard. Oh… are we having a moment? He freezes. The affectionate lyrics sound around them. A fluttering sensation vibrates his stomach. Liz’s caramel eyes are so delicate. She focuses on him, blinking slowly. He notices her chest pumping faster than it was before.
“You are the sunshine that lights my heart within. I’m sure that you’re an angel in disguise. Come, take my hand and together, we will rise.” The lyrics of the track are sung with passion.
Liz’s pale cheeks blotch red. She drops her gaze from his. “We can head out early…” She hurries toward the exit.
Kota is astounded. He stares at where she just was… at the blank space. Did that just happen??? He turns to the guys, who are just as surprised as he is. “You can’t say no to her,” Jimmy gapes. “You’ll end up ten feet under without a trace.”
“No… she’ll do worse than that,” Mike debates.
“It was the song, guys. It’s all mushy and crap.”
“No…it wasn’t.” Jim disagrees.
“Come on, let’s get to the woods,” Kota treks to the exit.
It was the song. Liz wasn’t being weird before. Well… maybe a little. She did say I was too smart to dumb myself down… that was new. I’m still processing that. I honestly think what just happened was because of the love song. If Liz wanted more than friendship, she would have said so by now. Right?
Liz leans against the side of the brick building. She limits her eye contact to small peeks. The night wind blows her green hair. “You lames ready?”
“Yeah.” Jimmy oddly examines her. “I just need to grab the pizza.”
“I stashed the drinks in a bush.”
“Isn’t your dad gonna realize his drinks are missing?” Mike wonders.
“No. I bought the pack myself.” Kota brags like a badass.
“You’re not 21, though. How’d you do it?”
“I may or may not have done identity theft.”
“What???” Liz probes him. “That’s not like you...I don’t believe it.”
“Well, I did it. I swiped my dad’s ID. We’re practically twins, so the clerk didn’t investigate. Plus, he has no signs of aging, so that helped.”
“But your name and age aren’t the same…”
“I held the ID far.”
“Hmmm… shocking.” She straightens from the wall.
“I can be a rebel when I need to.”
“Well, let’s hope your criminal activity paid off. Hopefully, the drinks are still there.”
“They should be. No one was around to spot me hiding the pack.”
“Hot beer… yummy,” Mike says satirically.
“I chose good shading—a bush under the growth. So, they’ll be cool, not hot.”
“And music? We can’t have a shindig without it.”
“I stored my satellite radio, too.” Kota brags.
“Good.” Mike is relieved.
Liz strolls to the pavement; her dark boots flatten the maroon leaves. “The bus is coming.”
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