Seth Borovkov pulled up by my house in his car, engine revving. Sleek gray body with customized wheels, that car was like his baby, and every weekend he drove south to race with some frat dudes from the local university. I'd gone to one of these impromptu races myself, the air reeking of gasoline, watching the cars whiz past one another and nearly crash as they approached the curve, rap music blasting.
Seth's music didn't blast now, though. Instead of sticking his head out the window and hooting out my name, he quietly motioned for me to get in.
I gave my house a final glance. Grace's car—a red minivan of all things—was no longer in the driveway, but I almost wished it was. Almost wished she could see her estranged daughter sneaking out at one in the morning, giving her the finger before disappearing into Seth's car.
"Romy," he said lazily. "Long time no partay."
I raised an eyebrow. "You're not drunk, are you?"
Seth shook his head. Megan, laying in the back and definitely drunk as hell, was scrolling through her phone, re-reading the webpage of requirements for her upcoming beauty pageant audition she'd been obsessing over for weeks.
"Where's Eli?" I asked.
Seth's face soured. The corner of his lip raised into a bitter smile. "Probably off brooding somewhere."
"He and Seth had a fight," Megan mumbled.
"So that's why you're acting so weird," I said. "What happened?"
Seth drummed his fingers on the wheel as he drove off. "You're acting weird. Wanting to come all of a sudden. Are you okay?"
"What do you mean okay?"
"Are you okay? Like, uh, well, I don't know, okay?"
I crossed my arms over my chest. Splotches of pink paint still covered the blue rose shirt I'd forgotten to change out of. I'd drown the world in pink paint if I could. "Grace was at my house."
"Your prison mom?"
"Yeah."
"Shit, I'm sorry."
"She'll be gone soon. If the flower shop goes bankrupt I'll just study law or something. And then I'll start planning my eventual take over of the world. So yeah, I'm okay. I'm great."
He let out a chuckle and it fizzled out into the settling silence around us. "I've missed you."
I gave him a look.
"You miss your middle school romance?" Megan laughed from the back seat. "Mrs. and Mr. Popular of the seventh grade?"
"Don't even remind me of that train-wreck," I said.
Seth winked at us. "We caused enough gossip to last them for years. But that wasn't what I was talking about. I meant... I miss being friends."
I vividly recalled the times he and Megan teased Jack in the halls, calling him "mute boy" and trying to piss him off enough so he'd talk, which he never did. Every time, he looked at either me or Eli, the only ones who didn't indulge in the game, as if he expected me us to do something. To either make fun of him or stop the others from doing so, but I never cared enough for either.
"Racing cars, talking shit about people behind their backs, and making fun of Jack at school is what you think constitutes friendship?" I asked Seth.
He ran his hand across the light stubble on his chin and gave me a half-hearted, "Hell yeah."
"Ever the asshole you are."
"Too bad you're the same way."
❀ ❀ ❀
YOU ARE READING
The One Without Words
Teen Fiction"Go ahead," I said, backing up against the pink wall of the shop. "Do something other than glare at me." I waited. One, two, three seconds... and nothing. I raised my chin at him. "You're boring me, mute boy." He stepped closer. Leaned toward me as...
