Tom Masen was staring down at her with a grin on his face and Jessica wanted to squeal like some love struck idiot.
If someone had asked her why she found Tom so appealing, she couldn't have really explained it. He was cute but not anything show stopping. He was a decent enough student to avoid the teachers' ire. He was on the football team but not in one of the positions that hogged all the glory on the field.
To Jessica, he was undeniably hot.
In Tom's case, the whole was definitely more than the sum of his parts.
She smiled up at him. "Do I hear you offering to get me a blanket? Is there one you keep in your car for these kinds of emergencies?"
Tom sat on the ground next to her and pulled out a hip flask from his jeans pocket. "Want some?"
The last thing she felt like she needed was more drink. Still, she didn't want to drive Tom off and have him sharing drinks with some other girl instead.
Especially because his ex girlfriend was also at the gathering.
Jessica took the silver hip flask. "What's in it?"
"Rum."
Just my awful luck, she grumbled quietly. She hated rum, especially dark rum. Clair and her had drunk far too much of it one night a couple of summers ago, and Jessica could still remember the hideous hangover.
Still, she thought. There's no point turning down an opportunity when it falls right in your lap. She took a gulp of rum and even managed not to gag when the strong taste filled her mouth. "Do you like this stuff?" she asked after she'd swallowed it down.
Tom smiled. "I'm not picky. I'll drink whatever's available. My brother's visiting for the week, so I convinced him to buy a bottle of something for me. Don't know why he chose sickly sweet rum, but he did."
"Your brother. Josh, right?" Jessica asked. "He's visiting you from college?"
"Yeah. Mom's won't stop fawning because her favourite son's back in town." he said, shrugging. "Pop's not too happy about the visit, though. He doesn't think Josh should've left campus so close to his final exams. Pop worries Josh might fail the year and not graduate."
"Is he right to worry?"
"Not sure, but probably not. My brother always does just enough to get by. I'm sure Josh will graduate this summer with whatever bullshit marketing degree he's studying, and my proud Mom can fuss over him some more."
She could tell that Tom was trying to keep his voice light. Still, there was a distinct edge to his words.
Jessica had always found other families' dynamics fascinating. Especially sibling rivalries, given she was an only child.
"Are you going to the same college as Josh in the fall?" she asked, taking another sip of the cheap rum.
"What? Oh, hell no! There's no way I'm going to University of Denver, just to have to watch him prancing around and act like he's some big man on campus. I'm headed to Arizona State University. I've got a part scholarship to study finance there."
The easy confidence of Tom's words made her want to gnash her teeth in frustration. Jessica squelched down her bitterness and was able to hold her smile. "Finance? I didn't know you're so interested in numbers."
"I'm not. But Josh has always made campus life sound so fun. And it's a one way ticket out of Abbot Springs, so I'm not complaining."
The two of them sat side by side for a long while, trading sips from the hip flask until the rum ran out.
Jessica watched the activity around her with dull eyes. A little while later, she saw Clair and Simon sauntering off towards the parked cars. Probably to go have sex in his back seat.
Tom pushed the empty bottle back into his pocket. "What are your plans for after summer, anyway?"
Jessica shifted uncomfortably at his question and looked down at her lap. Her loose hair slid forward and created a curtain between them.
What could she really say to him that wasn't an outright lie? Or that wouldn't make Tom pity her for having no escape plans?
"I'm not sure yet." she murmured. "I've got a couple of options to weigh up… but I know I'll have to decide soon."
Tom didn't press her for more details, which was a relief. Instead, he said, "I just assumed you and your other half would have plans to go to college together. To a place where you can be fancy sorority girls, or something."
That made Jessica laugh. "That's not a terrible idea. Clair would make herself president of any sorority she pledged, within a week of introducing herself."
She knew her words were nothing but the truth. Clair would've immersed herself in college life with gusto, if it weren't for one small yet crucial detail.
Her atrocious grades would make getting into any college a hard task.
If Clair hadn't been the daughter of the richest man in town, she would've probably been failed by her teachers several times over.
"Who the hell cares? I'm never going to need to use algebra or chemical equations in real life, Jess. So why does it matter if I pass my classes or not?" Clair had said countless times.
Music started to thump from one of the car stereos. Tom nudged Jessica's shoulder with his own. "How are you getting home tonight?"
"Leg power."
He smirked. "Doesn't that scare you a bit, walking around on your own? I've always thought that at night, the desert feels… I don't know how to explain it well. But it just feels off."
"I don't mind the peace and quiet. It gives me time to think." Jessica elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't tell me you're one of those people who believes in all those myths about witches. I've just lost all respect for you."
Tom laughed. "Nah, not really. But do you ever think there could be a tiny part of those stories that's true? They've been around for hundreds of years."
"Nope. Bored people make up stories. And everyone's bored in Abbot Springs, aren't they?" she said flatly. "The first settlers who made it here would've been bored. The Native Americans they crossed paths with, would've been as well. Even back then, there would've nothing appealing about this place. Makes me wonder why the settlers didn't just keep on moving and look for somewhere else."
"Maybe they didn't know there was anything else to find. I mean, we know now that if they'd kept their wagons pointed west, they would've reached the ocean eventually. But they wouldn't have known that." Tom yawned and looked up at the endless dark sky.
That was one thing the desert wasteland did well - dramatic night skies full of stars.
"Maybe they thought the desert went on forever and they'd never be able to escape it." he continued. "So they decided to cut their losses and settle down here, instead of risking their lives trying to find an escape that might not have existed."
There was something about Tom's flippant words that resonated with Jessica, though she couldn't define what exactly. Maybe it was thinking that centuries ago, there had been people who'd felt as trapped here as she did now.
"Bring on September, right?" she muttered. Even though she had no idea what September would actually mean.
Maybe it would just end up being another month where nothing changed for her.
"A-fucking-men." Tom said lazily.