Davis
August 2014
Miranda Hayes wasn't only my next door neighbor, she was my girlfriend. We started dating the beginning of freshman year, when she kissed me right on the lips during lunch. Unprovoked, and in front of all of our friends. Then she went back to drinking her smoothie like she hadn't changed my entire world.
Our parents were friends. Our dad's were partners at a law firm. Miranda and me made sense, it was inevitable. The whole town expected us to be together.
We were happy for a long time. I never believed in soul mates or that sort of thing, but Miranda and I got along well. She pushed me to be better at baseball, to practice harder. She made sure I stayed on top of my grades, too. She was my personal cheerleader and tutor. Until she wasn't.
I don't know when, or why, the shift happened. I'm man enough to admit that I get caught up in my own life. I'm team captain and that carries a lot of responsibility on and off the diamond. Last season the team played better than we ever had before. We had a real shot at the championship. I worked harder than I ever had before. I lived in the gym and on the diamond. Free time wasn't in my vocabulary. She said she understood, that she was proud of me.
She wasn't the girl that demanded to be a priority, but I did what I could to make her feel like one anyway. She stayed busy, too. Miranda was part of almost all of the after-school clubs, she tutored four days a week, and she volunteered at the library. She wanted to graduate with honors and attend a big, fancy Ivy League college. We saw each other when we could. We had a mutual admiration and respect for each other.
It was the last weekend before school started and I wanted to be on good terms with her. The last thing either of us needed was the rumor mill catching wind that we were on rocky ground. I didn't care much about high school gossip or reputations, but Miranda did. She had an image to uphold and losing Prom Queen to Trystin Nichols would do irreparable damage to her reputation and would be a negative mark on her college applications. She needed me to win those stupid titles.
I walked across my yard over to hers. She sat on a towel in the grass, careful to not stain her white shorts. She was watching her little brother, Callan, play with an R/C car. Callan was seven and lived with Down Syndrome. The team adopted him as our mascot and he stayed in the dugout at all of the games. The booster club gifted him a personalized jersey last Christmas.
"Captain!" He yelled and ran toward me. "Daddy bought me a new car! C'mere, you gotta see it."
I let him grab my hand and pull me to the driveway. I told him how strong he was getting and he said that Kenny had been helping him workout. He showed me how to work the controller, but I kept looking back at Miranda. She was facing us, a far away look in her eyes like she was staring through us. "Hey, buddy," I kneeled to his level, "do you mind giving me a minute with your sister? Let the big kids talk?"
He looked at Miranda and, like me, could tell she wasn't herself. "Yeah, okay. I need a snack anyway."
As Callan ran inside I sat next to Miranda. She wore a blue tank top with white polka dots. She looked good in blue, the color made her eyes brighter. The heavy eyeliner helped, too, but I told her she didn't need to wear any of that. "You okay?" I asked, nudging her shoulder with mine.
She almost smiled. Almost. "I'm fine, Davis. Senior year jitters, I guess."
I understood that more than she expected me to. This year meant the rest of our lives were on the line. None of us could afford to make any mistakes. College depended on it, our baseball careers depended on it. Everything relied on how successful we were this year.
"You coming to the party later? Dawson said Ropyr got in last night."
She rolled her eyes. "Great. Two Woods's in town. I bet they're going to be a package deal and she'll be tagging along everywhere. That's exactly what we need."
"It might be good for you to have another girl around. Neve and Gwen aren't exactly your best friends anymore. Ropyr could be a fresh start."
She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. "You're right. I'm sorry. I bet she's really sweet. There's no telling what the poor thing has been through."
I kissed the top of her head. "I'm sure she's great. Just because she's related to Dawson doesn't mean she's anything like him. He's my best friend but I get why people don't like him."
"Lord I hope that's true," she stood and shook the grass of the towel then folded it.
"Whatever this is with you and him, don't you think it's time to end it? I don't want to spend senior year playing referee between you two." I stood and watched as she huffed, placed her hands on her hips and smirked at the ground. She was preparing to argue. I said the wrong thing. I did that a lot with her lately.
"You don't play referee, Davis. You always take his side. In everything. This year won't be any different. Just go and I'll see you later." No kiss. No goodbye. Not even a half-hearted "I love you."
I drove to Dawson's house. He's been my best friend since we were eight years old. He's more like a brother to me than a teammate. His family is my family. I spend more time at his house than my own.
I didn't knock on the door anymore. I hadn't knocked in years. When I walked into the kitchen, Dawson was at the counter pouring a bowl of cereal. "Frosted Flakes? That's pure sugar, Dude."
He grabbed another bowl from the cabinet and slid a bright yellow box over to me. Golden Grahams, my favorite. Trina kept a box in the pantry just for me. "Why do you even eat here? Your mom makes those huge steak burritos with onions and like, three cheeses."
"True, but she buys that organic, no taste milk. I want to hear the cows moo when it over my delicious cereal."
We went back and forth about cereal choices, then how much work was left on his truck. He went off the road and landed in a ditch last month. He called me before anyone else, and when I got there Belle was in her bra and a short skirt. I didn't need to ask what caused the wreck.
When she came into the kitchen I forgot what we were talking about. I was mid-sentence and lost the words in my throat. Dawson told me that his cousin was coming to stay for a while. Something about a family crisis, but he didn't give any further details and I hadn't asked. It wasn't my business, even if I was curious.
She was the opposite of Miranda. Ropyr had long brown hair all the way down her back. Miranda had very short blonde curls and wasn't even five feet tall. Miranda carried extra weight around her stomach, which I liked, but Ropyr was toned. The shirt she wore landed just below her hips, not leaving much to the imagination.
She was gorgeous. I knew she could tell I was watching her. She didn't seem to mind.
She declined the invite to the pool party, but I knew she would be there. Trina would encourage her to get out, saying something about making new friends and breaking the ice with everyone before the first day of class. She just needed a gentle push.
Trina was outside water the flower beds, humming to herself. Dawson was on a ladder attaching a new net to the basketball goal. The last storm that came through caused some damage to their yard because the lake was less than a mile from their backyard.
"Mrs. T, how ya doin'?" I asked, turning on the charm.
She side-eyed me, grinning. "How can I help you, Davis?"
I invited Ropyr over to the party I'm having today. She said she has a lot of unpacking to do. I was hoping you could get her to agree to come. Miranda will be there and you know she's going through a rough patch with Neve and Gwen."
Trina had a soft spot for my girlfriend. She knew Miranda wasn't the best with our peers. Instead of being seventeen, she acted more like a stay-at-home mother in her forties. Adults adored her, but people at school didn't. She was…a lot. I used to love that about her, but I could even admit that it was more of an annoyance these days.
She smile and handed me the hose pipe. "I'll talk to her. For Miranda, not you. Your teammates better keep their hands to themselves, you hear me? The last thing that girl needs is boy trouble."
"Yes, Ma'am. Scouts honor."
About half an hour later Ropyr came out. Her hair was tied in a knot on top of her head and she wore a black bikini underneath a very see-through white t-shirt. She did not look happy when she saw me.
"Do you always get what you want?" She asked, eyes narrowed like she wished she was hitting me with literal daggers. I leaned back against my truck waiting on Dawson to get off the phone.
"Pretty much," I grinned, my eyes roaming over her body. Now that she was up close I could see the freckles on her legs. She opened the back door and I immediately closed it. I was close enough to tell she smelled amazing. I don't even think she was wearing perfume, it was just her. "You ride shotgun."
She looked at me, then over my shoulder to where Dawson was pacing around arguing with whoever was on the other end of the phone. Probably Belle. "Don't worry about him. My truck, my rules."
She smiled, soft and brief. "Sounds fake, but okay."
Dawson wasn't thrilled to be in the backseat. That scowl had been a permanent fixture on his face for years. He was the first out of the truck and clearly was not interested in introducing Ropyr to anyone.
In true southern gentleman fashion, I opened the passenger door for her. "You really live here?" She asked, taking in the house.
"Yeah. My dad's a lawyer. We have a vacation home in the Tennessee mountains and my dad is a member of the golf club. My mom owns a chain of clothing stores." I didn't mean to sound like I was bragging, but my family was wealthy. My parents worked hard for what we had.
"I used to have a big house like this," she said, mostly to herself but I heard it. "That explains why you always get what you want," she said to me, her voice laced with playfulness.
I winked at her and walked her over to Miranda. "C'mon, maybe my girlfriend will know what to do with you," I said. I had to mention I had a girlfriend for my own sake.
Ropyr smirked like she was accepting a challenge.
Miranda was lounging in a chair, a fruity non-alcoholic drink her hand and her Aubrey Hepburn sunglasses covering half her face. "Hey, baby," I leaned in to kiss her but she didn't really kiss me back. She didn't turn away either, which was progress. "This is Ropyr. I was thinking you could take her around and introduce her. You're much better at hosting duties than I am," flattery was the way to get back into her good graces. Miranda needed to hear she was good at something.
"I'd love to," she said with her perfectly white smile. "The stereo has been acting weird. No idea what Kenny is over there doing to it." She slid on her sandals and looped her arm through Ropyr's.
I watched as they walked to other side of the pool where Tyrell was hanging onto his girlfriend, Gwen. I don't actually know if she was his girlfriend, but they were together a lot. He was the life of the party. Tyrell Gardner was the party. Miranda was talking with her hands, as she always did. I laughed when Ropyr took a couple steps away from her after being hit in the arm.
The stereo was set up near the back doors. Kenny Gardner, Ty's cousin, had the laptop in his hands and a very confused, intense look on his face. He was the goofball on the team. The one making us laugh and reminding everyone that we were still kids and not to take life too seriously. I loved the guy, and he was good at a lot of things, he was incredibly smart, but he was not tech savvy. Last year he tried helping the school librarian install a new security feature and somehow installed three viruses that shut down the whole system. Principal McPherson was furious and on a war path until he found out it was Kenny. At least he got us two days of excused absences while the real techs came in to fix everything.
"Back away from the stereo," I warned.
He put down the laptop and raised his hands. "Neve put Kesha on repeat. The same song on a constant loop. I was trying to fix it. No one wants to hear TikTok that many times. Once is even too much."
"Yeah, yeah. Go man the grill while I do this."
"Hey," he hit my arm, "who's the hottie with Miranda?"
I followed his gaze to see Ropyr engaged in conversation with Jeremy Lane of all people. The most vanilla person I've ever met. Great ball player, but boring off the diamond. He didn't hang out with the team much outside of required baseball stuff. "Ropyr. Dawson's cousin. Hands off, remember? He warned everyone last night about getting close to her."
"I remember him saying to be nice to her. I think I'll go introduce myself." Then he was, walking toward the new girl like she was a new toy that needed to be unboxed.
I tried not to be obvious watching her. The way her smile lit up her whole face when she laughed. The way the sun gave her brown hair bright red streaks. The way she was looking too comfortable too fast with Jeremy and Kenny. The way she was slightly turned away from Miranda, carrying herself with confidence.
I managed to delete the absurd playlist Neve created, no doubt to just annoy everyone. It was full of TikTok fifty times in a row, then Rick Astley for another fifty times. She was cute and she kept Dawson in line, that was reason enough to keep her around. I made a new playlist, combining everyone's favorites from their Spotify lists. After that, I sat down and opened a beer. My parents didn't care if I drank as long as it was at home, and everyone's car keys had to be locked away in a kitchen drawer.
I observed the party instead of mingling like I usually did. I wanted to relax today, to not think about Monday and the weight that would be placed on my shoulders when I walked through the school doors. Miranda, clearly irritated that Ropyr hadn't needed her to make friends, wondered off to where Dawson was sitting with Neve. She laid back and pulled her sunglasses from her head. She wanted to appear unbothered but Miranda let everything bother her. I wasn't dealing with that today.
To the left, Ropyr sat with Jeremy, Ty and Kenny at a table. They were talking, smiling, laughing. Jeremy moved his chair to be closer and draped an arm over the back of hers. That was new. He wasn't the guy that talked to girls. I'd never known him to have a girlfriend or show an interest in anyone. Ropyr was fresh meat and I couldn't blame him for taking a chance. She didn't know anything about us and we didn't know a thing about her. She was new and interesting. And gorgeous. Man was she gorgeous.
On the other side of the pool, Dawson was laid back in a chair with Neve beside him, her head on his chest. I didn't know why those two weren't a couple, they sure acted like one. She's known him longer than I have and his parents didn't care that she slept over sometimes…in his bed…with him.
"Smile, Cap!" Tyrell surprised me with his camera in my face. He had that thing around his neck all the time. All day, every day, taking pictures and talking about film school and winning something called the Sundance Film Festival. "What are you staring at?" He asked, kneeling beside me. He reached into the cooler and grabbed a bottle of orange soda.
I was watching Ropyr again. I couldn't help it. She was in Jeremy's lap, her long t-shirt discarded and her bikini top barely covering anything. She was playing with Jeremy's red curly hair.
"Ah," Ty said, snapping a picture in their direction. "She's pretty, ain't she? Funny, too. K's already calling her 'princess."
"She's beautiful," I admitted, surprising myself for saying it out loud. "What's she doing with Jeremy?"
"She likes him. He's sweet on her. I think it's good for him," he nudged my arm with his shoulder. "Why is your girl all the way over there? I figured y'all would have been upstairs by now."
I scoffed and finished my drink. "She's been cold for months. I don't know what her problem is."
"Don't stress about it. We need you focused this season. Gotta win State. Gotta make up for last year."
"Don't remind me, Ty." Last season, during the first play off game, I nearly tore my rotator cuff. Our season ended when the ambulance carried me away. I spent most of the summer in physical therapy with Coach Callahan by my side. He monitored me closer than the doctors did.
When Ropyr slid into the pool with her arms around Jeremy's neck, I had to find a distraction. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I had never been like this before over any other girl, especially not one I just met. Since Miranda and I have been a couple I've never thought about another girl. She was the only I wanted. We had plans to get married and have a family. I shouldn't be feeling jealous over the new girl. Especially not jealous over Jeremy.
"Go take your pictures. I'll catch up with you later," I told Ty.
Miranda may have been sitting with Dawson and Neve but she was somewhere else entirely. She wasn't talking to them, wasn't looking at them. I walked over and sat on the lounge chair with her, placing my hand on her thigh. "I figured you'd be with Ropyr," I said.
"She seems fine. She fell for Jeremy's lifeguard slash heartbreaker line. They've been together all afternoon. She ditched me right after Kenny offered to show her how to shotgun a soda without having it pour out of his nose." She sounded annoyed and angry, but that was her way of covering up how her feelings were hurt.
I looked back at Dawson. He was not to subtly trying to angle his phone at Neve's chest. She had an arm over the waistband of his shorts, her fingers running up and down his ribs.
"You okay with this?" I asked him.
He looked out at the pool. Ropyr had let her hair down and was tying Jeremy's back from his face. He had his hands on her back, holding her up. Her legs were around his waist. I didn't like it, but Dawson shrugged showing indifference. "Ri and Choir Boy? Yeah. He's harmless. He might know how to ace Trigonometry, but he doesn't have a clue what to do with a girl. I'm willing to bet real money he wouldn't know how to break her heart."
"Then there's you," Neve said, her eyes closed and totally relaxed against Dawson. "You can't ace any class and you can't break hearts either." She kissed his stomach then relaxed again.
"That's because he doesn't have a heart," Miranda said, her voice colder than I'd heard before. I knew she and Dawson had their issues, but this was getting ridiculous.
"I broke yours, didn't I?" He snapped back. He stood and walked over to Kenny at the cooler.
"What was that about?" I asked, looking at Miranda. She bit down on her bottom lip. I knew that move, too. She was trying to keep her composure. "Miranda?"
Neve sat up and reached for the bottle of suntan lotion on the table between the chairs. "Nothing important. He just likes reminding her Mira that he rejects her every attempt at friendship."
"Don't call me that," Miranda snapped, spitting venom. She sat up and put on her shoes, snatched her purse from the ground. "I'm going home. This party is boring and the company sucks."
Before I could offer to walk her home or ask her to go inside with me, she was gone. For a girl with little legs she could move fast.
"Let her go, Davis. She needs to cool off," Neve said, applying a thin layer of lotion to her legs. She was already tan. She kept a tan all year thanks her mom owning a salon for that very purpose.
"What happened between you two? She won't talk about it. Anytime I ask she completely blows me off."
She shrugged, a trait that matched Dawson's. "We don't see things the same way anymore. I think we just outgrew each other," she said. I believed her. That sort of thing happened all the time. She set the bottle of lotion back down and added, "She tried to turn Dawson against me. You can imagine how that went."
"That's funny. She's always trying to turn me against Dawson."
Neve pierced me with her brown eyes. "And what do you think that could mean?" She asked.
Later that night Dawson lit a fire; our annual tradition to end the summer. Our teammates gathered around, making themselves comfortable and talking amongst themselves. Neve was with Gwen, folding their towels and gathering their bags, talking with Ropyr.
"Hey, baseball players only. You gotta go," Dawson said gently pushing Neve toward the gate.
"You're such a jerk!" She slapped his arm but she was laughing. "You're lucky I have to work in the morning."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever makes you feel better. Call me later," he hugged her from behind and she squealed when he bit her neck. "Love you."
"Love you, too."
Ropyr stood by herself looking uncomfortable. She had the white shirt on again, but because her bikini was wet it didn't do much good. I was about to invite her to sit with us, but Prince Charming got to her first. He held her hand and they sat together, close enough to be a part of the group but far enough away to have their own uninterrupted conversation.
"Alright! Alright! Listen up, Lions," Ty stood, holding a bottle of whiskey.
"Tyell, I am begging you. Please do not do this. We're having a good night. We don't need a speech. Please," Kenny said, looking at the ground and rubbing his temples. Tyrell gave a speech every chance he had. Before team workouts, before practices, before games, before sharing a meal at Chalky's.
"Shush, this is a good one. We're seniors now. This is our last year together. I don't know if I'll see any of your ugly mugs once I walk across that stage in May, but we're all here tonight. Right now is all that matters. We've been friends since little league. Not many people can say that. We've argued, we've walked away from each other, some of us have even thrown punches. Here's looking at you, Dawson," he winked. "But we all get back together on weekends, in the gym. How cool is that? This is it, y'all," he raised the liquor bottle. "Here's to winning State and leaving Honey Bell as legends." He sipped from the bottle and passed it to Kenny.
Kenny drank from the bottle like he was sipping a sweet tea. I looked past him to where Ropyr was sitting. She had her head on Jeremy's shoulder, an arm looped through his. He was showing her something on his phone that made her smile. She had a beautiful smile, and I hated that Jeremy was the reason for it.
What did she see in him anyway? His nickname was Leprechaun when we were kids, then Dawson started calling him Choir Boy when we got older. He had shoulder length red, curly hair and his pale skin was covered in freckles. He was the guy that girls wanted to be friends with, not date. I didn't like the way my jaw clenched at the sight of them together. I was the one that girls wanted to be around and talk to. I was the one that girls smiled at when I walked past them. Not Jeremy. I was the captain. Jeremy was an easily replaceable short-stop. Crowds didn't fill the stands on game night to watch him.
"Davis! Earth to Davis!" Dawson waved the whiskey bottle in front of my face. "Care to join us here on this beautiful night?"
I took the bottle and drank a small swig. I didn't like liquor. I saw how terrible the drink could make people. How cruel they could become. I wanted no part of it. When Dawson turned back toward the fire, I spit out the whiskey.
Dawson and I were at the stereo changing the music to something that would help motivate us to clean up the mess. "You actually have a song on here called 'the clean up' song," Dawson said, showing me the phone.
"No idea, dude. Play it and we'll see what it is." A children's song came through the speakers. "Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere." We started laughing. Callan had my phone more than I did most of the time.
As he was switching the music to something heavier, something more his speed, Ropyr came over to us. "Hey, Dawson," he turned to look at her, clearly wondering why she was talking to him. "Jeremy's going to take me home. Is that okay?"
He looked at me then back at her. "Uh, yeah. That's fine." He was unbothered and uninterested in what his cousin was doing.
She stood there for a beat. I could tell she was hoping for some kind of conversation with him. Maybe she wanted him to tell her to be safe, or to make good decisions. She looked like she wanted him to tell her anything. When she turned to leave, he sighed and reached out for her arm. "Wait," he ran a hand through his hair. "Give me your phone," she reluctantly handed it to him. He typed in his number and handed it back to her. "He won't try anything, but call me if you need to."
"Thanks," she half-smiled. "I'll see you later." Dawson nodded and I decided to offer my help, too.
"Let me give you my number, too. Ya never know when you might need it." She rolled her eyes but handed me the phone. I typed in my number and sent myself a text so that I would have her number. I knew she would never willingly give it to me. "Have fun, Sweetheart," I said as I handed the phone back.
She mumbled something about me being annoying as she stalked back over to Jeremy. I watched her leave, watched her lace her hand through Jeremy's.
Dawson punched my arm, getting my attention. "What?" I asked, rubbing the sore spot.
He pointed a finger at my face and said one simple word. "No."