yolo (15 page)

“Come on, troublemaker,” Chris said as he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her toward the doorway. “You can laugh at the brawl you caused when we're safely away from your drug-dealer pursuers.”

Outside, the four raced around the corner of the building and came out in the front parking lot where Emily's SUV was waiting for them in front of Frank's, thankfully intact and untouched. The car lights flashed when Emily hit the button on her keychain, and Brandon dove into the backseat, causing a barking fit from Pickles, who was either happy to see them or angry about being woken up.

“Come on, Em!” Ana shouted as she jumped into the passenger side and hit the side of the car. “We've got to get out of here.”

On the driver's side, Emily stopped and turned to Chris,
who was standing next to her with his hands shoved into his jeans pockets and a small smirk.

He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head toward the pool hall. “So . . . that was fun,” he said. “Didn't expect that kind of excitement when I woke up this morning.”

“Me neither,” Emily said, shaking her head. “I'm so sorry I got you involved.”

“Don't be,” he said quickly. “It was nice. Things can get pretty dull around here. Monotonous. You guys livened things up.”

Emily hesitated, not sure what to do or say next. She knew they had to go—Brandon's moans and mumbling from the backseat made that abundantly clear—but she felt like she and Chris had some kind of connection. Maybe it was because he'd just saved her from some drug dealers . . . but maybe it was something more than that. And she felt like she wanted to explore the possibility of . . . what? There wasn't any possibility. She didn't know him, he didn't know her, and this was just a momentary hiccup in the day's plan. Nothing more.

“So I've gotta go,” she said, regretting the words even as they left her mouth.

“You should,” Chris said, nodding.

The pause that happened was on the sort of epic scale that Emily thought could only happen in romantic comedies and on daytime soaps she used to catch bits of when she stayed home sick. It was like everything around them, everything other than Chris, ceased to exist, and there was nothing she
wanted more than to just jump into his arms, press her body against his, and make their lips touch and never stop touching.

“I'll find you,” he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear.

“How?”

“I have my ways.”

“But . . .”

“A girl like you doesn't come along every day,” Chris said. “And now that I've found one, I'm not going to let her get away that easily. Stanley be damned.”

“Come
onnnnnn
,
chica
!” Ana shouted.
“Vámonos!”

Chris reached behind Emily and pulled the door open. “Trust me,” he said as he gently pushed her into the car.

Emily wasn't sure how or why, but she knew that she did trust him. Without another word, she closed the door, started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot. In her rearview mirror, Chris became smaller and smaller until she turned the corner and couldn't see him anymore. But she knew, or hoped at least, that it wouldn't be the last time.

“Earth to Emily!” Ana called out. “Come in, Emily.”

“Huh? What?” Emily refocused and glanced at her friend in the passenger seat. “What is it? I'm fine. I'm paying attention.” She looked ahead to be sure, but her driving was on point, as usual.

“I'm not worried about your driving,” Ana said. “You're a perfect driver, and you know it. Even when your head is in the clouds and your heart is about to explode.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.” Her heart
was
racing, though. But that might've had to do with the fact that they'd just dodged a potentially major bar fight.

“Come on,
dime todo
,” Ana said. “Tell me everything!”

“Everything about
what
?” Emily knew exactly what Ana was talking about, but she refused to make it easy for her. If she wanted information, she was going to work for it.

“Pah-
leeze
,” Brandon said. “Even I could see the tension there, and I'm emotionally and romantically stunted, according to Ana.”

“It was
nothing
,” Emily said.

“Looked like something to me,” Ana shot back. “But he was cute, so I totally approve. Maybe a little on the older side, but I think you need that kind of maturity. You're much too sophisticated for high-school boys.”

“When did you become the queen of relationships?” Emily asked.

“Girl, I've learned from my mistakes.”

“Ouch!”
Brandon said loudly. “Harsh.”

“All I'm saying,” Ana continued, “is that he seemed like a good guy, and you should get to know him a little more. Invite him to the party.”

“I'll second that,” Brandon said. “I liked the dude.”

“Well . . . you see . . .” Emily let out a sigh. “I don't have his number.”

“What?!”

Ana's screech sent Pickles into a barking frenzy, and Emily had to actually concentrate to get the car back on track after an unintentional swerve.

“Please don't do that again,” Emily said.

“Please don't forget to ask for a cute guy's phone number!” Ana shouted.

“We never really had a chance to talk about it,” Emily said. “I didn't really expect Big Dog to show up right then.”

Ana sighed and collapsed in her seat. “Just when I thought you'd made some progress . . .” Ana sat up quickly and looked in the side mirror. “What's going on behind us?”

Emily checked out her rearview and frowned at the car flashing its lights behind them. “Is something wrong with the car? Are they telling us to pull over?”

“Dude, that car is moving pretty fast,” Brandon said. “It's gaining on us . . . do you think?”

“It can't be.” Ana shook her head. “Could it?”

“Can't what?”

“Is it Big Dog?” Brandon turned forward. “We
have
to call the police.” He pulled his phone out, but Ana snatched it from him a second later. “Hey!”

“We're not calling anyone.”

“Give me my phone, Ana! I'm calling.”

“We don't even know who it is,” Ana argued. “And if it is Big Dog, what's calling the police going to do now? We won't have the money,
and
we'll probably get arrested.”

“If we're not calling the police, then we have to outrun them,” Brandon said. “Emily, you've got to forget all of those driving rules and
put the pedal to the metal
.”

Emily would've laughed at Brandon's clichéd phrase, but the situation wasn't particularly funny, so she just did as she was told. Her hands gripped the wheel and immediately started to sweat, though she wasn't sure if it was because of the speed or because the car was still gaining on them.

“Go faster!” Brandon shouted.

“I can only go so fast!” Emily shouted back. She was going as fast as she dared to, but it still didn't seem to be enough. But she didn't want to push it and end up killing all of them. They
were starting to reach the mountains now—not too far from the Steins'—and the curves on the highway were made more complicated and dangerous because of the wind and trees . . . not to mention the potential for deer.

“These assholes are crazy!” Brandon said as the car came up on their left side.

As the car pulled into view, Emily saw why: Liz was leaning out the passenger window screaming at the top of her lungs while Chestnut honked and flashed the lights, cursing and swerving all over the place.

“PULL OVER!” Liz was cursing a blue streak and waving her arms. The look in her eyes chilled Emily to the bone.

“What do I do?!” she screamed.

“Hit the brakes!” Brandon shouted.

“What?!” Ana interrupted her pretty-much-nonstop screaming to ask.

“But—”

“They'll surge ahead and we'll be able to get away,” Brandon said. “I've seen it in a million movies. Do it!”

Emily wasn't sure they should be taking driving tips from action movies, especially since cinematic life advice hadn't worked particularly well for them the rest of the day, but she barely even got a chance to consider the option before Chestnut jerked his car to the side, crashing right into the SUV.

Emily felt the car begin to skid, and she gripped the steering wheel as the right back wheel caught the edge of the
pavement and they spun onto the shoulder of the road. The momentum carried the passenger side of the car up into the air, and Emily heard Brandon yell, “Oh shit!” It felt like they might keep rolling all the way over, but they skidded for a few yards on two wheels and then the passenger side slammed back down to the ground, causing the air bags in front of Emily and Ana to explode out of the steering wheel and dash as they skidded to a stop, the whole car rocking back and forth.

Before Emily could even take a breath, Liz was banging on the hood. Chestnut was right behind her.

“Where is he? Where is Artie?” Liz was spitting and screaming and smacking at the door and window.

Emily and Ana struggled against their seat belts and the air bags as Brandon kicked open the back door. Almost immediately he was being pulled out and dragged across the ground by Chestnut and Liz. Emily tried to push open her door, but when she found that it was too jammed, she crawled into the backseat and jumped out of the car that way.

“Stop! Stop!” she screamed as she ran to the fight in front of her. She grabbed Liz and tried to pull her away, and was soon joined by Ana and Pickles, who went straight for Chestnut's ankles. “Stop!”

“You stole the money!” Chestnut shouted as he stumbled away from Pickles.

“You kidnapped my baby!” Liz screamed as she raced to the car, calling Artie's name. “Where is he?”

“Everybody,
shut up
!” Ana shouted so loud that everyone went silent, staring at her with surprise. Even Pickles stopped his yapping to stare.

Emily turned to Liz. “Artie is completely fine, no thanks to you.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Liz asked, frowning.

Emily couldn't believe it. “You've got to be kidding me. You left him with some mobsters at a pizza place so you could go do some small shop hits before heading over to pick up some drugs. What about that says good parenting?”

“You don't know the situation,” Chestnut said as he started to explain.

“And I don't care,” Emily interrupted. “You'd better be happy you have a good, smart boy, and parents that are willing and able to take care of him.”

“He'd be better off without you two,” Brandon put in, his voice shaking with anger.

Emily looked at her friend and saw that Brandon's face was bright red and his fists were clenched at his sides, like it was taking everything in him not to jump at Chestnut and tackle him to the ground. Emily wondered if Brandon's anger was coming from his own experience with a father who wasn't a particularly good parent. She had issues with her own dad, that was for sure, but that was nothing compared to what Brandon had gone through, and the way Artie was being raised wasn't much better.

“If you want to do the right thing,” Emily said, turning her attention to the thieving couple again, “then you'll get out of
the business, just like Buck and Blanche have.”

“You met my parents?” Chestnut seemed confused.

“We did, and if you don't get your acts together I might just go back to their house and tell them to keep Artie forever,” Ana put in.

“We didn't mean for it to happen his way,” Liz said. “We don't ever want to put Artie in danger. We love that boy.”

“Then show it,” Brandon said. “Get out of the business, because you don't know what you're doing and you never will, and you're just condemning him to a horrible life, whether that means you two get caught, or worse, Artie gets hurt because of your idiocy.”

“This was supposed to be the last job,” Liz said. “The last job like this. That's why we're here. Normally we wouldn't have cared, especially for someone like Big Dog, but we're trying to build up a little bit of money so Chestnut here can go back to school.”

“Gotta finish my business degree,” Chestnut said proudly. “Accounting.”

Emily narrowed her eyes and looked at Ana and Brandon, who seemed just as confused. “You're in school?”

“Just two more classes left,” Chestnut said. “And then I can get a real job. My parents don't know.”

“We've been keeping it a secret, so we could surprise them,” Liz explained. “Artie starts school this fall, and we wanted to make sure he could be proud of us around his friends and classmates. When Chestnut's got a real job, then maybe I can open up
the cake shop I've dreamed about since I was a little girl.”

Emily felt like the world had been turned completely on its head. “You want a
cake shop
?”

“Well, we'd have other pastries too, of course,” Liz said slowly, like the
cake
was the part Emily was questioning.

Emily let out a slow breath of air. “Artie is fine,” she said again. “And the money is in the trunk. Brandon?”

Brandon was still fuming, but it looked like he'd calmed down a little after hearing Chestnut and Liz's ultimate plans. He crawled into the car and came out a moment later, suitcase in tow. He carried it over to the group and handed it to Chestnut, who nodded solemnly.

“Sorry about . . .” Liz motioned at the car. “That wasn't really planned.”

Emily stared at her car, really seeing the damage for the first time. It was completely totaled, or close to it. She was surprised, shocked even, that they'd made it out completely fine. The front was crushed, and it looked like her and Ana's doors had somehow fused with the rest of the frame. The back of the car seemed okay . . . save for the fact that both back wheels were completely missing. She glanced around and saw that they'd left them a couple yards back.