Bridgeport Academy 2

28

"That was a bit of a disaster, don't you think?" Jhene said lightly as she leaned with Aubrey against the basement stairwell banister, holding a full plastic cup of beer in her hand. Her leather jacket was tied around her waist, and her T-shirt, with its SAVE THE CHILDREN slogan, fit snugly around the chest. He wondered if she was one of those people who was always signing petitions to save whales and send famine relief to far-off countries. Because that was totally sexy. Maybe he needed a girl who wasn't self-absorbed, like Robyn. And Jasmine.

"Usually someone throws up when this much alcohol is involved, so I think we did okay." Aubrey had had a few too many cups of beer himself, and his tongue felt heavy in his mouth. Dave had been running around in his girl shirt, poking people and telling them to drink up since he needed to get the deposits back on the kegs. The game of I Never had sort of spiraled out of control. He'd felt bad for Kae—she was so sweet, it felt horrible to see her crushed in front of everyone. Another reason to despise Chris, like Aubrey needed anymore. What was Chris doing, taking Robyn out to dinner with his dad? Christ. An idiot could have told him what a horrible idea that was.

"I like your shirt," Aubrey spoke up, because he couldn't think of anything else to say. "Do you save whales too?"

"When I don't have too much homework," she replied, running her hand along the banister.

Aubrey smiled. This girl was pretty sassy, which was kind of fun. If he weren't a little drunk, he'd have tried to be more witty. He wished he didn't have to struggle so much to think of something to say—but he just kept thinking about that intriguing scar below her mouth. 

"Um ... do you want to see the tunnels?" Aubrey asked at last.

"The famous tunnels?" Jhene's eyes lit up. "I'd love to."

"Cool." Aubrey started down the stairs, his legs moving slowly. Jhene followed him to the storage room, where the tunnel door was wide open.

"This is like the Underground Railroad...how cool!" she whispered, clearly in awe. Aubrey pulled his flashlight from his pocket and flicked it on. Immediately Jhene put her hand on his. "They didn't have flashlights in the Underground Railroad days—shut it off." She stepped inside the darkened tunnel, carefully making her way down the steps and disappearing into the darkness.

"Uh, wait." Aubrey followed awkwardly. "Didn't they have candles in those days? They definitely had something." His sneakers hit the concrete floor of the tunnel and he squinted into the darkness.

A tiny flame burst through the darkness, illuminating Jhene's face, and an orb of light surrounded her. "Not Zippos, exactly. But it'll do." If possible, her face was even prettier in the wavering light coming from her lighter.

"Where do you want to go?" Aubrey asked. He noticed that they were both speaking kind of softly, as their words seemed to echo in the vast, silent tunnels. It was much cooler down here with Jhene than it had been with all his lame homeboys. Surprise, surprise. 

Jhene glanced at the concrete ceiling and took a sip from her beer. "I left my Vespa in the bushes by that gatehouse or whatever it was. You know, that crumbly building at the front of campus? We could head in that direction." She held out her cup to Aubrey. "Want some?"

Aubrey took the cup and sipped her beer. "A Vespa?"

"What, is that too hipster for you, Armani?" She slyly tweaked his sweater. How'd she know it was Armani?

"Actually, I thought you'd drive a hybrid—but the leather motorcycle jacket threw me off."

Jhene leaned in. "Don't be disgusted," she whispered, "but it's pleather."

Aubrey grinned. He liked that this girl was someone outside the whole depraved Bridgeport crowd. Even if she had a thing with Quincy, who had a thing with Alex, who ... Aubrey shook those confusing thoughts out of his head. "How'd you know Quincy was even here?"

She looked a little embarrassed and clicked the top back down on her Zippo, plunging them into darkness. "I'm not, like, a stalker." Silence. "He told me."

"So...you guys aren't together now, are you?" Somehow it was easier to ask about this in the dark. The light from the open door in the Waverly storage room was far behind them now, and it took Aubrey's eyes a minute to adjust to the new level of darkness and be able to find the outline of Jhene.

"No!" Her reply came quickly, and Aubrey calmed down a little. "It wasn't like that, anyway." The two of them walked forward, as if they knew where they were going. "We were just really close, you know? And then she—Alex—broke his heart. And then I guess we both got really caught up in the emotions of it all, even though it wasn't exactly about us."

"You don't have to tell me all this, you know," Aubrey said, although he was psyched to hear she wasn't pining over Quincy. Because if football players were her thing, Aubrey wasn't going to have much luck.

"I know." The Zippo flicked open again, bathing Jhene's face in its warm glow. "I just kind of wanted to...clear things up." 

Aubrey's heart pounded. 

"Anyway," she continued, tracing her empty hand against the wall. "I really came to sort of check Alex out, make sure she wasn't just toying with him again." Jhene paused. "Unfortunately, I think I might have fucked everything up for him."

"That's not your fault."

"Well, I didn't have to be honest. It's not like playing I Never means you're under oath or anything. Then maybe he could have lied, and..."

"I don't think that would've helped. He would've had to tell her the truth sometime." Suddenly Aubrey realized he didn't exactly want to be talking about Quincy and Alex anymore—they would figure things out. What he wanted to do was kiss this girl.

"And what about you? And that Kae girl?" Jhene asked coyly. "You jumped up really quickly after she left, like you wanted to run out after her."

He did? Aubrey didn't even remember that. "Well, she's cool. I mean, she's a friend." And it burned him up that Chris would fuck around with her too, not that it surprised him. That kid had no qualms—if he wanted Kae one week, he got Kae. If he wanted Robyn the next, well, he'd just try and get her too. "I just, you know, felt bad for her. Her boyfriend's a dick."

"So I don't have anyone to be jealous of?"

Jealous of? Right. Like Aubrey could keep his mind on anything besides how he was alone in a dark tunnel with this exciting girl in a pleather jacket who made him feel so totally uninhibited. "I don't want to talk about other people anymore," Aubrey said, taking another gulp of Jhene's beer as if it were some sort of electrolyte-enhanced power drink.

"Oh?" Jhene raised her right eyebrow as she played with her lighter, closing it and opening it and closing it again. She kept it closed. "What do you want to talk about?"

Aubrey put the beer down on the floor and stepped toward where he thought Jhene was. It wasn't too hard to find her. He smiled in the darkness, sensing that her face was only a few inches from his. "I don't know...nuclear war?"

He heard her giggle, and as her mouth opened to say something, he kissed her. She kissed back eagerly, and all Aubrey could think was how different and exciting it felt. His hands slid around to her lower back. He didn't even notice how dark it was because his eyes were closed.