Thomas and Niko in the City of Trees

Chapter 14 - Part 2

The sun's just beating down on this dumb little booth. I'm thinking about Markham's birthday now. I had completely forgotten about it, even though I fully confirmed my attendance a month or two ago. That was before all of this. The timing isn't too great. That's all I have to say about it.

His dad, Lester Markham Senior, owns about eighty acres of undeveloped real estate land in the low, brown hills just north of the city. Markham's family has a lot of money—a fact I'm reminded of every year around this time. When we were all younger it meant swimming in the backyard pool, gaming on all the latest consoles, endless snacks and fancy door prizes. But for the last two years it's been this all-expenses-paid night of drinking in a tucked-away corner of the foothills. Jesus Christ, even now, in the middle of all of this, I'm still looking forward to it. I guess if I weren't, it would make me sort of ungrateful.

Eventually, Lexie does get mad. It's because I don't make much of an effort to follow up on what happened. She spends part of the week not talking to me. The truth is that I can't work up the courage to discuss it. Who the hell knows what I might say? But by the time my shift is over on Friday, she's forgiven me, and we meet at her place and I make the whole thing up to her.

It's Saturday again, around four in the afternoon. I'm driving down the arrival lanes at the airport, kind of scanning all the people waiting. And then, from nowhere, Thomas leans out on one foot over the curb. He's using his carry-on as a counterweight. He has this big, dumb grin on his face. It doesn't hit me until that moment: Even at this busy airport in the honest light of day, I want him. This desire I'm feeling is probably the only thing in my life that's gotten less complicated over time, easier to place, more acute than ever. But his dad and brother are here, too. I have no choice but to fight those feelings off.

Thomas drives us home, and everything's gone back to the way it should be. I'm sitting in the back seat next to Alfred again. Thomas is arguing away with his dad about going up into the foothills tonight. His dad thinks he needs a night of rest after the trip and Thomas is just laying down his rebuttal in that low, husky voice of his: "There's no way I'm sitting out, Dad," he says. "There's just no way."

Anyway, we get back to the house and I help Thomas throw some shit together, and we head out to meet up with everyone else. They're all waiting for us in the Albertsons parking lot along Bogus Basin Road. Madison and Lexie are standing like boards up against Lexie's little car with their arms crossed, chatting quietly like they don't know anybody else. Garrett is there with the same girl from the party. They're both talking to Owen and that girl Chloe, who Owen's apparently left his girlfriend for, based on the way he's got his arm slung clear around her shoulder. Lexie tells me girls don't like to be held by guys like that. She says it's an act of aggressive possession at best, assault at worst. Markham and Driggs are chasing each other around the parking lot, yelling like idiots, occasionally going in for the tackle. That makes an even ten of us.

After heading into the store for some last-minute supplies, we divide up. Driggs drives this big old four-door Chevy truck that he inherited from his dad. The other two couples go with him. Thomas and me and the girls pile into Markham's blue 4Runner, which he got brand-new for his birthday last year. Madison gets claustrophobic, so she rides in the front seat next to Markham. I'm in the middle of the back seat, squeezed at the shoulders between Lexie and Thomas. I know. That's just the way the cards fall.

Anyway, we turn left onto a road called Cartwright and stay on it for quite a while. We pass by this large planned community out in the weeds called Hidden Springs, and then there's not much else around. Cartwright turns to dirt, like so many roads out here do. After bumping and lurching through a rough potion of it, we get to Markham's dad's land and the campsite that's nestled within.

It really is a nice little spot. There's no drinking water, so we packed in what we would need for the night. There's a flat area up on a hill where we park, and it descends into this little ravine clogged with bushes and small trees at the bottom. That's the spot I remember liking best from last year. There's a moment where I catch Thomas's eye, and he gives me a quick, crooked smile. And then I take Lexie's hand and she and I go down there. We go under the branches of this young tree, between a parting in the bushes and find a small runoff stream, still trickling along. It's the kind that will run dry by August. We sit down next to it, and she seems happy that I took her down here. I tell her about the previous year, how Thomas and Driggs both got really drunk around midnight, and we convinced them that we found a little family of raccoons living near a spot where the water pools, and that they were super tame and friendly. I tell her how, when the boys got close enough, we pushed them in. I really paint the picture for her, and she's laughing pretty hard.

We hear the distant thumping of music coming from one of the cars, along with some shouts and laughter.

She turns to me. "How about we don't get too crazy tonight?"

The water's making a really chill little trickling noise. "I don't know," I say slowly. "I was planning on getting fucked up."

She smacks me on the shoulder. "Shut up."