Eventually, it was just Crystal and Preston in the house. They stood inside the front door. Preston looked anywhere but at her and chewed on the skin of his thumb.

"See ya," Crystal said.

"Uh... yeah."

"Do me a favor and stick my stuff in a bag or something." She opened the door and stepped through. "I'll get someone to come by and pick it up."

Preston nodded. He still didn't look at her.

"Way to fuck it all up forever, Preston," Crystal said.

He finally did look at her. She could see he was still a little buzzed. His attempt at a smile was quick and weak and didn't survive when he took his thumb out of his mouth. "Yeah. You... think forever?"

Crystal closed the screen door so black mesh and wrought iron was between them. Her chest constricted; she forced a few quick breaths in and out to control threatening tears. "You know me. I can forgive a lot."

He brightened a little.

"But you went and fucked Tall Skinny motherfucking Gail."

Preston's face fell. Crystal pressed on.

"It's like you deliberately took a shit on my fucking heart, Preston." She shook her head. It was time to bail if she was going to keep it together.

"On my fucking heart, Preston."

"Crys..."

"Later."

She turned her back on him and walked as fast as she could without breaking into a run. She got to her old Nova, got behind the wheel, jammed the key into the ignition and gave it a vicious twist.

The engine came to life, and with it, the cassette in the tape deck. John and Exene sang about painting the town blue. Crystal blinked and drove through tears that turned the streetlights into smeary stars.

Heather pulled in front of Alex’s house, put the car in park and engaged the brake. Her smile was vulnerable, hopeful and guarded. “Here we are.”

“Yep.” Alex smiled back. “I’m sorry about this.”

Her laugh was short and a little frantic. “What about? It’s no big deal.”

They looked at each other. Her smile started to stiffen from the eyes down. Alex leaned forward, gave her a chaste kiss on the lips, and opened the car door. “See you soon..?”

“Not if I see you first,” Heather said.

He laughed politely. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

He stepped out of the car, closed the door, and stood at the end of his driveway until her car was out of sight. It was the right thing to do; he guessed that she would be checking her rear view mirror as she left. He didn’t want to be a dick.

Too late for that. He was a dick. Sleeping with someone he didn’t really love; that was new ground. He felt like shit.

He let himself into the dark house, felt his way to his bedroom, closed the door and turned on the light. It was only 12:30… it was early! Should he risk calling Angel? Would she answer fast enough to avoid waking up her folks? Was she already asleep?

Was she out, on a date with jock-prick Mike Dante?

That was an ugly thought.

Would he be able to call her, talk to her at all, on the phone in the kitchen without waking up his parents? His dad would be pissed…

He stood in his bedroom and weighed it out.

“Fuck this.” He slapped the wall switch down, clicking off his bedroom overhead light, and crept into the kitchen. The way he figured it… and this was twisted, but right… he owed it to Heather to call Angel.

He dialed Angel’s number by memory and touch. The phone rang once, almost twice, and there she was.

“Hello..?”

“Hey!” Alex kept his voice down. “Did I wake you up?”

“Hey..!” She was likewise half-whispering. “No… but you might have woken up my dad…!”

“Sorry… I… we haven’t talked for a few days. I couldn’t sleep; thought I’d catch up with you.”

Alex was mortified to discover that he was nervous. This was Angel, for Christ’s sake.

Exactly.

“Well…” Her tone told him she thought he could have waited until tomorrow to catch up, but here they were. “I guess I’m all right.”

“You guess? That’s not the same as all right.”

“Guess not.”

Alex couldn’t decide if he felt bad for his friend or excited that her less-than-optimal mood might be because of Mike Dante being an asshole. “So? Tell me.”

She sighed into the phone. “Ugh. It’s nothing.”

That was new. There was no “it’s nothing” between them. They didn’t work that way. “C’mon, Angel. It’s me.”

“Yeah.” She sounded dubious.

“So?”

He was ready to hear about a bad date. He was ready to be pissed off if Dante had been mean to her, or worse, tried to do something she didn’t want.

“Are you…” She sighed heavily. “Do you like me, Alex?”

Whoa. He wasn’t ready for that.

Car did not have an easy time getting Lina out of the car and into the house. She wasn’t a big girl, but she was dead weight, and he was acutely conscious of not wanting to accidentally hurt her.

First, he got her arm across his shoulders and held her tight around her waist. Hopefully, she would stumble along with him.

She didn’t. Her feet dragged along the driveway.

He’d never tried carrying anyone before, but there didn’t seem to be any other right way to do this. Car crouched down, hooked his left arm under Lina’s knees, and straightened up. He wasn’t especially weak or especially strong, so it took some effort to straighten his legs, keep her steady, and not fall backwards. He grunted and hoped none of his neighbors were watching.

“Okay. Here we go.”

Car lurched up the slope of his front walk and got to the front door, which was when he realized his keys were in his front pocket. He needed a free hand. He had to put Lina down.

Bracing Lina between himself and the door frame, Car fished out his keys and got the door open. He got Lina through the door as carefully as possible and closed and locked the door.

He picked up Lina again. Her breath tickled his neck and she mumbled something unintelligible.

“Almost there, Lina…”

He carried her back to his bedroom and lay her on the bed without bothering to pull down the spread. Instead, he folded it over her as and figured it would be enough of a blanket.

Lina mumbled something else and even moved a little, settling into the bed. Carson felt something loosen in his chest and he let out a long, shuddering breath.

“Oh, god, Lina,” he whispered. “No more nights like tonight. Jesus.”

She slept.

Car padded into the kitchen and got himself a drink of water. He noticed the answering machine’s little red LED blinking. Car feared it was Lina’s parents, but he wasn’t about to call them until Lina was awake and coherent. There’d be hell to pay, but the price wouldn’t be that much higher tomorrow morning. Lina needed to rest.

Hell, he needed to rest. Now that Lina was truly safe, the adrenaline he hadn’t known was sustaining him melted out of him in a flood. He stumbled back to the bedroom, lay down beside his friend, and closed his eyes.

“Lina…” Another wave of relief hit him. He blinked tears. “Okay. Okay.” She was safe. Crystal DuBois beat the shit out of Eric Finn — he’d be feeling that tomorrow, the fucker. And Lina was safe, here, with him.

He rolled onto his side and pulled her close against him. “You’re safe.”

Car’s sleep was thick with anxiety and cloudy threats. When the phone rang, it yanked him awake with a start.

The clock said four eighteen. For the rest of his life, more often than not, he would inexplicably manage to look at a clock at least once a week at exactly four eighteen.

Sleep fuzzed and blunted his reluctance to face Lina’s parents. He picked up the phone.

“Hello..?”

“Carson…. Carson, thank god. Thank god.”

It wasn’t Grant or Amanda Porter.

“Uncle Mick..?”

“Carson… Carson, buddy, I need you to wake up, okay? I need to tell you something, kiddo. Okay? Are you… are you ready?”

…to be continued!

Be sure to leave your comments on this installment!

Support “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights”

This ongoing serial fiction series is free to read, but takes a lot of time and work to create. If you enjoy “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights,” I’d like you to become my patron by compensating me for the experience.

One-Time Contribution

I think $0.99 is reasonable for a single installment of the serial, but feel free to contribute whatever amount you think is appropriate.

Recurring Contribution

New installments of “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights” post twenty five times a year. If you’d like to provide regular support for my ongoing efforts to write the serial, please consider contributing on a automatically recurring monthly basis. I recommend $1.49 per month, but feel free to make your monthly contribution whatever amount you think “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights” is worth.

Music, Books and Movies From This Installment

When you purchase the books, movies or music mentioned in this installment of “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights” from Amazon.com, I receive a very small commission (about 4% in most cases) that does not affect the price of the item. In fact, I will benefit from any purchase you make when you visit Amazon.com from the links below, so feel free to have a shopping spree to support “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights!”