The Rift Read Free

his
lips.
    “ Hey.”
    “ Hop on in the White
Lady.”
    She opened the door and climbed
inside.
    “ You know, you don’t have to wait
out there. Your mom’s not that bad.”
    Vero shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I wasn’t
waiting long.”
    He stared as though wanting to say more, as
though he suspected something. Or maybe it was just the length of
her skirt.
    As they drove, he stayed quiet. Wind whipped
through the windows, but Vero smelled a faint aroma of
weed.
    “ You nervous or something?” Vero
asked.
    “ Nah, tonight’ll be great.” His
voice faltered. “It’s just that Steve’s in town.”
    “ Steve…”
    “ My brother.”
    “ Oh, right. Steve .”
    “ He showed up today and tried
staying with Mom. She turned him down, for once.”
    “ And now?”
    “ He’s somewhere around
town.”
    His car idled at a red light. She put her hand
on his on top of the gear shift and squeezed
sympathetically.
    “ I just wish he’d get his life
together,” Pieter said. “Anyways, I’m glad to have plans for
tonight. Feels good to get out.”
    They parked in front of a hole-in-the-wall shop
called Thai This. It shared a strip mall with a guitar shop, liquor
store, and Mexican restaurant.
    Vero stepped out and glanced around. “You see
them?”
    Pieter pulled out his phone, then
laughed.
    “ What?”
    Pieter showed her the screen. It read, “I can
hav grl in car! grl!”
    A teal Honda cautiously turned into a nearby
spot. Neil climbed out in a light-blue, button-down shirt and black
slacks. He almost looked classy, except for the tennis
shoes.
    Gloria, in jeans and a sweater, with black hair
about to her shoulders, stepped out of the passenger’s side. She
followed Neil at a distance, her footsteps a little cautious. Vero
recognized her, though she wasn’t sure from where.
    Vero gave Neil a friendly hug. “It’s good to
see you again!”
    Neil’s body went rigid. “H-Hi. Good to see you
too, Veronica.”
    She twitched at the sound of her full
name.
    “ Hi, I’m Gloria,” said Neil’s
date.
    “ Vero,” Vero said with a glare at
Neil. She embraced Gloria and remembered, midhug, where she
recognized the girl from. “We have sixth period together, don’t
we?”
    “ Um, yeah, we do,” Gloria
replied.
    Silence hung in the air.
    “ What took you so long?” Pieter
barked at his friend.
    “ A raid. We had a bad pull, and it
took a while to escape.”
    The words sounded like a foreign language. Vero
made a puzzled sound. “Huh?”
    “ Oh, sorry, that’s WoW. Uh, World of Warcraft . I’m the raid leader for the Army of
Pwn.”
    “ Hey, let’s get some Thai food,
okay?” Pieter said.
    Vero tried her best to smile. They always made
the best stories, later.
     
     
     
    Pieter held open the door, and Vero and the
others walked out. Two smiling Thai men waved to them amid the
aromas of curry and garlic.
    A cold breeze slapped Vero’s bare legs. Behind
her, Neil laughed. He seemed to think the night had gone well. Vero
eyed Pieter’s car like a bank robber eyes a getaway
ride.
    “ All right, where to?” Pieter
asked. “Night’s still young.”
    Vero locked on his eyes and begged through her
gaze for him to put this thing out of its misery. He blinked and
turned away.
    “ No preference,” Neil
said.
    “ How about you, Gloria?” Pieter
asked. “Anywhere you want to go?”
    “ Oh, anywhere, I guess,” she said.
Four words, about as many as she spoke during the entire
dinner.
    “ No, come on,” he said. “You have
any favorite spots?”
    Gloria paused and looked at each of them in
turn. “Well, there’s the bike path near here.”
    “ Bike path?” Pieter
asked.
    “ The one by the railroad tracks.
It’s quiet. I like walking it sometimes.”
    “ Sounds good,” Pieter said.
“Vero?”
    No, they needed to part ways, right now.
Besides, what kind hangout was a bike path? It was probably a good
place to get mugged. Though that was her upbringing in the Central
Valley. Even the