The Stars Will Shine Read Free

desert was running my nerves insane up to this point. But I can tell now—that level of immorality isn’t in them.
    “I’m Matt, by the way,” the guy next to me says, pointing to his chest. He gestures to the others, starting with the driver. “Simon, Flint, and Vince.” They each give a small nod when he introduces them.
    “Delilah,” I offer in turn, to which Matt says, “That’s a pretty name.”
    “Don’t be fooled. She was a traitor to love in the Bible.”
    A soft laugh escapes him. “I never really liked the Bible.”
    Sometime later, I start to feel noble, and I tell them, “I want to pay for gas…to thank you guys, you know, for not murdering me and all. Knock on wood.” They burst out laughing and the sound is a song of camaraderie carried on the wind. A pang in my chest strives to tell me I long to be a part of it.
    “Don’t worry about it, Delilah,” Simon, the driver, says, turning the music down again. “We were going this way anyway. It was no trouble to pick you up, and it’ll be no trouble to drop you off. Just…” He watches me in that mirror for a moment, like he’s trying to see deeper into me, and I shift uncomfortably under his gaze. “How about you just pay us with a smile,” he finally says. “A genuine, beautiful smile. A Delilah smile.” His request sends my heart sinking, and I go cold, even under the hot desert sun. I meet his eyes, but my stare has turned into a wall that barricades myself from him. I know he’s studied me enough in that little mirror of his to see that beneath my skin I’m shattered, and I don’t need him trying to convince me otherwise.
    “I can’t do that,” I say, quickly looking away. “It’d be a lie, and I don’t want to con you.”
    “Delilah,” Simon begins, but I cut him off again.
    “Just let me pay for the gas, okay?”
    Simon only shakes his head and reaches for the volume knob on the stereo system. “I’ve told you what I want. I hope one day you can repay me.” The music comes back on and swallows the air around me.
    The rest of the ride goes fine. No real awkwardness. But as much as it’s possible for me to enjoy their company—their immature jokes, their humorous college stories—there’s the constant knowledge in the back of my mind that happiness is only temporary. And that thought alone keeps me from wholly enjoying the short time I have with them. Simon watches me in the rearview mirror sometimes when we’re all laughing, but my smiles must not be convincing enough because he never once says my debt is paid off.
    Once I have Simon exit the freeway, I give him directions to my house. If I weren’t so focused on how much I’m actually going to miss these four guys when we go our separate ways—sad, I know, considering I’ve only known them all of two hours—I’d have been smart enough to have Simon drop me off around the corner. Instead of right at my dad’s doorstep.
    It’s like my dad has superhuman senses because the front door opens and he’s standing there, feet shoulder width apart and arms crossed over his large chest, glaring daggers at my male companions, before I can even make a move to get out of the car. I roll my eyes. Perfect.
    “Jesus, Dad. Creepy much?” I give him a hard stare.
    “Delilah, get inside.” He takes a step toward us, his eyes never leaving Simon—I guess because Simon’s the driver and, thus, the most to blame. Simon scratches his neck, and I can tell he’s annoyed with my dad’s authoritarian display. “Aren’t you boys a little old to be driving around town with a girl her age?”
    “ God , Dad, go back inside,” I say, finally getting out of the car and slamming the door behind me. But I don’t move forward, not yet. And then Simon says exactly what I don’t want him to say in this kind of situation: the truth.
    “Not unless you would’ve preferred we left her where we found her—standing all alone on the side of the road in the Salt River Canyon.” I