âAnything else?â
I glance at Rubee. She looks like sheâs waiting for me to say something. Her eyes have little gold flecks. I feel my cheeks turn bright red. I hand her the pack of gum.
She smiles. âJust the gum? No diapers?â
I shake my head and hand her the money.
Darius sighs. He says to me, âAre you done?â
I look at my shoes.
âIâll take that as a yes.â He turns to Rubee. âRiley Park, tonight. Iâm saving myself for you.â
She looks at him and crosses her arms. âUnlikely,â she says, âon both counts.â
âWeâll go swimming.â
âYou might, but youâll freeze.â
âIâm a wild man.â Darius smiles at her. âIâll bring blankets.â
Itâs not like Darius is super attractive. Heâs built, but heâs not that tall. He spends a fortune on his hair. Maybe thatâs why the girls go for him. Darius reaches into a pailof plastic-wrapped flower bouquets by the check stand. He selects an arrangement of red and white roses. Water from the bouquet drips on the counter. He presents the flowers to Rubee. âThese are for you,â he says. âA token of my love.â
Rubee takes the flowers and smiles.
Darius says, âRiley Park. Tonight. Nothing complicated, Rubee. Youâre your own woman. No one telling you what to doâyouâre in control. Come to the party if you want, bring some friends, have a few laughs, or donât. Itâs totally up to you.â
The guy with the groceries tells us to piss off and get out of the line.
Darius ignores him. âLater, I hope,â Darius says to Rubee, and he blows her a kiss.
Chapter Two
The party is just getting started, and Iâm half cut when Darius decides to go cliff jumping. He peels off his shirt and jeans and stands there in his boxers. Some of the girls giggle. One of the guys from my team, Jason, high-fives Darius, but I donât see Jason or anyone else stripping down. Itâs October and cold. Darius is already covered in goose bumps. He looks at me. âCome on. The water will feel warm.â
One of the girls circles Dariusâs waist with her arms, folding her hoodie around him.
I shrug, drain my beer and toss the can in a heap by the fire. âSo letâs do it.â
The guys cheer. Riley Park is on the banks of the Riley River. On the other side of the river, across a footbridge, are sheer cliffs and then a slope up into a forest. Iâm out of my clothes and jogging over the bridge before I can convince myself that weâre nuts.
The cliffs are a rock wall. We climb to the highest outcrop. Weâve timed how long it takes a jumper to hit the water and figure that weâre at least sixty feet up. Thatâs twice the height of the highest Olympic diving platform. Iâm not scared but my stomach does a slow turn, anticipating the rush. Below us, across the river, I can see our fire pit. People are looking up at us. I hear Jason shout, âThe gap!â
The gap is higher still, where the rock cliffs give way to forest. We wonât be able to see the water until weâre in the air. We have to take a run at it in order to clear a stand of trees growing on the side of the cliff. The gap is a commitmentâonce we start, we canât change our minds. Otherwise weâllend up bouncing down the stone cliff or impaled on a tree.
Darius says, âWeâll jump the gap together.â
âTogether?â
He laughs. âWeâve never done it before. Itâll blow them away.â
âOr us.â We head up to the gap.
Now weâre in the trees and the trail is narrow. Weâll each have to run on the edge of the path. I wish I had something on my feet, although I hate swimming with shoes. Shoes are like anchors.
Darius says, âAt the trees, we jump.â
âNo, really? I was going to run right into them.â
âIf we die, we
Kent Flannery, Joyce Marcus