Body Surfing

higher on her wasp-thin waist, showing off a sliver of navel ring. Jasper found himself tempted to grab it rather than her hand.
    “Sorry ’bout that,” he said, blushing a little. “Didn’t realize there was a lady present.”
    “There are ladies around?” Danny let out a long, practiced burp. “I had no idea.”
    “Shit, man!” Jarhead said now. “Who was that shortie you dragged into the closet last night? I bet she was a helluva ride.”
    At the mention of the girl in the closet, Jasper pulled his eyes from Danny’s and stood up straighter.
    “Don’t talk shit about my girlfriend, Jarhead.”
    “Girlfriend?” Jarhead’s shout could’ve been heard on the other side of the river. “Don’t tell me that was Michaela. I ain’t that stupid. Not unless you turned Michaela into some hot ass Indian chick. Woo-hoo!”
    Jasper felt all the blood drain from his head, even as Jarhead laughed and tossed him a beer. It banged painfully off his kneecap, which sent Jarhead into a fresh fit of braying laughter. But Jasper hardly heard him.
    Indian? Really? Indian?
    There were exactly two Indian girls at Dearborn, and only one ofthem was in the senior class. Only one of them had been at the party last night.
    Sila Patel.
    Q.’s girlfriend.
    Jasper and Danny bent over at the same time to pick up his beer and came dangerously close to bumping heads. Danny grabbed the silver can and held it while Jasper opened it. White foam bubbled out over both of their hands and Jasper felt his cheeks go bright red.
    “Girlfriend, huh?” Danny smirked. “What a lucky, lucky lady.”
     
    Jasper jerked awake when his cell rang. The sun had moved behind the hilltop at his back. He must’ve been asleep for hours. His first thought was of the half-finished garden. Great, he thought. One more thing for his old man to get on his case about.
    The phone rang again.
    “Fuck,” Danny hissed. She held a long fishing pole deftly in her hands, looked like Huck Finn crossed with a runway model. Jasper clapped his legs shut to hide his hard-on, but Danny seemed intent on the river. “Answer that thing before you scare off the fucking fish .”
    Jasper pulled his phone out. “Q BALL.” Somewhat nervously, he flipped it open.
    Q.’s voice sniggered into his ear in a broad imitation of an Indian accent. “Who is a naughty boy then?”
    Jasper felt a moment of hope. Q. wouldn’t be teasing him if the girl in the closet had been Sila, right? It’s not like Jarhead West was the most reliable witness in the world.
    “Oh man. What did I fucking do last night?”
    “Fuck,” Danny hissed again. “The fucking fish. Dude.”
    Q. dropped the fake accent, and Jasper’s hopes went out like a match dropped in a toilet bowl. “Don’t worry, buddy. My girlfriend, your girlfriend. Why should I care who you fuck? Last day of your life—anything goes, right?”
    “Oh fuck, man. I’m sorry. I was just so drunk. Fuck . Do you know if Michaela saw me?”
    Q. laughed into the phone. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”
    “What? She’s there?”
    Instead of Q’s voice, Jasper heard Michaela’s, faintly, as if from a distance. “Fuck off, Q. I don’t want to talk to the prick.”
    The Indian voice came back.
    “The little mistress is sorely aggrieved. Methinks you will very much have to make it up to her in person. I shall convey her to your crappy abode in my chariot of Porscheness in three shakes of a water buffalo’s tail.”
    “Q., no,” Jasper said, and heard Michaela’s voice say the same thing in the background (or backseat apparently). But Q. spoke over him.
    “Get ready for the ride of your life, buddy boy.”
    With that, the line went dead.

7
    I leana looked both ways before stepping into the hallway, then headed toward Soma’s room. She paused outside the door. Even as she reached for the handle, however, she heard a creaking floorboard, then noticed a crack of light emanating from within, crossed by a flickering shadow. Her hand snaked toward the blade in her boot. Epinephrine, insulin, serotonin flooded her bloodstream.
    The door swung open. Ileana jerked back, but it was only a maid, leaning heavily into a cart of cleaning supplies. The girl was pleasant looking, with rich dark skin and full breasts—which Ileana couldn’t help but notice because the girl was in the act of tucking something into her bra. Ileana gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed it was a tip, and not a theft.
    She cleared her throat