The Distance Between Us

his guitar.
    She smiles and slides into the small space between him and the arm of the couch.
    Mason winks at me. “Hey, Caymen.”
    “Hi.” I throw my backpack against the wall, find some floor space, and settle in. I just want to melt into the floor and fade from existence for a while. It seems to work as the guys start goofing around with lyrics and music. I let the blended melodies bounce around inside me.
    Derrick, the drummer, randomly sings about his day. How he drove in his car and listened to the radio. How he went to the store and picked up some milk and on and on. I stop listening until he asks, “What rhymes with ‘fire hydrant’?”
    Mason gets serious and I think he’s going to say something like “Don’t be an idiot. Why are you singing about a fire hydrant?” But instead he says, “I don’t know, ‘wire tyrant’?”
    “What’s a wire tyrant?” Henry asks.
    “You know, someone who hoards all the wire. It’s a rising epidemic.”
    I give a small laugh.
    “How about ‘tired rant’?” Skye says. “If you draw it out, it rhymes good enough.”
    “This is our tired rant about a useless fire hydrant,” Henry sings.
    Mason laughs. “This is our tired rant about Henry the wire tyrant.”
    “How can a rant be tired?” I ask. “Aren’t rants by nature lively?”
    Henry strums a chord, looks up at the ceiling for a minute while playing several more chords, then sings, “I’m so tired of the same old rant when what I really need is a second chance.”
    Mason points at him. “Yes. Let’s call this song ‘Fire Hydrant.’”
    They laugh, but Derrick starts writing on a notepad as they yell out more lines about making up and starting over. I don’t believe I just witnessed the birth of a song that started out with the words “fire hydrant.” It’s weird to see something created from nothing. I think about myself and how Xander is trying to create something out of my nothing life. How he kind of has. He took the ridiculousness, the fire hydrant, from my song and made me realize it could be something more, something different.
    After the day I had, this thought makes me happy. I start shouting out lines with them. They get pretty far on the song before ridiculousness is reintroduced when someone yells, “And why won’t you just let me eat turtle soup?”
    Skye gasps in offense but then everyone laughs.
     
    At ten o’clock the laughter has not ceased. We’ve gotten past laughter and into slaphappy stupidity. Skye is on the floor draped across me. “I better get you home, little girl,” she says. “It’s a school night for the underage one.”
    “I’m spending the night at your house!” I yell.
    “You are?”
    “That’s what my note told me so it must be true.”
    “Yay! Slumber party.”
    “We should toilet paper someone’s house,” I say.
    “Yes. We should TP someone’s house. Whose?”
    “I don’t know.” Then I raise my hand like she’s a teacher. “Xander’s!”
    She laughs. “Who wants to TP Xander’s house?”
    The guys just look at us and groan.
    “We don’t need you.” I stand. “Let’s go.”
    Skye runs ahead, but just as I clear the door, I’m tugged back by my arm. I whirl around and face-plant against Mason’s chest. We’re standing just outside the door in the dim corridor.
    He kisses my cheek. “You left without saying good-bye.”
    I step back and meet his eyes. “I’m . . .”
    He blinks hard. “You and Xander, huh?”
    “I think so.”
    “Are you sure you fit?”
    I know exactly what he means, but as an image of Xander pops into my head I nod.
    He shrugs a lazy shrug. “You know where to find me.” With that he disappears back into the room.

Chapter 31

    S kye and I each hold two rolls of toilet paper and stare at the gated fence of Xander’s house. “Isn’t it too early to TP?” Skye asks. “It’s not even ten thirty. The house lights are all on.”
    “It’s never too early. The real question is how are we going to get inside?” I try to squeeze through two wrought iron bars and my thigh gets stuck. I start laughing.
    “Have you ever been this irresponsible in your life?” Skye asks.
    “I don’t think so.”
    “The silly you is fun.” Skye takes me by the armpits and tries to pull me out. She’s a laughing mess. Finally she tugs me free and I land on top of her, both of us falling to the ground.
    “Let’s just TP the bars of the gate.”
    “Is Xander going to find this as funny as we do?” she