Under the Dusty Sky (Holloway Farms)

mixes in with the slow burn of booze. She really likes him. My brother, I mean. I scrunch my nose as the thought fully grips me. Gross.
    Sighing, I climb on the bleacher beside her and throw my arm around her shoulder. I lean in, resting my head on her, and give her my sweetest smile. She rolls her eyes, and I laugh, putting my mouth to her ear.
    “ I’m sorry, Bear,” I whisper, and she smiles. “I love you both. But it’s not fair of me. I still refuse to choose, though. You’re on your own if you go for it.”
    Lacy sits back, her eyes wide.
    “ I don’t – ”
    “ Sure you don’t. I won’t be mad at you, Lacy. I just don’t approve. I just can’t.”
    Lacy tucks her hair behind her ears and forces a smile.
    “ You don’t approve of any relationship,” she says, and Dermott looks at me again.
    “ Relationships end in pain, Lacy. If that’s what you want. Go for it. I choose to just have fun. And speaking of which...” I grin at her, and she shakes her head.
    Hunter, Emma, and Bentley should be here by now. I scan the room and take it all in: the smell of dirt, straw, and sweat, the sound of a hundred conversations going on at once, the soft play of music from the stage speakers are all so familiar. The Summer Kick-Off is my one constant. Most of my best memories are made here.
    I hear a loud boisterous laugh that I would pin to Daddy any day. His laugh is distinct, but I haven’t heard that laugh in awhile. I look at him standing with our school librarian, Ms. Trimble. She has one hand on his forearm and the other on her chest. She laughs like he just said the world’s funniest thing. Which he didn’t. I know my dad.
    Just then a pair of arms goes around my waist and twirls me through the air, making the warm whiskey kick back. I screech. It’s one of the twins. It’s always one of the twins.
    I yell at him to stop, but he doesn’t until I’m thoroughly dizzy. Archer lets go, and I wobble. Dermott slips his arm around my waist so I don’t fall over, and I cling to his familiar arms.
    “ What was that for?” I glare at Archer.
    “ Well, we couldn’t give you birthday bumps.”
    “ So your plan B was to make me throw up instead?”
    Archer laughs and pulls me from Dermott’s grip, and I’m thankful for it. Yeah D’s hot, but I’ve been there already. Actually I’ve been there multiple times. I keep going back, but D and I have an arrangement.
    My brother hugs me quick and lets me go.
    “ Happy birthday, Gracie Marie.”
    “ Whatever,” I reply through a smile. Dermott and Brandon both shift their weight from one foot to the other at the same time, and I smile bigger. Hunter wraps his arm around my shoulders and says hi to my friends. Brandon says hi, but Dermott just shifts again. Guys are always uncomfortable when all my brothers are with me, but I would bet my horse that Dermott is thinking about what we did in the back of his truck on spring break. Nothing serious but serious enough that my brothers would kill him if they found out.
    I suppress a laugh before changing the subject.
    “ Where’s Emma and Bentley?” I ask Hunter who nods to his right. They’re making their way to us, Emma, the seeming clueless woodland fairy like always. It drives me crazy that she is so damn cute. It makes it hard to hate her for stealing my brother. Bentley, on the other hand, looks delicious with his hands in the pockets of perfectly cut jeans, a black blazer over a grungy t-shirt, and his hair looks the same as always, hanging in front of his ice blues making him look like a man with secrets.
    Emma breaks away from Ben and basically skips to Lacy, throwing her arms around her. Lacy smiles and hugs her back. Lacy’s much more accepting and understanding of Emma. Lacy’s the one who talked me through it when Hunter said he was leaving. I stand back and listen to my friends talk, watch my brother stare longingly at my best friend, and Bentley being bombarded by Kelsey, Mel and Mel’s friend, Julia, while Brandon glares. Mel’s voice catches my attention.
    “ So, where are you from?” she asks leaning forward like she’s really interested in what he has to say. Ben shifts a little, but his expression remains calm. Like always.
    “ L.A.”
    His answer shocks me, and apparently, it shocks Mel too.
    “ Los Angeles? So cool. Why did you come here?” She says ‘here’ like our town is the last place on earth anyone would want to be, and I don’t disagree.
    Bentley shrugs.