Chapter Two
The Kings of Edensville
The game was still two hours from kickoff, but the gates of the parking lot were open and students were already pulling into their familiar groups for the weekly tailgate party by the time Adam and David pulled through the gate. The pair had certainly turned heads on their way through town in the truck. David rode shotgun grinning like a Cheshire cat. Too bad no one knew who was in the candy apple red beauty, the windows were too dark. The tint didn't afford any kind of visualization whatsoever to whom its occupants were, and Adam liked it that way for now. David, however, wanted to roll his window down and hang his head out the window like a puppy on a Sunday afternoon drive letting everyone know that he was inside. Adam put the window locks on and wouldn’t let him, much to David’s chagrin, so he turned his attention to the satellite radio and found Echosmith’s Cool Kids playing and pushed the volume button to an abnormally loud level. So loud in fact that the windows were rattling with the steady stream of music that pumped out of the speakers. David said it was their theme song for the night!
Neither Adam or David had ever been to a tailgate party, especially one in the Popular’s parking lot. They weren't part of that crowd and uninvited Walk-Ons didn’t dare go into the Popular’s parking lot and think they were going to be part of the party. It just wasn’t done. The sound of the Super Duty Ford's exhaust system pulling through the gates of the parking lot caused his fellow tailgaters to turn and look in complete slack jaw. Those in attendance were definitely wondering who in the world it was in the massive brute. The rumble of the exhaust growled like an angry lion as he gave it a little gas to push the tires over the speed bumps in the parking lot.
“Here Adam, just park here!” David was so excited. He encouraged Adam to pull into a spot in the middle of the lot where all the empty spaces were. The early tailgaters had already filled the outer ring of the lot pointing their hoods toward the fence before letting down their tailgates and watching as others filed in leaving the middle of the parking lot for the elite. Tonight, however, they were going to be joined by two, not normally in their social circle, in the big red F450 rumbling to a stop. Yeah, two unknowns were going to be the Kings of the Populars at Edensville High tonight.
Adam and David were the center of attention and loving it. They watched as girls and guys alike were standing on tailgates to get a better look at the colossal beast sitting in their midst. Some had even started walking over toward them to get a closer look. David waited until his classmates were just within touching distance of the truck before he nearly shouted with excitement.
“Adam! Flip the fog lights on!” Adam laughed, but did what his best friend asked. He really was getting a kick out of this. “Now lower the running boards and tailgate!” Again, Adam did what his lifelong friend requested. If someone at that very moment had asked him he would’ve had to admit that he was loving it too.
Suddenly, from the front gate the familiar black Camaro pulled through and parked two spaces over from where Adam and David were. Just as the lights were shut off Eve St. Clair got out followed by Miriam. Both were wearing their Edensville High cheerleading uniforms as they came around to the driver side of the truck with eyes full of curiosity. Lucian on the other hand seemed to take his time getting out of the car. He rose from the black leather seats slowly and closed the door behind him, flicking the butt of his cigarette into the parking lot before leaning back casually against the black on black tricked out Chevy as he watched Eve near the red brute.
“Wow!” Her eyes were wild with wonder. “Who does that belong to?” Eve ventured aloud to no one person in particular, the few standing around curious themselves shrugged their shoulders, but no one verbally answered her except for Lucian.
“Climb on up there and see for yourself, babe. What are they gonna do drive off with you hanging onto the mirror?” Lucian tossed out. Eve frowned but didn't pay him any attention.
“Hey! Nice ride! Who’s in there?” Adam’s heart leapt as Eve stood in full view under the burn of the fog lights, but she stayed there only for a moment. Following Lucian's suggestion she made her way toward the driver side door and reached for the handle. Adam panicked, but he didn’t waste time by letting it set in. Instinctively, he hit the automatic lock button on the door to make sure that she couldn’t get in. She must have heard the sound of the locks clicking into place.
“Hey! No fair! Come on….open up! Come on out and give us a look inside!” She was dying to know who was inside. No one around Edensville had a truck like this that she was aware of. Eve stood with her hands on her hips looking up into the driver side door calculating her next move. How was she going to know who was inside? No one came into the Popular’s parking lot uninvited.
Inside the truck was chaos with David over in the passenger seat looking like he was in a bouncy house bobbing up and down with all the excitement of a kid at Chucky E. Cheese. He stretched over Adam to see what Eve was doing outside the driver side door. The music blared so loud that he couldn’t quite make out what she was saying so he kept asking over the music, Dude what’s she saying? It wasn’t until she reached for the door handle again and David reached to unlock it on his side that Adam fully panicked. His left hand reached for the steering wheel and his right shoved the gear shift into drive causing the running boards and the tailgate to automatically close back up. The unexpected vibrations of those things retracting caused an already nervous situation to hit record heights. Adam jumped causing his foot to slide off of the brake and automatically hit the gas. He freaked when the truck lunged forward with the powerful surge and nearly mowed Eve and several of the onlookers down as he whipped the heavy machine around to get out of the tailgater’s parking lot.
“Hey!” Eve yelled at the back of the truck as she jumped back out of the way. “Watch it!” She glared at the driver window as the truck made a huge circle around her and headed out of the Popular’s tailgate parking lot. “Wow…that was just…rude!” She spat after them then headed back to Lucian’s car.
Tires squealed as he maneuvered the beast through the gates and back out on the side street barely diverting an accident with an oncoming car. The same JROTC guard from this afternoon directing traffic yelled, but Adam paid her little attention, and he certainly didn’t stop to apologize.
“Hey!” David shouted again over the music. “What are you doing?!” Adam didn’t answer, nor did he stop. He had one thing on his mind, getting out of there and back to the house. David was in complete shock at what his best friend had just done. “Adam, you nearly ran Eve over, did you see that?” No response. “Dude?” He nearly pleaded. “What are you doing? Where are we going?” He looked back over his shoulder at the parking lot where a shocked Eve St. Clair stood with her hands on her hips. “The party is back there! EVE is back there!” He tried to appeal to Adam’s desire for Eve, but it too got no response. Adam was silent and stayed that way all the way back to his house.
When he pulled back into the driveway Adam hit the garage door opener over the sun visor, waited for it to open, backed the truck in, and then got out to make sure that he was parking it right back in the same exact spot that his dad had left it. David didn't wait for the running board to fold out. He jumped from the lofty height of his seat on the passenger side.
“What are you doing?” He stood in the middle of the garage holding his drumsticks waving them around. “Dude, what was that?” When David got upset he showed it with his whole body. His arms were flying around in frustration as he verbally assaulted Adam with every question he could think of trying to evoke an answer of out him. Adam acted like he wasn’t paying attention to him. He had gone over to his dad's workbench and grabbed a shammy and began to wipe the red truck down.
“Adam, dude?!” David nearly screamed to get his friend's attention, it worked.
Adam paused, but didn’t look up into David's face. “I shouldn’t have done that. My dad will absolutely kill me when he finds out.” Adam??
?s voice was low, not panicky as David's.
“Dude, your dad is not here! We weren’t doing anything wrong! Nothing happened to his precious truck…..” He used his fingers for air quotes as he slurred the word precious, “…there are no scratches, no one hit you.....there's not even dirt on the tires! I mean come on, it’s fine! What are you so freaked about? We were just gonna go and watch the game with the Populars!” David was exacerbated, clearly at a loss as to what his best friend had just done. He paused and gained control over his emotions and spoke evenly this time.
“Adam?”
Adam stopped twisting the rag in his hands and faced his best friend, but didn't quite meet his gaze still. “I’m sorry David. I shouldn’t have done that. It was stupid. All kinds of things could have happened or went wrong.” He ran a nervous hand through his dark hair. “....and if you don’t wanna stay the night and get a pizza after I’m finished wiping the truck down, I understand.” Adam turned the shammy over and over in his hands for a moment waiting for David to answer.
David sighed. “Yeah, maybe another night, I think I’m just gonna head on back to the game. We’re playing Palestine High tonight, and I’d really like to see us beat the Giants for once.” David was angry and he didn’t want to spend this night as they usually spent all of their other Friday nights ordering a pizza, staying up late watching TV, or playing video games. They had a chance to do something they’d never done before and Adam blew it. He was upset with his friend and knew that he wouldn’t be able to get past it, not tonight anyway. It was too soon.
“Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.” Adam's voice was low as he went back to wiping down the truck with the shammy he had all but pulverized in his hands as he twisted it while listening to David make his excuse to leave.
“Yeah, I’ll text you.” It only took a moment for David to get on his scooter and be gone, leaving Adam alone in his the garage with his father’s truck. Adam threw the shammy to the floor, infuriated with himself for being so impetuous and stupid. It was just a truck for heaven’s sake and David was right.....nothing had happened! Adam kicked a tire in his fury. Ouch! He limped over to pick the rag up and put it back on the work table. How could this night have gone so wrong?