I grin. “Don’t you think it would be more fun to ride in the back? I can read you your Miranda rights and pretend you’re under arrest for streaking or some crazy shit.” She tightens her jaw and releases my arm. “Okay, okay. You can ride in the front.”
We cross the street and walk into the parking deck, where a couple of skate punks are racing down the ramp, hootin’ and hollerin’ like they’re at Disney World. “Wait here,” I tell Tess. “Hey, assholes.” The kids skid to a stop, their eyes wide. “Can you read?” They look at each other. “I asked you if you could read, shitheads.”
The kid with the greasy hair hanging to his shoulders answers. “Yeah.”
I point to the NO SKATEBOARDING ALLOWED sign. “Then read and get the fuck out of here.” I shrug at Tess when they scatter. “Just kids having fun.”
She takes a hesitant step forward before hurrying to catch me. “Then why did you speak to them that way?”
“So they won’t do it again,” I say, as we cross the low-lit area to the ramp where I parked my patrol car. “Their kind of fun can bust their heads open.” I glance over my shoulder. “Ever seen a busted head?” I grimace. “It’s not pretty. The skin is so thin on the scalp and forehead you bleed like a stuck pig.”
Tess makes a face. “I can imagine.”
I open the passenger door for her. She slips inside and glances around the interior when I shut the door behind her. “Don’t worry,” I say as I slide into the driver’s seat. “I’m supposed to sub this car out for my own tomorrow.”
“Thank you. That’s probably best.”
“Where to?” I ask her.
“Right out of the lot and then two blocks down to Juniper,” she says, keeping her attention straight ahead.
“Did you mean what you said back there?” she asks after a moment.
“Yeah. The blood pours right out. It’s real nasty when it gets in the eyes—”
She holds out a hand, looking a little squeamish. “I mean about you considering us friends from college.”
“Yeah. Why not? We hung out all the time. Well, at least my frat and your sorority did.”
“But we didn’t speak much.”
“Sure we did. I always said hi to you when you came over.” I cut my eyes her way. “Even though you’d look at me like you wanted to smack me upside the head.”
She adjusts her position, bringing her giant purse close to her chest. “That’s not true.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“No it isn’t. I was—” She sighs. “It’s just that I didn’t always approve of your behavior.”
“You mean the keg stands?”
“Yes.”
“And the drinking games?”
“Yes.”
“How about the body shots—were they offensive, too?”
She raises her eyebrows and crosses her arms. “You mean the ones you did on my half-naked sorority sisters? If you must know, yes, I did find them offensive.”
“You did, huh?” She didn’t seem to mind the night I licked her all over, but I keep that memory all to myself. “You call it offensive. I call it age-appropriate activity. We were in college, after all.”
“Would it have bothered you if I’d done that?” she asks, quietly.
“Licked a shot off one of your sorority sisters? Hell, no.”
Oh, and there’s that pissy look again. “I meant if I’d done that to one of your frat brothers.”
“No.” Maybe.
“No?”
“No.” Okay, probably.
“Oh,” she says.
Maybe it’s me, but she sounds disappointed. I glance over at her, noticing the way she seems to shrink inward, like she used to do all those years ago. For all that she’s changed physically, on the inside, I’m not sure she’s changed much at all. She’s still that same girl, appearing to watch life from a distance.
I nudge her, hoping I can somehow draw another smile.
“Admit it, our time at the ol’ frat house was fun. And if I recall, the night you finally took part in some of those offensive shenanigans—”