Alex

     In the wild, whenever lions decide to stalk, pounce on, or murder one of the lesser creatures in the animal kingdom, the air around them shifts. Never mind the billions of other wildlife bustling around the savannah, once a lion has chosen a target, he attacks. 

As for the prey, the semi-innocent, unsuspecting, New Jersey gazelles ignorantly grazing in the line of fire, their overall chance of survival comes down to two choices.

Choice A: Stand there helpless while the drunken king of the parking lot jungle throws himself at you like a beast or Choice B: Dodge him like a champion.

Decision made.

Elias stumbled toward me, arms outstretched, smile devious, eyes glistening with unreadable intent and I—avoided him like the plague. 

I kicked my feet against the concrete and darted to the side like a cracked-out jack rabbit while he tripped over his shoes trying to keep up with a former gym class relay-race champion. 

For someone with my athletic-ish skills, out-running a drunk person was about as difficult as playing a game of keep away from a teenage toddler. No matter how hard Elias tried to catch and/or trap me in whatever get-back-at-your-ex picture pose he had in mind, I managed to keep him at an amusing distance. Enough to low-key gloat about. 

But that's the problem with getting cocky. 

Eventually, it catches up with you.

"You can't run forever, Jersey. Especially if it's from something you want."

I didn't know what it was—the sound of his voice or the way my body reacted to it that slowed me down to a crushing halt. But it only took a second for everything to change. 

I stopped dead in my tracks, turned around, and opened my mouth to rattle off the million and one reasons why I didn't and wouldn't ever want anything to do with Elias King. 

And then he crashed into me. At full speed. 

The side of my face slammed into his chest as we barreled toward the ground in a mess of chaos, beachy cologne, and confusion. I waited for my back to hit the concrete or him to squash me under the brunt of his weight—but then he caught me. 

He actually caught me and within seconds the two of us were impossibly close. Close enough for me to feel the heat of his breath brushing against my lips. The warmth of his hands spread out across my back. The buzz of all the places our bodies were connecting. But before I could move, breathe, or gain my bearings, Elias leaned into the shrinking space between us until his lips were just inches away from my ear.

"Is this the kind of picture you were talking about? Just say the word and I'll have Mindy pull the trigger."

"Get off before I make you."

"Suit yourself, Jersey. But don't blame me for making you miss out on the snapshot of the century."

"Off, Elias."

"Okay, okay. Relax. This was your idea, remember?"

He eased off and lowered me down until I was safely on the ground and away from him. I smoothed out the wrinkles in my tank-top, unruffled my hair, and tried my best not to act as shaken as I felt. But sometimes, the aftershock of being close to beautifully dangerous boys linger long after they're gone.

I stood up and dusted myself off while Elias sauntered back over in Mindy's direction like he hadn't crashed into me at all.

"Mindy-mouse, please tell me you at least got some of that on camera," he asked.

Mindy stayed deadly quiet. She was too busy staring into the screen of his phone like she'd seen a ghost.

      "Babe, who's this?" she asked.

Her voice cracked halfway through her question and Elias's punch-drunk smile sobered itself straight.

    "Who's who?"

     "This."

    He darted across an empty parking space, tripping over his shoelaces just to stop her from scrolling through what sounded like a secret. I liked the idea of a secret that could make Elias sweat, and he was drenched.

      "Are you seeing someone else?" Mindy asked.

     Elias grabbed for his phone but Mindy played a pretty solid game of keep away for someone her size. I should've brought popcorn.

     "Can I get my phone back?" he asked.

     "Answer the question, Elias."

     For a bubblegum girl, Mindy could switch into I-might-as-well-be-your-girlfriend mode on a dime. She shoved Elias's phone into the back of her shorts and stiff-armed him to keep him at a distance. But he leaned into her tiny hand and stared down at her like they were the only two people in the parking lot.

     For a split second, even in the 90-degree heat of their argument, they were electric. The way he'd hold her gaze, and the way she teetered on the edge of giving in almost looked like magic.

     Rory and I never had that magic. Our arguments were frightening not flirtatious. We couldn't do the dance that Mindy and Elias fell into at a glance. We were broken. He was broken, just an impending explosion without a spark. 

      "Mindy, please," he begged.

     I didn't know this boy. The smooth-talking sleeze bag, I knew. But a boy who pleaded, a boy who suddenly sounded too small for the tough guy tall-tales he wanted the world to believe, was begging for his secrets back.

     First rule of surviving: if a secret's heavy enough to bring you to your knees, don't carry it in your back pocket.

     "What's her name, Elias?" Mindy asked.

     "Don't."

     "Have you been with her as long as we've been—"

     "Bed buddies?"

     The hard and fast crack of skin against skin echoed through the empty parking lot. I held my breath waiting for the eruption, waiting for Elias to give into the quiet rage the way broken men do, but he stayed still, and stared into the space between them like he'd find a solution in the silence.

     "Fine. You wanna know who she is?"

     Mindy caved a little. Her back and forth glances gave her away. Amateur move. He'd cornered her. If you're gonna go toe-to-toe with a guy like this, always be ready to lose.

     "She's off limits, Mindy."

     "So, you're with her then."

     "Does it matter? Its not like you and me are together."

     "You know what? Find another ride home, Elias. Alex, let's go."

     Mindy trudged toward the car, digging high-heeled trenches into the concrete as she click-clacked her way back over to me. Moments like these made me grateful for embracing spinster at seventeen.

     When there's no one you like there's no one to fight with. Simple. But given Mindy's reaction to her newfound "bed-buddy" status, things between her and Elias seemed anything but.

     "Are we really leaving him here drunk?" I asked.

     I slid into the front seat and tried to find a place to put my feet among the hoard of In-N-Out cups and burger boxes on the floor. Mindy's love life wasn't the only thing messy she had going on.

     "Yes. Just put on your seatbelt and try to forget everything that just happened. Okay?"

"Okay"

     She jammed her keys into the ignition, backed out, and nearly clipped Elias in the process, before flipping him off and blazing her way towards the exit. So much for the pictures.

                                                                             ***

     Mindy broke down crying the second we hit the freeway. I didn't know what to do. Caleigh had called me twice since we left the airport and I let her ring to voicemail. She hates ringing to voicemail, but picking up a phone call with miserable Mindy's soundtrack in the background wasn't exactly ideal. Thank God for texting.

     "I'm sorry you had to see that, Alex. I'm not usually like this."

     Her CD of sappy Lady Antebellum songs said the opposite, but I kept quiet.

     "It's fine, guys are...complicated."

     I pulled out my travel pack of Kleenex and handed her a tissue so she could mop up her mess. My first therapist gave them to me as a gift. She was the least annoying out of the twelve I ended up going to because she didn't make me feel like a freak for not crying over Rory.

     Instead, she gave me tissues in case my dry spell suddenly let up. Present or no present, Mindy needed them more than I ever would.

     "No, boys aren't complicated. Elias is complicated. Too complicated and I'm over it. Do you think I should text him?" she asked.

     "I think a little space is probably a good thing right now."

     "I shouldn't have left him alone. What the hell am I gonna tell Caleigh?"

     Mindy blotted a glob of mascara away from her eyes and choked the life out of the steering wheel. I didn't know when my cousin switched from being the chillest person this side of the Pacific, to being the kind of girl who made her friends nervous. But even I was on edge about seeing her.

     Her last couple "Where are you?" texts came within three seconds of each other, and it wasn't like her to stress. The Caleigh I knew was a yoga loving, surfer-swimmer chick. She lived the kind of L.A. life I used to dream about; beaches and boards twenty-four hours a day. Zero-tension.

     But that was before. The Rory situation made everything different, even her, but I didn't need different. I needed Caleigh to be Caleigh instead of a mini version of my mom. 

     "Maybe tell her he met up with friends. Elias has friends right?" I asked.

     "Not in L.A. He's only been here a little while. Last month, his brother drove up with him from San Diego in the middle of the night saying he had nowhere else to go so—"

     "His brother?"

    "Yeah, Tanner. Him and Caleigh are a thing. They've been a thing for a while, now. You didn't know?"

     Apparently, there was a lot I didn't know. 

      "No, but I'm happy for her."

      At least, I was trying to be. Some people are just lucky in the relationship department. Maybe that's why she never said anything to me about him. Maybe she knew me better than I did, 'cause over the last six months, just seeing or hearing about normal couples made me physically sick. My parents couldn't even watch romantic movies with me in the room. Guess word travels fast.

     It still would've been nice to know about her and Tanner, but people keep the secrets they keep.

     "You'll like Tanner. He's way cooler than Elias. Hard to believe they're related," Mindy said.

     She stared out over the wall of traffic, searching for a fast lane in the middle of a total standstill. Hardly anybody honked in L.A., so I held my breath waiting to see California passive-aggression explode into an all-out brawl on the freeway. It never happened. It would've in Jersey.

     "I feel sorry for the guy. Can you imagine being on Elias duty twenty-four seven?" I said.

   "He has been since last summer. Elias nearly didn't make it out of last year, so Tanner's been—speak of the devil."

     Mindy's phone lit up and she switched it to speaker.

    "Hey Mins."

     "Hey Tan, how was swim practice?"

     "Good. Glad it's over. Is Eli with you? Caleigh said you guys went to LAX earlier. She didn't let him drive did she?"

     She paled through her spray tan.

     "No. I drove him."

     "Good. Caleigh left that detail out of her text to me this morning—you know how she is. Did he give you any trouble? "

     If Mindy furrowed any harder she was gonna end up with a uni-brow.

    "He's been a little moody," Mindy said.

    "When is he not. He's been trapped in the house all week so he's probably a little stir crazy. Thanks for taking him out for a while. He needs it. You're a good friend," Tanner said.

     "Yeah, no problem."

     The unintentional friendzone statement deflated Mindy faster than a helium balloon.

     "Can I talk to him? He's not picking up his phone. I hate when he misses my calls."

     Mindy was right, Caleigh and Tanner were a match made in collegiate neurotic heaven.

     "Tanner, he's—"

     I snatched over the phone.

     "He's asleep, but I can take a message," I said.

     Somebody needed a decent excuse if we didn't want to get roasted the second we showed up Elias-less back at the house. Mindy looked at me wide-eyed and panicked while I pieced together a believable excuse for a missing person.

     "Is this Alex? Hey kid, welcome L.A. I'm looking forward to meeting you. I'll apologize for my brother in advance."

     "Not at all, I've seen worse—"

     Much worse.

     "—The heat got to him earlier so he's passed out in the back. But he's fine," I lied.

     "Good to know. Okay, I'll see you guys a little later. I'm taking Caleigh out for lunner and a movie so if you need to get in the house, the key's under the doormat."

     "Cool. We'll see you then. Nice to sort of meet you, Tanner."

     "Likewise. Later, you two!"

    Mindy reached over and hugged me so hard the car veered dangerously close to hitting a passing Jetta.

     "You're amazing. I nearly had a panic attack back there. Now at least we have some time."

     "How long do you think we have to find Elias?" I asked.

     Mindy pulled off the freeway and took the side streets back to LAX. I was happy with any way her GPS could take us as long as it didn't involve staring at rows of taillights.

     "A couple hours. He's probably still pouting in the parking lot," she said.

     "Or crying."

     We broke out in the kind of laughter I'd nearly forgotten about. The kind that shook and rattled your ribcage until it hurt--because it was real. I used to have friends back in Jersey I laughed with like this.

     But when the rumors started, the laughter stopped. Mandy had my quiet gratitude because she was the first person in almost half a year who laughed with me instead of at me.

     Her phone buzzed in my lap.

     "Should I answer? It's an unknown number, " I asked.

     "Yeah, it's probably, Elias. If his phone's dead, he most likely seduced some other a girl into letting him bum a phone call."

     I slid my finger across the screen and hit speaker.

     "Hi, is the guardian of Elias King?"

     "May I ask who's speaking?"

     "Ma'am, I need to know whether or not I've reached a legal guardian."

     Mindy nodded me into a necessary lie.

     "Yes."

     "There's been an accident. It's important you and any other family members make your way over to UCLA Medical center as soon as possible. He's just been admitted."