But then, there were no other girls like this one.

She’d never told him it was her first time, but she didn’t have to.  He knew even before her body proved it to him.  Afterwards, they were silent together, skin against skin, until the light began to fade and Oscar started to worry about getting down the trail in one piece.

Now, closing in on home and facing the reality that they will need to separate for a few hours, Oscar thinks that never in the history of people was it easier to walk beside someone.

“What are you thinking about?” she asks, somewhat shyly.  They are within sight of Atlantis now.  At night it gets swallowed up by the desert, with only a few meager lights to tell the story of its existence.    Oscar is thinking about the cave, about her.  He’s thinking about whether it’s possible to know you’re making one of your life’s best memories while it’s happening.  He swings an arm around her shoulder.

“I’m thinking about Cowboys and Indians.”

Ren laughs.   “Why?”

“This is where your grandfather made all those movies, wasn’t it?”

“Our grandfather.”  She’s teasing.

“Don’t fucking start.”

“Oh, don’t be angry with me, cousin.”

“I’m as much your cousin as the goddamn president.  And as for Rex Savage, never met the guy and we’ve got no blood in common.”

Ren grows thoughtful.  “I guess it’s a good thing he died before he got to see what became of us, the Savages.”

He peers down at her.  “It’s not so bad, is it?”

“Depends on who you ask.  To August, life is just fine.  To Lita, it’s catastrophic.”

Oscar has to stop walking because he needs to wrap her in his arms.  He’d like her to stay there forever.  “What about if I asked you?”

A slight breeze lifts Ren’s hair and he is hit with the now familiar scent of her cherry vanilla shampoo.  It’s got him going again.  He can’t help it.  He presses himself against her so she’ll feel it too, how bad he wants her.

“Oscar,” she sighs, “I’ve never been this happy before.”

“Me either.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He kisses her, long and deep.    He wants more but they are getting close to the big house and anyway she wouldn’t be up to it so soon after her first time.  It’s okay.  There will be other nights.

They are coming around the south side of the big house, hoping not to be seen.   Beyond the town, there’s a rickety fence surrounding some crumbling gravestones.  The graves are not real, of course.  Nothing about this place is real.  It’s a fake cemetery where actors wept artificial tears over people who’d never existed in the first place.  It was all a tragic fantasy to suit a story.  The cemetery has always been left alone, kind of a macabre reminder of the world of make believe.  Still, it gives Oscar the fucking creeps and he’d rather be elsewhere.

Suddenly there’s soft two-note whistle from the center of the fenced off square.  It couldn’t be anything remotely supernatural.   But Oscar nearly jumps out of his skin just the same.  There are far worse things than ghosts that lurk in the darkness.

Instinct causes him to swivel and push Ren behind him, shielding her from whatever’s coming.  His fists are tight.  The whistle sounds again and the footsteps are nonchalant.  Oscar relaxes a little.   It’s probably just Monty.  He’s enough of an asshole to hunker down in the dark just waiting for someone to pick a fight with.

The left side of Oscar’s face is still swollen from the last time they went it at three days ago.  Oscar got in more good shots than he took though, so that’s something.  They’ve been staying clear of each other since then.  That’s the way things always go between him and Monty.  Either they’re bashing each other’s faces bloody or they’re ignoring each other’s existence.  Oscar knows there’s some deep rage in that guy and it has nothing to do with him.  Yet there must be something redeeming about Monty because Ren always insists there is and Oscar would trust Ren with his life.

“Hey,” says the voice from the darkness and it’s not Monty.

“What’s up, Spence?” Ren asks, surprise in her tone.  “What are you doing out here anyway?”

By the light of the full moon Oscar can see Spencer Savage has his hands jammed in his pockets.  He gives a nod to Oscar and then focuses his attention on his sister.  Of all Ren’s siblings he’s the only one Oscar would tentatively call a friend.  The kid’s something of a puzzle.  He’s quiet and serious and has a habit of avoiding people whenever he can.  He’s all right though.

Spence take his hands from his pockets, removes his hat and yawns.  “Just hanging out.”

Ren crosses her arms.  It’s her big sister no-nonsense pose.  “You’re not going to run off into the desert again are you?”

Spence has a habit of taking off when it suits him.  A few weeks back he disappeared for two days and even his hellish mother was worried.  When he casually strolled back into Atlantis he seemed rather bewildered by the fuss, shrugging everyone off with the explanation the he was camping and didn’t think anyone would miss him.  It wasn’t a cry for attention, not with Spence.  He felt like leaving so he left.  Oscar could respect that, although Ren has said she wishes her younger brother needed people, just a little.

“Not today,” he answers casually.  He looks at Oscar.  “Actually I was waiting for you guys.”

“You were?”

“Yeah, I saw you head up to the trail earlier.  You had to come home sooner or later.”

A light in the big house flicks on and then off again.  Ren looks toward the house and frowns.  “Something happen?  Monty steal one too many beer cases and get carted off by the Consequences PD?”

“Maybe.  But that’s not why I was waiting.”  Spence clears his throat and fixes them both with a look of sympathy.  Considering it’s Spence, this seems as abnormal as a jackrabbit playing Tic Tac Toe.  Oscar can feel Ren’s rising tension.  He takes her hand.

“Spill it,” Oscar orders.  “What’s going on?”

The boy scratches at his head and seems to mull over his words carefully.  “Look, I don’t have a problem with whatever’s going on between you, but not everyone feels that way.”

“Eh, whatever. I can handle Monty.”

“I’m not talking about Monty.  He can be a dipshit but he doesn’t have a big mouth.”

For some reason a cold finger travels up Oscar’s spine. “But someone does?”

“Yeah, “ Spence admits slowly. “Someone does.”

Ren sucks in a breath.  “Goddammit, why can’t Bree mind her own fucking business?”

“Who says Bree had anything to do with it?”

“Well who the hell else is a hair-flipping tattling little gossip?”

Spence exhales and glares at his sister with rare annoyance.  “Jesus, Ren.  You guys think you’re fucking invisible or what?”

Oscar lowers his head, understanding perfectly.  Why were he and Ren kidding themselves that no one around them would notice anything was up?  Here they were in an isolated place in the middle of a dull summer and lately they’ve been all over each other.  He’d found a way to justify it, telling himself that they’d broken no laws and no one should raise an eyebrow over two teenagers getting together, not in this day and age.  But now he silently curses his own fantastic idiocy.   It’s not that simple.  Not when the two teenagers in question both have the same famous last name.

Spence squirms, apparently regretting his brief outburst.  He sighs and runs his hand through his dark hair again.  “Look, this is the deal.  Oscar, as long as you make my sister smile I won’t be getting all up in your shit.  But we all know my mother’s an evil bitch and right now she thinks she’s found something to get bent out of shape about.  I just wanted to warn you, that’s all.”   He hops over the low fence and starts to walk away into the night.  He spins around once and repeats, almost apologetically,  “That’s all.”