Jynx Googled Dr. Vickers, scrolling through several pages of results detailing his work in the jet propulsion laboratories, peer reviews of his academic papers, and even details of his subsequent expulsion for questionable data handling procedures. She found photos of him posing with various faculties over the years, first universities, then laboratories, and then abruptly he was pictured with the familiar faces of her high school’s faculty, the proud smile replaced with an empty glare. On the seventh page of her results, she discovered his home address, still listed in the Arroyo Grande white pages. Ashley probably would have checked the phone book first and Jynx had to wonder if her mom still had one of those in the house.

She plugged the address into her phone and was disappointed to find that it was just as she had expected. Dr. Vickers lived in a really old neighborhood at the south end of town. It was only a few miles away, but without wheels, it would be a long, hot walk. If Austin hadn’t bottomed out on Becca all of a sudden, he could have given her a quick ride over there before his date, but he wasn’t even answering her texts. Jynx felt like Ashley had just warned her that this was bound to happen eventually. She tucked the saucer shingle into her backpack and readied herself for the walk with a bottle of water and her hat, just in case.

She got to the front lawn just in time to see Austin peel out of the cul-de-sac like he was qualifying for speed trials. Even if she knew his urgency wasn't personal, it didn't help her feel any better about being abandoned on the front lawn; ignoring her text messages was insulting enough. Steeling herself for the long trudge across town, she spotted the Pony leaning up against the corner of the garage where Austin left it after their ride up into the hills.

A quiet knock at the front screen door disturbed Nikki from considering her various defeats, both in tomato cultivation as well as defending her son’s honor. “Blond, you said?” she texted back to Kelly as she strolled in to answer the door.

Eyes still adjusting to the dim indoor lighting, the silhouette at the screen door looked a little like Jynx and Nikki wondered if Austin rushed off so quickly that he’d left his date behind. “Big and blond,” Donna wrote back, “send me pics if they have them.”

But sure enough, Jynx was standing at the screen door, apparently locked out. “Did he forget something, honey?” She opened the door, peering around to see if he was parked out there somewhere. “I thought you two were going to coffee.”

“Austin’s out with Becca.” Jynx shifted nervously on the balls of her feet. “I came to see if I could borrow the Pony.”

“Becca?” Nikki glanced down at the text message screen, trying to remember if there was a side bet. “Who the hell is Becca?”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Becca DeWeiss? Miss Arroyo Grande two years running?” Jynx didn’t mask her disdain nearly as well as she might have liked.

Nikki didn’t particularly care about the girl’s extracurricular activities; beyond the initial virginity bet, both Nikki and Kelly had some fairly elaborate plans for Austin and Amber’s obvious happily ever after ending. It had never even occurred to them that Austin might run off with some little beauty queen. “Hold on a second hon,” Nikki thumbed a quick text: “Bet’s off. No win.”

Jynx watched, rocking back and forth as she waited.

“Alright sweetie, what did you need?”

“I wanted to borrow Austin’s bike to run an errand.”

Nikki’s phone chimed: “What?! Why?!” and a fraction of a second later: “I need this, Deb!” Regardless of the little debutante’s interference, Nikki felt a twinge of smug satisfaction that she could rely upon her son to make the wrong choice. She met his father at that age, after all. “Little Miss Arroyo Grande…” She typed. She smiled consolingly at Jynx. “Oh, hell yeah, honey. Let me grab you the keys.” Double or nothing her son would blow it and end up broken-hearted before he realized what he was missing out on. “You get your things on, sweetie. I'll see if the spare key is still in the kitchen.”

A few minutes later Nikki stood on the front lawn in her bathrobe, wearing an oversized pair of Austin's old work boots. Nikki offered the spare key, still dangling from a dirty rubber Pony keychain as Jynx adjusted her pink coveralls and wiped the dust off her helmet visor. “Are you sure you're safe to drive this thing?”

Jynx nodded seriously at her, feeling obliged to be quiet with the helmet on, disliking the echo of her own voice. She took the key from Nikki and inserted it into the ignition, following the same practiced steps as Austin to start the bike. She spent enough time riding with him, and even riding it out on the open salt flats — the spare key was hers, after all — but she never drove it in the streets. She found the busy traffic distracting. Straddling the light Enduro, she turned the key, opened the choke, squeezed the clutch, and stomped the kick starter once, twice, and with everything she had the third time to hear the little two-stroke pop, sputter, and then scream a cringe-worthy snarl. Somehow, starting the motorcycle herself made the loud exhaust noise a little more bearable. She even twisted the throttle a few times, laughing as Nikki pressed her fingers into her ears, grimacing like Jynx used to do. Nikki pulled her bathrobe closed, kissed her fingertips, and patted the top of the purple helmet as Jynx closed the choke and stomped the shifter down to first. A little lighter than Austin, Jynx popped the clutch and the little pastel pony-stickered dirt bike hopped up in an unexpected wheelie, launching down the driveway like that, terrifying both Nikki and Jynx momentarily. When the front wheel hit the concrete again, Jynx kicked it up to second gear, riding out the first crushing wave of her adrenaline rush.

Nikki watched Jynx careen down the street to where she very nearly clipped the front bumper of a white Aerostar minivan, just turning into the cul-de-sac. It occurred to her just a few moments too late that she had never actually seen Jynx drive the motorcycle before, or even the truck. But she seemed to know what she was doing. Had Nikki not been distracted, she might have asked a few more questions.

So, Austin was on a date with a beauty queen, she mused. Well good for him. She texted Donna: “Double or nothing the little princess takes his v-card.” She watched the white van trundle uncertainly up the street. Her phone chimed. “You’re on.”