"Was that Carlos?" Jay said, looking straight forward over his hands, with his elbows propped up on his splayed knees.
Lucy flinched, careening backwards into the comforting wall of the dumpster. She shrank down small. She looked over her shoulder.
"No, no, no," Jay said, letting his right hand float into the air, pressing down the tension, calming her nerves. He wanted to let it keep going to her knee, or her shoulder, or her heart, but she didn't need that right now.
She needed protecting.
"Was Carlos one of the ones who grabbed you?" he said.
She placed her wide eyes on his like high beams, eyebrows arched, and slowly shook her head, mouth pinched.
He sighed.
She sighed.
"Who were those girls chasing you?" she finally whispered.
Wanting to divert her attention from that stoic fact, he deferred.
"I thought they were after you," he said.
She looked at him.
A small smile passed through his brow. She smiled back. He smiled bigger, and his teeth came out.
They laughed it off.
Soon they were upside down, on their backs, laughing uproariously: chuckling so hard they cried, and their lungs screamed.
Birds flew across the picture perfect sky above.
"You know, your Dad told me in California this happened to you all the time, but I didn't believe him," Jay laughed.
Lucy stopped laughing.
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