# Eleanor #

She didn't slow down until she was on the next block, and then only because she didn't know where to go. She was almost to Park's house -- she couldn't go to Park's house.

She pulled back the soiled blanket and set the cat on the clean sheet underneath. Then she climbed from the top bunk to the bottom. Her bookbag was sitting by the door. Eleanor unzipped it without getting off the bed and took Park's photo out of the side pocket. Then she was out the window and on the porch and running down the street faster than she'd ever run in gym class.

/do i make you wet?/

/pop that cherry/

Eleanor ignored the girl's voice. She looked back at the street. What if somebody had heard her leave the house? What if Richie came after her? She stepped off the sidewalk into someone's yard. Behind a tree.

"Hey, Red."

"Hey. Eleanor."

Eleanor looked around. She was standing in front of Steve's house. The garage door was mostly closed, propped open with a baseball bat. Eleanor could see someone moving inside, and Tina was walking down the driveway, holding a beer.

"Hey," Tina hissed. She looked as disgusted with Eleanor as ever. Eleanor thought about running again, but her legs felt weak.

Eleanor followed Tina up the driveway, crouching to get into the hazy, dark garage.

"Come on," Tina said, in a voice Eleanor had never heard before -- concerned. "You just need to stay out of his way until he cools off."

"Did you tell him about Park?"

"Nothing." A pair of headlights stopped at the end of the block. Eleanor put her arms over her head.

"Your stepdad's been looking for you," Tina said. "He's been driving around the neighborhood all goddamn night."

"Is that Big Red?" Steve was sitting on a couch. Mikey was there, too, on the floor, with one of the girls from the bus. There was hessian music, Black Sabbath, coming from a car up on blocks in the middle of the garage.

Tina narrowed her eyes. Then shook her head. "But somebody's going to."

"What's wrong with you anyway?" Tina asked.

"I asked him if his dick was bigger than his truck," Tina said. "I didn't tell him anything."

Eleanor looked back at the street. She had to hide. She had to get away from him.

/suck me off/

"What did you tell him?" Eleanor said. Did Tina do this? Is that how he knew?

Tina closed her eyes and blew smoke at the ceiling.

"Those weren't quarters," Steve said. "That was a ten."

"Stepdad," Steve shouted, throwing a beer can across the garage. "Your fucking stepdad? Do you want me to kill him for you? I'm gonna kill Tina's anyway. I could get them both in the same day. Buy one, get one…" He giggled. "Buy one, get one… free."

Eleanor shook her head.

"We should play quarters," Steve slurred. "Hey, Red, do you have any quarters?"

Tina perched next to him on the arm of the couch and lit a cigarette. "We had quarters," she said. "We spent them on beer, remember?"

"Sit down," Tina said, pointing to the other end of the couch.

"You're in trouble, Big Red," Steve said. "Your daddy's looking for you." Steve was grinning from ear to ear. His mouth was bigger than a lion's.

Tina opened a beer and shoved it into Eleanor's lap. Eleanor took it, just to have something to hold. "Drink up," Tina said.

"It's her stepdad," Tina said.

Eleanor took a sip obediently. It tasted sharp and yellow.

# Park #

/i know your a slut you smell like cum/

It was true, she realized, even if it wasn't.

"No," Eleanor said. "He's going to kill me."

"Away… I have to tell Park."

She stood up. "I've got to get out of here."

That night, before they'd climbed back into the front seat of the Impala, he'd taken off all of Eleanor's layers and even unpinned her bra -- then laid her down on the blue upholstery. She'd looked like a vision there, a mermaid. Cool white in the darkness, the freckles gathered on her shoulders and cheeks like cream rising to the top.

Eleanor listened to Steve sing song after song over the wet hammer of her heartbeat. The beer can went warm in her hand.

Tina's face was hard. "So, where you gonna go?"

Park couldn't sleep.

Eleanor closed her eyes, too. She tried to think about what she should do next, but nothing came to her. The music on the car radio switched from Sabbath to ACDC to Zeppelin. Steve sang along; his voice was surprisingly light. "Hangman, hangman, turn your head a while…"

"God," Tina said, "relax. He won't find you here. He's probably already at the Rail drinking it off."

The sight of her. She still glowed on the inside of his eyelids.

# Eleanor #

It was going to be constant torture now that he knew what she was like under her clothes -- and there wasn't a next time in their near future. Tonight was another fluke, a lucky break, a gift…

"Park." There was a knock at the window, and he scrambled over to it, pulling back the curtain.

It was Steve. Right behind the glass, grinning like a maniac. He must be hanging from the window ledge. Steve's face disappeared, and Park heard him fall heavily onto the ground. That asshole. Park's mom was going to hear him.

Were they holding her hostage?

Park sat up in bed and looked around dumbly.

Was she holding a beer?

Park opened the window quickly and leaned out. He was going to tell Steve to go away, but then he saw Eleanor standing in the shadow of Steve's house with Tina.

"Park," someone said.

As soon as Park saw her, he climbed out the window and hung four feet from the ground -- he was going to break his ankles. Eleanor felt a sob catch in her throat.

"Hey, Park, did I scare you?" Steve asked. "Did you think I was Freddy Krueger? You think you was gonna get away from me?"

Steve sat at one end of the couch and immediately lit a joint. He held it out to Park, but Park shook his head. The garage already smelled like a thousand joints had been smoked in here, then put out in a thousand beers. The Camaro was rocking a little bit and Steve kicked the door. "Settle down, Mikey, you're gonna knock it over."

"We should get back to the garage," Tina said.

She started to cry. Like, majorly cry. She felt like herself again as soon as he touched her, and it was horrible.

Park got to Eleanor and took her arms. "What's wrong?" he asked. "What's going on?"

"Are you bleeding?" Park asked, taking her hand.

# Park #

"Car," Tina whispered.

He landed in a crouch like Spider-Man and ran toward her. She dropped the beer on the grass.

"Jesus," Tina said. "You're welcome. That was the last beer."

Eleanor pulled Park against the garage until the headlights had passed. "What's going on?" he asked again.

He hadn't been in Steve's garage since grade school. They used to play foosball in here. Now there was the Camaro up on blocks and an old couch pushed against the wall.

"Talk to me," he said to the top of Eleanor's head. "What's going on?"

Park couldn't even imagine a turn of events that would have led Eleanor here -- but she'd practically dragged him into the garage, and now she was huddled against him. Park still thought maybe they'd kidnapped her. Was he supposed to pay ransom?

"Her stepdad is looking for her," Tina said. Tina was sitting on the arm of the couch with her legs in Steve's lap. She took the joint from him.

"Is that true?" Park asked Eleanor. She nodded into his chest. She wouldn't let him pull far enough away that he could look at her.

"I have to leave," Eleanor whispered.

"Fucking stepdads," Steve said. "Motherfuckers, all of them." He burst into laughter. "Oh, fuck, Mikey, did you hear that?" He kicked the Camaro again. "Mikey?"

Thank God. Park backed away from her and took her hand. "Hey, Steve, we're going back to my house."

Park bent to clear the garage door. Eleanor stopped behind him. "Thank you," she said -- he would swear that she was talking to Tina.

"Be careful, man, he's been driving around in that shit-colored Micro Machine…"

This night couldn't get any weirder.

He led Eleanor through his backyard, then around the back of his grandparents" house to the driveway, past the spot by the garage where they liked to kiss goodbye.

He and Josh used to play in here. It was like a little house, with a bed at one end and a kitchen at the other. There was even a miniature stove and refrigerator. It had been a while since Park had been inside the RV -- he couldn't stand up now without hitting his head on the ceiling.

When they got to the RV, Park reached up and opened the screen door. "Go on," he said. "It's always unlocked."

"Eleanor…" he said. "What's going on?" He was pleading.

There was a checkerboard-sized table against the wall with two seats. Park sat on one side and sat Eleanor down across from him. He reached for her hands -- her right palm was streaked with blood, but she didn't seem to be in pain.

"Why?" he said. "Is this about tonight?" In Park's head, it felt like everything must be about tonight. Like nothing that good and this bad could happen on the same night unless they were related. Whatever this was.

"I have to leave," she said. She was looking across the table like she'd just seen a ghost. Like she was one.

"Why?"

"No," Eleanor said, rubbing her eyes. "No. It's not about us. I mean…" She looked out the little window.

And Park's hands started shaking before she was halfway through.

"Maybe he won't hurt you," he said, hoping it was true, "maybe he's just trying to scare you. Here…" He pulled his hand inside his sleeve and tried to wipe Eleanor's face.

"Oh God, I shouldn't have come here," she said. "I'm just making it worse. I'm sorry."

"Because he knows, because I ran away."

She told him everything.

Park wanted to shake her, to shake through to her -- she wasn't making any sense. Two hours ago, everything had been perfect between them, and now… Park had to get back to his house. His mom was still awake, and his dad was going to be home any minute.

Eleanor closed her eyes and nodded wearily.

He leaned over the table and took Eleanor by the shoulders. "Could we just start over?" he whispered. "Please? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Because he knows." Her voice caught. "Because it's him."

"What?"

She started over.

"No," she said. "You don't know, you don't see how… how he looks at me."

"Why is your stepdad looking for you?"