West Coast

By the time Lacey and Alec found their way back over the fence, they had emptied the flask of all contents and got caught by beach security. They had almost fallen asleep up there, on that stationary ferris wheel, until they heard shouting through a speaker from over the fence. They were slow getting down, but they had still managed to outrun the guards who were breaching the property. They didn’t even have a chance to catch their breath when they got over to the bike. Lacey grabbed her shoes and sat behind Alec, almost too late as he started up and started riding off back onto the street, joining in on the noises of the weekend night. Being on the run almost felt better than the leisurely ride they had taken earlier. The speed engulfed them both. Lacey forgot about the chase and just focused on the wind whipping her hair in her face and Alec, serving as her rock as they rolled down the long streets. Alec slowed down, only a bit, when the beach was no longer in sight. Instead of winding through alleys and side streets, he swerved down the winding roads lined with palm trees. Moving her hands from Alec’s waist up to his shoulders, Lacey dared herself to stand. Planting her feet as sturdy as she could manage on the sides of the bike, she straightened her legs and threw her head back, letting out a long howl and then another. Alec could barely see her whenever he glanced over his shoulder but, when she howled, he joined her. Lacey remained standing as Alec spun the bike to a stop. Lacey didn’t know where they were, but she wasn’t too concerned. The rumble of the engine came to a stop and Lacey removed her hands from Alec’s shoulders as he stood up on the ground. Looking up at her, he let out another howl, closing his eyes like a coyote actually would. Lacey mirrored him.

Ending their animal calls, they laughed as Alec helped her step down from the bike. Lacey’s face changed when her feet touched the ground, though. Holding a finger out to Alec’s face to silence him, she looked out to the sky, listening. It was then that they both heard howling in the distance, a coyote, no, a couple coyotes, had heard their calls. They were part of the pack.

“You’re wild.” She laughed as they made it down the street.

Alec knew where he was, but that didn’t mean Lacey did. While they were walking, she tried to remember the name of the streets, but they held no meaning to her. The night had quieted down significantly from when they were riding away from the beach and now they couldn’t hear much aside from their feet and the miniscule sounds of burrowing insects.

“You know, Lace,” Alec started, throwing his arm over Lacey’s neck and pulling her into his side, almost roughly, “You don’t know half of what California really is. You have all these ideas and icons in your pretty head, but there’s grit here too, like anywhere else. It’s dangerous once you get to know it.”

“Yeah? Show me.” She mused.

“You want to see danger?” He said, stopping and looking down at her. His lips were pulled into a smirk but his eyes were stone and serious. She just nodded.

“Okay.” Alec said, dropping his arm from her and walking on, a little faster now. “Okay.”

Lacey watched carefully as Alec walked determinedly down the street, trying to keep up with him while keeping her distance. Five, six, seven steps ahead, Alec turned towards a house window and stared through it before shoving his elbow through the window and climbing in. Before Lacey could scream,she rushed up, trying to look around her to see any reactions by any neighbors or passersby, luckily there weren’t. She didn’t dare climb through as Alec had, she didn’t even want to go near the jarred edges of the window, but she had to in order to see what the hell Alec was doing. She was constantly turning her attention from within the darkened house back to the illuminated streets all around her. There wasn’t anywhere to hide. What the hell was he doing. Alec caught her head by the chin just as she turned back towards the house and smiled a toothy grin at her before pecking a kiss on her forehead and climbing out of the window just as a light in the house turned on. He pushed her along as he landed his feet on the ground just for them to start sprinting down the street, twisting and turning as they had on the motorcyle earlier. Alec pulled Lacey into an alley after a few minutes and tried to control his laughter. Lacey just stared at him, the best she could through the darkness, like he had three heads.

“What the fuck.” Lacey said, just above a whisper.

“What?!” Alec didn’t find anything about this short of hilarious. “You wanted danger, love, you got it.” Lacey couldn’t see him very well, but she could feel his breath, warm and close to her face. Lacey had to admit that she had practically asked for this, but she still hadn’t expected it. “Besides, this is one of the new neighborhoods, the police station is way down the west end. It needed a little crime. Plus, I snagged us some fun.” Alec explained, pulling out what he had made it out with and laying it all on the ground. The two of them kneeled down and looked at what had come into their possession. Two nips of tequila, three $20 bills, a couple gold rings, and a bag of pot.

“You got all this in two minutes?” Lacey inquired, “How, do you know them or something?”

“Not at all,” Alec said, “but all people live relatively similar.” Alec grabbed the money and waved it near Lacey’s face for emphasis before pocketing it along with the marijuana and the nips. “Besides, these were what I had my eyes on, the rest just came to me.” He said, scooping up the two rings. They were both women’s rings but simple ones, with gold bands. One had engravings of the sun and the moon on it and the other had a diamond in the middle with two smaller ones on the side.

Lacey didn’t say anything. She knew she should’ve felt exponentially worse about all this than she actually did. Something about Alec made her feel like everything he did was right and nothing scared her more. Alec grabbed Lacey’s left hand and slid the diamond ring on her finger before kissing it and dropping it back on her knee where it was before.

“What the fuck.” Lacey said as she had before, only now, it was out of glee, not anger or confusion. She tried to move her hand so the gem would catch the street light and shine for her. She was pretty sure it wasn’t a real diamond, but the sentiment was there. “Alec, you really should not have done all that.” She said, looking at him now, rephrasing the classic phrase. She saw him trying to fit the other ring on his fingers. It was a woman’s ring, after all, so naturally it was too small for him, but he managed to squeeze it onto his pinky finger before looking back at her proudly.

“Oh, I know I shouldn’t,” He started before getting back on his feet, “but I wanted to.”

Standing herself, she watched Alec as he moved out of the darkness and back onto the street. He threw his arms up and started spinning himself around before he saw Lacey emerge from the shadow. He wrapped his arms around her neck and leaned down to look her in the eyes. She could see the child in him. For the first time, she was reminded that he was human, that, once upon a time, Alec was a little boy. She wondered what he was like as a child, if they could’ve been friends growing up, if he would still be proud of who he was if he remembered that.

“You’re wild.” Lacey repeated herself before moving her head up to kiss him again before Alec pulled away, nodded his head to the side, motioning Lacey to follow him. She did, and she always would.