Free Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts

and is hovering over the selection of salads when she hears a familiar voice behind her.
    “You showed up,” Owen says, nudging her with his elbow and plunging a spoon into a sheet pan of lukewarm mac and cheese. He steps back and Sienna sees that Carly is hovering behind him. “See?” Owen gloats to Carly. “I told you she was real.”
    “Oh my God,” Carly says quietly. Her speaking voice is a full octave higher than when she sings, and Sienna has a hard time believing that this is the same girl she just saw swaying seductively up on stage. “You look exactly the same. The hair, the freckles, the perfect teeth.”
    Sienna lets her tongue run along the inside row of her bottom teeth. She’s never thought of them as perfect. She’s never thought of them as anything, except teeth.
    “So.” Owen reaches around her to grab silverware. “What’d you think?”
    “Ugh.” Carly groans. “Don’t interrogate her. If she wants us to know, she’ll tell us.”
    Sienna smiles. “You guys were awesome,” she says. “Seriously.”
    “Didn’t I tell you this girl can sing?” Owen wraps an arm around Carly’s waist and hugs her to his side. Sienna’s stomach does another surprising flip-flop and she can feel her heart clanging against her ribs. Across the room, another band is setting up, and Owen surveys the crowd. “Come on.” He gestures with a toss of his head. “These guys are great.”
    Carly finishes piling her plate with hearty scoops from the various trays and follows him away from the buffet. Sienna stands as if glued to the floor, her empty paper plate still flapping in one hand. Owen turns around. “Coming?” he calls back.
    Sienna shakes her head. “My brother’s over there somewhere,” she says, gesturing to the tables. “I should go find him.”
    Owen smiles and waves, placing a protective hand on the small of Carly’s back and leading her through the groups of jostling fans. Sienna tosses her plate in the trash and looks around for the door.
    *   *   *
    What she really wants is a cigarette.
    She found Dad and told him she wanted to leave, that she didn’t mind walking. It wasn’t far. But he insisted he was ready, too. Denise wanted dessert but then they could all head home. That was twenty minutes ago.
    Sienna finds an old rope swing with a paddle seat, hung low from the branches of a towering oak. She gives the rope a good tug and sits down, pushing off with her heels.
    She didn’t smoke until she got to the House, and even then it was only once in a while. The House was a mix of teenagers and college-age kids, and the over-eighteens were allowed to smoke in the courtyard with permission. Sienna would occasionally bum from one of them and sneak out late at night, when whatever staff was on duty had less of a chance of telling the difference.
    She hated it at first, hated the taste and the chemical smell it left on her hands, but she liked the excuse it gave her to get outside. It was the one time of the day when she felt free.
    From the dark shadows of the trees, Sienna sees Dad and Denise before they see her. Denise is carrying a plate full of leftovers, Dad’s walking close beside her. From here, they look like strangers, a happy couple she doesn’t know.
    Sienna drags the tops of her feet and hops off the swing to the gravel. Dad turns at the sound. “There you are,” he calls. “Ryan’s washing his hands. Meet us at the car?”
    Sienna nods and sticks her hands in the pockets of her shorts, watching as Dad and Denise shuffle slowly toward the back parking lot. She sits on the bottom step of the Community Center entrance, next to a sandwich-board sign that reads “All Are Welcome!”
    Sienna takes her phone out of her pocket and checks the time. She’s starting to wonder why she doesn’t just wear a watch; she never uses the phone for anything else.
    “You’d get better service out by the water.”
    She turns over her shoulder to see Owen. He sits on the other side