Free EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE by Debby Conrad

Griffin. Worried about what she would talk to him about. She could hear it now.
    The weather? “It’s certainly hot out.” “Yes, it is.”
    Sports? “Did you hear the Steelers won last week?” “Yes, I saw the game on TV.”
    No, she had to think of something more interesting than sports or the weather. School? No, it might sound as if she was putting him down because he’d dropped out. Then again, maybe he didn’t give a hoot about being educated or about what people thought of him.
    Before she had a chance to think of more subjects, Rachel had cut the engine and was getting out of the car. She shook her hair, styling it with her fingers, and Hollin did the same, assuming her sister knew best.
    She took in her surroundings quickly, noticing the trailer that sat on the unmowed lot, the overgrown shrubs and bushes in front of it, and the tire swing hanging from the old oak tree. She ran after Rachel. “Wait for me.”
    Rachel opened the trailer door and it swung inward. Staying closely behind her, Hollin followed her up the rickety, old steps and walked inside.
    Randy and Griffin sat at the kitchen table, each with a can of beer in front of them. Griffin was smoking, but took one last puff of his half-smoked cigarette and tamped it out in the overflowing ashtray.
    In the near distance a television blared. Some cop show from the sound of the sirens. The place smelled of smoke and stench. Josephine would be appalled.
    “Wanna beer?” Randy said by way of greeting Rachel. He scratched his crew cut, lifted his can, took a swig, then passed it to her.
    “How about you, Gumby?” he asked, running his gaze along Hollin’s body.
    Warning spasms of alarm twitched within her. “No, thanks.”
    Randy stood then, draped an arm over Rachel’s shoulder and kissed her. Right in front of her and Griffin. Embarrassed, Hollin turned her head to look at the small living room. There was a blanket-covered sofa, a floral recliner, and a floor lamp. In the corner was the cause of all the commotion. A noisy console TV.
    When she heard Rachel giggle at something Randy had whispered, she turned her attention back to them.
    “Why don’t you get lost for an hour,” Randy said to Hollin.
    His caustic tone made her flush in shame, and rather than ask Rachel to take her home, when she knew her sister wouldn’t, she flew out the door and stood in the middle of the yard. She was fuming. She couldn’t believer her sister could be so attracted to that pig.
    She heard, rather than saw, Griffin Wells come up behind her. He was standing much too close. Close enough for her to smell the beer and smoke on his breath.
    “You shouldn’t be here,” he said, his voice thick and husky.
    She swallowed back the hurt. She didn’t want him to stand by her, which is why she moved away a few feet. He followed. She hated Randy Swartz, and she suddenly hated Griffin Wells. Randy was a jerk, and Griffin was nothing but a high school drop-out who lived in squalor.
    Hollin blinked back unshed tears, refusing to turn around and face him. Rachel had said she looked eighteen, but right now she didn’t feel eighteen, nor did she feel like the fifteen-year-old she was. She felt more like a tiny child.
    “If you want me to kick them out, I will,” he said, and Hollin pivoted around slowly to stare at him.
    “You’d do that?”
    “If that’s what you want. Just say the word.”
    She looked past him, at the trailer, then shook her head slightly. “Rachel would be mad at me. And Randy would probably be mad at you.”
    “I don’t give a shit what Randy thinks. He’s an asshole.”
    Hollin tried to suppress her smile, but couldn’t. “You’re right. He is an asshole.” It was the first time she’d sworn, but it was well deserved. “If only I could convince my sister.”
    They stood staring at each other for a moment, then Hollin broke the ice. “Why did you drop out of school?” She didn’t know what made her ask him something like that, but he