The Lookout

The sun was beginning to dip low in the sky by the time Donna pulled off the main road and started the slow, winding drive up the hill. Joey recognized the area—barely. He'd never actually been up here before, just heard about it from kids at school. The "lookout." A little paved crescent, just big enough for a few cars, overlooking the valley and the city beyond. Legend had it this was where the popular kids went after dances, after games, after dates.

Now here he was. With his mom. His girlfriend. Dressed like a candy-coated porn dream and giggling like she didn't have a care in the world.

As soon as she put the car in park, she turned to him with a dazed, sugary smile and said, "So… remember how I said the first thing on the agenda was kissing?"

He barely had time to answer before she was in his lap.

There was no slow build-up. Donna didn't do slow anymore. Not with him. She kissed him like she'd been starving for it—glossy lips soft and urgent, hands in his hair, hips squirming in her too-tight skirt. She smelled sweet and hot, like sex and candy.

"Mmmf—oh my god, Joey," she gasped between kisses. "You've, like, got me really revved up."

He tried to respond, but she caught his bottom lip between her teeth and tugged gently.

"I don't even care if people think I'm weird. I just want my boyfriend to like me," she cooed. "Do you like me, baby? Do you think I'm pretty?"

She giggled and kissed him again before he could answer, grinding in his lap.

If it hadn't been for the earlier scene back at Eliza's apartment—what he'd done with Donna and Eliza, the way they had both fallen into him so completely—he would've been totally wrecked by now. As it was, he was still dangerously close. His jeans were stretched to capacity, his underwear barely surviving.

He loved it.

Not just the kissing. Not just Donna in her slutty, pink perfection and airhead voice. He loved all of it. He loved that she'd brought him here, to the spot where he used to dream about going. He loved that he'd thrown a massive party and everyone had come. He loved that gorgeous, unattainable girls were now his biggest problem—not because they ignored him, but because they were too obsessed.

Even his relationship with his family—if you could still call it that—was more intimate and meaningful than anything he'd ever had growing up. It was weird, sure. But it was real. And it made him feel alive.

And powerful.

And wanted.

It almost made him forget about Elorae and what she'd said to him that morning. About needing his help. About saving a world he couldn’t even imagine. He didn't want to deal with it. Not today. Not ever, if he could help it.

But he knew he couldn't ignore it forever.

He was just starting to spiral into those thoughts—What did she mean? Another world? What would that even look like?—when Donna did something that snapped him right back.

She moaned. Soft and high and breathy, right in his ear. And then she whispered, "I'm gonna get so messy for you, baby. You like your girls messy, right?"

His brain short-circuited.

"Jesus," he muttered, biting back a groan.

They made out harder. Sloppier. Donna was panting now, lips slick and swollen, her hands fisting in his shirt like she was afraid he'd vanish.

Then finally, mercifully, they pulled apart.

Both of them were breathing hard, flushed, dazed. Joey stared out at the glittering skyline. His pants were unforgivably tight.

Donna collapsed back into her seat with a loud exhale. "Hoooooo, okay," she said, fanning her face. "That got way hotter than I was expecting."

Joey laughed, running a hand through his hair. "You think?"

Donna blinked at him like she hadn't heard the sarcasm. "I mean, we were just supposed to kiss. Like, normal kissing. I'd bring you up here for the view, enjoy each other's company, a little kissing..." Her voice dropped into the ditzy tone again. "Just, like, mwah, ya know? Not all, ooh baby, I'm so hot for you... you make me so wet..." She mimed kissing sounds, eyes wide and innocent. Then she broke character with a laugh and shoved his shoulder. "You're such a bad influence."

He couldn't stop smiling.

She flipped down the mirror and peered into it. "Okay, my face is destroyed. I look like a drunk prom queen. Gimme a sec to fix this."

As she rummaged in her purse, he watched her with soft eyes. Everything about her was absurd. And yet—completely real.

She paused, lipstick halfway out of its tube. "So. You ready to visit the Patels?"

His smile faltered. "Now?"

She nodded, clicking the lipstick shut. "Yeah. I've been worried about Indira, Joey. Right now she's lying to her mom, saying she's friends with Juniper, but all the while is pining for you. She's crazy about you, you know. But her mom..." Donna paused to think about what she was saying. "Her mother doesn't approve of Indira becoming a woman. She wants her to stay in the nest longer, but she can't see that Indira has outgrown the nest."

Joey's stomach flipped. The idea of talking to Indira's mother like this, of explaining anything, made him queasy.

"But why would I need to talk to her? If she doesn't know about me, wouldn't that make it worse?"

"She's going to find out sooner or later, sweetheart," Donna said in a motherly tone, then, "And, like, you totally have a way with words. Maybe she'll like you or whatever."

He nodded. Because Donna was right, just not in the way that she thought she was right. And also because Donna looked over at him just then and gave him a smile that made everything feel possible.

He wasn't sure about saving Elorae's world, but maybe he could help save Indira's.