#th. closed

With the sun beating down on Jess’ nose and cheeks (which always burned first and so, so quickly) and Mason’s dial tone ringing incessantly in her ear, she was what she considered to be reasonably impatient. It had nothing to do with the gorgeous, baby blue classic convertible, in which she was parked outside Mason’s apartment, missing from her friend’s (father’s) garage. “Hey! Get your ass outside,” Jess demanded when Mason answered his phone, badly holding back her laughter and excitement. Bad decisions followed Jess wherever they went, and rather than maturing with age, it seemed as though Jess was only finding more excuses to misbehave as time went on. When an opportunity arose, they just wouldn’t be able to live with themself if they didn’t give it all they had.

It was unusual to see Jess behind the wheel of a car – rather than the wheels of her longboard or on roller skates behind someone’s bike, for Christ’s sake – especially considering that she’d never owned a car in her life. But if it was strange to see her driving, it was beyond the realm of logical sense, seeing her behind the wheel of a vehicle as fine as the one she had most certainly illegally parked. Fire hydrants be damned. “Have you ever seen a more beautiful car?” she asked, standing up in the convertible and spreading out her arms to signify the magnitude of the situation. “Someone just left a 1968 Cadillac Deville in their garage while I house sit for them. Can you believe that? Just left it there. What are you waiting for?”

Tonight, standing in the nicest oceanfront suite she had ever seen and clicking through all the movies they could play in the en suite theater room, June was reminded of the last time she had a full-on night just for movies with her roommate. Nobody who lived with June could get out of her weekly (and sometimes nightly, to be more accurate) insistence they join her private screening of whatever movie she hadn’t known the reference to lately. Things had been changing for a while as they found success, but June noticed that the things she missed the most as things changed were the weekends when they were too broke to do anything other than stay home, play music, and watch movies.

“Hey, have you seen A Star Is Born? I haven’t really listening to Lady Gaga since my first middle school dance, but I kind of feel like something with some music,” she mused, taking a bite of the licorice she’d found in the well-stocked snacks and beverage nook. “Or do you feel like something scary?”

“Sorry it’s a mess,” Jess began instinctively when she stepped through her front door, leading the latest victim of their crusade to explore the Catalina hills into her living room to cool down. With summer drawing nearer and their schedule at the Memorial Gardens filling up, it seemed like prime time to revisit some of her non-work spots. Almost four hours to the secluded alcove in its first stage of bloom and back to Party Headquarters™️ had Jess dragging her feet and thinking a shorter trail would’ve been a better introduction to hiking season. “Make yourself at home! Can I grab you a beer or somethin’?”

Jess came back to the living room with two glasses, a carafe of water, and two bottles of a local craft beer deftly carried in their sweatshirt pocket. “I’m impressed you kept up today, even I was running out of steam towards the end. I should’ve just shown you Cottonwood Beach, but the peak overlooking Shark Harbor kills me. What’d you think of your first Hinkley Hike?”

Every year when May hit and Jess could start to feel the summer creeping in, their spirit turned absolutely electric; like a live wire. Even as the days got longer, it was as if there couldn’t be enough hours to do everything that Jess had planned, let alone everything they wanted to do. All of that pent up energy had gotten them into trouble for most of their life, but there were certain outlets that helped. Playing live shows – especially with her own band and not some rando band who needed a drummer last minute – helped the most. No matter how small the venue, or house in this and most cases, Jess left the show feeling more whole than before. The frenzied feeling subsided and she was able to simply enjoy.

“I fucking knew I saw you out there!” Jess shrieked as they came running from behind their drums after toweling off the sweat that came with playing all night, bypassing everyone and anyone who’d normally be telling her ‘good show’ to run straight into Harper’s arms. The Norwood sisters were two of Jess’ favorite people on this Earth and seeing her in their home, no less, only added to the high of their afterglow. “You came to our show! I can’t believe you came to our show,” they practically sang, hugging Harper and swaying back and forth out of sheer excitement.

“I swear to god, I’m not gonna let you ruin the surprise,” Jess announced, turning to face her companion on this trek. For once in their life, they hadn’t picked a four hour-long intermediate level hike, but a long walk through Avalon that had ended just across the road from the Catalina Chimes Tower. Nearly every nook and cranny of the island housed some special memory – often just a rush of familiarity they couldn’t quite pinpoint – and while Jess had many an afternoon wandering the Tower, it was the hill on the other side of the dirt road across from the tower that really sparked nostalgia.

It wasn’t often that Jess’ mother was able to leave the house in the years before she passed, but that hadn’t stopped her from planning a handful of the most stunning adventures Jess had ever been on. It hadn’t stopped her from doing a lot of things people told her not to do, in fact, and it was no secret that Jess had proudly followed in her footsteps. No one else had ever been able to match their mother’s effortless ability to make everything seem okay when it wasn’t. The memory pulled at Jess’ heart, even fifteen years later, but the smile that they flashed Thea when they reached the bottom of the hill wasn’t sad; wasn’t bittersweet. There was only fondness in those eyes.

“I promise it’s not too steep. Here–” Jess insisted, holding out their hand for Thea to take for balance. The final stretch up the side of the hill was lit by the last of the stars as they appeared in the night sky and revealed the flat spot at the top just big enough for a late night picnic. Jess produced a massive thermos and a thick, woven blanket from their backpack, laying the blanket out with their usual flourish. “Viola! Now, it’s no five-star restaurant, but I only make my peppermint hot chocolate for special occasions, and it is Michelin recommended. Plus, spoiler alert, there are more than five stars out here.”

Like damn near every door that had the misfortune of crossing Jess Hinkley’s path, the front door at Wolfe’s place was about to be subjected to the percussive ramblings of the attention-deficit, hyperactive child that Jess truly was. Their drumsticks rapped against the door a lot longer than was necessary, but if anybody asked, she’d tell them there was good cause. It was entirely necessary if she was going to reach him all the way through that big ass house. Fondly, of course. They probably wouldn’t mention the favor they’d had to pull to get a ride out to Ventura (they doubted Wolfe would want to skateboard all the way back to Lafayette Square) or the bass player patiently waiting in the van in the driveway. The funky beat only stopped when Wolfe opened up, but it was superseded by Jess’ face lighting up at the sight of him.

“Hey! Sorry to drop by unannounced. I’d text or somethin’, but my phone has been dead all day,” they admitted, laughing bashfully at their own ineptitude. Lack of preparation, really. The drumsticks clacked together as they moved them to one hand, gesturing as they normally did. “I’m setting up an acoustic concert in Lafayette Square near the bungalow since the power is out. The people are bored. I was hoping you’d be interesting in stopping by and playing with us! A couple of dudes from the bands in town already said they’re down, it should be a riot.”

While the whole of the island gathered in collective panic, Jess had a one track mind fully focused on something else. Catalina had been “dark” all day, a first in their lifetime, and they’d been waiting just as long for the chance to play out a dream of their. It was just as well, considering it took half the afternoon to piece together where their old friend was staying. The moment the sun started to slip below the horizon, Jess made a beeline for Thea’s aunt’s house.

In high school, most of Jess’ antics were confined to the school and surrounding grounds. Their best hijinks were in the classroom, courtyard, and cafeteria, if anything. But there had been a few instances toward the end of their high school careers - right when the threat of college taking Thea started to loom - that called for something a little bigger. After letting their backpack fall to the green ground with a thud, Jess took to climbing the tallest of the immaculate trees near the house. It brought them just close enough to stretch and step out onto the roof of the same level as Thea’s bedroom. God, they hoped it was still Thea’s bedroom.

A quick peak into the window, seemed to confirm that it was the young woman’s room, but in the fading light, Jess still wasn’t entirely sure. Going out on a limb, which was clearly a familiar enough concept to them, they crouched on the roof and tapped on the glass. Their next breath only came when Theodora herself stepped into the frame of the window. “Mind if I come in?” they asked, smirking as if they weren’t steadying themself against the side of the monstrous house 30 feet in the air.