Compared to Zodi, Kelsie looked like she was born and raised on the beach. She was golden, almost. And compared to Kelsie, Zodi looked like he was born and raised in a basement. He was ghostly, almost. It made her giggle. She was still trying to ignore her feelings for him, but lately, it was getting harder to ignore. And something about this trip felt like things might be different for the two of them. People did ask Kelsie at school about Zodi. She had just finished her junior year at a private school but was planning on being back at Brooksville High for her senior year, but even at the private school, people asked about Zodi. They asked if he was as lame as he seemed online or on TV (and yes, they did watch the show) and they asked her all the time why she would be willing to be in their little garage band together. In trust, Kelsie thought Zodi was cool. In a dorky way, but still, cool. She liked their band. It was Kelsie, Zodi, and a couple other kids they knew, and as much as Kelsie wanted to be big and bad and save her reputation, she actually really liked the boys. They were sweet to her, and funny, and talented as hell. And Kelsie liked making music with them.
“Oh yeah? How’s it gonna go? I’m sitting in the shade on the beach and my legs are see throughhhh,” she poked fun at him and literally poked his leg with her finger. She felt her hair falling from her shoulders and pulled it into a low bun, looking out over the ocean. Maisie and Cal had made it down with their small, pale children. And Issy. Kelsie loved Issy. She loved all the little girls at the dance studio, which made her decision to switch to Turner’s studio even more bittersweet. She hadn’t told Milania yet, and she was sure Mil would have her head on a platter. But what she wouldn’t know, especially while on vacation, wouldn’t kill her.
“If you don’t want to, I’ll help you watch the boys,” Kelsie said. Admittedly, she didn’t really want to go to the bonfire. Well, she did, but she didn’t want the cameras on her. She didn’t want her big sisters constantly talking over her, and it was implied that everyone was going to come with a date. That part made Kelsie nervous. She didn’t really want to bring a date, though if she did, she was sure that Bodhi would come looking for her. She didn’t want to go with Bodhi. She didn’t want to go with Zodi, but if she had to pick, it would be Zodi. “Or we can go to the bonfire together and then make fun of everyone afterward. I hear there are going to be s’mores, but I’d rather steal popsicles from Nora’s freezer.” A couple of moments passed before she looked over at Zodi and said, “I don’t mean to imply that we’re gonna be hanging out later. I just figured we might as well…”
It was always a rare, rare evening at home when Mr. and Mrs. Sheppard would talk about their pasts pre-Plumfeld. Mrs. Sheppard was an aspiring artist before she met Pastor Plumfeld. She dabbled in making clothing, painting, drawing, writing - you name it. Her parents had kicked her out when she was a young girl and so she lived on the streets until one of the other Plumfeld residents found her one day and took her in. Mr. Sheppard was an engineer. He was a smart, smart man with a stupid pain-killer drug addiction, and he originally met Pastor Plumfeld at an AA meeting. The Pastor encouraged Mr. Sheppard to come live in Plumfeld for it was a “safe haven for the emotionally wounded” and somewhere where “everyone was welcome to heal at their own pace.” Mr. Sheppard actually did remain sober for the rest of his life, but that wasn’t a success Zodi would ever attribute to Pastor Plumfeld. Never ever. When Zodi’s parents spoke of life pre-Plumfeld, they never spoke about their previous relationships. It was always just them together and that’s the way they wanted their kids to know and remember them. However, one evening after a council meeting, Mr. Sheppard sat around the fire with Zodi and the other sons around his age and answered some of their questions. He always did that after council meetings and Zodi was convinced it was because he felt so guilty.
It was Bubba who asked if Dad had ever had a girlfriend before Mom. Dad finally caved and said yes - Kimberly Franks. She went by Kimmie and she had the longest, blondest hair Dad had ever seen. Zodi remembered the way his fathers eyes lit up as he described her. “She was a wild one, that’s for sure,” Dad said, “We’d go to rock concerts together and she’d sit on my shoulders. She’d bring out the crazy in me, and I’d try and keep her head out of the clouds. Boy, she was really something.”
Sitting there on the beach with Kelsie Buchanan, the crazy, loud girl who he’d originally tried so hard to not like, Zodi felt a lot like his dad, and Kelsie Buchanan felt a whole Hell of a lot like his Kimmie Franks.
“Yeah, we might as well. You know, spare me the embarrassment of showing up to the bonfire alone or like--with my sisters, and spare you having to talk to Bo,” Zodi teased.
He and Kelsie didn’t talk much about guys or girls. They’d occasionally talk about their bandmates and who’d they look cute with from school, but they never spoke on relationships - especially Kelsie and Bo’s. All Zodi knew of it was that every time Kelsie showed up, Bo looked like a sad puppy dog or the cat with the huge, pleading eyes from Shrek. He didn’t want to know any more. His parents always told him to never poke his nose into relationships that weren’t his.
“If ya promise me I’ll get some s’mores eventually, I don’t care that much about the bonfire,” He admitted, “We can steal the popsicles and hangout with the boys. Gage always pays me a shit ton too, so, I’ll split you fifty-fifty if you can get Jett to sleep. I swear his big head doesn’t know how to calm down,” Zodi strummed the ukelele again and joked, “Ah, maybe a lullaby’d help.”
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