Jessica could hear her mother's muffled shouts on the other side of her door, so she grabbed one of her cassette tapes and pushed it into her stereo.
The music began to thump, mostly drowning out her mother's voice and her fist thumping on the door. Jessica sighed with relief.
She let herself flop down onto her bed, staring up at the off white ceiling that could definitely do with a fresh coat of paint.
It took a little while, but Suzanne's pounding on the door and demanding that it be unlocked - this instant, young lady! - eventually faded away.
Jessica knew it had to. Her mother had to head out to work soon and she couldn't afford to get fired for showing up late.
Suzanne worked evening shifts as a waitress at a local diner, three nights per week. That was on top of being a receptionist for a small law firm during the day.
Two unsatisfying jobs, both barely above minimum wage. That's how we manage to survive, Jessica thought sourly. Shitty jobs that pay for this shitty little house in this shitty little town. Maybe if Mom had focused more on her studies and less on her social life when she was my age, we would've ended up somewhere better than this.
But if she'd bothered actually using her brain at school, she wouldn't have ended up pregnant with me. And then I wouldn't be around to care one way or another.
The phone started to ring, shrill even over the loud music.
Jessica sat up and turned down the volume dial on her little stereo, before answering the phone. "Hello?"
"Jess. Come on out. Let's go to the cave." the voice on the line was straight to the point, as always.
Clair.
"OK but you'll have to wait a bit. Mom and I got into a fight tonight. So I need to wait until she leaves for work before I can head out." Jessica stretched back on her bed. "Otherwise I'll have to listen to more of her bitching."
Clair laughed. "I can't imagine Suzanne picking fights with you. She's always so much fun whenever I'm at your place. You're not just making it all up, are you?"
"I wish!" Jessica groaned. "Mom has to be out the door by six thirty, though. So why don't I meet you at the cave at seven?"
"Yeah, that'll work. Do you want to bring the drinks this time?"
"Clair, when have I ever brought the drinks? You know my mother doesn't keep a single bottle in the house."
"Alright, I'll sort the drinks out. But I want you to finally admit you like the taste of my rocket fuel." her friend laughed again.
Jessica laughed as well. "It tastes revolting. You know it, I know it. But I like how it makes me forget my problems. So yeah, your rocket fuel saves the day. See you in about forty minutes?"
"See ya, bestie." The dial tone started humming.
Jessica placed the phone back in its cradle and waited for the familiar sound of her mother's beat up old car pulling out of the driveway.
She pulled the curtains back ever so slightly and watched the little rust coloured Honda reversing out into the street and then disappearing into the distance.
She grabbed her favourite boots and began pulling them on. Then she slipped outside, having double checked she'd left her bedroom window open.
It wasn't the first time she'd needed to make sure she could sneak back into her house in the middle of the night.
Then again, if Mom knew I was sneaking out to meet friends in the desert, she'd probably just ask to tag along, Jessica sniggered.
- - -
The cave was a place the girls had discovered when they were twelve. It wasn't so much a cave as a natural ledge that jutted out from the desert rock, with enough of an overhang to protect a small cluster of people from the elements.
Most of the teenagers in Abbot Springs hung out in the desert on the weekends. It was a place to catch up and drink. Some of the boys who owned cars would spend hours skidding and turning loops on the rocky ground.
But as far as Jessica and Clair could tell, no one else knew about the cave. Or if they did, the girls had never seen anyone there.
It was their place, where they could talk about anything and everything. From their first tentative crushes to their home lives, and what the future might look like after high school.
As Jessica clambered down the small rock face that lead down to the cave, her boots moved automatically to find the footholds of brown rock she always used. One, two, three. She'd shimmied down to the cave so many times over the years, she could probably reach it in her sleep.
"Hey Jess. Finally managed to sneak out past your doting mother?"
Jessica looked over at the girl who'd been her best friend for more than half her life. Clair McKinley was stretched out on the rocky ledge, eyes half closed and drinking a murky looking concoction from a plastic soda bottle.
"You know the drill. No matter how bad our argument is, Mom always still has to leave for work every night."
Clair scooted over to make room. Jessica sat down next to her, back resting against the cool rock surface. Both girls stared out at the desert before them, in comfortable silence. The only sound was the occasional gulp as Clair drank from her bottle.
"From up here, the town actually looks quite pretty in the dark. Don't you think?" Jess said dreamily as she watched the lights from Abbot Springs twinkling in the dusk.
"Yeah. Too bad it's such a dump every other hour of the day." Clair offered her the bottle in her hand. "Want a sip?"
Jessica eyed it, frowning a bit. Even in the low light, whatever Clair was drinking looked dubious. "What disgusting mix have you come up with this time?"