"Why the fuck is it so cold?"
Cold, to any San Diego teenager, is anything under 65 degrees. 70 degrees to the hormonal ones.
The temperature at two o'clock in the morning was not the only inquiry tugging at the girl's brain: "How far does this avocado field go?" A better question would be why she was in an avocado field in the early morning.
Needless to say, Dev had drunk too much.
"Duncan, what the hell?" Dev was pretty sure that was Anna. Then again, last time she saw Anna, her friend was lying across the laps of her two ex-boyfriends giggling like a freaking hyena. So it probably wasn't Anna.
"You said you wouldn't let her get drunk again!"
Apparently, Duncan didn't care much for the responsibilities he claimed before the party. If he wasn't gone already, he sure planned to get there before three. He nonchalantly took the joint that dangled from Dev's fingers and sucked it in. That's what drove her wild – how carefree he was. Not the fact that he frequently stole her smokes before she started them. If anything, she would remove that quality.
"Problem solved. Keep her from losing herself completely."
Some kid who was lying on the grass let out a howl at Duncan.
"Shut up! You're so fucking loud, Greg!" Oh cool, so that was Greg. He and the girl who was definitely not Anna continued their banter; Dev lost interest.
The night air was laden with the aroma of weed and beer, but Dev was able to sense more out of it. Especially from this place – this avocado field. Everything was so fresh here, like every burden was scraped off her back once she stepped through the broken gate of the bad stretch. The fruit here was always counted last, usually pickled and mossy by the time it was cared for. The landscape was left unattended and thus disheveled. Weeds sputtered from the muddy soil and multiplied with the blowing of every puffy dandelion. Duncan spent months waiting for a cannabis plant to sprout along one of the forsaken edges of the field. Although San Diego as a whole was Dev's town of residence, this field was her home. It was the only thing in this city that Dev could connect with – her sanctuary of sorts. Not even her own boyfriend could live up to filling that job position.
Duncan had his perks. He was a great guy by Dev's standards. Then again, her standards were a quite different from the ordinary. Regardless of his alcoholism and possible addiction to the supposed non-addictive marijuana, Dev found his habits charming. Most of her friends disapproved: his manners were shoddy at best, his care for mankind was minimal, his language was foul enough to bring a grown man to tears, and to top it off, he was a crazed pyro with a patch of yellow hair. His behavior often got him in trouble at school – like when he tried to let a family of raccoons loose in the library. Overall, he was your typical teenage rebel. He drove a car with flames painted on the doors. Obviously that points to: total badass.
But Dev saw a different side of her maniac boy-toy. For starters, his care for the human race extended only where he felt it was needed – and where he felt it was needed, he displayed it – continuously. His mom, for instance, was a source of weakness: forty-seven and the most laid back woman in California. She raised him as a single parent with balls of steel, earning her Duncan's respect and eternal love. Dev too was among those he cared for. Although his emotions were pretty well-hidden in the midst of company, once the day was done, Dev was his prime concern. He spoke to her every day, whether it was three hours on the phone or five minutes over facebook. Point and case: when Duncan cared for something, he cared for it. The fact that he was hygienic and extremely entertaining to be around were additions that made his charm a bit harder to evade.
"Babe, you okay?" Now that no one seemed to be focusing on him, Duncan let his guard down, leaning in towards her with concern.
"Mm-hmm…" Consciousness began to escape her. She felt like it seeped out through her ears.
Duncan took the initiative and gingerly pulled her head to rest on his lap. His loving murmurs were becoming more and more slurred.
"Dude, you makin' her suck ya off?"
"Jesus, Greg, shut the fuck up you animal!"
Dev couldn't help but smile at the shouted dialogue and the scent of Duncan so close. How sweet the kiss of sleep felt on her lips as she lay in the lap of her young lover, surrounded by her friends, both human and avocado.