The Best Year - 50. Chapter 50

The fallout from prom was felt all over the place. After it ended and the chaperones herded the stragglers that hadn’t made it to Toby’s afterparty out of the gym, Cindy stormed the village of pop-up tents searching for Luke. Not finding him there, it didn’t stop her from calling the police, the first time in recent memory they had ever been called to break up a party. Luckily for Troy, he was away at a cattle auction. He could at least claim he had no knowledge of the party, even though the cops that did the breaking up of the party, probably also partied in that very spot when they were in high school. It was damn near a historical location for the county, everyone knew about it. Cindy also had a few drinks she likely prayed to Jesus about Sunday morning afterwards, it was just what we did.

Luke and I had fallen asleep in the attic and we were lucky assholes, no one had come to the park by the time we woke up. It was the constant dinging of both our phones that woke us up and when we saw bright sunshine coming through the small open window we scrambled for our clothes. We didn’t relax until the mess was cleared away and we were back outside the community center with Luke’s truck waiting for us and not towed. Luke’s phone messages were from Henry, issuing warnings about needing to come home. Mine were from my pissed off friends having their after prom party shut down. I didn’t let Luke see the texts, the names Cindy was called went far past ‘Cindzilla,’ and I didn’t want him reading them. Even if some of them were creative and made me snicker despite everything.

Her path of destruction hadn’t stopped at Troy’s field either, she also charged up on our front porch at almost midnight. I didn’t know that until after I got home and Dad was sitting on the front porch step waiting for me. Luke pretty much dumped my ass out on the side of the road, then did a quick turn about in our driveway, silent with red cheeks and a stone cold glare towards his house. I didn’t want to push my luck by saying anything, I didn’t want to ruin the night that we just shared by putting my big assed foot into my loud assed mouth. I knew nothing I would have said would have been helpful to him and the five foot four inch monster he had waiting for him at home. I hoped the awkward as fuck whispered, bye, didn’t end up being the last thing I said to him until graduation. Cindy had threatened that before.

“Where have you been all night?” Dad asked as he adjusted his glasses. His eyes were tired and he had bags under them that told me he hadn’t slept after he got home. “I heard you weren’t at Troy’s.”

“No,” I answered, glancing over at the treeline when I heard Luke slam his truck door. Any harder and I would imagine him replacing a window. “I was with him, the pissed off guy next door.”

“You could have told us, given us a warning,” he said as he pushed himself off the top stair. He had a half empty cup of coffee sitting beside him. He hadn’t changed into his pajamas, his scrubs were covered by Mom’s sunflower bath robe. It looked ridiculous and I should have laughed, but the withered worn down look of him brought me up just short of that.

“I didn’t know she was going to do that,” I countered as I started up the stairs, the bag I packed draped over my shoulder. My cum stained shirt was on top of the pile of clothes inside, I was planning to sneak that into the washing machine and wash it before Mom rummaged through my things. There would be no mistaking what those stains were and I didn’t feel like having to become a runaway this close to the end of High School. It would be that or death from the embarrassment and I was too pretty to go out that way.

“At least tell me that all that was worth it, I came home to a very angry wife,” he said as Mom opened the front door. Seeing me she smiled and shook her head.

“Jackson, you are the living example of a headache,” she said as she stepped out of the door frame. I tensed when she wrapped me into a hug, I had to drop my bag to give her space to maneuver her swollen belly. Feeling it against my stomach as she held me I looked over my shoulder towards Dad, but he just shrugged and looked away, a small crooked smirk playing on his lips. That told me more than anything that he wasn’t too serious, not anymore.

“I’m sorry,” I offered as she broke the hug.

“Don’t be,” she said, slapping me on the shoulder. “But you probably do need to have a convincing story for where you were last night.”

“She thought Luke was at the party,” I said, reaching up to run my hand over my short hair. It was just long enough to stick up in odd places on my head. “What do you think he will tell her?”

“You would know better than me, I hope,” she said, her eyes going wide. “Tell me you discussed that on your drive home this morning.”

“Sorry,” I repeated, knowing I sounded like a lame ass kid when I did. It wasn’t that long ago that I would have just shrugged my shoulders and walked past them. Leaving them to deal with the aftermath of my piss poor decisions. Now all I saw were two tired parents, Mom not needing the stress of being woken up in the middle of the night, and Dad not needing the stress of worrying about Mom in her condition.

“Stop with that, for what it is worth I have learned to trust you,” she said and I heard Dad sigh as he leaned against the porch railing.

“Really Grace?” He asked and I glanced over to see him pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked towards the sky. “The boy hasn’t done anything, nothing at all, in all of his short eighteen years to earn that.”

“Craig, you’re cranky, go to bed,” Mom answered and despite everything I laughed.

“I am cranky,” Dad repeated as he pushed himself off the railing and grabbed his cup. “And I have half a mind to walk right over there where it will do me some good.”

“At least take off my bathrobe first,” she said and when I saw Dad glance down at himself and then back up to the two of us quickly, his mouth falling slightly open.

“I didn’t even notice I had this on,” he said as he slid his free hand up the sleeve and then shouldered out of it. “Sorry, do you want it?”

“No,” Mom said as she turned back to me.

“How much trouble did everyone get into?” I asked not really knowing the true extent of it all. Alison had Welker to deal with, but most everyone else knew where we were going to end up. Even Welker if I had to guess, but he would never admit it.

“With the cops, none,” Dad answered, “everyone was just checked for sobriety and the ones that were good to go, were sent home. The ones that weren’t, were transported home to their parents. I don’t know what Cindy thought would happen.”

“I don’t think she cared,” I said, shaking my head. “Just anything to get to Luke and drag him back home, if Luke was at the party I don’t think she would have called the cops.”

“Where were you two anyway?” Mom asked and this time, with both of them looking at me all I could offer was a shrug. I didn’t have it in me to tell her that we were trespassing, breaking and entering being the more accurate crime, and in an official town owned building. If we had been caught, I doubted there would have been much of a warning given.

“Trust, Grace,” Dad said as he stepped around us and inside the house. “You trust the boy.”

“Go to bed Craig,” she said as she half turned to look at him retreating further into the house, “or so help me, I’ll put nyquil in your breakfast.”

“Was he really up all night?” I asked as Dad bypassed what smelled like a pretty fucking good breakfast, to head up the stairs. He probably would be back down to eat. I didn’t know if he had another late shift tonight though, that would require more hours of sleep than he would get if he didn’t go to bed soon.

“Yes,” she answered, turning back to look at me. “Not because of you.”

“I know,” I said as I watched her caress her stomach. Cindy knew Mom’s past better than I did. It was easy to put together that she had held Mom’s hand and walked along with her through however many miscarriages Mom had over the years. She knew enough to know that it would hurt Mom when they fought months ago. Last night, I knew Cindy had no excuse.

“I’m fine,” she said, offering me a small smile. “I am hungry.”

“Me too,” I said as I let her lead me into the living room after I glanced over towards the treeline knowing without a doubt that Luke was having a completely different talk with his parents.

I was halfway to the kitchen table before I remembered my bag and surprised Mom, who had just opened the refrigerator when I darted back outside. I didn’t look her in the eye when I came back inside and turned and darted up the stairs either and I hoped, for my own sake, that she didn’t figure my suspicious ass out.

The rest of the weekend didn’t get any better. Cindy hadn’t let Luke out of her sight. Henry to his credit, did sneak over Sunday evening and apologized to Dad and Mom. Seeing me, he offered me a small smile, but he didn’t say anything about what happened with Luke when he got home and that annoyed the hell out of me. I would have to wait until Monday at lunch to hear his story, if he wanted to talk to me about it. The few times I attempted to text him, I didn't get a response.

What did surprise me though, was right after morning announcements Monday morning, Welker called me to his office. Rising out of my chair just as Ms. Chapel settled in to force us to start reading a new book. We were finishing off the rest of the semester studying, ‘The Catcher in the Rye,’ and out of all the books we read and evaluated, wrote critically about, and endlessly discussed to the point of annoyance, this was the rare one that I looked forward to.

Not knowing what this was about, I gathered up my things and left the room. I didn’t have this class with anyone aside from Emma Camp, and I didn’t feel like hearing about her weekend after Cindy’s mess. I was more worried about Luke and how people would treat him, everyone knew it was his mother. She had made that clear when she yelled his name as she went from tent to tent, scattering everyone in her wake. Toby showed me a video of her snatching a beer can from Bailey Fucking Ashton’s hand and slamming it to the ground. The eruption of foam blew out behind her as she moved on. The similarity of Godzilla stepping on a fire hydrant wasn’t lost on me at all. Everyone had thought it was hilarious, chanting her name and telling her to go home. That was before the blue lights, breathalyzers, and police rides home though. I hoped being my friend protected Luke from most of the bullshit, but with Connor winning Prom King and me not being an insufferable dumbass for Welker to deal with, I no longer really knew where I stood with people here. I didn’t care much past their laughter and fist bumps before then as it was.

When I got there, his office was completely empty aside from him. I was expecting Cindy too, but only him and his goofy assed grin on his face was waiting. When he saw me, he waved his hand for me to come inside. The morning announcements had actually included my District results, congratulating me on being a District champion, even though that’s really not how swimming went. All I received was a handful of medals for pictures the host school took. The real ones would be arriving by mail in a couple of weeks. I had a drawer full of them in my dresser, collected over all the years I competed.

“Come on in, Jackson,” Welker said when I still hesitated at the entrance.

“What’s this about Steven?” I asked, but then thought better of it when his smile faltered slightly as I stepped into the room. I was ready to casually lean back in my seat, a repeat of my first week of school back in late August.

“The phones have been ringing all morning,” he said as I sat down in front of him. I was already picturing a lot of angry parents yelling at him, but the smile didn’t fit that. “You didn’t tell me that you were offered an athletic scholarship to the University of Georgia.”

“No, we’re not really best buds,” I said, feeling the flutter in my stomach whenever the thought of Georgia entered my mind. “Ally didn’t mention it either?”

“No,” he answered and when he frowned, I smiled, which I knew wasn’t helpful at all. “The University still needed some information, transcripts, records, the offer is preliminary, but I assured them you were one of our top students.”

“Well thank you, Mr. Welker,” I said as he slid his chair back and snatched a file from the top of his filing cabinets.

“It didn’t take them long to get back with me,” he said as he opened the folder and looked down at it. When he turned it around and slid it over to me, I looked at the heading. It was a fax from Scott, signed by the Athletic Director.

“What is it?” I asked as I started reading.

“A mockup of your official signing day,” he said as he reached over and pointed at the meat of the fax. “I thought we could look over this and schedule it together with Rick.”

“Swimming isn’t a school sanctioned sport,” I said as I looked up at him. Hearing the words that Cindy used against me once, I wrinkled my nose.

“No, but you are a student here,” he said as his smile disappeared and the vein I knew all too well started to take shape on his forehead.

“I wasn’t going to do it here,” I said as I slid my hand away from the folder and leaned back into my chair.

“Why not?” He asked as he crossed his arms and rested them on the desk. Completely back to the Steven Welker I knew from my four years of being a student here.

“Steven,” I said, more out of habit than me trying to be an ass, as our inevitable staring contest started.

“Mr. Welker and don’t make me say it again,” he said and I smirked looking away.

“The school really hasn’t supported my swimming over the years,” I said and I watched him swallow and uncross his arms. “I don’t think the school should benefit from my personal success.”

“We could schedule the local news to come here, we could get you on television,” he said and when I smiled he straightened in his chair. “Locally anyway, you’re the first student athlete from our school to sign at the collegiate level for sports, for over a decade.”

“Sorry Welker,” I said as I shrugged my shoulders. “I’d rather do it with Rick and my other coaches at the YMCA or something.”

“The YMCA?” Welker asked as he rolled back his chair. “You can’t be serious, Jackson.”

“It would look stupid to sign with a school for a swimming scholarship in a gym that didn’t even have a pool,” I countered as he stood and walked around the side of his desk. I saw him studying the row of past yearbooks and then he glanced down at his watch before turning back to me.

“Allow me to be there at least,” he said and I glanced around the room.

“I don’t know,” I answered as I reached up and rubbed my right hand over my left arm. I would never admit it, but seeing him beaming as I came in, but now being reduced to what he looked like now, with slumped shoulders and a vein on his forehead had me considering his option. “My coaches at the Center might have their own ideas, I’d feel more comfortable talking with them about this.”

“Fine, that’s fine,” he said and I watched him nod his head and smile at me briefly. “You’re dismissed.”

“Okay,” I said with half a smirk as I stood and walked out of his office. As I entered the hallway I overheard him talking with his secretary to schedule a meeting with Cindy after school and for the second time today I felt sorry for the man.

All the talk in the hallways was about the after party. Much to Luke’s annoyance when we passed the few times going to different classes. He didn’t stop at my locker to talk to me, but he smiled at least. I knew Cindy glaring at us from her classroom was the entire reason. He didn’t look angry or upset though, a little anxious maybe. Knowing this town, Troy’s field was still a perfectly safe place to have a party. Cindy’s muddling wouldn’t change anything, we wouldn’t let her win. Even if I had to schedule the party myself and meet her on the field, preferably more than half a case into the night already.

Being the first one to my lunch table I looked down at my room temperature peas and dry assed chicken nuggets. I didn’t know why I spent the money on this shit every day, all these years. Bailey Fucking Ashton beat everyone else we shared the two tables with and I nodded a hello before I looked away planning to ignore him as he sat down with Ally’s chair between us.

Watching the cafeteria slowly fill, noticing people taking their seats. They might as well have been assigned, like our parking and lockers. I had claimed these seats not long after I entered this school as a freshman. I had been brave enough to sit back here where the seniors typically sat, the farthest from the prying eyes of our lunch chaperones. Now in less than a month and a half I’ll be walking out and someone else will be taking this chair. Maybe not this one, I might have to think about stealing it for personal reasons. Knowing how sneaky Luke actually was, he might even help me with it.

When our table started filling up, first with Toby who looked at me then rolled his eyes. I shrugged and pushed my tray away. He reached over and grabbed a nugget as the girls sat down followed by Derek. Luke hadn’t made his way out of the line yet.

“Don’t give Luke a lot of shit about Saturday night,” I said when I saw Olivia and Connor enter the cafeteria. He was holding both their trays and dodged people as she talked to him, a smile on her face.

“Let us a little,” Derek said as he opened his milk carton. He had two and a bottle of water on his tray. All three girls opted for the salad bar, Ally was shoving all the cucumbers to one side, not because she didn’t like them. I knew she liked them the most and wanted to save them for last. I knew if I reached for one, I’d get stabbed with a fork. That’s how much I knew about all of them. Toby will eat anything, even things he can’t pronounce. Eating supper at his house one summer, Troy had come into possession of bull testicles and my greedy ass was three bites in before they told me. What started out being a prank ended up with Toby shoving his face with them until he had to unbutton his pants, completely aware that I would make nuts in his face jokes months afterwards.

“No,” I said, shaking my head as Connor sat down beside me.

“Well the story Olivia has to tell is better anyway,” Derek said and I saw Connor nearly miss placing his tray down on the table as he looked down the table in Derek’s general direction.

“Shut up, Derek,” Olivia hissed as Lily elbowed him in the side. She was smiling though, so I knew it was good and I knew I had to hear it.

“What happened?” I asked as Connor slowly sat down still glaring at Derek.

“Not a damn thing,” Olivia said as she smiled at me and popped a chicken nugget into her mouth. “If you were there, you’d know. Now shut up before Luke gets here.”

“Not a damn thing happened, ouch Connor,” Toby whispered leaning forward in his seat.

“Shut up Marks,” Connor groaned, pointing his fork towards him. “Don’t make me come over there.”

“Someone is going to fucking tell me,” I said just as Luke cleared the table just before he got to ours. I looked up to see him slow his pace looking at the back of Toby’s head. When he saw me I nodded my head towards his chair, still left open across from me like it had been since he started sitting with us.

“Hey,” Luke greeted as he sat his tray down. Lily offered him a smile and I slid my foot across the floor after he got settled in and found his.

“You owe me a party, Church,” Toby said as he turned and leaned around Derek to where Luke sat.

“I know,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I have a good spot, if you need it.”

“He doesn’t need it,” I said, flipping Toby off. The clearing was important to Luke and I didn’t want anyone disturbing that place for him. “Don’t be an ass.”

“We might,” Toby said and I looked between them both. Luke’s cheeks were flushed and I watched him clinch and relax his jaw muscles. “Luckily Dad wasn’t home, Cindy was threatening to turn him in for supplying us beer and shit.”

“Toby,” I hissed when I felt Luke’s foot slide away from mine.

“She could have gotten him thrown in jail,” he added as Luke shot out of his chair. The noise of it silenced the cafeteria, but he didn’t waste any time grabbing his tray and turning away from us.

“Thanks for that, asshole,” I said and just as I was about to grab my tray Ally’s hand grabbed my shirt below the table. Turning to look at her she shook her head and I looked over as Luke dumped his tray, completely ignoring the recycling rules and bypassing the chaperones. Everyone had turned to watch him storm off, if I went now people would know I was following him.

“Was that really necessary?” Olivia asked as she slowly stood and grabbed her tray. “I mean honestly.”

“Damn Toby,” Derek said as an uneasy silence fell on our table. Even Bailey’s side of it had stopped talking and were now glancing awkwardly down towards us and I hated it.

“I’m going to go,” I whispered as Ally let go of my shirt.

“Don’t do it,” she countered as I shot Toby a glare and grabbed up my own tray no longer caring what people thought.

“Dude,” he started and I shook my head.

“I don’t want to fucking hear it,” I said as I slid past Connor and walked around our table. Each table I passed I met eyes watching me go. A few fingers were pointed at me and I scared the shit out of a table of freshmen who said my name a little too loud.

I met the chaperones at the front table, Ms. Chapel stood to stop me, but I dodged past her. I knew I had a date with Welker for doing it, all three of us did. If not him then the counselor and I didn’t really want to look her in the face more than I had to either.

After putting distance between myself and a slowly pursuing Chapel I pulled out my phone and scrolled down to Luke’s number. Pressing the green call button, I held it up to my ear, slowing my pace as I approached Cindy’s room. I didn’t know if her class had lunch this hour, she wasn’t a chaperone at the front either way.

I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t answer and as I stopped in the middle of the hallway I was about to turn around. Maybe if I gave up the chase right now I wouldn’t get into any trouble. I didn’t need to be, Welker had just talked to me about Georgia, apparently he had talked me up. My grades were good though, my test scores were decent. I didn’t know how much Welker really had to sell me academically.

“He’s in the parking lot,” Olivia said and I jumped as I turned to see her coming out of the girl’s bathroom.

“Alright,” I said as I nodded and started walking, but then stopped and turned to her.

“No I’m not telling your ass what happened,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Damn you,” I hissed as I jogged down the hallway towards the side exit closest to student parking. It was technically a fire emergency exit, but the alarm didn’t sound after I pushed the door open and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

Leaving the building meant we were officially skipping out on school. Squinting against the sun I walked around to the parking lot already scanning it for Luke’s truck. Not seeing it I started walking around hoping to see him leaned up against one of them, knowing he could have just kept on walking after he got out here. The campusl was surrounded in the back by wilderness that I’ve never been in, I never had a reason to. It’s where I pictured high school dropout junkies going to get their fix. Not that we had a big drug problem here. The river also curved around the school somewhere back here as well.

Giving up again, I decided just to walk to my car. I wasn’t going back inside the building today, I didn’t want to face the consequences until tomorrow when I had to. When I stepped around Toby’s large assed truck that always took up two spots I saw him leaning against my car. Seeing me he turned away from me and looked out towards the football field. He had one hand shoved into his jeans pocket and the other stretched out along the top of my car.

“Why did you follow me out here?” He asked as I fished my keys out of my front pocket. It was a warm afternoon already and I had practice later so my swimming gear was in the back seat. These last few weeks were always the most difficult for me to focus on school. With the nice weather and the end of season championships. I found myself staring out windows more than listening on days like these.

“Why the hell not?” I asked as I smirked, shrugging my shoulders. “I haven’t been in trouble two weeks in a row for a while.”

“Go back inside,” he said as he nodded towards the door.

“Those doors are locked from the outside by now,” I said as I glanced over my shoulder. “We’re fucked unless we go all the way around to the front.”

“I didn’t drive, Mom brought me,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry about Toby.”

“Fuck his ass,” I said and when he looked over at me and smirked I realized what I said and shook my head. “He’ll come around and if not, we’ll give him shit for it.”

“Don’t,” he said as he pushed himself off my car. “He’s right, I could have gotten everyone in a lot of trouble.”

“But you didn’t,” I countered as I closed the distance between us. The old and overweight security guard had to be aware that we had escaped the building by now. I expected him to be on his little golf cart ready to round us up and take us back inside.

“This time,” he said as I opened my car door.

“Stop beating yourself up about it, we’ve all gotten one another into trouble before,” I said, rolling my eyes at all the times I went too far. “Are you ready to get out of here?”

“Yeah,” he answered and I was surprised that he wanted to leave. I thought he would cool off and head back inside, taking the slap on the wrist he was going to get. Maybe I wouldn’t have gotten into trouble at all, bringing him back.

“Alright then,” I said as I slid inside the driver’s side and watched him come around the front of the car. I closed my door and slid my keys into the ignition. When the car hummed to life I saw the dust cloud that was the golf cart coming around the back side of the parking lot in my rearview mirror. Frowning, I put the car into gear as Luke slid into his seat and he barely got the door closed before I backed out of my spot, then quickly shoved it into drive and took off down the road.

I never would have thought I would be involved in a high speed chase. As high speed of a chase a golf cart on loose gravel could actually go, anyway. Still, we were caught if there was traffic at the exit, but luckily for us there wasn’t and I made just enough of a stop to make an honest effort before I turned out onto the main highway.

Heading away from the school and towards town, because that was the direction I chose in a hurry, I looked over at Luke. He was grabbing the door as he looked straight ahead. Slowing down I looked in the rearview mirror. Mom wouldn’t know I was skipping class until the next class started and my teacher listed me absent. The secretary would be calling her. To get ahead of it, I pulled into a gas station and grabbed my phone.

“What are you doing?” He asked and I looked over to see that he had relaxed.

“Texting Mom,” I said as I pulled up my conversations and started typing. “She’s not going to be happy.”

“Sorry,” he offered but I saw him pull out his own phone. Cindy probably already knew by now, but the only person that knew he had a phone was Henry. When he dialed his number I listened as he apologized for skipping out on school. I couldn’t hear what Henry was saying, so he had to be talking calmer than I pictured Cindy. I probably could have heard her standing outside of the car with the windows up.

I let him talk with the car idling not really knowing where we would be going afterwards. My great escape ended after we got off campus. When he finished and dropped his hand back to his lap, he looked over at me and then out at the empty gas station. It was the same station that sold us alcohol, probably not believing our fakes in the least, but we almost always got away with it.

“Where to now?” I asked as I reached over ready to put the car back into gear.

“Home, I guess,” he answered with a shrug.

“Did Henry tell you to go home?” I asked frowning at the prospect of going home. I had no intention of going home.

“No, not really,” he answered as he picked at the edge of his phone case with his thumbnail. “He’s doing some plumbing work at the church.”

“What does he do regularly?” I asked as I put the car in gear and looked around before I started backing out of the parking spot.

“He does everything, plumbing, electrical,” he answered, shrugging as I pulled back out into the main road.

“Do you want to eat?” I asked as I made my way further into town and away from the road that would take us home. He didn’t look like he was about to argue and when he nodded I pulled into the only decently clean looking fast food place we had. It would be the only place that wouldn’t ask questions, all the diners would be nosey about us not being in school and I wanted to avoid people. By now everyone probably knew about the prom afterparty bust.

After stopping at the drive thru and getting some McNuggets and a large order of fries, Luke struggled with his burger trying to put it together better than the server did. When he finally took his first bite, he looked over at me and I fought a smile, he had a mustard mustache that I wasn’t going to tell him about. Instead I pulled my fries out of the bag and secured them between my thighs.

“They didn’t give me my fries,” he said as he looked inside the paper sack with his free hand. We were already headed back down the road with no general idea or direction. Looking over at him, smiling again I shrugged.

“I have some fries,” I said and when his eyes searched the car for them, he smiled when he saw them nestled between my legs.

“Not funny,” he said, but reached across the car as I followed his movement until I looked up and saw that we were drifting into the other lane. Swerving back over I felt his hand brush my leg.

“You also have mustard all over your face,” I said as I slowed to a stop at the last stoplight in town. If I went straight we’d be headed right out of the county and towards Tony’s. If I turned we’d be heading back home. The only thing down that road that wasn’t privately owned homes was the park.

“Shut up,” he groaned and I watched him lean forward and look through the rearview mirror.

“I was going to let you walk around all day with it,” I countered shrugging. “I decided to be nice.”

“Thanks,” he said as he licked the mustard with his tongue until it was gone. Then he grabbed a napkin and wiped his face for good measure as the light turned green and I turned and headed towards the park and home.

“Turn into the park,” he said through a second bite of food. Nodding I flipped my turn signal and when we got to the side road I turned off and made my way down.

No one was using the park right now. It was a pretty day. I thought someone might have taken advantage of the walking trails, or bringing their smaller kids not in school to the playground. All the hard work we did last summer mostly went to waste, like I knew it would. There were just better things to do far outside of this little assed town. It would take a bigger flood, something that would take it completely away before these people finally gave up and stopped sinking money into it.

“To the sex attic then?” I asked as I slowly drove towards the parking lot waiting to see if he told me to take the long delivery access side road to the back again.

“No,” he answered and I watched him roll his eyes. “I just want to eat without getting this all over me.”

“Fine,” I said as I picked the next closest spot and pulled in. I put the car in park then killed the engine. Not wanting to eat inside the car with perfectly new and unused picnic tables scattered around, I grabbed up my fries and opened the door. I shoved everything back inside the bag then unclicked my seatbelt. When he had all his food back inside the bag I grabbed it and rolled out of the car just as two more vehicles pulled up beside us. I instantly knew that the obnoxiously large assed Chevy belonged to Toby and that the sleek red car was Lily’s.

“Hey fuckers,” Derek said as he half hanged out of Toby’s passenger side window.

“What the fuck are you all doing here?” I asked as Luke slowly closed the passenger side door. He glanced over at me as I came around the front of my car. Toby hadn’t rolled down his window, but I saw him unhook his seatbelt and when his door opened he smiled at us.

“It was too pretty of a day to stay in school,” Derek answered just before he disappeared back inside the truck.

“We couldn’t let you shits get into all the trouble,” Toby said as he held his own bag of McDonalds.

“We’re not in any trouble,” Ally said as she appeared around the back. “I signed myself out, I mean honestly we’re eighteen we can do that.”

“Really?” Toby asked as he looked over at her.

“Yes really,” she answered, rolling her eyes.

“You mean I could have done that instead of just walking my ass out of the school?” Toby asked as he closed his door behind him with his shoulder.

“And not earn a date with my Dad in the morning,” she said as she patted him on the shoulder. “Sometimes I wonder how men survive as long as they do.”

“At least they waited until after Prom,” Heather said as she crossed her arms just under her boobs. There was a light breeze and when her hair gilded across her face she shook her head until it fell back into place.

“You gonna cause me to kick your ass?” I asked, ignoring the girls as I turned back to Toby. He was standing awkwardly just inside his still open truck door.

“No, truce,” he said holding up his hands, it was made worse by his large paper bag and drink.

“Yeah, so drop it,” Derek said as he reappeared from the passenger side of the truck. He was holding a crumpled up empty bag in one hand and had a basketball tucked under his arm. “Hurry up and eat so we can play before Dad hunts me down.”

“Alright,” Luke said and I looked over to see him smiling. I wasn’t about to let Toby off as easily, but when all three of them glanced in my direction I shrugged and led the way towards the pavilion that held the picnic tables.

People had already made some work of the new blank canvases that were the freshly painted tables. Already were knife carved names of couples that wouldn’t last. Also a couple of poorly drawn dicks, which is what I expected.

“Really?” Heather asked as she sat down next to Toby, immediately attempting to steal his fries. When he moved them away I smiled when she scrunched up her nose and snarled at him.

“Really what, woman?” Toby asked as he clutched his fries. “You’re not getting any of these.”

“Come the hell on,” she said as she reached over and I grimaced when she pinched the underside of his arm. When he yelped and handed her his fries I heard Derek snicker.

“The fight from lunch, it’s over, just like that?” She asked as she grabbed a fry then slid the box back over to him. He was inspecting the red mark on his arm, it was going to be a bruise in a couple of hours. Heather’s pinches were damn near criminal, I learned that the hard way too.

“Yeah, we don’t get all dramatic and drag shit out like you all,” Derek said as he waved his finger between the girls.

“We do not,” Lily countered, shaking her head. She looked even more tiny sitting between Derek and me, her long brown hair kept brushing against my arm. The softness sent goosebumps racing over my skin.

“Remind me, Church,” Toby said as he leaned forward, his chest resting against the painted metal rim of the round table. “Didn’t we end up in group counseling with the school counselor over these three?”

“I think you all did, if I’m remembering it right,” Luke answered and I knew Toby included him in the banter just to lessen even more of the tension.

“Shut up,” Ally hissed as she stole the basketball from Derek. “I want to play.”

“Gross,” Toby groaned as he shoved his empty fry and burger box into the bag. He smashed it as he watched Ally roll the ball around on the table. “Girls should only play with certain balls, am I right?”

“Bros against their girlfriends and Church?” Derek suggested and I looked over to see Luke’s eyes widen as Toby and Ally started fighting over the ball. It was rocking the metal table, which was something since it had a large metal chain anchoring it to the concrete by bolts.

“Shirts and skins?” Toby added winking at me. “We’re shirts, girls start stripping.”

“You know I’m not wearing a bra,” Heather hissed and that’s when I noticed her crossing her arms actually covered her nipples. “And no, if I’m getting forced into this, I want to see abs and whatever Derek has under that shirt.”

“Watch it,” Derek countered as he stood up and pulled his shirt up over his stomach. Derek was hairy, hairy for a man, not just a high school senior. He also had apparently been sneaking gym time, because he had lost his offensive lineman body and had firmed up quite a bit.

“There’s my man,” Lily whistled as she reached for his stomach. I laughed when he gently slapped her hand away and pulled down his shirt.

“Let’s get this going already,” Ally said as she bounced the ball between one hand and the other.

“Are you okay with this?” I asked as I stood up and fell behind Luke with everyone else already making their way towards the small court. It was down a sidewalk nestled beside the tennis courts just off the playground.

“Ready to get your butt kicked by a dude and three girls?” He asked as he nudged his shoulder against mine.

“Yeah fucking right,” I said smirking and looked forward to see Toby finally steal the ball from Ally. He took off running with all three girls chasing him, but they stopped when they reached the court. It was a two goal concrete court. It wasn’t large enough for much of anything, but it was decently level. The new goals and posts made it look better than it did back in the rare days I used to come here and play. Before they were half rotted and didn’t have any netting on the rim. At least Henry cared enough to know how important every detail was and did his best to finish everything off right.

“Get those shirts off,” Ally said as she gave up trying to get the ball back.

“You’re skins,” Derek countered as Luke and I stepped onto the court.

“Derek,” Lily said and I watched her cock an eyebrow and I knew it was over.

“Alright, fine,” he said, holding up his hand. “Why do you all always win?”

“You know why,” Toby countered as I smiled at Luke, the effect not lost on me at all. It only made it worse when his cheeks flushed and the muscles in his jaws clenched as he looked away.

“Losers buy the beer for the next bonfire,” I said as I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and pulled it up and over my head. I smiled when the girls whistled as I turned away from them and tossed my shirt onto a small bench off to the side. I watched Toby and Derek follow my lead.

“You’re next, Church,” Heather said as she reached for the bottom of Luke’s shirt. “We want to see what turned our Jackson off us girls.”

“I’m on your team!” He said as he fought out of her grip.

“So?” She asked as he looked over at me, but when I shrugged and smiled I watched his shoulders slump as we all waited to see what he did.

“Take it off me,” he said as he held out his arms. If he thought that would stall for time or make any of them change their minds, he was wrong. When Heather attacked him he had to take a step back to brace himself as she pulled up his shirt. He leaned forward as she pulled it up over his back and when it was off he stood.

“Good lord have mercy,” Heather said as she balled up his shirt and tossed it at him. “I’m suddenly into blondes.”

“Shut up,” I groaned as I gently took Luke’s shirt from his hands, not admitting at all that the girls were playing dirty all of a sudden.

“We get the ball first,” Derek said as he retrieved the ball from Toby. “Only fair, since we’re naked and Jackson has a hard on.”

“Fuck off,” I groaned as he passed me the ball to get the game started and Luke stood in front of me ready to take me on. I smiled when he shook his head motioning for me to bring it with his hand. Behind him there was total mayhem as the girls swarmed Toby and Derek like bees and the only thing I wanted was for daylight to stay strong so that we could stay out here, just us and just like this.