The Last Hurrah of Trevor & Dustin - 1. Chapter One

Surrounded by my laundry and self-doubt, I was falling into a pit of despair dreading Dustin’s arrival. My best friend for the last… well forever actually. The summer of our lives was about to happen. A summer we had dreamed of for four years now. Every moment of high school, in the back of our minds we dreamed and planned of our last hurrah. But now, all I wanted to do was bury myself in my clothes and wait for fall to rear its ugly head. Summer would be gone and I could go on without dealing with all of this shit. Stupid shit that took over every fiber of my being.

A cross country road trip in Dustin’s beat up clunker sounded amazing until I realized that maybe something else was happening between us. Something more than just friendship. Something that I didn’t even understand. Feelings towards him.

And maybe he was feeling the same towards me. Thing had changed. Something coursed beneath the surface of our interactions. Tiny things that you could barely notice. Or maybe I was completely insane. My mind was far too over imaginative.

Grappling with all those feelings and thoughts, going 75 down the highway with nowhere to hide or run gave me anxiety. Anxiety to a higher level than I ever imagined even possible.

Ding Dong.

Goddamnit. Of course he was on time. He always was. Why couldn’t he be more like me? Living life by the last minute was so much more fun. Especially if you’re lazy and a major procrastinator like me. I considered it one of my finest qualities.

“Trevor!”

His voice raced up the stairs and down the hallway towards me like a blast of cold air. Ugh. Time to face the music, or whatever it was they said.

“I’m up here.”

I could hear his excited footsteps getting closer with each breath. Was this what being in a horror movie felt like? Anxiety bubbling over as you anticipated your impending demise? Even my heart pounded in my chest.

Was that a little too dramatic? Probably. I started grabbing all my nicer looking clothes, shoving everything I could into my duffle bags before he burst into the room.

“What the hell? You’re still not packed!?” Dustin said as he plopped down on my bed amongst all the mess. “It’s time to go.”

Of course he looked perfect. Every single one of his feature came directly out of a magazine. The chiseled jaw line. The scruffy five o’clock shadow that was somehow always there. His hair was brown and shaggy but designed to look that way. Nothing was out of place on him. A perfect specimen of a man.

Kill me now.

“You know me, it would be weirder if I was actually ready.” He smiled, and I almost passed out. One of those smiles that just fills everything with warmth and radiance. I hated him. And loved him. It was awful.

“Let me help you out. These bags are a mess man.”

Dustin rifled through the duffles, folding everything meticulously, tossing out the clothes he didn’t deem worthy of coming along. Everything was organized, packed and ready to go in ten minutes, something that would have taken me three years to accomplish. Literally.

“Alright, you ready to go? The moment we’ve been waiting for.”

The moment I had been dreading. He looked so excited. So happy for this trip. I couldn’t mess this up for him. I wouldn’t let that happen.

“Yeah let’s do this!” Feigning excitement was another of my specialties. I grabbed my duffle bags and followed behind him, my smile fading as he turned away from me.

We sprinted down the stairs, kissing my mom goodbye and flooring it out of the neighborhood with tunes blasting from the radio. Dustin sang along to the music, shouting lyrics at the top of his lungs. People we went to school with drove by, honking after us. Our neighborhood faded into the horizon as we hit the highway.

I didn’t know what this trip would do for us but one thing was for sure. The summer of our lives was about to happen.

One way or another.