Page 145 of One More Kiss

Phoenix

THE WEEK WAS AS QUICKand easy as the previous ones. The only thing I looked forward to was trying to find the beauty with the hair covering her face. Not once did I recognize anyone with the description. I knew I needed to worry about completing my senior year and preparing for boot camp, but I wasn’t known to be a person that worried.

I was a ‘live by the day and see what happens’ kind of guy and so far, it’s worked for me. I knew I should be concerned about taking the acting position from Danny, but I honestly didn’t care. If he was good enough, I wouldn’t have been able to usurp his position. Apparently, Mrs. Timms thought I was the better fit. That kind of information was circulating the school. I figured, eventually, Danny would fall prey and attack, but nothing happened.

I wasn’t scared or worried. This was my final year. I didn’t care about status. I cared about my future, and it wasn’t what role I was fulfilling in Acting Club. All week I listened to the stupid rumors, and I would like to say they were false, but they weren’t. I did, after all, replace Danny in the major position. It was what it was.

When Cory and I tried recruiting students for the Acting Club, there weren’t many interested parties. It seemed a lot of students shied away from being on stage. You couldn’t have stage fright to perform, otherwise, you wouldn’t do well. For a small second, a girl with her hair covering her face passed by and I hurried to get her attention. I wanted to see if it was the same girl that had made my heart skip.

It resembled her, though I couldn’t be sure until she looked me in the eye, then I knew that was her blue eye. As I tried getting her to join the club and failing, I was interrupted by Cory. I looked at him for a tiny fraction of a second and when I looked back at the girl was gone. I literally had her in my grasp and she slipped away like a thief in the night. My heart dropped in defeat. I looked forward to the end of the school day just so I could stop my heart from feeling like shit.

In a few hours, the bell would ring. I couldn’t wait for the weekend and now that it’s here, I looked forward to attending the small-town fair.

“Hop in. I’ll bring you home and pick you up later tonight if you want,” I said to Cory, as I sat in the driver’s seat of my Ford Bronco.

Cory wasn’t allowed to drive yet even though he was a senior. His parents were pretty strict about driving rules in their house. On many occasions, they’d allow me to transport Cory places, but I basically had to vow on the bible I would pay close attention to the rules of the road and keep Cory safe. I couldn’t fault their concern, but sometimes it could be a little overbearing.

Cory ran around to the passenger side of the vehicle and hopped in. “Thanks, man. I’m pretty sure I’ve missed the bus. I won’t put it past my parents to call the school looking for me. Gosh, I wish they’d back off. I mean, I’m a senior for Christ sakes.”

“Eh. You know how parents can be. They just care about you, is all,” I replied. “Put your seatbelt on. Your mom would have my ass if I pulled up and you aren’t wearing on.”

Cory hurriedly buckled the belt, “I’m glad you caught that. I wasn’t even thinking. She’d probably ban me from all vehicles if I pulled up without one.”

“No joke. We still on for the fair tonight?” I asked.

I braked at the stop light a street away from Cory’s house.

“Yeah,” Cory said, “I asked a few weeks ago and they didn’t seem too worried about me going. I feel like ever since you joined the military, my parents have a new respect for you. It’s like they don’t mind if I ride with you anywhere. Maybe I need to join. That’ll teach them to slack off.”

“You’d also get sent off as soon as school was over. Did you forget I’m leaving this summer?” I revealed, “I’m not ready, but it’s the only option I got. My parents aren’t prepared for me to attend college. We don’t have that kind of money and I don’t want to fix computers for the school for the rest of my life. But, above all things, I don’t want to be stuck in this town forever. I want to explore.”

Cory huffed and wiped at his forehead. The sun was beating down on the vehicle. The air conditioner was on full blast, but barely blowing cold air.

“I don’t want to stay here either, but what choice do I have? I’m expected to continue the family business. I’d love to switch places with you and explore the world. Shit, maybe one day,” Cory said.

We sat in silence the rest of the way to his house, which was only two houses down from where we were. I understood Cory’s need to venture out and explore the world. I had the same need, but I wasn’t tied down like he was. He was right though, maybe one day he’d get the chance to go on his own adventures away from his family.

“All right. Thanks for the ride, man,” Cory said, “See you in two?”

I nodded, “Yep. Be ready. And no problem.”

Cory waved as I pulled out of the driveway. Two hours was enough time to attend band practice and get ready for the night. I was meant to meet the guys a few minutes ago, but I’d tell them traffic was a bitch. They knew it was like that all the time.

On the ride to Brey’s house, I jammed to my favorite band, Tool. Our band had been together since middle school. In the beginning, we didn’t practice often, but ever since high school we practiced more than once a week. Sometimes, we’d get sick and tired of each other because we were frequently together. I was the lead guitarist. Brey was the drummer. Tye sung and played backup guitar, and Vince was the bassist. We were pretty good, and even played at a few of the school’s events.

The problem was each one of us knew the band was coming to a close. We all had plans once school was over. And since each of us were seniors, there wasn’t a chance in keeping the band alive. I knew it was probably not worth the continuous practices anymore, but we loved music. It was a part of us.

I pulled up to a cerulean blue house. It had single-planed windows, with white trim all over. Brey’s parents lived there as long as I could remember. I always wondered why they chose that color for the house, but Brey said he wasn’t sure. I slammed the Bronco’s door and walked up to the white door of the house before knocking. Brey opened the screen while yawning.

His eyes widened in surprise. “What’s up, man?”

“Sup. Where’s everybody at?” I questioned, looking around.

It was then that I noticed no other vehicles were in the driveway.

“Didn’t you check your messages? We all tried contacting you. Vince had something come up, and so the rest of the guys decided not to practice tonight,” Brey said.

I couldn’t believe it. I drove all the way to Brey’s house when I should’ve checked my messages to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. There wasn’t a thing I could do about band practice, so I nodded my head.

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