"Marc," I exclaimed.
"Yo! What's up?"
"Let's go to that party. If Carly wants to come, she can. I don't give a shit. Let's leave."
"Huh? Why? We just got here, can't we talk for a little bit? It's been three years."
"30 Minutes. I'll be in the car," I headed toward the door with an angry look on my face as I was on the verge of tears. I thought to myself, "What the hell? Why would he bring me here?" As I reached the door, a soft smaller hand grabbed mine, and while I turned my head with tears in my eyes, my face met hers. "What… what the–– THE HELL COULD YOU WANT FROM ME! YOU TOOK EVERYTHING I HAD! WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO TAKE!" She looked taken back by my sudden fit of rage. "DO YOU KNOW HOW HURT I WAS?" She looked at the ground and let go of my hand, "I cried, Carly. For 3 Years, your words have haunted me, loomed over my head and constantly ruined my life. You are why I'm like this. YOU ruined my life. I–– I…" I grit my teeth and bite my lip, I taste the blood and I screamed, "I–– I HATE YOU!" Tears rolled down my eyes as my staggered breaths got harder and harder. At that moment, something I never expected happened. Carly hugged me and talked to me in a soft voice, just like she did back then.
"I'm sorry. I really am. I was stupid. When I was a kid, I was so naive. I thought that using you would fill some hole that I had in me but in reality, you weren't an answer, you were a piece of the puzzle to help me find the answer. But you, you wouldn't fix my issues. That day, it still haunts me. A day that I waited so long for, I still ask myself 'Why did I say that'."
"What the– Carly. Le-let go!" She squeezed me tighter and put her head on my shoulder.
"You've grown, just a little. You were always bigger than me but even then, we were never that far apart but now look at us," I looked at her with her face only a few inches away from mine, and she wiped my tears, "Don't cry because of me. I really did love you, and to be honest, I still do. I won't do anything to hurt you again, please, just let me hug you a little longer."
"Carly, you know I don't love you anymore,"
"I know."
"You know the feelings I hold towards you are much closer to hate than it is love right?"
"Yes, I know. But y'know, that's not all too bad."
"W–w–what are you talking about"
"I did love you. I mean, I still feel that way sometimes but… please don't respond." She held my hand and put it against her heart, "Y'see, I'm nervous. To tell you the truth, I've tried talking to you all these years. I tried finding ways that I could talk to you, I showed up to football games, soccer games, your school's events, concerts, meets. I even went to your house once! But no matter what, I was never able to find a way that I could talk to you. Y'know, I can't just show up after three years and say, 'Hey, sorry I broke your heart' and play it off. Y'know, you're an amazing person. You're kind, generous, likable, smart, funny, and on top of all of that, you're cute– even if it's just a little," I see her blush, " But, I want to know more about you, I want to learn the new you! So please, let me be a part of your life."
I hesitated and took a deep sigh.
"Fine," I finally hugged her back and we held hands for a little, "I won't forget what you did, but I will learn to forgive over time. Wait for me, I'm sure we can be good friends once more."
"Now, look at you two, all made up and everything," Marc said sitting on the couch with a bag of popcorn.
"Marc what the fu––"
"Wha–– Ha––Ha–– HAAAAA!" Carly threw a pillow at Marc and, if only for a second, I swore I saw a level up sequence above her head.
"Alright let's go to Marc's car. Marc? Marc?" He was out cold, man you'd think someone as athletic as him would be fine with a simple pillow to the head, I better stay clear of Carly.
I sat in the car by myself, I think I had definitely been overwhelmed inside of there. As I waited for Marc to wake up, I thought over everything that had happened to me out loud. "Well, Carly said she was sorry and that she loved me still, that happened. How do I feel though, I mean, all that love that I had for her is long gone, drifting like a fallen leaf in the autumn wind. But even then, I mean, should I forgive her? She hurt me ––a lot–– I mean, even with everything that just happened, that doesn't fix the years of pain that built hatred inside of me. Y'know this would be a lot easier if I just hated her, but deep down, I knew from the second I saw her again, I still cared for her, even if just as a friend. So what do I do? AUGH! This is such a pain." I let my head rest on the steering wheel and accidentally hit the horn.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—
I see Marc run out as if the world just ended with Carly following shortly after him. She'd cleaned up a little, and Marc seems to have just woken up.
"What the hell happened?!" Marc exclaimed.
"Nothing, I just accidentally hit the horn…" As I say that I watch Marc rush toward his car as he swings the drivers door open and tells me to hop out. I got out of the car, stood near the front of it and through the slightly tinted windows, I saw Marc rubbing the wheel and kissing the horn as if he was helping an injured wound. Through the windshield I was able to make out his lips saying "Don't worry everything's ok now, I'm here." It was absolutely hilarious.
A few moments later, Marc got out of the car and told us to get in. I got in shotgun, with Carly behind Marc who was in the driver's seat. Marc plugged in his phone and told me I could set the que for the drive, music that mainly consisted of rock.
As we drove down the streets of our town, I watched the scenery. The Barrys and Nordel I visit weekly. The coffee shop I go to before school everyday. The movie theater. And the lake, where everything in my youth changed. I looked in the mirror and saw Carly sitting in the seat twirling her hair a little.
"Say, Carly, why did you end up cutting your hair?"
"Uhm, what do you mean?"
"Like what made you want to cut it shorter? The whole time I knew you as we were younger it was always long."
"Oh… well the whole time that we were separate, I had a few boyfriends, and all of them liked girls with short hair so when I went out with the first guy, I heard from a friend that he was into girls with short hair so I cut it. Why? Does it look weird?"
"No… it doesn't look bad. I'm just not used to you looking like this. Y'know." I saw her blush in the mirror. She's been acting really weird since I yelled at her earlier. I wonder if she feels sick or nervous for the party, I thought.
"We're here!" Marc Yelled.
As we pulled into the driveway, I saw a 2 story blue house with a white fence and perfect grass. Through the glass, I could smell the stench of chlorine and alcohol–– a deadly combo. I stepped out of the car and looked around while flattening the wrinkles in my car that appeared from sitting and observed as I saw how many people were already here. Even though it was only 3pm by the time we arrived, people were already acting like it was 10pm on a friday. I saw two dudes inside of plastic bumper balls hitting each other on the grass, maybe attempting to wrestle, but that was impossible since the ball surrounding them made them unable to use their arms and also made them the shape of a Gumba. On the other side of the grass, there was a group of girls in bikinis holding white claws and passing around a cigarette. Near them were 3 dudes on lawn chairs, one of which I recognized. His name was Anthony Earl. He used to get made fun of a lot in middle school, way more than I did, and all he ever did was have two first names. Kids can be so cruel, now they all worship him because he hit puberty over the summer before freshman year, grew to 6 foot, hit the gym every day and got an amazing physique. While I may be a loser, I do surprisingly socialize quite a little bit, so me and him do know each other–– even if it is just on a classroom basis. On his side was a girl named Bethany McCormick. She was a stuck up preppy that for some reason Ant was dating. I mean, I don't blame him–– even for as annoying as she was–– she had an amazing body. I mean, seriously, if you saw her, you'd be surprised that she was only 17, she looked like a 20 year old supermodel. Anyways, She happened to not go to our school–– that being central. She went to YWP–– Yorkwork Private, a school an hour south of our town. She was allowed time off campus on the weekends, so I would always see her around town with Ant whenever the weekend or breaks came. Y'know, while I may call her annoying, we aren't exactly enemies. I mean, we are civil for the most part. I wouldn't say I hated her. I just would say that we aren't best friends. Uhm… the word… What is it? AH! Acquaintances… Yeah that's what we are. Moving on from the people I did know, there were 2 girls I didn't know and one guy whose face I knew, but was unable to remember the name of.
Further across the yard, toward the gate to the backyard, there was a ping pong table without the net. It had to have been broken or something because it was laying in the bush next to it, and the arms looked bent. The setup was positioned with a person on the two heads of the table, with cups in front of them. I could tell they were playing BeerPong, but as we came closer to the table, I noticed two things. They were not using ping pong balls, and that the table was battered to all hell. The table had received its terrible beating from the golf ball that they were using, and it seemed like the people playing were clearly terrible at BeerPong. The table had dings on not only the middle, but the sides, edges, and corners. As I observed the guys who were playing on the table, I saw a dude who didn't really look like he was in highschool. He sorta looked like a dad type, like the type of person to drive a Rav 4. The guy he was versing was short, maybe 5'4". He had thin and short blonde hair. He was wearing a beach shirt with a floral design and also had a gold medal on a necklace. He seemed like quite the character but the look on his face was so intense that I didn't really feel like approaching him.
Well, Y'know how I sorta alluded to there being a lot of alcohol at this party? Well yeah, I'd like to give a heads up and say that I have never drank in my life. I mean, I've had communion wine at church, and champagne on new years, obviously, but I have never openly gone to a party or event just to drink alcohol, and I usually tend to avoid it. Now having that said, when I entered the main house, upon entering the door, I was handed a white claw and directed away from Marc and Carly, into a crowd of people all stuffed in a living room. The music shook the walls, and the stomps from all the romping made the room feel like it was constantly in an earthquake. As I was knocked around the room, I held onto the white claw as tight as I could, trying not to spill it as they had given me it opened. I had no intention of drinking it, but I also had no intention of getting the snot beat out of me because I spilled beer all over a dude's favorite flannel.
I made my way through the crowd and got to the stair of the house which was surprisingly uncrowded. While there were a few people, it was nothing compared to the sardine can I just made my way through. Anyways, I walked up the stairs, hoping to find a bathroom to use. While I hadn't really drank anything that day so far, just water in the car, I felt that I needed to use it badly. As I came to the end of the hall on the second floor, I saw a large wooden door that was slightly cracked with the light on inside. I inched toward the room, thinking that it was just left on, this was a party after all, people are in and out of the bathroom all the time.
As I reached toward the door, I saw a girl with long brown hair leaned over the sink with a cup of water in her hand. While leaning over the sink, she drank the water, grabbed her hair, threw it over her shoulder, and took some pills that were on the sink counter. She got another glass of water and washed them down. As she let go of her hair, I could see as each strand fell calmly and beautifully into its natural form. I could smell the sweet scent of her shampoo rush toward me as the girl who just put down her hair turned quickly around with a smile on her face. Her fair skin had a slight glow to it, almost luminescent, as her bright smile beamed at me.
She looked… almost like a ghost.