A Ride With Friends

by Miguel Taylor

out of the house. Everyone was smiling except Scott. Charlie looked around like she was looking for something and when she found it she pointed at it. I held my breath. I thought she was pointing at me. No, just a place to take pictures. After they talked for a minute or two they came over. They stood directly in front of me and took pictures. First individuals, then the girls, and lastly couples. Charlie whispered something in Scott’s ear. He began to turn his head but she stopped him.

  I heard her say. “No!” and then she laughed.

  Then they stood even closer to the tree I was hiding in, and now Scott finally began to smile as Charlie's mom snapped away with her camera. I wondered what Charlie whispered to him to finally make him smile. I wanted to dive on him from up in the tree Long Duk Dong style, but I didn’t want to ruin their night, not like that. They left and I climbed down, trying to calculate what time Charlie and I had left the prom and had gone to that dirty hotel room. It wasn’t really dirty; it was nice, but now I only thought of how filthy it would be with Charlie in there with him. I had to stop them. No matter what I wouldn’t let it happen. I started to reminisce about prom last year. The first slow song that Charlie and I danced to. Am I Dreaming by Atlantic Starr. I didn't want the song to ever end.

  I waited until eleven, then drove my dad’s car to the hotel. As I pulled in I saw the limo that had taken them to the prom driving off. My blood began to boil. I raced inside and saw the elevator closing. It stopped at the second floor so I ran frantically up the stairs. As I was entering the hall I saw the trace of a prom dress slide into the hotel room before the door closed. My mind was doing if and loops, like in my programming class trying to figure out what I should do and when. It had taken Charlie and me a while because we were both inexperienced. Scott had had a lot of girlfriends and a lot of experience. After ten minutes of contemplating I couldn’t wait any longer. I ran to the door and beat on it like a deranged lunatic. I heard a whisper from inside, my heart was pounding, hoping it wasn’t too late. I heard someone approach the door. Then a female voice whispered.

  “What the hell!”

  Then I heard heavier footsteps as the door opened just enough for Colin to slide in the hallway. He stood there with his tuxedo shirt hanging out of his pants and his tie askew. He was breathing a mile a minute.

  “Mike! What are you doing here? You scared me half to death!”

  “Sorry Colin, I was looking for Charlie,” I said.

  “I think she went home. She wasn’t having a good time so she and Scott left,” he said.

  The door opened just a crack and I could see Tracy was wearing a sheet and looking like she was from ancient Rome.

  “If you don’t get back in here I'm going home,” she said.

  He bid me good bye and hurried back into the room. I headed to Charlie’s, knocked on the door, but her dad answered and said that Charlie was asleep. I was relieved. I went home and rested, knowing that prom night hadn’t been a good one for any of us except Colin. But at least the worst hadn't happened.

  As our lives hurtled closer to graduation day, it was time for Colin’s birthday and our graduation celebration. He personally came and gave me an invitation.

  “Mike, I would really appreciate you being there,” he said. Tracy loudly protested, but something in his eyes begged me to go. I said ok. I wouldn’t be seeing much of him after the summer and I figured it was the least I could do save apologize to him. I also knew it would piss Tracy off if I showed up.

  “Colin, I'm sorry for everything I put you through. You are a true friend. I’m sorry that I treated you the way I did,” I told him.

  “It's fine. I always knew you didn’t mean any of the stuff you said.”

  “You are still the biggest jerk I have ever met,” Tracy said, and I didn’t argue.

  The day of the party came and it was great just being there hanging out with Colin for an hour. Then it happened. Heaven opened up and an angel stepped down to join the mortals. Charlie came in looking beautiful. I wanted to talk to her but didn’t quite know how. I felt Colin nudge me in the back. Charlie came over and handed him a card and gave him a hug. Then she looked at me.

  “Hiya Charlie,” I managed.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Can we talk?” I asked.

  “Sure,” she answered as she led me behind the pool house.

  “Look, I’m sorry for everything. I never meant to hurt you,” I said.

  “You hurt me because you didn’t trust me. You didn’t trust in your friends! We all have our own lives to live. You can’t live them for us. Scott wanted to drop out of school. I hated it just as much as you did; so did Colin. Scott felt that the trouble he had gotten himself into had damaged his future. Maybe if you had listened to him you would have found that out.”

  “What about you and him at your house and prom?” I asked.

  “He can tell you about us if he wants to,” she said as she turned and walked away.

  The emphasis she put on “us” hurt me to hear. It seemed like they were officially together. I was sure I would get my chance because he was certain to be here.

  I was right. Twenty minutes later he was there. I walked up to him slowly and calmly said hello.

  “What’s up?” he said with a smile.

  That smile was a Scott signature. His own I am so glad to see you smile. He was sincerely glad to see me. I couldn’t say the same to him.

  “I need to talk to you,” I said.

  He agreed and again we chose the back side of the pool house.

  “What is going on with you and Charlie?” I asked bluntly.

  “You need to ask Charlie,” he said quickly.

  “She said you would tell me if you wanted too,” I answered him.

  “Okay, I thought about what you said about me dropping out of school. So Charlie found an alternative for me. Home school. Her mom agreed to be my teacher, but it was really Charlie running the show the whole time. I was going to tell you what was going on. Charlie had made up her mind to give you a second chance and go to the prom with you. Then you showed up at her house; I wanted to tell you then, but Charlie thought about how surprised you would be when they called my name at graduation. I was doing it for you. I wanted you to be proud of me. I was going to say I was there because Charlie and Mrs. Parker were helping me to graduate on time. You made Charlie so mad that she just blurted out that I was taking her to the prom,” Scott said.

  “That's why you looked so surprised when she said it?”

  “Yeah, I didn’t even want to go to the prom,” he added.

  “What about what she whispered in your ear before you guys left to go to the prom?”

  He began to laugh. “She said look at that fool in that tree!”

  “So she knew I was there?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I've been such a fool. I am so sorry, Scott. I don’t know how I can make this right,” I said.

  “You already have. You know I love you man.” He gave me a hug like two brothers who haven’t seen each other for decades would.

  “Yeah I know, but I can't see why,” I said.

  Then we went back out to the party. I felt so embarrassed about how I had been behaving over the course of the last year. I felt lower than dirt. I had to leave. I had betrayed my friends and myself. Charlie still had feelings for me and I had messed it all up. There was probably no way to fix it. I headed for the front yard and walked stealthily to my car, hoping no one would see me. I saw my car clearly. I had my hand on the handle and pulled it open, got in and turned it on. I glanced in my rear view mirror. Someone was chasing after me. I hit my brakes so fast that my tires screeched. I got out and Charlie ran up, almost out of breath.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “Home.”

  “Why? This party is just as much for us as it is for Colin,” she said.

  “I haven’t been a very good friend to any of you. I think the best thing I can do is leave,” I tol
d her.

  “You can start being a good friend right now if you come back to the party,” Charlie said.

  So she talked me back there and it was just like old times. Of course the party was packed, but it was still like it was just us. We took a ton of pictures. The circle was once again complete, and I promised myself that I would never break it again.

  Graduation came and it was just as it should have been. The journey we started together was now at an end. I was glad for once to hear a valedictorian speak and salutatorian, because they were two of my best friends. Colin won the competition. I was ecstatic to see Scott walk across the stage and Charlie was beautiful, but we had agreed to be just friends for now. We still spent every moment we could together. Everyone was happy to be whole again, everyone except Tracy. She still didn’t trust me. Some things never change.

  Towards the end of summer college was looming near. Colin was going to State and Tracy was going to Peace. I was going to Oklahoma State and Charlie was going to the University of Illinois. I didn’t want the summer to end, because I knew, as all adults know now, that college is the beginning of the end. You don’t see your friends as much, if ever again.

  In no time at all it seemed Charlie and I were going to leave. I took her out to dinner, just the two of us. It wasn’t a date per se but I treated it like one. It was my last paycheck from my summer job, and I wanted to do something special for her to show her how much she meant to me. I took her to one of the most expensive restaurants that downtown had to