Chapter #3Five Years Ago (give or take) by: Aurthor   It was summer, and a few of my friends from school and I were hanging out, just generally chilling and playing a little b-ball to pass the time. Tonight only three of them could make it, still enough for two on two, but Larry and Kenny always partnered up, which meant I got stuck with Elvie, which sucked. I mean, he’s a nice enough kid or we wouldn’t let him hand around, but he also left his guard wide open and ended up losing the ball half the time someone challenged his shot.
Five games in I had enough of being on the losing side and called it quits, claiming I was tired. We headed back to my place where I knew Dad kept a stockpile of Gatorade specifically for me and my friends to drink. Not our first beverage of choice, but Dad somehow kept forgetting to pick up the Monsters I requested, probably because he knew mom would blow a gasket. She absolutely refused to allow anything that even sounded like the energy drink into the house, and while dad and her disagreed on practically everything else, he was pretty much onside with that issue. My friends teased me about it, but I noticed that didn’t stop them from helping themselves to the fridge whenever they were over.
On the way Larry started bragging again about this chick he’d managed to nail. It was three weeks ago, but he the way he talked you’d think it happened only yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, when you’re sixteen sex is pretty much the only thing on your mind, and of the dozen friends I hung out with there were only four who hadn’t lost their virginity by the time summer vacation started. Then Larry ran into this chick at the arcade one night, and suddenly there were only three of us.
Yes, I said ‘us’. Larry, Kenny, Howie, Taylor, Jackson, Sammy, Peter, and even Skeeter had all gotten their V card stamped. Which left only me, Elvie, and Wendell standing on the deck of the SS Chastity as our friends strutted around and crowed about their success.
It’s not that we didn’t try. If anything we tried too hard. None of us were jocks, or rich (except for Wendell, not that it helped much) so there weren’t a lot of girls willing to go out with the kids in club loser, and those that did weren’t the kind to let a boy get to second base, let alone take them all the way home. None of us had even gotten much beyond the cuddle and kiss on the cheek stage by the time Christmas break had rolled around and it was looking like there was a good chance the whole club would graduate into the world never having experienced the teenage dream.
Then Jackson came back after the holidays bubbling all about this chick he’d scored with while on a ski vacation with his parents. Of course none of us believed him at first. It sounded too made up after all, the kind of thing only happens in skin flicks and adult mags. Then not two weeks later Howie hooks up with a girl he’d met at the Game Stop at the mall, and then not a week later Taylor is telling us how he got it on with some girl he’d met at the library.
It was crazy. By the time school was out for the summer no less than eight girls had breezed through town, popped one of the gang’s cherries, then vanished without a trace. None of the girls seemed to be local, and only couple of the boys had the presence of mind to remember to get a phone number. Not that it helped, the receptionist at the zoo seemed quite confused when Sammy called. And poor Peter didn’t fare much better. At least the funeral director didn’t slam the phone down when Peter asked to speak to Hera Mains.
It was maddening, especially when somehow, in spite of my best efforts, I remained steadfastly within the ranks of ‘those who haven’t.’ Friend or not, I was ready to punch the next smirking face that came into the room and said ‘Hey guys, guess what happened to me!’
There are only so many times Larry could tell the tale without repeating himself. Scratch that. Larry constantly repeated himself. The whole act had probably taken eight minutes, and in spite of all the embellishment I actually felt kind of sorry for the girl, or I would have if I hadn’t been so jealous of Larry finally getting some. As he talked I reminded myself I would be far more caring and attentive than Larry had been, probably, if I ever got the fricking chance.
Rounding the corner to the street that led to the cul-de-sac my house stood on we were startled by the lights of emergency vehicles. It looked as if a car had missed the corner and plowed into a tree. Cops were standing around taking pictures and marking the area with tape even as the paramedics were loading a gurney into the back of the ambulance. It was a sight that even made Larry fall silent as we walked towards the wreck.
“Oh man,” I commented, filling in the silence left now that Larry had finally shut up. That’s old Hardman’s tree. Is he going to be pissed or what.”
“Hardmans always pissed.” Kenny replied, which made us all chuckle. Hardman was the kind of neighbor nobody wanted. The kind that was always yelling at kids and leaving notes in your mailbox over things nobody cared about, like if your garbage can was slightly further from the curb than strictly necessary. Plus, he was always lurking in the window or bushes with his camera, creeping on the girls who lived in the neighborhood. I swear half my bad luck with girls came from living on the same block as that perverted old fuck.
As we drew closer the paramedics slammed the doors and the ambulance started up the street, siren blaring as the heavy vehicle rounded the corner on two wheels and screamed away. When the noise had dies down enough to talk Larry said “Hey, maybe now he won’t be able to hide in the tree taking pictures.”
“I doubt that.” I replied. “That tree looks pretty sturdy. I don’t think it got hurt at all. Not like the wreck that hit it.” There was something very familiar about that car.
“Hey, that’s Wendell’s car!” Elve pointed.
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