I was sitting in my boyfriend’s car, and I was so very bored. Which was nothing new, it was how I usually spent my Saturday nights. He and his friends would all meet up in the town square, talk and laugh and smoke, take laps around the center of town when the cops drove by one time too many and play loud music from their custom made car stereos. There were a couple of girls there too, some of them were girlfriends like me, others were what I called roadkill, girls willing to let a guy cop a feel for a night riding in his car.
Part of my job as Simon’s girlfriend was to ride shotgun, keep my mouth shut and let him put his arm around me when he wanted to show me off. Don’t get me wrong. I really liked him and he was very good looking. His brown hair was always in need of a cut, which was kinda cute, his jeans were always hanging low enough for them to look cool and he filled out his white t-shirts just fine.
When I closed my eyes and let my hands roam over his shoulders and arms I almost felt something that could be mistaken for desire stirring inside of me. Simon was a great guy, he never showed any interest in the roadkill coming up to him and he never let any of the other guys bother me.
There were guys there who didn’t view girls as anything more than meat and would box you in and grab your boobs or ass, or both, if they thought they’d get away with it. Whenever I noticed one of them give me a look I’d start examining my acrylic nails, they’re not long enough to be actual talons, but guys don’t know the difference. The pitch black nail polish helped too.
A good grab and squeeze anywhere on their nether regions would usually have them backing off, sometimes it was enough to grab their arm. Though I’ve only had to resort to ball squeezing once, it was when David Legendi cornered me behind Seven Eleven and wanted me to give him some of that which I was giving Simon. Let me just say he’s given me a wide berth ever since.
At the moment my services weren’t needed, the guys were gathered around one of the cars which had been most recently been remodeled. I was listening to music on low in the front seat in Simon’s car, checking my phone for any social media updates. Some of the long term girlfriends were nice enough and we had a common enemy in the prowling roadkill, but I never hung out with them when I wasn’t with Simon and his friends.
I was a drama geek, all my school friends were also drama geeks and they were slightly puzzled by my relationship with Simon. He liked them well enough and they never said condescending things to his face, but I knew that they thought he took up too much of my time.
Simon and I met at the cinema. I worked there, selling tickets, making popcorn and cleaning the theaters between movies. He came in about four months ago with his friends to see the latest car chase flick and ended up offering me a ride home. Then he started showing up most nights I worked late and drove me home, two weeks later we kissed for the first time.
We never really did anything but ride in his car, hang with his friends and make out in the backseat before he took me home. We hadn’t gone passed third base, he hadn’t brought it up really, and I was happy about that. Having sex in his car would have felt tacky, roadkill tacky. The times we hung out at my house we ended up watching a movie and maybe made out a little. My parents seemed to like Simon, but I had to have the door to my room open at all times, so there was little chance of anything happening. At Simon’s house we had no privacy, because he shared his room with his younger brother and his mom was the most nosy person I had ever met. I totally got why he drove around in his car as much as possible.
Anyway.
I was sitting in his car, bored out of my mind. I was even contemplating going over to look at the new car. There were about four girls hovering around the guys, all of them roadkill, one had even pretended to trip on some invisible rock to grab ahold of Simon. A strong feeling of ownership swelled in me and I shoved my phone in the pocket of my jeans jacket to be able to keep an eye on this short skirt wearing skank. I adjusted the black romper I was wearing, everyone knows you don’t wear short skirts when riding in cars. A short skirt will ride up, flashing your panties to the world, but then some of the roadkill live for that shit. After checking my makeup and applying a new coat of coral lipstick I slowly exited the car, as if I only needed to stretch my legs or go use the bathroom over at the Seven Eleven. The only people who noticed me were the roadkill, Short Skirt Skank showed her teeth in an insincere smile and backed away from my boyfriend. That’s right. Know your place.
Deciding that looking at the workings of a car would render me brain dead from sheer boredom I wandered over to Seven Eleven to see, as if by magic, new treats had appeared. A late night breeze ruffled my shoulder length blonde hair and brought goosebumps to my legs, sitting in the car had been nice and toasty. The smell of coffee and melted cheese greeted me when I entered the store, the girl behind the counter was leaning on one elbow, flipping through a fashion magazine. She didn’t even lift her gaze to see who entered. I rolled my eyes and steered my feet towards the back where the energy drinks were displayed.
Grabbing a Red Bull I turned to peruse the snack aisle, maybe eating a bag of crisps would make things better. Though I had to finish it before getting into Simon’s car again, there was no eating or drinking in his car. The Chevy was his everything and he spent more time on cleaning and polishing it than he spent on himself. Or on me.
There was nothing catching my fancy. The can of Red Bull was slick from condensation and chilled my hand, I eyed the bags of crisps one last time before heading to the counter. The girl, who’s name tag told me her name was Felicia, shoved her magazine to the side and scanned my can.
“Anything else?” She really didn’t want me to want anything else. “No.” Felicia wouldn’t even give me a smile. She didn’t get a goodbye, not that she seemed to care because she went back to reading her article on bikini waxing. Walking out from the store I saw that the guys had popped the hood. Great, we’d be here all night. Taking a sip from the can I walked over to Simon’s car, but the thought of sitting there rubbed me the wrong way.
There was a small park in the middle of the square, a small fountain with wooden benches arranged around it and huge pots of flowers placed almost haphazardly in between. A group of skaters occupied two of the benches, taking a break from whatever it is that skaters do. There were four older men smoking and talking over on the other side, but the bench closest to me was empty. Behind me they revved the engine of this wonder of a car and my body moved away from everything that had to do with muscle cars. Checking the bench for anything nasty and sticky I sat down, the wood cool against my legs.
Watching the fountain splash and gurgle I stretched my legs out in front of me crossing my ankles, my white high tops slightly scuffed but still white enough to stand out in the early evening. There was movement among the skaters, a big group left the park and everything got more quiet. I saw a few bikes thrown carelessly in the small patch of grass behind the benches the skaters occupied.
My eyes scanned the guys who had stayed, looking for crazy brown curls and someone who I knew wouldn’t be there. The trick bike guys laughed and shoulder punched each other. I turned away from them, ignoring the burning feeling in my eyes and I drained the last of the Red Bull, chucking it into the trashcan next to my bench. When I turned forward again my body froze.
Spray painted sneakers, cut off black cargo pants, a dark green over sized tank top with a cartoon bulldog on it, along with a huge grin, sparkling green eyes and crazy brown curls hidden beneath a backwards baseball cap had my whole world tumbling down.
“Emma. Hi.” My name on his lips brought everything back. “Joshua?”
Have you ever experienced a perfect day?
Joshua is my perfect day. Seeing him standing there in front of me had me reliving it in between heartbeats. The smell of suntan lotion, vanilla ice cream, boiling hot asphalt and that scent that was just Joshua. My arms around his waist as he peddled so fast it felt like we were flying, laughing with excitement and never wanting it to end.
We had never met before, he was visiting his grandparents and happened to be at the community pool at the same time as me. I never approach people, especially those I’ve never met, but Joshua came up to me and instantly I knew I had to go with him. It turned out to be one of those strange days where you don’t meet anyone you know, it was as if the town had swapped everyone living in it to complete strangers. The only one I knew was this boy I had just met that morning. He made me laugh like nobody ever had, he listened to me, to my thoughts and plans for the future and told me about himself. About his passion for trick bikes and skating, of how he couldn’t wait for high school to be over so that he could travel the world. I had never felt so connected to anyone, not even to my best friend Clara.
“Emma…” The butterflies in my stomach did back flips whenever he said my name. “We should head back.” It was past midnight, the night had grown cool and goosebumps covered my skin whenever a light breeze tried to tangle my hair. “Yeah.” I let out a sigh. “I’m gonna… I’m gonna be gone tomorrow.” My heart fell and I looked away, over to the park where moths danced around the street lights. “Emma.” He took my face in his hands, warm palms cradling my cool cheeks. His eyes searched mine for something, it was the first time all day he wasn’t smiling. And then he was kissing me. My hands ran up his sides, back behind his neck where my fingers buried themselves in his curls. I wanted to crawl into him, attach myself to him and stop him from leaving. After what felt like forever he leaned his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. I knew what he was feeling.
We took the long way back, my arms hugged him tightly from where I sat on the bike rack, my cheek pressed into the fabric of his tank top. He stopped at the crossroads, my house was off to the left, his grandparents lived a twenty minute bike ride to the right. “Emma, I…” I stopped him by raising my lips to his. It hurt, but it was also the best thing I had ever experienced. “You’ll be on the other side of the world by this time tomorrow.” I forced a bright smile. “We’ll be alright.” My last memory of him is him standing in the corner of the street, watching me walk away from him. Don’t ask me why we never exchanged phone numbers or social media profiles, we didn’t even tell each other our last names. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I’ll never see him again and that this one fact was the worst thing ever to happen to me.
But there he was, standing right in front of me. “You’re back?” He didn’t say a word, just held out his hand to me and pulled me to my feet. I was in his arms before I knew what was happening, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. He smelled the same, he felt the same. “I’ve missed you.” I couldn’t say a word, tears threatened to ruin everything. His hug nearly cracked a rib, but I hugged him back just as hard. When we finally let go I managed a tremulous smile and was rewarded by a face splitting one in return. “Emma?” Simon calling my name had me back in reality faster than I thought possible. Shit.
“I have to take care of this.” Joshua didn’t let go of my hand as I turned around to face Simon. I saw my boyfriend appraising the situation before looking at me. “So this is how it is.” It wasn’t a question and all I managed was a nod and an apologetic smile. Simon sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “At least I don’t know the guy, so I guess that’s a comfort in itself. See you around Emma.” And with that he was gone, the smell of exhaust the only thing left to remind me of the time we shared.
Joshua led me over to the trick bike guys and I smiled at the ones I knew from school, they greeted me with my name. He high fived some, got shoulder punches from others, but I didn’t feel as if I was only something he wanted to show off. I was my own person. His grandmother’s bike lay in the grass, he let go of my hand long enough to right it. Joshua straddled the bike and looked at me over his shoulder.
“My grandparents are away for the weekend…” My arms were around his waist in no time. “Then what are you waiting for? Go go go!” I half-whispered and laughing we set off into the twilight. Drunk on being near him again I rested my cheek against his back and promised myself never to let go of him, ever again.
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