Page 5

Byron

By the time Saturday comes around I’m two days into my Welcome Back To School bender. Dragging myself home while barely being able to see straight. Both nights, I came home alone, which was not the plan.

My head is pulsing as I wait for the Advil to kick in and help elevate the headache that’s come with my hangover.

The only light in the den comes from College Game Day.

It’s the perfect background noise. My eyes are glued to my phone where I’m watching countless videos I’ve been sent from last night.

Each one is worse than the last. It’s pretty clear why I struck out last night.

I’m slurring my words and unable to walk in a straight line. Looking more like newborn deer than a top college athlete. Marcus and Aaron dragged me out of the party even though I put up quite the protest. Luckily they knew better than to listen to a Byron that was twelve beers deep.

I planned on sitting in this dark room nursing myself back to full strength with Gatoraid and greasy food until our party tonight. I want to have a nice, easy-going night, then wake up tomorrow without a hangover so I can spend Sunday getting ready for the first day of classes.

That was until I was told we need to get the living room ready for our party tonight. With the Advil doing its job I pull out the vacuum while Mia is sleeping in my bedroom.

I flip the switch at the same time I hear the squeak that only comes from my bedroom door.

“Don’t let Mia….”

Before I can turn off the vacuum, Mia–my dog and, honestly, the only girl I’ll ever love—darts down the stairs and attacks the vacuum like it did something to her personally.

Mia came into my life last year, when I found her walking home from the bar drunk. When I got home, Jalen and Ivy were watching Mama Mia in the den, and when the future vet confirmed it was a girl, we decided to name her after the movie they were watching.

I hastily turn the vacuum off and scoop my girl off the ground.

She licks at my face not caring that I’m a sweaty, hungover mess.

I laugh before setting her down. She quickly moves to the kitchen to see what droppings she can find.

After tucking the vacuum next to the couch, I decide to postpone vacuuming and set up the table for the makeshift bar instead.

Just the sight of the cheap liquor bottles makes me queasy. I’m lining up the plastic cups when I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket.

Marcus:

Just use my car to get the keg.

He and Indy have been in his room for the last hour and I can only assume that he can’t be bothered to put pants on to go to the liquor store himself.

I slip on my sneakers and make a last-second decision to grab Mia’s leash and clip it on her collar. I roll all the windows down– sunroof included– in his Ford F-150, wanting to soak in the last days of summer before New York turns into the frozen tundra.

Mia enjoys the car ride with her head out the window to enjoy the fresh-air she didn’t get while we were back in Brooklyn this summer. When the liquor store comes into view she starts to bark knowing we are headed to one of her favorite places.

“Well, if it isn’t our favorite customers!” Miss Jane gushes. She pops the lid on the canister of dog treats that she leaves next to the register. Her liquor store is a safe haven for all the dogs in Westvale.

“Hey, Miss Jane, we are here to pick up the kegs Marcus ordered.”

Her fingers work at lightning speed over the keyboard before looking back up.

“Three kegs of light beer?” she asks, looking for confirmation. When I nod, she grabs a large dolly before disappearing into the back of the store.

I walk around the store, looking at the new, very expensive liquors she has stocked throughout the store.

“Here you go,” she says with a smile. “Marcus already paid for them, and you can leave the dolly by the front door when you’re done.”

I give her a little salute before telling her, “Will do. See you soon Miss Jane!”

Mia barks in agreement before prancing back to the truck.

I get Mia into the car first with the air conditioning blasting before getting the kegs in the truck’s bed.

After I take the dolly back, my phone starts to ring, and when I see Marcus’ name on the caller ID, I answer, making sure we aren’t missing anything for tonight.

“Hey, are you on your way home yet?”

“Just leaving Jane’s. Why do we need something for tonight?”

“No, we are all good for tonight, but Lola just called Indy to tell her she got a flat tire. Indy said I would help her, but since you’re out, can you go? She is just off campus on Third Street.”

“Yeah, I can go help her.” I murmur, trying to forget about our last interaction. This one has to go better, right?

The quick five-minute drive feels like it goes on forever.

“How was your summer?” I say out loud trying out what I want to say to Lola.

“Not the way you want to start senior year?” I joke. When I’m stopped at a red light. I look to the passenger seat and see Mia has her paw thrown over eyes. No doubt hiding from my awkwardness.

I run my fingers over the top of her head. “I know baby girl, your dad is an embarrassment.”

Lola’s car perched on the curb is the first thing I see when I turn onto Third Street.

Her left front tire is half deflated. I pull in behind her.

Her hip is resting on the back bumper, phone perched between her shoulder and her ear.

Nervously picking at her nails as she talks to someone on the other end of the phone.

She’s fully engrossed in her conversation with her back to me. I lightly tap her shoulder. Lola doesn’t flinch, like she knew someone was coming. She quickly says goodbye to whoever she is talking to, and before she even turns, she starts her apology

“Thank you so much, Mar…” the sentence dies when I get a view of her beautiful green eyes.

“So Indy didn’t tell you I was the one coming?”

She shakes her head. The heat from her eyes threatens to burn me, which makes me wonder how we got to this place.Last year Lola became one of my best friends, not just one of the girls I was sleeping with.

“Is the spare in the trunk?”

“Yeah,” she answers emotionlessly. “Are you sure you know what you are doing? You are from New York City and don’t exactly have a car.”

“Yes, well, in one of Dad’s short stints pretending to be a parent, he taught me how to,” My light tone doesn’t match the tightness I feel in my chest.

She lowers the defensive barriers that constantly protect her heart.

It’s rare to find a friend that understands the complicated relationship you have with your parents.

Lola was one of the only people in my life that I could talk to about my dad and I felt like I wasn’t bogging her down with my emotional baggage.

“Mia is in the car if you want to say hi. She misses you.”

“She is!” She looks from me to the truck, a beautiful smile threatening to peek through that rough exterior.

That’s the same excited tone she had when I first told her I found Mia.

She called me the moment Lola told her I found a stray dog and was going to keep her.

Her roommates had just left for an away game and asked if I wanted to come over to keep her company.

We had already been talking a little more often and hanging out on campus in between classes, but I saw this as an opportunity to see if we could be something more.

I showed up to a spread of homemade snacks for us and a basket full of toys for Mia. Somehow we ended up on the couch watching movies with Mia snuggled between us. It was the night that I knew there was no going back. I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with her.

The passenger side door flies open and Mia launches herself out of the truck. The moment her paws hit the dewy grass she has Lola chasing her.

It takes me twenty minutes–including my glances back to make sure Mia is okay, I definitely wasn’t checking Lola’s ass out–to put the spare on.

When I’m done, I turn to see Lola lying in lush green grass with Mia sitting on her stomach, getting her head scratched.

I walk over and settle on the ground next to them.

“You’re all set. Just make sure you get to a garage quickly to fix that. You don’t want to put too much mileage on that spare.”

“Thanks, Byron.” She says, keeping her eyes locked on Mia.

I run my fingers through the grass, wondering how we got here. I take the treat I tucked in my pocket before we left for Mia and place it in Lola’s hand that she has resting in the grass.

That gets her to look at me.

A smile threatens to tug on her lips. She has to feel how right this is. How easy it is for the two of us to just exist when we are together.

Our cease fire is short lived. A blaring car horn jolts us back into reality. I watch her smile fall as remembers she doesn’t like me anymore.

Mia, not reading the room, yips in delight when Lola gives her the treat she did nothing to earn.

“Well, I better get home with the kegs.” I point to the metal barrels. “Will I see you tonight?”

This time, she lets the small smile stay long enough for me to appreciate it.

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

She helps Mia into the truck. If this were last year, I would have given her a kiss goodbye, but right now, I don’t know what to do. I keep my hands awkwardly tucked to my side as I watch her walk away.

Lola just gives me a little wave before getting into her Suburban. I wait for her to pull out and when she does, she stops when her window is parallel to mine.

“I’m looking forward to tonight,” she tells me.

All I have time for is a slight nod and smile before she pulls away.

A packed can of sardines would have had more room to breathe then I do at this moment.

The party flows out both the front and back door. Everyone has a drink in hand, enjoying the playlist that Indy made. It’s setting the tone for what I know is going to be an unforgettable year. The atmosphere is infectious, making me forget the no drinking rule I implemented for myself.

I grab one of the IPAs I tucked into the back of the fridge before making my way to the backyard to start a fire in the pit we have out there. Once it’s lit, I sit in one of the plastic chairs around the fire.

“Drink up.”

Josiah takes the seat next to me before handing me two plastic cups. One is filled with beer from the keg, and the other is filled with a shot of whiskey. I throw the whiskey back first. It feels like the cup never empties, and when it finally does, it sends a shiver down my spine.

“Dude, that was so much more than a shot.”

Josiah just shrugs before his eyes catch on someone coming out the back door.

“Damn, who is that?” I turn because what guy’s curiosity doesn’t peak when their friend points out a hot girl?

A cool breeze shifts the direction of the fire, highlighting a figure dressed in all black. My jaw grows more tense with each chomp of her signature piece of minty gum.

“That’s Lola,” I grumble.

“Damn really? Summer treated her well.”

I’m shooting him a warning look when a girl I used to sleep with sophomore year makes herself at home in my lap with another shot for each of us.

When she gets up to get another round of shots, Josiah turns to me, “Lola looks good. Mind if I see if she needs a drink?”

I flip him a middle finger. He brushes it off before joining a couple of his teammates in a game of beer pong.

When it’s clear that I’m forgotten, I take things into my own hands. Pushing through games of flip cup and dancing couples to the bar, I pick up the dark liquor and pour until it fills half the cup adding some coke before taking a sip.

An hour Iater, after letting Mia out, I’m surprised to see Lola sitting alone on our front porch.

It’s when I see the bench in three different places that I realize how drunk I am. By the grace of God, I land my ass next to Lola.

Her tattoos peek out of her black cropped shirt. I couldn’t know that ink better even if it were etched into my skin. I run my finger over the outline of a lighthouse that’s in an oval picture frame.

“This one has always been my favorite.” My thumb takes a little longer to run over the words sketched into the frame.

BYRON BAY

Lola’s favorite place she’s been to and she travels a lot.

“You know I always took it as a good sign that Byron Bay is your favorite place in the world.”

I couldn’t tell you the amount of nights she spent gushing about the little beach town. She would always talk about how she learned to live life at a slow place there. That life is about more than what you do for a job. That we should work to live, not live to work.

Her laugh slowly bubbles out at my confession.

“I’m telling you the truth.” I slur.

“Well, aren’t you being a little conceited?” she asks while her hand runs down Mia’s back.

I turn to face her too quickly, and that, combined with the mix of different alcohols setting in my stomach, sends my world spinning. When I nearly fall off the bench, she takes Mia’s leash and stands up, offering me her hand.

“I think it’s time for bed.”

My drunk ass thinks I am going to get lucky. When we get inside, the party has died down. Only a few close friends remain. Lola takes me to my room, and while she gets my dog settled in her bed, I strip down to my boxers and lay under my own covers.

Lola laughs when she sees me fighting sleep and patting the side of the bed she used to sleep on.

“It’s ready for you. We both missed you.”

She laughs, but I swear there is a sadness in the way she looks at me, like she misses me too, and it’s not my drunk brain playing tricks on me.

She lays her hand on mine, and I flip my palm up and interlace our fingers. She runs her thumb over my hand, and the motion rocks me to sleep. Right before I fall asleep, I hear her say, “I miss you too.”

At least that’s what I tell myself when I wake up alone for the third morning in a row. My entire plan of having a no-strings-attached senior year is thrown out the window.

Lola misses me.