It felt like finals were flying by, and I hadn’t even noticed. Every day was a rigidly structured routine, courtesy of Louis and Angela’s grand study plan. Sometimes that involved strictly doing nothing at all, since certain days were scheduled purely for rest. We’d either hang out together those days and have fun, or phone each other to make sure we weren’t flailing at notes we’d already studied. I was fairly certain that rule was for Sue’s sake – we’d had to stage an intervention at her house a few times.
But it had been a lot of fun. Maybe it shouldn’t have, and maybe I should have been a bit more stressed about school. But every exam along the way went great for me, and when we weren’t with Angela, Sue, Ellie and Sara, Louis and I spent most of our off-days alone together. Doing incredibly fun, incredibly nerdy stuff. It was almost one of the happiest times of my life, and I was sad it would all be over so soon.
We only had one final left, and we were going out in style. AP maths was two days away, and John’s birthday evening – and the morning recovery period, for those of us who would need it – lined up with the enforced rest period that Louis and Angela had scheduled in. The morning before, and the night before that, we’d do our final cramming for that exam.
But for now, we were supposed to be relaxing and enjoying ourselves. So we were at a dive bar, where Ellie and Sara chatted about their dresses for the Matric dance, Melissa and I were trading sarcastic barbs and dirty jokes, and John and Louis were throwing back shots like someone was paying them for it.
I wasn’t drinking, because I was driving again, but I almost felt like I didn’t need to. I was too happy to care. Sure, the place was noisy, and the floors didn’t look like they’d ever been cleaned. The tables were kind of sticky, and the only other people in there – a skeletal couple who were covered in tattoos, and an incredibly old guy who was unironically wearing a cowboy hat – kept giving us dirty looks.
But the burly, hairy bartender was just happy we were all there, and all eighteen, so he’d kind of given us the run of the place. He was busy setting up the karaoke machine, at John’s request, when three more people walked inside. One was Gary, who made a beeline to where Ellie and I were standing. He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up off her feet and giving her a kiss. I laughed, and wondered if she’d instructed him to be that dramatic, or if he just knew she liked that sort of thing.
The other two people were a bit of a surprise, but kind of a nice one. Jess, dressed in a sequinned top that looked way too classy for this place, and Vince, about as ready for it as anyone else in his casual beachwear. John got up as he saw them, and walked over, giving them each a hug. I looked over to Ellie, who smiled mischievously at me as she dangled off Gary’s arm.
“Glad you’re finally using your meddling powers for good.” I grinned.
“I felt like mixing things up. Watch.” She nodded towards the group.
Melissa and Louis had gone over too. Jess and Melissa hugged – which was something that I’d never seen, even before the drama. After Louis and Vince had talked for a bit, Jes dragged Louis off to have a fairly serious-looking conversation with him.
After that, it was more or less one big, happy blur of activity. I spent most of the time chatting to Gary, who was the other designated driver for the evening. We commiserated over being the only two who weren’t drinking. We had a good time though, and I liked him more and more. He seemed smart, if pretty quiet. I’d occasionally lose him to Ellie’s need for affection, but I didn’t mind just sitting down and soaking in the atmosphere.
The karaoke machine was also eventually set up, and the real fun began. It consisted of almost everyone getting reluctantly pressured into singing something, interspersed with John taking every other turn. I did a duet of Take Me or Leave Me, from Rent, with Mel. Which both of us mangled. Ellie and Jess sang some Taylor Swift song together, Vince rapped something I wasn’t even vaguely familiar with, and Louis and Gary both flat out refused.
John didn’t have a half-bad singing voice, although he and Louis kept up their drinking pace, so the songs more and more frequently became love songs that he sang a bit sluringly while staring at Sara. Which, at least, she seemed to be enjoying – smiling up at him and occasionally whooping.
“I love you baby!” he yelled, after he’d finished his latest song.
“I love you too!” She laughed.
Melissa shook her head. “Ugh. Sickening.”
“If you think that’s bad.” Sara grinned. “We’re about to do a duet. And he’s choosing.”
She got up, laughing while Melissa made gagging noises. Louis slid down in the booth next to me, sighing heavily and leaning his head on my shoulder. He seemed a bit unsteady.
“Flagging, are we?” I put my arm around his shoulders, and tried to hold him stead.
“John’s already making fun of me for not keeping up with him. But he’s twice my size, Ankara escort and he didn’t have to wake up at dawn for a study session.”
I laughed. “You’re not complaining about that, are you? If I remember right, you’re the one that shifted everything earlier – and forced me to wake up early – just so we’d have time to get ready for tonight.”
“Yeah…” He chuckled. “Sorry about that. I’m fine, I think. But if John makes me have one more shot, I’ll die.”
“Well, don’t let him. He seems pretty busy, anyway.” I nodded to the little makeshift stage where he and Sara stood as they serenaded each other. “You should have a Coke or something.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
I settled him back against the seat, and took my arm off of him. “Here, I’ll go get you one.”
“No, it’s okay.” He sprang up, wobbling slightly for an instant before stabilising. “You’re driving us home, and I haven’t paid for a thing all night. I’ll get you something – you want a Coke too?”
“Yeah, sure.” I shrugged. He smiled, and headed off to the bar.
“You’re our ride home?” Melissa asked.
“Yeah, to John’s place, right? Didn’t Louis tell you?”
“No, Louis never tells me anything.” She scoffed. “Usually not until it’s too late, anyway.”
“How is it too late?” I chuckled. “That’s such a dramatic thing to say.”
She grinned ruefully. “Ellie’s a bad influence.”
“Yeah, she is.” I laughed. “She seems to be having fun.”
“Yeah.” She looked across at them, and back to me. “That Gary guy’s cool. And it’s great to have Vince and Jess here. Almost like old times, except…”
“No Eric.”
“Yeah, fuck that guy.” She grimaced. “Sorry. Probably shouldn’t bring him up. But since I already have… Are you talking to him at all? Louis said he might have done a dad-is-here disappearing act.”
I blinked. I’d almost forgotten that Louis and Ellie were still the only people who knew about what I’d done with Eric and Nick. It made it kind of hard to answer. I was mostly over it now, but remembering that it had happened still caused me to feel a vague pang of guilt. “Uh, no. We haven’t talked.”
“Sorry. He’s… he’s so frustrating.”
“Yeah, I think he’s just got problems. Nothing I have to put up with, though.” I shrugged.
“Exactly. Let him sort his own shit out. Think you’d ever take him back? If he became less of a train wreck, or something.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I think we’d have to start over, in a way that’s not really possible now.”
“Yeah, I get what you mean.” She nodded. “You seeing anyone at all?”
I grinned. “Are you flirting with me, Mel?”
“No.” She laughed. “Shut up. If I was flirting with you, you’d know it. Because you’d be uncomfortable. Anyway, here’s Louis with your Coke. I’m going to go chat to Jess for a sec.”
Louis set the drinks down in front of us, and collapsed onto me again. I let out a small chuckle, and put my arm around him again. He looked up at me. “What?”
“Nothing. I’m just having a good time.”
It was really pretty amazing. The place was disgusting, and the three patrons who we were annoying weren’t exactly being welcoming. But I was hanging out with a bunch of people I thought were pretty cool. I hadn’t drunk a drop, but I was still all warm and fuzzy on the inside, and so happy to be around them. Even Jess, even knowing what she had done. I blamed Eric more for that anyway.
“Yeah, I’m having a good time too.” Louis sighed happily, and twisted his head back into my shoulder. “Remind me to thank Ellie. This was exactly what I wanted. You know. When I tried with Eric and Nick…”
“Yeah, I know. You just wanted all your friends together again.”
“Yeah. Jess apologised to me, by the way.”
“Oh, cool. For what?”
“Old stuff. She’s been bit off with me, ever since my thing with Eric. It was really nice to hear her say it. I didn’t know how much I needed that.”
“That’s great.” I squeezed his shoulder.
“Yeah. Eric’s not here, I guess. So it’s not all like my friends are back. But fuck him.” He tensed. “Or, I mean-“
“No, I agree. Eric can go to hell.” I squeezed him against me. “All the best people are here, anyway. Right?”
“Right.” He said sleepily. “Not Sue and Angela. We like them too.”
“We do. But Angela isn’t eighteen yet, and Sue’s still stressing about the final, so…”
“Yeah, so they’re probably studying and getting way ahead of me. And you don’t have to worry about that, because you’re so fucking smart with maths.”
“And only with maths. And hey.” I shook him lightly. “Don’t get all maudlin on me. You’ll be fine. I’ll help you with all that stuff tomorrow. You’re staying over at my house tomorrow, right?”
“Uh, maybe? I think my mom said something about going to a work party that was right down the street from you, though. So either way, I’ll be there late and could use the help.”
“Sure.” I laughed. “Now, do you think Jon’s going to throw up in my car?”
Louis chuckled. “I hope not. He’s usually pretty good with holding Ankara escort bayan his liquor.”
“Yeah, well, he better.”
“Just point his head out of the window.” He laughed. “It’ll be fine.”
I grinned, and checked the time on my phone. It was getting late, so the bar would be closing soon anyway. I doubt anyone really had energy to keep going after we left – Louis was flagging, and it was kind of shocking that John was even still alive. That was half of the people I had to give a lift home, anyway. So this would be over for me as soon as they needed to go home. I didn’t really see us seeking out another bar.
The bartender was nice enough to do a last call. Most places like this, they’d just kick you out, but he’d clearly been very happy with the evening’s tips, so he was still being nice. Vincent and John – against everyone’s advice – each had three more shots, and then we all decided to call it a night. We marched out to the car, Louis hanging off of me, and Gary helping to support John.
John tried to head for the passenger seat, but Ellie very skilfully got in his way as she kissed Gary goodbye, and then beat him to it before he’d even had time to realise. So John got in behind me, Louis got in the middle seat and Mel sat behind Ellie, and we waved our goodbyes to the others and I got ready to drive off.
Once we’d all piled into our seats, I was pretty nervous. Cleaning John’s puke out of my car would really suck, but he was also sitting directly behind me, so if he was a projectile-vomiting kind of guy, I was doomed. Louis was sitting in the middle, and I could see his face in the rear-view mirror. He didn’t look worried, and that was at least reassuring.
With one last nervous look back, I started the car, and we were on our way. I tried to drive slowly and steadily, taking corners at a snail’s pace and keeping a very firm grip on my steering wheel.
“God, you drive like my grandma.” Melissa laughed.
“I don’t want John to vomit on me. Or in my car.”
Louis looked up and smiled at me through the mirror. “He’s going to be fine. Aren’t you, buddy?”
“Yeah.” John inhaled deeply.
I remained anxious, despite Louis’ confidence. The stakes were high. At least the dive bar was only a short distance away from where John lived – and Louis and Mel were going there too. I kept checking up on Louis’ facial expression though, just to make sure he didn’t start looking worried.
“Oh god.” John groaned.
“Out the window, please!” I pushed down forcefully on the button in my armrest, and cool night air started pouring in through the window next to him. I looked at Louis’ expression, but he looked more confused than concerned.
“Not going to puke,” John said. “It’s Sara.”
“What about her?” I asked.
“We need to go back to her house.”
Ellie chuckled, looking up from her phone. “What? Why?”
“Just love her so much. We need to go back. Please, Jay.”
I shook my head, smiling despite myself. I definitely wasn’t driving his drunk ass all the way back to her house, but it was very sweet of him to feel that way. Officially, I was going to join the others when they inevitably mocked him about it later. But the secret romantic in me thought it was adorable that he felt that way.
“John.” Louis said calmly. “You’re going to see her tomorrow, remember? She’s done with exams now. You– Ellie, what are you doing?”
“Recording. I just thought Sara might like to see this. So she doesn’t have to miss you too much, John. Say more things.” Ellie giggled. I looked over, and she was twisted around in her seat, pointing her phone at him. My eyes flicked across the mirror just in time to see Louis roll his eyes.
“Hey, Sar-bear!” John clearly was done moderating his volume.
“Sar-bear.” Melissa snorted. “Ellie, I’m so glad you’re recording.”
“We’re driving home, and I really love you and I miss you. Louis’s helping me not to puke – he taught me this thing with breathing and humming. And Jay’s driving us home. He’s really, really nice. Isn’t Jay really nice, guys?”
“No, but that’s why I like him.” Melissa leaned across into the front and nudged my shoulder. I grinned at her.
“I think Jay’s lovely,” Ellie said.
“Thank you.”
“When he’s not being an idiot.” She smirked.
“So, very rarely then,” I said darkly.
“No, you’re nice. And smart.” John reached forward, around the seat, and patted my shoulder. “Right, Louis?”
Louis and I made eye-contact through the mirror again, and he looked like he was trying to suppress laughter. “Sure. Jay is both nice and smart.”
“You like Jay.”
“Yes,” Louis said patiently. “Jay is great.”
“Mmm.” John took another deep breath. “Eric wouldn’t… taken us home.”
“Eric doesn’t have a car.” Ellie shrugged, still holding her phone up.
“Eric doesn’t have a soul.” Melissa’s tone was dry, and John started chuckling weakly.
“Jay is nice.” He finished off with one last deep, emphatic breath.
Ellie settled back Escort Ankara in the seat, tapping on her phone and holding it up in front of her. “So, there you go, Sarah. John loooves you, Jay is nice and Eric’s a dick.”
“Hear, hear!” Melissa laughed.
“Say good night to Sara, everyone!” Ellie held up the phone, and we all shouted good night – John being the loudest, of course.
“Eric is a dick.” John said, after a few seconds, and Ellie snorted.
Louis leaned forward, and indicated a road that I was approaching. “Turn here. John’s place is just at the end of this street.”
I pulled up next to the right house, and John fumbled with his seatbelt mechanism while Louis and Melissa shuffled out. It took Louis opening the door and helping him before he managed to get loose. He climbed out and braced himself on the door, and started tapping on my window.
I laughed, and pushed the button to roll it down. “Yes?”
“Thanks. You’re so nice.”
I chuckled. “Thanks, John. I think we covered that.”
“By the way… Something… I think you really need to know.” He let go of the roof to rub his neck, and swayed for a few seconds before his hand shot out to steady himself again. Both Melissa and Louis gave him a worried look, and I wondered if there was a graceful way to finish this conversation before he vomited all over me.
“Oh?”
Melissa crossed her arms, her tone sharp. “Leave Jay alone and let’s go inside. It’s cold and I’m tired. And so is Louis.”
“Yeah, Louis.” John nodded solemnly. “But… I think…” His face looked slightly green. “Oh no.”
For a second I thought I was about to get puked on, but he turned very quickly and sprinted past Louis, nearly knocking him over. He only stopped once he’d reached the nearest flower bed, which he then proceeded to retch into very loudly. We all winced, and looked away. When the noise stopped, I looked back out. Louis grimaced, and stepped closer to the car.
“Thanks Jay. I’ll deal with that. You can probably go now.” He reached in, and gave my shoulder a quick squeeze, before turning away to join Mel in helping John.
I rolled up my window. Ellie looked up at me expectantly. “Are we going?”
“Just a sec. I just want to make sure they get inside.” I nodded out my window.
“Cool. Look what Sara replied with.”
[Oh GOD]
[I wasn’t ready to go public with ‘Sar-bear’]
[But still, so adorable]
[Tell Jay thanks for getting my idiot home safely]
I chuckled. “Tell her ‘No problem, us idiots need to stick together.'”
I watched as Melissa and Louis slowly pulled John upright and began marching him up the path. They got to the front door, and after Melissa had dug in John’s pockets, they managed to open it and head inside. I hoped for his sake that his parents weren’t around – it wasn’t exactly a good look, showing up in that state.
“What do you think John was on about?”
Ellie tapped away at her phone. “Pfft. Like you don’t know.”
“What?”
“Wait, seriously?” Her eyes darted up to me.
“Yeah, I have no idea. What do you know?”
“I thought… Never mind. I’m trying not to meddle, anyway.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Since when?”
“Okay, it’s a fairly recent resolution.” She laughed. “Like, since we got in the car. Because I did tell Mel earlier that she could be your date to the Matric dance.”
I sighed. “You weren’t going to run that by me first?”
“I know you’re still on the fence about going, so I thought I’d convince you to go and to take Mel at the same time.” She grinned. “Save myself some effort.”
I looked over at her, and shook my head slightly. “Okay, give it a go then.”
“Fine. Well, for the former, I’ll just say that I dare you to tell your mother you’re not taking part in such an important life milestone.”
“Fuck. Good point.” She was right. My mom got weird about stuff like that. She hated to think I was missing out on something. I’d never been too worried, since I was always happy to hang out in my own little world. But if I decided not to go, there would be pressure from her. Ellie would make sure of it, if nothing else. “Continue.”
“Well, I thought it could be nice to have Mel around.”
“Sure.” Not exactly a home run swing, but Mel was fun, and she was Louis’ best friend – even if they hadn’t had much chance to hang out together recently.
“You weren’t planning on taking a boy, were you?”
I blinked. “To the Elohim High Matric Dance? What am I, an activist? And besides – literally who?”
“Mmm. Who, indeed.”
I frowned, casting a quick glance in her direction. I wonder who she thought I’d be taking. Jamie, maybe? Did she know something I didn’t? “Can you make more sense, please?”
“Not important. Anyway, Melissa. I just thought it might be nice to have the full crowd there – well, almost. I’ve convinced Angela and Louis to go together, and because he doesn’t have anyone else, Jamie’s going to bring Jess-“
“Seriously?” That seemed a bit weird. Jamie could probably have had any girl from the school as a date. Even the ones who already had partners might be tempted to upgrade, if he’d only asked. It was Jamie, after all.
“Yeah, why not? He’s not seeing anyone.” She shrugged. “So that just leaves Vince, and he’ll probably be fine with joining us for the after party.”