Brian Haner
I grabbed my keys and my bag and headed down stairs for the garage. Zack had just called and told me to pick up Jimmy and Johnny on my way over to Matt’s house. We were planning to stay over there until tomorrow, and then we would head out in the middle of the night.

I had just snuck past my dad reading the newspaper with his back facing me when he stopped me. “Where do you think you’re going?” He asked, not even looking back at me.

I sighed and went over to stand by him. “I was going to stay the night at Matt’s tonight. He invited the rest of the guys over and we were going to play video games all night.” I lied, trying to think up reasons for me going.

He looked down at the bag I was holding. “And you need a backpack to play video games?”

I faked a shrug. “It’s just got some of my clothes in it. We were planning to go swimming in his pool.” I half-lied that time.

He cocked an eyebrow but just shook off whatever he was thinking. “Okay, fine, but you have to take the trash out before you go.” He said, looking back down at his paper.

I silently sighed in relief and took off, throwing a thank you over my shoulder before grabbing the trash to throw it out. Once I did, I got in my car and headed for Jimmy’s house since he lived the closest to me, and Johnny was just a block or two from Matt’s house. He couldn’t even get his lazy ass up enough to walk.



I pulled up to Jimmy’s house and honked my horn for him, hoping he would hear and hurry up. Two seconds later, after him shouting back at his parents about something and slamming the front door, he came running over with a backpack and a luggage bag. I popped the trunk open for him and he threw it all in, shutting it and came to the passenger side.

“So what was all of that about?” I asked, nodding towards his house, talking about the fighting.

He shook his head and shut the door. I started driving off. “It’s nothing, just fighting with my parents again. You know, the usual.” He shrugged with his voice flat like he didn’t even care.

“You okay?” I asked even though I already knew he wouldn’t give me a straight answer. He never did.

He continued to look out his window. “It’s all cool,”

I nodded. “Alright, well do you have everything, like food, clothes, something to sleep on so you’re not on the hard floors?”

He laughed and nodded back, turning on the radio to my favorite station. “Yes, mom, I’ve got everything. Let’s just hope we don’t forget to pick up Johnny like we did last time.”

I threw my head back and laughed, remembering very well the last time we went on a trip and basically left Johnny because we completely forgot about him.

“Man, he was so pissed.” I said through laughs.



“Dude, what took you guys so long? Matt called like an hour ago!” Johnny whined as he threw his bag in the backseat before sliding in and shutting the door.

“What did he want?” I asked sarcastically, looking at him quickly in the rearview mirror with a smirk before pulling away from the curb and heading off to Matt’s house.

“He said to hurry your asses up and come and get me!” He pouted.

Jimmy and I shared a look before laughing at him. “Chill out, man. You’re lucky we picked you up at all. Jimmy here was rooting for me to make you walk to Matt’s.”

Johnny scoffed as all Jimmy and I could do was laugh. “Just shut up and drive.” He mumbled before sitting back against his seat and lighting up a cigarette.

Jimmy spun around in his seat to face him. “You jack off! Where’s the beer?”

“You forgot the beer?” I shouted too, slamming on my breaks before we got very far.

“What the fuck?” Johnny shouted. “You made me drop my cigarette!” He said, sitting up quickly to shake off the ashes and keep from burning himself.

“Don’t drop that on my floors short shit! My dad will kill me if he finds a burn mark in my car from a cigarette!” I shouted, turning around to pick it up from the floor before he could step on it or leave a mark on the floorboard.

“Shit, man! It burned through my shirt!” He winced, lifting up his shirt to reveal that a hole had been scorched through.

While we were yelling at each other, Jimmy was practically falling out the open window, laughing at us.

Notes