nowhere (3 page)

“Well, if you’re not busy now, we could go for a ride together in your truck You know what kind of ride I’m talking about,” she added, pressing up against me and grinding her hips. This girl would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

I had to make her understand once and for all that I wasn’t interested. “No, Liz, we can’t. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.” I stated firmly, pushing her away. “Don’t you have a boyfriend? Tyler?” I reminded.

“Damn, Dooner, when’d you get so self-righteous?” She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.

There was no way any of her little tricks were going to work on me ever again. “Your friends are waiting for you.” I motioned to where they stood. I returned my attention to screwing on the gas cap, dismissing her. She stomped away. Waiting until she left, I finally let out my breath. Liz could cause trouble that I didn’t need.

I paid for the gas and walked back to my truck just as Ray, a guy from the team, pulled in. Ray was a likeable dude, albeit a little slow to catch on to things.

“Hey Ray.” 

“Hi Dooner. Hard practice today, huh?” We shook hands.

“Sure was, but you made it look easy.” You’re a great defensive lineman. No one’s getting through you to score on us this season.” I smiled and gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. “You’ll stop them in their tracks.”

“Thanks, man. That means a lot coming from you.” His eyes brightened. “You’re the real superstar, though. We’re lucky to have you on our side. I didn’t see you miss a single catch today.” Ray spoke with a note of admiration. “I know they weren’t all good throws. I don’t know how you always know exactly where the ball’s going to be.” 

I get uncomfortable when people give me compliments. I know I’m good and I want to be the best I can, but I get self-conscious, worrying I might let someone down when they put me up on a pedestal.

I switched the focus from me to the team. “I have a good feeling about this year.” I smiled, hoping for another undefeated season. We have a running tally of forty-nine straight wins, zero losses. “It would be great to hang another banner in the school gym to mark State Championship again this year. We have both an unstoppable defense and a great offensive.”

“You’re absolutely right.” Ray lifted his hand in the air and gave me a high-five. “We’re going to blow the competition out of the water!”

I noticed Ray wasn’t wearing his usual gym shorts and tank. Instead, he had on khaki shorts and a collared golf shirt. I wondered who he had a date with. “You look good, man.” I punched him on the arm again. “Who’s the lucky girl?” 

“I wish,” Ray responded. “I’m meeting Tyler and some of the guys to celebrate surviving the first week of two-a-days.” His speech slowed with every word, as if he realized maybe he wasn’t supposed to mention it to me. 

“So you guys are going out tonight, huh?”

“Um…yeah...well, I guess I thought Tyler already told you.” He looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet. “We...a bunch of the guys from the team…and some of the cheerleaders too, I think… are going out to Lacey Road to party. Tyler’s cousins from California finally arrived and he wants to introduce them to everyone.”

Tyler and I were co-captains of the football team, but off the field we didn’t mix much. Ray already looked uncomfortable. I didn’t want to make him feel worse, so I didn’t reveal that I hadn’t been invited. “Yeah, I think I heard Tyler mention it. He’s talked non-stop all week about his cousins moving here.”

“Yeah, he has.” Ray seemed relieved. “Maybe I’ll catch you later then.”

“Later,” I returned as I climbed into Old Faithful.

Mike

We’d finished eating barbecue and all the accompanying side dishes at my aunt’s house, and now it was time to clean up. I grimaced as I carried in the leftover ears of corn and placed them on the counter.

“Mike, Emma, will you be dears and get towels out of the second drawer over there and dry the dishes please?” Aunt Carol directed.  She was busy, transferring the leftovers into plastic containers, while Mom washed the dishes at the big farm sink.

“Sure,” Emma and I said in unison. I tossed my sister a towel, and after what seemed like an eternity, the dishes were all dried. I wondered why my aunt never owned a dishwasher.  I was about to suggest she get one, when Tyler and Austin entered the kitchen. 

“Perfect timing, huh, bro?” Tyler chuckled, looking around the now clean kitchen. “Hey Mike, Emma, are you ready? It’s time to go. I told everyone we’d meet them at nine.” Tyler looked at the clock on the wall. He grabbed his keys off the hook by the back door and tossed them from one hand to the other. “I don’t want to keep everyone waiting.”

I hated when guys thought just because they were guys they didn’t have to help around the house. My dad always helped out in the kitchen. Every weekend he made us a big breakfast: eggs over easy, with just the right amount of runny egg yolk, and maple flavored sausage, browned to perfection. Just thinking about it made me hungry again. I wished he was here to whip me up some right now. 

Sad and frustrated, I took it out on the nearest target—Tyler. “We’d have been done sooner if you’d helped.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “It won’t take long to get there. We’re meeting everyone just around the corner.” 

“I’m ready,” Emma responded cheerfully.

I was in a bad mood and we hadn’t even left the house yet. I tried to think of an excuse not to go, but I couldn’t come up with any. “I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” I ran my hands over my unruly hair. It didn’t matter how I looked, because I wasn’t interested in impressing anybody. “Let’s go get this over with.” My lack of enthusiasm reflected in my tone.

“Okay Mom, we’ll see you later,” Tyler said. 

“Have a good time, honey. And please be careful. You know I wouldn’t want anything to happen to my boys.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful. I’ll make sure to take good care of Mike and Emma, too.”

Emma gave our mother a hug. “Bye Mom.”

Ugh.  Did she always have to be the perfect daughter?  I swore she did this shit just to make me look bad. I simply waved goodbye and followed Tyler out the door.

“Shot gun, double barrel, no blitz,” Austin yelled, racing toward the passenger side door of the truck.

What the hell did that mean? Where I came from, we simply said, “shotgun.” Again, I was reminded of how different this place was. They spoke a completely different language. 

As soon as we settled into Tyler’s four-door extended-cab pickup truck, I asked, “Exactly where are we going?”  I racked my brain, but sadly, I couldn’t imagine what there was to do at nine o’clock on a Saturday night in Nowhere. There were no coffee shops or restaurants open this late, and there was no movie theater or arcade. I wondered if we were going to be spectators at a tractor pull? I didn’t even know what that was, but it seemed a likely possibility.

Tyler and Austin exchanged looks again.

“Yeah, where are we going?” Emma repeated when the boys didn’t readily respond to my inquiry.

“We’re meeting a few of the guys from the team. You’ll like them. My girlfriend Liz and some of the other cheerleaders are tagging along too. We’re celebrating the fact that we all survived the first week of two-a-days.”

“That doesn’t answer the question. Where are we going?” I shouted, not bothering to hide I was getting pissed off.  I had a premonition we were being led to the slaughter.

“You’ll see. We’re almost there.”

Uh-huh
. I saw nothing but darkness and trees. We were even further out in the country than where Pop-Pop lived. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, Tyler turned at the next side road and suddenly the ride got a whole lot bumpier. What the fuck, a dirt road? This couldn’t be good. A posted sign read, “Road closed from Nov to Mar.” Too bad it was only the end of July. Though these guys would’ve probably ignored the sign anyway. I was beginning to think my cousins didn’t have a brain between them.

“This is where we’re going?” My voice filled with disbelief. “Is this another one of your sick jokes? Like when we were kids playing hide and go seek, and you pretended to be nice and showed me a great hiding place, except it was right next to a skunk’s home. I didn’t know that, of course, and got sprayed.”

“No, this isn’t like that.” Tyler laughed. “But that was funny.” He was enjoying himself a little too much. “I promise—no tricks tonight.” He made a big show of crossing his heart. “As a matter of fact, we’re here.” He did a U-turn and parked his truck on the side of the road, leaving the headlights on and turning up the radio.

The song playing sounded like a cat getting run over. I didn’t understand how anyone could enjoy the sound of twangy country music. “We’re here?” I stuttered. “We’re out in the boonies, Tyler. Be serious.”

“I am.” He jumped out. Emma and I exchanged looks before cautiously following Tyler’s lead. 

“This is where you go for fun on a Saturday night?” Emma asked.  “What’s there to do out here? Get eaten alive by mosquitoes?” She swatted her leg.

At least I wasn’t the only one who thought this was absurd.

Before Tyler could defend himself, another car approached.

“The boys are here,” he shouted, a note of excitement reflected in his voice.

“Hopefully, they remembered the beer this time. This is supposed to be a B.Y.O.B. party,” Austin noted with sarcasm.

“A what?” I asked.

“Bring Your Own Beer, duh. Last time they didn’t bring any, the leeches. Tonight I could only muster a twelve pack, and that won’t be nearly enough.”

“Wait.” I held up my hand. “We’re miles from civilization just to stand around and drink beer?”

“Exactly,” Austin responded, shrugging his shoulders.

“Don’t forget we’re also here so you can meet some friends,” added Tyler.

“I can hardly wait,” I mumbled with sarcasm.

“Hey guys,” Tyler called to the three unusually large guys who piled out of a black pickup truck. Tyler shook hands with two of the guys and slapped the other one on the back. 

I waited for a secret handshake, but thankfully there wasn’t one. “I want to introduce you to my cousins who just moved here. They’re going to be starting school with us in September.” He led them over to where Emma and I leaned against his truck.

“Hi, I’m Emma.” Emma looked at me, standing next to her, and added, “This is my big sister, Mike. Her real name’s Mikayla, but everyone calls her Mike.”

I didn’t need Emma to speak for me, but since I didn’t want to be here in the first place, I let it slide.

Tyler introduced us to a guy who instantly reminded me of him. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they were brothers. They had the same color hair and similar haircuts, but different eyes. Tyler’s eyes were big and brown like mine, while his friend had small hazel eyes. He must be Tyler’s best friend. It was weird how sometimes best friends tended to look alike. People were always asking if Paige and I were sisters, and seemed surprised when we told them no. 

Sure enough, Tyler introduced him. “This is my main man, Casey. He and I go way back.” 

“We’ve been friends since the first day of kindergarten,” Casey agreed. “Tyler was so dumb back then he couldn’t even read his own name. He took my crayon box instead of his own.  I set him straight and we’ve been watching each other’s backs ever since.” Casey smiled, which caused his small eyes to close. The rest of the guys joined in the laughter. 

I bet this whole town was full of friendships that went way back. Their camaraderie made me miss Paige more than ever.

Tyler continued to introduce us to the rest of his cohorts. “This is Tank.” He pointed to the biggest guy. “I wasn’t sacked one time last year thanks to him.” 

“I admit, I don’t know much about football, but even I can see why you go by Tank.” I raised my eyebrows as I took in the sheer size of him. He was easily the biggest and the thickest guy I’d ever met. I couldn’t help but wonder how many grades he’d failed.

“And this here’s Ray.” Tyler mentioned what position he played too, but I’d stopped paying attention. Ray was the cutest of the three, with shaggy blond hair and clear blue eyes.  Compared to the other guys, he actually looked like he put some thought into what he wore. Unfortunately, he’d doused himself with way too much cologne. I could smell him from three feet away. 

“Hi,” I said simply, without adding anything more. I wasn’t into small talk, especially when it centered around football.

Austin opened the tailgate of the truck and lifted down the cooler. Casey noisily added two six packs and a handful of Smirnoffs that he’d brought. 

“We have a whole case now. Hope it’s enough,” commented Austin. 

“Wow, Aunt Carol must really be slipping,” I said, peering into the cooler. “What did she honestly think we were going to do tonight, go on a late night picnic?”

Tyler laughed and threw a beer to each of his friends. He held one out to me in a questioning gesture. 

“No thanks.”  I couldn’t stand the smell of beer, let alone the taste. The mere thought of drinking one made me nauseous. How anyone could drink the nasty stuff was beyond me.

“What about you Emma, you want a cold brew?”

“Sure.” 

Say what
?  Since when did Emma drink beer?  She was a dancer who worshipped her perfectly sculpted body. She wouldn’t even drink juice, because she said it was too fattening, let alone beer. I shook my head in disbelief.

“You should have one, Mike.” Emma tried to coax me into taking a beer.

“No thanks. I’m all set.” 

“You’re such a buzz kill. You know, a beer might help you relax and loosen up a little.” She frowned. “You’re just afraid to have fun. Sometimes I can’t believe we’re actually related.”

“I know the feeling.” I cringed as she took another sip of the foul-smelling brew. I hoped Emma knew what she was doing.  If beer smelled that bad going down, I could only imagine the stink of it coming back up. My stomach did a back flip just thinking about it.

Tyler interrupted our argument, shouting in order to be heard over the hillbilly music.  “Liz and her friends are here.” I watched as two fake blondes and a brunette got out of a Jeep Liberty that just joined the party.