Sorry, Lili

65 3 0
                                    

1984; the year of Footloose, fluffy hair, blue eyeshadow, Madonna, and aerobics. Speaking of aerobics, class had just finished and Montana was ruthlessly attacking the new girl with questions.

"Want me to introduce you to Chet? Have you seen Eddie Murphy's new movie? Have you ever smoked weed? Have you eaten at the new diner down the street?" Where just a few of the asked questions. You see, Montana had a habit of being a little obnoxious at times, and by a little obnoxious I mean one time a manager had to ask her leave the restaurant because she was asking to many questions about the menu.

"Montana leave the poor girl alone" I give the girl a sympathetic smile.

"She's fine! I'm Brooke by the way!" She reaches out her hand.

"Lilith, but call me Lili. Or Lil. Anything but Lilith!" I chuckle, shacking her hand.

"Will do," she says with a smile, picking up her duffel bag, "I'll see you around!"

———————————————————————————

"She was stabbed like, 40 times. Her throat was cut so badly she was basically decapitated."

I reach my arm around his throat as me and Montana approach the group and whisper, "Describing your last date?" dangerously close to his ear.

"Very funny," he rolls his eyes, "No. There was a murder a couple of days ago in Glassell Park. My cousin works for LAPD Homicide, and they're convinced whoever did it is responsible for a bunch of other unsolved murders in town. The cops are calling him the Night Stalker."

"Oooh terrifying." I mock him while laughing with Montana.

"I heard serial killers are more active in the summer months. Because people sleep with their windows open" Brooke says grasping her duffel bag.

"Who are you?" Xavier says, a dramatic pause taking place between each word.

"This is Brooke. We're practically besties. Sorry Lili." Montana puts her arm around Brooke.

"That's fine. I'll just be besties with Ray." I say sitting by him on the couch.

"Oh hell nah. No offense but me and Chet are bros for life." They fist bump.

"Yikes Lili. Look like that leaves you with Xavier." A worried expression appears on her face.

Xavier and I give each other a look and there's a moment of awkward silence before Brooke decides to speak.

"So how do guys all know each other." Brooke questions.

"We've collected each other over the past couple of years." I say, "Ray and I met in college, 2 months before he dropped out to become a full-time pothead." He smacks my arm. "I met Montana at a party at Justine Batemans house-"

"You guys know each other!?" Brooke asks in shock.

"Not really. Anyways Montana originally met Xavier in traffic, which is a really nice way of saying she rear ended him and made him miss an audition for some show, and Chet met Ray at the gym a couple years back."

"Anyway... my cousin was saying that they think that this guy's gonna go on a rampage, like Son of Sam did in the summer of '78. Which is why I'm getting out of town for the next couple of months. Me and Lili got a gig as counselors at a summer camp they're opening up a couple of hours from here. You guys should all come. I mean, they're desperate for counselors," Xavier explains, pointing to the rest of them.

They all reluctantly agree, even Brooke which is surprising.

"You guys should all come to my house tonight. Spend the night, drink some beers, smoke some weed. Besides, It's a good opportunity for Brooke to get to know us more before just getting in a car with strangers."

"I'm down. I'll bring the beer if Ray brings the weed." Montana leans forward when she says it.

"Ayy you know it." They fist bump.

Eventually everyone starts heading out and eventually just me, Montana, and Brooke and are left.

"Oh you guys get to my house an hour early. I wanna have some fun before the guys get there." I say walking out of the aerobics studio.

————————————————————————

Montana arrives first, two six packs of beer in hand and all of her things for camp, presumably to stick in Xaviers van instead of carrying them around aerobics all day.

Next comes Brooke, a bag of snacks in hand, once again with her camp luggage.

"So are you and Ray... y'know?" Brooke asks, cracking open a beer, spilling some of it on her silk pajama shorts.

"Absolutely not." I scoff, rolling up the sleeves of my grey sweatshirt.

That hour passes by sooner than expected, and soon Xavier shows up and Montana, Brooke and I all go out to put our things in his van.

"Are you serious? It couldn't have waited a day?" He rolls his eyes and goes to walk inside.

Eventually Chet and Ray show up, both slightly stoned (Ray more so) as per usual. After about a couple hours we've managed to get Brooke slightly stoned and everyone seems to be slightly bored.

Wasted Nights|Xavier Plympton Where stories live. Discover now