Now or Never (Scott Wormer)

A hippie veteran

The girls ride up near a hitchhiker and Roberta circles in front of him. "Hey"

"Hey", the guy responds. "Are you in the army?" Flora asks. The hitchhiker shrugs, "was".

"Vietnam?" Roberta asks, and he doesn't respond at first just smiling at the group. "Was".

"Did you kill anyone over there?" Roberta asks and Flora smackers her arm. He looks back at her, "not because I wanted to"

"Did you get shot?" Teeny asks and Flora sighs. Didn't they have any respect for veterans? The guy ignores her. "That's a great song", he changes the subject, referring to the music playing on her radio.

"Does your leg still hurt?" Roberta asks and the guy laughs, "yeah!" He says slamming a bag onto an old car.

"But I got hit with the best thing that ever happened to me", The guy says. "What do you mean?" Roberta asks walking stepping of her bike and the girls surrounded him in an old car he was sitting on.

"You got to see me on the next plane home", he says lighting a cigarette. "But we're winning right?" Teeny asks and Flora stifles a laugh.

"Nobody's winning." He says inhaling smoke. "Want a sip?" Teeny asks holding up her orange soda. He smiles at her and takes it, drinking the rest.

"Thanks..smoke?" He asks the girls and they all say yeah. Except for Flora and Chrissy, he holds one up to the duo and Chrissy holds her hand up.

"Smoking stunts your growth", she says. Flora shrugs, "I have autoimmune disease so that wouldn't be the best for me", she says shrugging.

Sam breathes her smoke out, "smooth". Teeny coughs a little as she keeps her smoke in, and Sam speaks up. "So did you get a purple heart?' she asks. He looks back at her, "yeah".

"How come you don't wear it!" She asks him. "Yeah it's a huge honor right?" Teeny asks. The guy shakes his head, "no".

"Man of many words huh?" Flora asks. And he just grins a little. "I notice they say the US is really starting to gain ground over there." Sam states.

They guy looks down, "forget about that ok", he mutters. "hear what you've heard about it, and what you saw. Even the people who were over there have lied about what they've seen. We're done", the guy says.

"Doesn't seem you can believe in much anymore", Samantha says sighing. "you can believe in yourself. If your lucky", the guy mutters the laugh sentence.

"So are you going to be sticking around here for a while?" Sam asks another question. "Mm. Naw", he simply says. "I try not to...stick around anywhere. You know what I mean?" He asks her looking back.

Teeny looks back, "definitely". She then looks around nervously, uncomfortable. "Is that an earring your wearing?" Chrissy asks. And the guy answers like it's obvious, "yeah".

"Your a hippie aren't you?" She asks. Flora rolls her eyes, "he's literally a veteran genius", but Chrissy ignores her. He laughs "your a trip".

"My mom says all hippies are sex feeds." Chrissy says scooting back. "Jesus Chrissy" the girls whisper, embarrassed.

"I got to tell you something I wish somebody told me when I was your age", the guy says and Chrissy gives him attitude, "and what's that?".

"Your parents aren't always right", all this parent talk got Flora uncomfortable and the girls began to sense it. "No shit" Sam says.

"It's getting late, I think I should get going", Flora says, she couldn't really handle the parent talk. Her and Chrissy stand ups ND get on their bikes.

The peddle away slowly waiting for the friends to say their goodbyes and catch up.

--

The girls wave good bye to Teeny as she goes in her side if the neighborhood.

"God that parent talk was killing me you know." Flora says to Roberta after the other to leave. "I know...but it's ok. You don't need them anyway!" Roberta says smiling at her best friend.

"Your right...I don't", she said laughing. "hey I'll see you tomorrow!" She says as Roberta goes off to her house.

Once she reaches her own, she puts her bike away and walks around to the back door. She walks past Scott who was just happened to be going somewhere.

"Hey!" Scott says turning around as Flora opens her gate. "what?" She asks starting to laugh as her memory comes back.

"Just so you know, I don't blame you, but...I'm gonna get you back!" Scott says, smiling a little in the end.

"I'd like to see you try", Flora says before leaving to go inside.

Scott stood there for a second, smiling to himself. Before turning around and roaming the streets.