What He Did

Chapter Seven

Recap:

After dodging Stephanie as much as possible, she finally caught me at school and asked if I'd like to hang out and talk. Now don't get me wrong, I had been making her feel bad for awhile now, and I was all up for continuing that, but then she got me with fishing. You see, fishing isn't all that great to just anyone, but I LOVE to fish, and since my older brother went away to college with his high school sweet heart, I don't have anyone to go with anymore, so any chance I get, I'm going fishing.

Driving along the countryside, I can already tell where we are going. A bridge out in the country by where one of my ex boyfriends lives. Lost in thought, I don't notice as we come to a halt on the side of the road by a bridge... Holy shit what is he doing here?

I should've known.
Steph starts to get out of the car, and I hesitate.

How should I approach this? Level headed like nothing's wrong, or total psychotic nut case? I'll stick with the former for now.

"Hey, Tara.."

Ben was standing on the rocks with his line already dropped in the river, the line dragging lazily along with the current, beer in hand.

"Steph you didn't tell me he was going to be here."

"It's cool. We're just here to fish."

So I didn't listen to my inner monologue, sue me.

We walk down to where Ben is standing and get a couple of beers out of the cooler. Ben hands me a fishing pole and starts whispering to Steph.

..this is going to be a long day..

Making my way to a lone spot further down the river, I toss my line in and settle down on a rock, popping the beer open and taking a long swig. The crisp taste of the barley and the fizzing bubbles brings back too many memories...

FLASHBACK

...the crisp night air is bitterly chilly, I can't feel it though.. The beer and whiskey have heated my skin up to where I'm numb to the piercing wind. The fire warms my legs as I sit back on my elbows gazing up at the clear winter sky, stars twinkling all around my vision like this is the center of the universe... Of our universe.

"Hey, Tara.. Why don't we get in the pickup for awhile?"

"Tara..."

It all fades away just as I hear a thud and laughter. I look over to see Ben sitting in a mass array of weeds with a net and another line in his hands, baseball cap askew on his head. Steph is laughing hysterically as if it's the funniest thing she's ever seen.

"What the hell are y'all doing over there?"

"Ben was trying to be smooth, and it failed miserably!"

"Try? Woman I'm the smoothest!!"

The afternoon passed in a somewhat similar fashion. I'd sit back watching my line, adding a comment when absolutely necessary.
Some time goes by before one of us catches anything. Of course it's Ben. He's always lucky when we go fishing.

"Tara! Quick, dig a hole, so we have somewhere to put the fish!!"

I get on my hands and knees and start digging into the moist sand while Steph holds the net for Ben. Ben reels and reels until finally a seemingly large catfish comes flying out of the river. Steph quickly catches it in the net before it can wiggle just enough to snap the line on the pole. After digging quite a wide, deep trap for our new catch, Ben dumps his prize down into it, admiring his accomplishment smugly.

"Wish you could catch a fish that big, huh, Tara?"

"Man, you caught me. I'm strawberry jelly."

"It's getting late guys, we probably better head out soon before it gets dark."

Steph was always the one calling the shots. She decides what we do, when we do it, and with whom we do it. She also always dictates when the end of the evening is since she lives in a different town than the rest of our crew.
Now, our group is seemingly large, but there's a catch- Steph and I are the only girls. We hang out with all of the hot popular guys in school. Steph tries to date most of them while I sit back and play wingman. I'm not exactly into the whole dating scene. WAY too much drama in the high school dating world. It's all about who's dating who, who's sleeping with who, who's fighting, who's breaking up. Who cares!
Honestly, a lot of people in my school live and die by that shit, and it makes me sick. Like we aren't capable of seemingly more stimulating conversation than the latest boob pic scandal, or how Sarah slapped Jason when she found out he was sleeping around with under classmen. Big fucking deal.

Steph and I reel in our untouched fishing lines and pick up the beer cans she and Ben chugged the first hour we were here. Steph never lets us leave cans anywhere out in the country.

See, she kind of does have a soul!

I climb into the front seat waiting on Steph to say goodbye to Ben. I hear them mention something about lunch the next day, and then Steph opens the door and settles into the drivers seat.

"Honestly, Ben is a mess.."

"He's always a mess, Steph. He wouldn't be him if he wasn't one."

Ben didn't spare a glance my way as we pulled onto the pavement. As we head back towards town to my house, his truck fades off into the distance, growing smaller and smaller as we drive away. I can, however, make out two things: the cherry of a cigarette, and the glow of a cell phone screen as he types vigorously away.

Ah, hell...