Under The April Sky

Chapter Two

"Adam," John said with a huge grin plastered across his drunk face, "pass me another beer."

It was ten o'clock on a Sunday, the night before our first day of classes, and we were both faded out of our minds. An hour previous, John had knocked on my door and revealed a bottle of shitty liquor and a six-pack of cheap beer.

Sunday night drinking was the best and worst idea in college. An hour after he waltzed through the doors of my room, the liquor was halfway gone and the room was spinning. Rain spattered gently on my open window, allowing a cold breeze to lightly splash me back to life. 

My bed was pressed against the windowsill and every morning the halo of the morning would ensnare me in its grasp. The haze of pink and orange that illuminated my eyelids made mornings easier to greet. At night, I was able to sit in my bed and watch young people stumble around on the cement below. I would listen intently to their conversations and hang onto their happiness from afar. 

I reached below my bed to grab a can for John and smiled nervously as my stomach lurched forward. I tossed the can to the best of my drunken ability and laughed as it smacked his chest with a thud. I had missed these moments over the summer. My friends from back home were never the type to heavily drink. 

"You had enough yet?" I slurred, feeling my tongue glide across my teeth. 

John snorted, "Don't tell me you're tapping out now, kid." 

I laid back in my bed, burying the back of my head deep into my pillow, 

"Never," I replied. 

The first time I ever drank with John we decided to go on a walk afterwards. As a college student knows, there is no better feeling than stumbling around campus drunk as a skunk. The sound of my steps on the streets rang through my ears like a bell. I loved the smell of the fresh air as it ran through my lungs. 

John and I talked for hours about things that made no sense. The way we saw the world differed greatly; but blended together perfectly. John could always make sense of things when I couldn't understand. He made things seem simple. Simplicity was something that never made sense to me. I could not understand how the world could be so easy to comprehend. John saw the world through the eyes of someone who had lived a thousand times. I was just a baby; entirely impatient. 

"When's our first class tomorrow?" John asked, cringing at the taste of the beer. 

I shrugged, "I think it-it's like at 9?" 

"I will be throwing up all over your seat." John hummed. 

I scoffed, "Can't handle your alcohol?" 

"For dinner, I had a bowl of fuckin' Captain Crunch." He laughed, tossing his beer around in his hand. "You know what that shit does to your stomach?" 

"Sounds like a five-star meal," I sat up, ignoring the spinning feeling in my head. "I think I had some broccoli or something at the dining hall." 

"You eat vegetables, Adam?" 

I smirked, "Only when I drink." 

He lifted his can towards me, "I'll drink to that, kid." 

John was an avid surfer back in California. He had spent most of his childhood in the water. We had that in common: beaches. He had a love for how the clouds looked above the sea. It fueled his love for weather, another thing we both shared. 

Growing up in Florida, you find yourself in a lot of different weather situations. Sunshine, rain, hurricanes, tornadoes, unbearable heat, and unbearable cold. I was fascinated by all of it growing up. The world would change around me and I would stay the exact same. It made me appreciate how small we all are compared to the sky above us. I was fascinated by how the weather could change our lives-- and even in the most extreme cases... take them. 

Coming to Oklahoma was a way to chase the love close up. Tornado capital of the country. The excitement, the drive, and the danger brought me to the dorms of the University of Oklahoma. And oddly enough, in different circumstances, it brought John here as well. 

"Is our professor that Jim dude?" I asked. 

"Jim Trellow?" John nodded. "Great fucking dude." 

"He's nice enough," I shrugged. "I think he needs a bit more hair on his head." 

"He could've given me some extra points on the final last semester," He said taking another swig. "But at least he didn't fail me." 

"I'm sure he'll fail you if you come to class vomiting your guts out," I said. 

"Consider it a welcome-back gift, Jim." He laughed. 

Talking to John always came easy. It was like talking to someone I knew my whole life. My whole life I've never met a friend like John. I never thought I would relate to a Californian surfer dude. But John was someone who wasn't shallow like the ones they show on television. 

"Can you believe we are sophomores already?" I asked, touching my hand to my forehead. "Soon we'll be adults with responsibilities."

"BOO!" John cried. 

"Working in an office and discussing the weather with a bunch of other nerds." I laughed. "What the fuck are we doing?" 

"Following our dreams." 

"I'd rather go to the moon," I admitted, taking the bottle of dark liquor off my desk. 

I never minded the tiny confinements of my dorm room. I had a bad habit of pacing my room back home. When I was in the dorm, trapped in a cell with my roommate, it felt easy to break the habit. My nerves in my college years would only be quenched by the joys of being drunk. 

"The moon is boring," John said, "Too much emptiness." 

"The peace and quiet would be excellent."

"I have a fear of suffocating." 

My fears in the before were very tame. They would wake me in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and fill me with dread. They seem so simple to look back upon. Stupid, irrational, boyish fears that filled my subconscious with pain. The fear of missing out on parties or social interactions. The fear of not being cool enough for people. 

I didn't know true fear. 

"How is Brenna doing?" I asked, suddenly changing the topic. 

In the last stretch of freshman year, John felt himself drawn like gravity to a girl with platinum blonde hair. She had the personality of someone who knows their well liked. Happy-go-lucky, with nothing to lose. Brenna was nice-- at least to my face. She seemed to tolerate John enough to have him wrapped around her finger. 

"She hasn't returned any of my calls," John took a shaky breath. "She stayed right here in Norman over the summer."

John came to college with the goal to find the love of his life. The problem is he only went for the girls that were as lost and confused as I was. John got his heart broken every other week by another girl who wanted nothing to do with him. I felt sorry for him. He was a good guy who seemed to have bad luck with love. 

"Fuck her," I slurred. 

He grinned, "Enough about it," He stood up, holding onto the chair for support, "lets take some shots!"