See You in Hell

4

"Can I be excused?"
"Louise, we just sat down!" With Linda gone, they had taken to eating their meals in the restaurant during the slump between 3 and 5.
"I'm supposed to meet Andy and Ol to go walk around Lobsterfest." She didn't like to leave him all alone, but tonight was important and she was anxious to get going.
"Well ok I guess, but bring your EpiPen." Louise shared her father's unfortunate shellfish allergy.

Being the youngest came with its perks, the college money may have dried up years ago, but so had most of Bob and Linda's parental resistance. Louise felt like a ghost sometimes, the last vestige anchoring them. Her siblings' rooms had become like tombs; half altar of achievement (or underachievement in most cases) half storage unit. Louise had even tried moving into Tina's room for a time, it was her Mom's idea - an upgrade from her closet, but Louise didn't sleep well in open spaces.

It was an annual tradition for the three of them to meet under the docks on the night of Lobsterfest. In grade school the local festival was a peak evening of childhood mischief, almost better than Halloween, since the parents were usually more distracted. Candy tipped the scale out of its favor, but just barely. The three of them would concoct all sorts of mischievous plots and pranks using the docks as a base camp. Now that they were older, the tradition had shifted its focus from pranking to drinking, but the location had stayed the same.

Ollie was waiting for her by the Wonder Wharf gate.
"Where's Andy?"
"He's already down there - said he had some setting up to do, whatever that means."
"You didn't have to wait for me."
"I don't mind."

They entered the park and weaved in and out of throngs of people, making their way slowly towards the back end of the wharf. The crowds were especially thick in the park on an "event weekend" and Lobsterfest was one of the biggest events of the year. A sea of Out of Towners bobbed by in paper lobster visors and bibs.

They passed Darryl and Rosa standing in front of one of the ball toss booths. Rosa gave them a brief glance and a wave before her attention was pulled away by the big pink bear Darryl was handing her. She squealed delight before pouncing on him in a nauseating display of affection.

"I guess they're back together again." Ollie laughed awkwardly.
"Yea guess so."
"There's a lot of summer hook ups this year.. Jeremy and Jodi, Abbey and Harley, Darryl and Rosa.." He trailed off, Louise didn't respond. She wanted to get the topic off couples. All the girls crowding the restaurant these days to ogle Logan had put her off romance even more than usual.
"Do you want one of those bears?"
"Ew." Louise made a face as if he had just offered her a bag of hot dog shit.

They had finally reached the stairs down to the beach. Andy was waiting for them, leaning on the boardwalk railing and tapping his foot. He was dressed in a suite and bow tie as if they were on their way to prom.

"Oh no, why are you so dressed up?"
"I'm not dressed up." Andy put a hand on his blazer, dusting it off innocently.
"You invited people tonight didn't you?" He'd been casually hinting the previous few weeks that it was their last opportunity to throw a "high school party". Ollie and Louise had been united in vetoing the idea.
"I just invited a few folks, you know, just a little cast party to show our appreciation to the crew."

Word of mouth spread quickly in a small town and before they knew it it seemed like the entire senior graduating class had assembled below the pier. The last year of High School had marked an interesting shift in school hierarchy; the strict social pecking order was beginning to dissolve. Someone had gotten their hands on a keg and the campfire had upgraded into a bonfire. There were kids Louise had never seen in her life wandering around with red solo cups, kids from Kings Head Island even.

Logan's dumb laugh wafted over to her from across the beach. Damn it, why was he here too? They'd been much more cordial since the prank, but she was by no means ready to pal around with him outside of work. He was standing by a makeshift corn hole game talking to Jade Peterson.