The Art Of Noticing

Chapter Ten: Toilet paper.

I can say that we were officially at the dance for a total of forty-one minutes and twenty-three seconds. But that wasn't the funniest part of the night. It wasn't even our slightly failed attempt to squeeze all six of us into my car.

We rode to the nearest ice cream shop that we could find. It was one of those 'drive-thru only' places.

We ordered, parked, popped the trunk and hung out while we ate. Still, Ollie was depressed. And I understand why.

He'd had a crush on Claire Monroe since he was a junior. Now here he was, a senior, ditched on the night of the winter dance.

"I don't get it," Ollie sighed, "She asked me to be her date. Even before the dance, we hung out. . . I thought she liked me."

"Sometimes people don't realize how much they're hurting others when they do things, especially when they're only thinking about what they want in a moment." Reese explained, trying her best to help him feel better.

I could tell there was some hidden meaning behind that sentence. Like it was told from experience.

There was just quiet after that. We all had things going on in our heads.

Ollie with the sadness of being ditched, Reese with the hurt she tried to hide, Tom and Griffin with the worry for their friend, Stacey wishing she was still at the dance, and me thinking about. . . everything.

After a while, the silence became unbearable.

"This is crap, guys!" I stood up in front of everyone, "Sitting around isn't gonna solve anything!"

"Then, what will?" Ollie asked.

I thought for a moment. There really wasn't much to do. But then it occurred to me.

"What's the number one thing that always works in almost every movie known to man?"

"Oh no, what?" Reese asked.

I smirked, "Let's go T.P. Claire's house!"

Ollie's face beamed. The transition from troublesome to troublemaking was slow, but his mood had definitely improved.

That was all that mattered.

***

As it turns out, the amount of movies you've seen with the revengeful act of T.P.ing has no impact whatsoever on your actual knowledge of completing the task.

I wish I could say that I had even the slightest idea of where to start, but I couldn't. Because I didn't.

All I had was a basement full of movies that always seemed to conveniently skip the part where it gave you instructions.

I knew the task required toilet paper, and a person to be angry at.

So that's where we started.

We headed to the Walmart nearest to Claire's house and grabbed as many toilet paper packs as each of us could carry.

The cashier was very confused with all of us, standing there in our fancy clothes, holding packs of toilet paper. The poor woman didn't know what to make of it.

Afterwards, we jumped into the car, which was now even harder to squeeze into, and rushed off to Claire's house.

It was unsure whether or not she would be there, but the only important thing was being quick and being quiet.

And it started that way.

But after the first few rolls had been thrown, Ollie lost all restraint. None of us seemed to care, though.

I took a step back, watching everyone and catching my breath. Griffin walked up and stood beside me.

"This is definitely an interesting way to end the night." he said quietly

I looked over at him, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he sighed, "but thank you."

"For what?"
"For taking care of my friends."

I smiled at him for a moment. He was deeper than he let on. The things he said tonight proved it.

"I guess this kinda confirms it then," I chuckled

"Confirms what?"
"That I'm part of the friend group now,"
"Man, you were part of the friend group from day one."
"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "even though you seriously killed the mood at the park."

"You remember that?" I laughed.

"Oh, I remember. . . but you know what?"

"What?"

He leaned over to me, us standing side by side, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"I couldn't be mad at you. . . because at the end of the day, we were all going through it. In our own way, we were all suffering. But it didn't matter then, and it doesn't matter now. . . because-"
"Because we had each other."

"Because we have each other," he smiled, "always will."

And for the first time, I was sure of that.

9:50 P.M.

Reese: Flower Of The Universe - Sade