Red Chevrolet

A Good Night

The point of view of Benedict Lucas John Pepperwhit

Hazel wasn't very different after Jack. Unless you count the smile that was glued to her face. It wasn't a crazy, hyper smile. It held peace and love and humility in it. Truly beautiful.

We got ice cream in Ice Cream Alley and sat together on the shore of the lake, watching jet skis and boats and canoes. The sun was slowly setting, reminding us that it was almost time to say goodnight to the town.

But Hazel kept talking. She told me all about seeing Jack again. She told me what she felt when she first saw him and what she felt when she left. She told me that she wished they still had their "fake dating relationship," but also was perfectly okay that they were just friends. Hazel talked nonstop and told me stories as we finished our ice cream.

She told me about when her and Jack got illegal fireworks and lit them off in a trash can. She told me about when they built a house of cards, and then Jack's sister knocked it over with a volleyball. She even told me about their first kiss. They had gone hot tubbing at Jacks and then climbed onto the roof to watch the stars and he kissed her.

Hazel told me that that was the best night she had ever had with him.

I could listen to Hazel Maeve Reddish for hours and hours. The more she talked, the more I listened, and the more I found an admiration for her voice.

After our ice cream was long gone, we sat and watched the waves lap the shore. The sun was dying and lighting up a fire sky. It was a beautiful evening and I found myself loving the fact that I got to share it with someone so special.

I never thought I'd admire Hazel as much as I found myself doing now. She was so simple, but also complicated. She had confidence that radiated off of her like a glow. You couldn't see her and think she was insecure because she was so comfortable and so natural that she was obviously confident.

I didn't want to talk because all I wanted to do was listen. I ended up laying back in the sand, closing my eyes, folding my arms across my chest and just listening. As Ferris Bueller says, "life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around every once in a while you might miss it." Or something like that.

Pretty soon, Hazel stopped talking. Maybe she thought I was asleep, I don't know, but she started humming and placing grains of sand on my hands. I didn't mind. It just added more peace to the mood and it let me feel and hear something new.

I liked being with Hazel. I no longer cared that she had taken me from home and dragged me along, forcing me to drive her here. I now liked that I was here with her. It was good to get away and it was even better to be with someone new, someone I could act normal around. There was no acting when I was with Hazel. I felt comfortable and free. Much better then when I had been in school and at home and work. Back home, everyone expected me to do great things. Go to college, get a career that earns you money, get married, have kids, and raise them to get money too. After all, that's what Pepperwhits do. Make money and have kids to make even more money.

"Are you asleep?" Hazel's soft voice startled me, and I realized she had stopped humming and was no longer putting sand on me.

I opened my eyes and looked at her, "huh? Why?" I asked.

The light that shone on her face came from the street lamps that shone on the path behind her. Other than that, it was shaded and dark.