Rewired

Chapter 4: It's Gonna Be Ok, Right?

"I'm sorry!", I said, trying and failing to keep the fact that I was frazzled under wraps. "I'm so sorry!"
I handed Sammy the couple of napkins I had grabbed off the ledge of the concession stand, and he started wiping the cheese off of his shirt. Not only did I already want to crawl under a highly secluded rock, but he was looking like he was enjoying my humiliation way to much. Oh shit, he wasn't going to let this go.
"Do you always dump food on people, or am I just special?", he asked me, ornery grin widening. So he was going to keep teasing me. Awesome.
"Here, try this", I said, pouring some water onto yet another napkin and handing it to him. Thankfully, some of the cheese was finally starting to come off. "Besides that, what were you doing lurking around behind me, anyway?"
"It's called waiting in line. And I'm the one covered in cheese," he crossed his arms over his chest and shot me a smug look, "I get to ask the questions here".
"Let's go, you guys!", Coach Moose yelled, "Bus is taking off in five!"
I was so ready to head home. My legs were still so shot from the epic race I had pulled out earlier that even the cramped, leathery bus seat was calling my name. I was still on top of the world about making regionals, don't get me wrong, but it had been a long day.
Instead of the typical two days for preliminary and finals, some genius had decided to do the whole track meet in one shot. Small meets were long, even on their own, but something huge like this took absolutely forever.
By the time we left, it had to be about 5 pm, the sun already starting to sink a little lower in the sky. Thick, gray clouds were obscuring most of the view, and a few rain drops were still slipping through the cracks every once in a while. God, I loved the rain. The steady drum of a good storm always managed to put me into the deepest sleep imaginable, it's steady cadence drowning out any and all thought. It was nice to have a totally blank mind every once in a while.
     Stepping over the soft, muddy ground, I headed toward the bus, glad to put some distance between Sammy and myself. I had to find a way to stop embarrassing myself whenever he was within twenty feet of me. It had been coincidence every time, but still, his teasing was driving me nuts, and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to tease him back or slap him half of the time.
     Making my way down the narrow aisle, through the duffel bags and various other shoes, water bottles, and stray clothing items, I finally plopped down toward the back of the bus, across from Layla. The way she was sprawled out across the seat, half asleep already mirrored my own exhaustion, despite it only being about 8 pm.
     Carlie, on the other hand, was absolutely wired. I could already tell by how she sat straight up on the edge of her seat, her blue eyes. Seriously, she was all but bouncing up and down with energy.
"Marielle, are you coming tonight?", she asked me. As of right now I had no idea what she was talking about, but from the looks of her bouncing in her seat, it sounded like fun.
     "Where are we going?", Sammy interjected, plopping down into the seat in front of mine, Elliot and apparently, now Brooke, occupying the next one up.
     Before I could think of a snarky reply, Carlie said in a singsong voice, "Party at Layla's house! Rain's supposed to quit, so we're having a fire. You guys in?"
     "I might be able to make it.", he told her. "Marielle?"
     Okay, now, was he asking if I was going? Was he asking if I wanted to go with him?
     "Hell yeah, I'm going!", I replied. This wasn't a date. This clearly wasn't a date. We're we going to the same party? Yes. Did he directly ask me if I would go with him? No. Totally not a date.
Wait. Why was I analyzing this again?
     The bus was rattling along at 70 miles per hour along I-70 now, and I watched the hills roll by out the window. Everywhere I went, people seemed to want out of the Ohio Valley, but this place really never did get enough credit for just how beautiful it was. In the fall, all of these hills and woods lining the interstate would be different shades of bright and pastel oranges, burnt reds, soft brown colors. It was beautiful, and I knew that this place would always be home to me.
     We passed the Christmas tree farm near Bark Camp without saying much else, many people staring to doze off. It hadn't been that long since I had been setting up my Christmas tree, my huge family traveling in from Colorado for the holidays. Senior year had just been going so fast.
     I had two more weeks of track left, if I was lucky, school was almost going to be out, and then I was going to be headed out to Ohio State for a major in business and accounting. Layla was going to be my roommate, her major exercise physiology. The plan after we graduated was to open a gym, her being the trainer and manager, me handling the financial side of things.
Still, even though I wasn't going to be entirely alone, I was a little intimidated by the thought of moving away. If the business school hadn't been so well known and we hadn't had full tuition scholarships, I wouldn't have even considered going so far away. I mean, I knew we were almost 18, but were we really about to go off into the world and be expected to act like adults? Holy shit.
Not liking to think about the future too much, I returned my gaze to the small, square bus window that had been covered in the oily fingerprints of little kids from the elementary school. A few raindrops were slowly streaking across the glass from the force of the wind. Overall, though, I noticed that the rain had seemed to stop entirely now, and the closer we got to home, the more the sky seemed to clear up.
"Hey, Layla, you awake?", I whispered across the aisle. A few seconds later, I saw her mess of blonde hair emerge from under her green and gold blanket, emblazoned with a pair of cleats and the words "Spartan Track and Field".
"Yeah, what's up? Are we back?", she replied, sitting up.
"Not yet, I told her", darting across the aisle and plopping into her seat before the coaches noticed. "I'm just thinking, when we graduate, when we leave, none of this is going to be the same. I mean, this is the last time our whole team is going to be in the same place at once. We're going to lose people when we leave."
I hadn't even realized I'd been this worried, but Carlie, Brooke, Iliana, we wouldn't see them much anymore. Sure, we'd plan on talking and visiting and running with the team or going to a meet, but so did every senior who graduated before us. You get bogged down with exams and papers and projects, and things are just never the same again.
"Marielle, we're not going to lose the people who matter. It's going to be okay.", she said. I wasn't so sure I believed her.
"You promise we're going to come back a lot?"
"For the thirtieth time, yes.", she told me, in a 'you're being ridiculous' tone. I was close to my family, so we'd been through this before. My sisters and I baked with my grandmother every Sunday since we were little. She'd been trying to teach us some authentic Spanish recipes she wanted to keep in the family. I knew it was a two hour drive, but I was determined to at least show up for that every other weekend.
"And we'll go to some of the meets, right?", I sighed, dropping my head on my best friend's shoulder.
"Look, it's going to be ok. The people around us change, but it's inevitable. We're going to be okay. We'll get used to OSU just like we did with high school, and we'll be back in four years, ok?"
"I guess.", I relented. As much as I wasn't sure what was going to happen, Layla was right. Change wasn't always such a bad thing. Life really was kind of just a series of adapting to new phases over and over again. People got through it and it wasn't always entirely unpleasant. Besides that, whether we came back a lot really did depend on us, didn't it?
"On another note, you're coming to my house, right? It's gonna be epic!"
"You know I'll be there", I said sitting up.
"What are you gonna wear?", she asked. I swear, she asked me this same question every time we went somewhere. Was it a little irrational? Yes, but for some reason we felt the need to coordinate whether we were going to be cute that day or not. Truth is, I wasn't totally sure. In the time it took me to try to decide, Layla added, I'm thinking you should wear your red flannel with the dark denim shorts."
     "Why?", I asked her. That was a little random, even for her.
     "Well, Sammy's coming, isn't he?" she said, looking over to make sure he was asleep. He was. And I it was even possible he looked more adorable than he had when he had helped me up after my face plant a couple of days ago.
     "And this matters to me, why?" I asked, suddenly feeling as if Layla had just x-rayed my thoughts.
     "No reason, no reason", she said, holding up both of her hands in denial. Yeah, right. "It wouldn't matter to you at all that a guy who's been flirting with you is going to the same party. Not at all".
     "Layla, chill, it's not like we're going to run off into the sunset together with cute music in the background! We're graduating, remember?"
     "He's going to OSU, you know.", she countered, bumping into my shoulder. Well that changed things, a little, didn't it?
      "We're not even sure he's flirting", I reminded her. I was totally wearing the cute shirt, though. Some curls wouldn't hurt either...

Thanks for reading! You made it through the track meet!The next chapter is totally not about running! Suggestions and comments are welcome!