Maybe Then...

Chapter 43: if we could forget certain people who've hurt us

If we could forget certain people who've hurt us, 

Maybe then, they wouldn't haunt our present

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I sent out a text to Dan telling him where I'd be, and as expected, he was too busy to bother responding. I don't blame him, though. I wouldn't want to be in charge of babysitting someone not even two years younger than me. 

"If you hate parties so much, then why do you go to them?" I asked Cooper. We rolled into the parking lot of McDonald's, pulling into the drive thru. 

He shrugs a little. "I guess I just want to get some publicity, or whatever you want to call it. Getting our names out there might increase our chances of gigs, ya know?" 

I nod, not bothering to say anything since the people in front of us began moving up. "I already had dinner," he informed me. "How about fries and ice cream?" 

"I'm not really hungry, so I'll probably just steal some of your fries. I don't have any money anyway." 

"Suit yourself." He rolled the window down all the way, leaning out of it and reciting his order.

"The ice cream machine's broken," the disembodied voice said through the speaker. 

He turned back to me and mouthed the words of course it is. "Just fries, then." 

I roll my eyes to myself. Never get your hopes up about the McDonald's ice cream machine working. 

"I swear, I have a better chance at winning the lottery than finding a McDonald's restaurant with a working machine," he said once we were safely past the windows. 

"As someone who used to serve ice cream as my job, I find their lack of dedication to frozen deserts offensive." I slid a hand into the bag and snuck out a fry, as promised I would. "Highly offensive." 

He switched on his blinker, turning onto the main road when he could. "So do you want me to just take you home, or...?" 

"Nah, let's go get in trouble," I said with a lazy smile. 

"And how do you propose we do that at 9:17 at night?" 

I popped my bottom lip out in thought. "Vandalism, idling, start a wild book club, et cetera, et cetera." 

"You forgot drug dealing on the list." 

"Right." My eyes flickered back and forth at the passing sights of the town. Suddenly an idea came to mind. "Do you like doing deep, heavy things?" 

"What do you mean by that?" 

"I mean, let's go and do things that you see in those aesthetic photos, like walking in the woods, standing on a small mountain and raising their hands to the sky, dipping their fingers in a running stream, stuff like that." 

"So basically a hike?" 

"No, it's aesthetic," I said with a know-it-all attitude.

"So a nature aesthetic?" 

"Nature is only some of my aesthetic." 

"What other things can you think of besides aesthetics?" 

"Hmm...How about we just go around town and explore?" 

"Sounds like a plan." 

We drove for another mile or so before stopping at an old, broken down house off of a semi-busy road. It was one of those areas where the suburbs and city meet, some cars driving past the road it was off of, a couple of local businesses and a gas station near it.