A Nobody's Notebook

Basement Adventures

I walk through the door that Jess freed us from. "Another ten minutes in there and I would've chewed off my own leg!" Chris jokes. 

"Aw, sick, Chris," Sam shakes her head. 

"Look, I got a lot of meat on my bones. This is all muscle down here."

"Yeah, riiight. Uh-huh." 

Chris bends down and snatches the paper Jess was holding. "Boop!" he says in a high voice. Jess protests. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? My goodness. Seems that someone has a lil crush on our good friend and dear class president, Michael Munroe. Aaand… What kind of sizzling erotica might our Jessica be capable of imagining? I wonder..."

"Mike and Em split. We're together."

"Woah, drama."

"Not really. Pretty clear cut, actually. Em's out, I'm in."

"Huh," Sam turns to me. 

"Alright, alright. Let's just get up to the lodge already. Getting tired of all of this nature and junk," Chris takes a few steps and I follow. 

"Uh, you guys go ahead. I'm just gonna wait here for a bit... See who else is coming,"

Lightly, I elbow Chris and he nods. "You mean Mike?"

"What? I mean... You know... Whoever."

"Uh-huh. Sam?" Chris asks when we begin walking off. 

"Did you see this view? I mean, holy cow! Sometimes I forget to just take it all in," Sam sighs. 

I nod for a second. "Yep, I'm heading on up. It's cold," I rashly say, beginning the walk. 

We're greeted by Josh on the path. We all exchange pleasantries. "Man, I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it."

"Oh yeah? It feels the same to me," Josh remarks with a grin. 

"Come on. You grew up here. It probably feels like it's shrinking," Chris replies. 

"I guess that's true."

"When are you gonna install some cell towers up here? I'm getting withdrawals already."

"You got a spare million lying around and I'll fix you right up," Josh jokes. 

"Funny you should say that. I think I left it in my other jacket," I laugh softly. 

We make our way to the rest of the group. "Hey, guys. Get up here okay?"

"Yeah... Well... More or less. It is so good to see you," Ashley says. 

"What's up with him?" Josh gestured to Matt. Ashley whispers about what happened. 

I walk over to Matt. "Shit, man. I'm sorry," I pat his arm. He doesn't reply. I decide to let him fume. I dust some snow of the step beside Ash and sit down. 

"So, what's new?" Ash turns to me. 

I shake my head. "Not much. Other than college, nothing is going on in my life."

"You don't text or email us much. What are you studying in college? You haven't told us."

"Psychology," I nod and sigh. "Yeah. It's a pretty straight forward course. Even though I'm a freshman, they're allowing me to live off campus."

"That's cool."

"Lead the way, Cochise!" Josh says before they begin climbing down the steps. 

Chris stops in front of Ash and I. Deciding to give them a little privacy, I stand up and walk off. I stand next to Sam, avoiding Josh. I don't know what to say to him. I mean, I know what I want to say, but I can I actually say that? I watch as the two disappear off a path. "Look, I know you're worried about him," Sam speaks up. "We all are. He needs you now. The one year after it all, he's gonna need someone to be there for him."