A Mask in A Mirror

Chapter 3: Girl Who is Friend

As the seasons shifted, the grass turned green and flowers bloomed, I passed my sixteenth birthday. Suddenly my world became much larger, I saved enough money to buy my first truck. a beat up 91' Dodge Dakota pickup. Everything that can be wrong on a truck that still runs and drives was wrong with mine. That didn't slow me down any though. I loved to drive, just take out across the country side driving for hours before turning back for home. My mother would have had a stroke if she knew how far out I traveled on my weekends.

"Where are you going this weekend?" Ann would ask me.

I'd always just smile and say, "Not exactly sure. Who are doing this weekend?"

Whatever else she was, Ann was honest. Not to the world necessarily, her whole life was basically an elaborate lie, but she was honest with herself. She didn't try to justify her lust, nor did she ever feel a need too.

With the freedom of having a driver in our tight nit little group came the pressures of reality. Our friendships began to pull apart as though they were attached to our expanding borders.

"Why is it all sideways?" Hatchet wonder aloud.

"Yeah, I've never seen a vertical license before." Dave joined the conversation.

"And it's all up and down too!" Ann played dumb.

"I don't care, so long as I don't get pulled over I won't have to worry about it." I was showing off my new driver's license to the group. Jordan was holding the plastic card as the other three huddled around her.

"Hey, I got an idea, let's all go for a drive after school! We could go downtown and catch a movie or something." Dave was the first to piece together the implications of one of us having a license.

I shook my head, "We've all got practice after school." I couldn't miss cross country.

Jordan reached across the lunch table to return my license. I looked around at my circle of friends, yes even Dave, and an idea began to form in my mind. We could all go to the river after practice let out; it was still early enough in the year to enjoy a little time in the water. I proposed it to the group, and received unanimous support. So we settled to meet outside the gym after football practice ended as it would undoubtedly run later than cross country or volleyball.

Four hours later Ann, Jordan, and I were standing in front of the gym waiting as we had anticipated. We were all three wet with sweat from practice. We could have changed but we didn't want to get our school clothes dirty at the river.

"I say we ditch them." Ann said impatiently. I thought about that for a moment, slipping off to my favorite gravel bar with two attractive girls in brightly colored volleyball spandex for a swim. Suddenly I didn't care if football practice ever ended.

Jordan had other ties though, "I can't go without Dave!" She protested.

"Oh why not, all you two ever do is fight anyway." Ann blew a stray hair from her eyes. She said it with her ditzy mannerisms, making it more palatable than if I had said it in my blunt cut and dry kind of fashion.

That doesn't mean that Jordan didn't take offense. "We do not! Ok, well, maybe we fight occasionally," She conceded, "but that's just a risk you take when two passionate people get together." I could see in her eyes that she didn't believe herself. Dave had become a friend of circumstance for me. He was Jordan's boyfriend and Hatchet's best friend. That made him a part of my life whether I chose to except it or not, so I tried to make the most of it. As usual though, Ann took a different approach. Her discontent with Dave did nothing but grow. He would never be worthy of Jordan, not in Ann's eyes at least.