In This Life (Sequel to 'In Another Life')

108

Instead of going back to the motel right away, we just drove around, no real destination in mind. I pointed out a few places to him, like the park that I used to play at when I was little, then used it as a hang out, to cuss and drink, as I got older. The old field that all of us townie kids used to party at. The lake where I went fishing with my grandpa, as a child. He had died the next summer, after that. The park was our last stop of the evening, so we decided to get out of the car, and just enjoy the cool night air of country living. "I'll race you," I said, slamming my car door shut. I didn't wait for an answer, instead just took off running. "Hey, no fair, that's cheating!" I heard him yell from behind. I heard him gaining on me after a moment. I knew he could easily outrun me, but for whatever reason, he didn't. I wasn't fully healed yet, so by the time I made it to the swing set, I was breathless, and holding a stitch in my side. "Ow fuck," I said, sitting in the swing. He laughed and came up behind me. "That's what you get for cheating," he replied. I held on to the chains of the swing and lay back so that I could look up at him. He smiled down at me, when I stuck my tongue out. I yelped and laughed when he pushed me, making the swing go forwards. I didn't know if it was the aftermath of finally getting to say what was on my mind to my parents, if it was having Colby here in my hometown with me, or what it was exactly, but I hadn't been this happy, this carefree, in a long time. I felt a little guilty about that since I knew we were here for Amber's funeral, but there would plenty of time for guilt. My brain needed a break from itself, and acting like a kid again was the perfect thing for that. Once he got me to a decent height on the swings, he jumped into the one next me to me, and kicked himself off, swinging higher and higher until we were matched. I tilted my head back and closed my eyes, enjoying the breeze on my face, and just being here with him, no worries, no severe problem bringing us down. We twisted the the swings that we were sitting in, letting the chains wrap together, then let them unwind, making us laugh just from getting dizzy, like we did as kids. We slid down the high slide a few times, then raced each other to the merry go round. I jumped up on it, and lay down, bringing my knees up so that my legs weren't hanging off of it. It was a lot smaller than I remembered. Colby got it spinning pretty fast, before he jumped up on it, and lie down next to me. We watched the stars above us spin in the black night sky, spinning away until we both felt nauseous from it. For a while, we just lay there, the merry go round still and had been for a while. "This place reminds me of Kansas," he said quietly, like he didn't want to disrupt the peace. I turned my head to look at him. His eyes were trained on the sky above us. "How?" I asked. "The peacefulness. The way everything stills at night. The way the town sleeps, like time stands still here. It's nice." "It's boring," I said, laughing. He glanced at me, the stars reflected in his eyes. "Yeah, that too," he said, laughing with me. Once we quieted again, I scooted closer to him, and lay my head over on his chest. That was kind of hard to do on this damn merry go round, but I somehow managed with a little maneuvering. "I know what you mean though. I love living in LA, but this will always be home. As fucked up as my life was here, there's just something about it that brings me peace and reminds me where I came far, how far I've come in life." "Yeah," he agreed, his voice barely more than a whisper. We stay there for a few more minutes before the scent of rain hit the air. "Uh oh," I said, sitting up as lightning flashed across the sky. "We might want to go, before we get so-" I spoke too late. It was one of those without warning, thunderstorms that seemed to hit when you least expect it, and it had decided to hit at that precise moment. The downpour that followed had us completely soaked to the bone within seconds. I screamed from how cold it was as it cut off my sentence. Colby and I jumped up and ran to the car, laughing the whole way. "Oh my God," he said, shaking his wet hair out, once we were inside the dry car. "It's really coming down out there." I nodded in agreement, and turned the heater on. "Didn't think we would be using the heater on this trip," I said, grateful that it didn't take too long to warm up. "I guess that's what they mean when they say you can feel every season in a day here. Then, if you doubt it, Georgia says hold my beer, and hits you with a hurricane." His forehead creased, and I saw a smile play on the edges of his lips. "Who says that?" I shrugged. "The locals, of course." We started trying to make our way back to the motel in the downpour that was restricting our vision so badly, we had to go at a turtle's pace. Every time the lightning flashed, I would let out a scream, and make Colby laugh. "It's not funny!" I yelled at him after the third time it happened. "Yes it is!" he yelled back. I rolled my eyes, and smiled, looking out my window at the wind blowing the tree limbs until they looked like they would break. Bad weather made me nervous, so I was glad when we finally made it back to the motel. The rain had let up a little, allowing us to run inside the room without being even more soaked, if that were possible. We tripped over one another, trying to get inside, laughing the entire time.