The Last Time We Met

12

For our road trip to LA, Cedric had made another mix tape. When he saw that my car didn't have a cassette deck, he sighed and pulled out his phone to sync it up to the radio's bluetooth. "It's not the same," he moaned.

We drove through Starbucks and then hit the highway as the sun was still rising, since it was a five-hour drive. Cedric had a mini cooler full of snacks, as if we would starve before getting to campus, and we each had overnight bags, because we had convinced our parents that driving five hours back was too much in one day.

We were going to be spending the night in a hotel. The thought of it made my stomach flutter. Sure, we had some privacy, more at my house than his, but we hadn't yet spent the night together.

Some of the songs reminded me of last weekend, and I gripped the steering wheel, suddenly afraid I would drop into a memory. It hadn't happened while driving yet, but the time at the costume shop had freaked me out. I preferred to remember when I was sleeping.

Despite the coffee, Cedric reclined his seat and dozed for the first hour, his pink hair blowing in the wind from the open windows. I sneaked glances over at him, feeling absurdly happy. Maybe my past life memories weren't real, but if they were, that meant Cedric was my soul mate, and I had found him while I was still young. We would be together forever. A warm feeling burrowed in my chest at the thought of spending our lives together, not having to worry about going on endless blind dates until I found The One. Not many people could say that, not even my own parents.

When Cedric roused himself, he flipped over to a different playlist. This one was also mostly 80s music, more synth and upbeat. "I hope this tour isn't as boring at the one I went on last weekend," Cedric said, rummaging through the cooler for a bag of trail mix. "Although I think was my dad who made it boring. He had so many questions."

This was my first campus tour, though my next few weekends were full of them. "We have to ask questions?"

"No. No we do not. But my dad wrote me out a list if you should feel compelled." The song "Sussudio" came on, and then Cedric asked, "Do you really want to go to UCLA?"

"It's my safety school." I felt his eyes on me, and I glanced over. "What?"

"I mean, didn't you say Brent and Chris lived in LA?"

Even though I hadn't even mentioned that I knew Chris had gone to UCLA, he had figured it out. "Yeah." I swallowed. "Yeah, I mean, it was my safety school before that, too. But I wasn't planning on touring the campus before."

Cedric nodded, then perked up. "Do you remember the name of the club in LA?"

The thought of going to club with Cedric, dancing with him, made me flush. I swallowed. "No... it's just all flashing lights and loud music. Sorry."

"Even if you did remember, it's probably shut down. There aren't that many famous clubs in LA. Everything there is so temporary."

"Temporary. And fake."

"Oh yeah. LA's fake, for sure."

"I wonder if we both feel that way because we lived there before."

"That's an interesting way to look at it. You think we were like that? All fake tans and nose jobs and bleached blond hair?"

I tried to recall anything about myself in that past life. I knew what Brent had looked like, and he hadn't looked fake at all. But I couldn't see myself, other than the outfit I'd worn. "Probably not."

"I can't imagine you bleaching your hair no matter who you were in a past life." Crunching a handful of nuts and granola, he said, "Hey, you think my fear of snakes is because I got bitten in a past life and died?"