This Can't Be Good

Chapter 54 (Parker's POV)

Bottles lined the floor of Jason’s garage converted hang out spot. Laughter filled the room as we rapidly smashed the buttons of the controller that was in our hands. Split up into two teams, three boys focused on the one television while the other the other two and I on the other. Each team trying desperately to defeat the other in the zombie filled scene that was occurring on the scene. Profanities fell into the air as team one came in contact with mine. A bottle fell from the chair on to the floor, shattering as Jason focused his attention on the game instead of the bottle he was so carefully holding.

We hadn’t done this in a while, far too long. With only a couple months left of high school together we were desperately trying to see each other every minute of the day. Usually we met at the diner with our girlfriends. It had been decided later on that night that we needed a guy’s day. Not that we didn’t love spending time with our respective girls but we needed to be boys without getting judged by our better halves.

The game ended and we settled back down. Some picking up another bottle of beer and raising it to their lips to take a sip, others choosing to relax themselves against the couches they had find themselves on. No one restarted the game, we were over violently killing each other, at least for the moment.

“I refuse you guys to leave next year,” Max said.

“Is Max going to miss us?” Jared teased. He brought the beer bottle to his lips, throwing his head back to get the final drops before setting it aside and grabbing another.

“If only little Max was a senior like his friends,” Jason slurred. His fifth bottle of beer clearly hindering his speech skills.

“Fuck off,” Max said dropping the subject.

I was sitting on the couch next to Max. I felt bad for him, it really wasn’t his fault he was born a year later than all of us. All he ever wanted was to be in the same grade as us, never having many friends in his own grade until he met Josylne. The guys always gave him shit for it too, like he was that much younger than us. If only Max knew that if we could be him, with one more year of high school, we’d gladly switch lives with him.

“Parker!” Jared yelled.

“What?” I said focusing less on my inner monologue and more on the present world.

“When you leave for California?”

“I go down for a week in June and then come back for two weeks before going back. I’ll probably come back again after that but nothing is set yet. I haven’t even booked the first flight,” I said.

“At least you get to come home. I head down to Florida mid July and I’m not coming back. Ashley isn’t too happy about it,” Jared said.

“At least your girlfriend isn’t leaving you,” Aaron added. He was attending UMASS Amherst on a full scholarship to play football there. He was a good player but not many schools need kickers. Amherst did so he took the offer. His girlfriend, Sam, was headed of to Alabama.

“This is why I didn’t date in high school,” Jason commented.

“You didn’t date in high school because you only wanted to hook up with girls,” Jayden reminded him.

“True. I’m the smart one though. I got the most experience and I got nothing tying me down to old Mass High. I’m off to Texas as soon as they tell me my flight info.”

“Whatever makes you sleep at night,” I added. Jason was wrong. He wasn’t the smart one, he was the idiot. Sure he had gotten several girls and would continue to do so in college, there was no question about that. But Jason didn’t know the first thing about how to keep a girl. His longest relationship was two days. He just didn’t know how to commit.