17
‘Northern Attitude’
—Noah Kahan, Hozier
Lara
I wake up with a horrible headache. My head is pounding like someone is banging a drum inside my skull.
Scotty is no longer lying with me. The blanket that was half on him is now bunched up beside me.
I sit up slowly, my back sore from sleeping in the truck seat all night. My neck cracks when I move.
The air inside the truck is freezing.
I rub my eyes and look out the truck window. Scotty is standing by the side of the road, a few feet away from the truck, his hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie.
His breath fogs in the cold air as he waits for cars to pass by.
A big truck drives past us, its engine loud against the quiet morning.
“Help!” Scotty shouts, waving both arms in the air.
His voice echoes across the empty road. The truck doesn’t even slow down.
I watch Scotty throw his hands up in despair, turning in a small, frustrated circle before kicking a rock across the pavement.
That’s when I decide to get out of the car to help.
I push the truck door open and step outside, the cold biting instantly at my face. I tighten the blanket around my shoulders like a cloak and walk over to him.
“Morning.” Scotty glances over at me. His hood is up, and he’s rubbing his hands together quickly, trying to warm them up.
“Morning,” I reply, my voice still groggy from sleep. I look around the road. It stretches out in both directions with nothing but frozen grass and empty fields. At least it’s not snowing over here. The grass is just stiff with frost instead of buried like it was up in the mountains.
“Any luck?” I ask.
“Just a guy that told me I can’t park here,” Scotty mutters.
I laugh a little, but the annoyed look on his face tells me he definitely doesn’t find it funny.
“Very helpful,” I say. Another car approaches in the distance. We both step closer to the road, waving our hands. The car slows down this time. It pulls over beside us, and a middle-aged man with a dark beard climbs out of the driver’s seat. He stretches his back and looks between the two of us.
“Now what are you two kids doin’ out here?” he asks, putting his hands on his hips.
“The battery died,” Scotty says flatly, gesturing toward the truck. The man walks over and glances at the hood.
“Want me to jump-start it?”
Scotty nods immediately. “Yes please.”
The man turns to walk back to his truck, but pauses halfway there and looks back at us.
“My name’s Joe,” he says, walking over and shaking Scotty’s hand. “What’s your names?”
“This is Lara, and I’m Scott,” Scotty says, nudging me lightly when he says my name.
“Nice to meet ya,” Joe says.
He grabs a pair of jumper cables from the back of his truck and walks over to ours. Scotty pops the hood, and Joe leans over the engine, connecting the black jumper cable to the negative side of the battery and then the red cable to the opposite side.
“Alright,” Joe says. “Now we wait a second.” He heads back to his truck and starts it. The engine rumbles loudly. A moment later, Scotty slides into the driver’s seat and turns the key.
The truck engine sputters once. Then it roars to life. I let out a relieved laugh.
Joe walks back over and removes the cables carefully in reverse order before tossing them back into the bed of his truck. “Thank you,” Scotty says, giving the man a quick fist bump.
“You’re very welcome, kid,” Joe replies, flashing a toothy, gapped smile.
He climbs back into his truck and drives away down the road.
Scotty and I stand there for a second, watching the truck disappear in the distance.
“Saved by Joe,” I say.
“Joe might be the greatest man alive,” Scotty mutters. We climb back into the truck quickly, both of us shivering.
Scotty turns the heater on full blast, and warm air slowly starts blowing through the vents. I pull the blanket tighter around myself and lean back in the seat while the truck fills with warmth.
“Oh my god, our parents are going to be so worried!” I just realized we haven’t checked in at all. Scotty begins the drive home, and I’m dreading the lecture we will get.
About 30 minutes later, we pull into the driveway, then rush inside where everyone is waiting in the living room. My mom immediately rushes over and kisses me on the forehead.
“Where were you?!” she shouts. Scott’s mom runs over and hugs him, caressing his head.
“The car broke down. We couldn’t get help until the morning, we also had no service.” Scotty explains, trying to calm everyone down.
“Are you sure that’s what happened?” My dad crosses his arms, looking suspicious. “Are you two having sex?”
Sabrina gasps, “Oh my gosh, you’re right!”
“Ni?os estúpidos.” Scott’s dad mumbles, shaking his head.
“Oh my god no!” I hear my grandpa chuckle softly under his breath. I can tell he’s trying not to laugh, and Grams is in the kitchen baking some cookies.
“Layla, calm down,” Gram says from the kitchen. “Lara is almost an adult; she can make big girl decisions." I think I’m going to die from embarrassment.
“Oh, my god,” Scotty says unamused. “We are not having sex.” I cover my face with my hands; my face is probably red. “She likes someone.” Scott continues.
“Who?” My mom asks, all the attention is on me now.
“Issac, I walked in on them kissing.” Oh my god, why would he tell them that?
“He’s in college.” My dad narrows his eyes at me.
“I know, but I thought you’d be fine considering he’s our neighbor… Also, I don’t know if I even like him anymore, because he and Scotty keep fighting.”
“Because he’s a dick!” Scotty tries to defend himself.
“Yet you still won’t tell me why.”
“Okay, enough arguing.” Grandpa stands up, clearing his throat. I nod frantically, trying to change the subject. “We are just glad you’re home and safe.” Sabrina is still looking at us like we’re crazy. This is the worst day of my life. I want to dig myself a hole and die.
**
Later that day, I’m watching Scotty help change the battery on the car. I'm wearing a white beanie with a pom pom on the top, a white fluffy jacket, and some jeans. Scott’s still wearing his Bends sweatshirt and a fresh pair of jeans. He loves that sweatshirt.
Winter is my favorite season because of the outfits, which are adorable.
I pick up some snow, roll it into a ball, then throw it as hard as I can at Scotty’s back.
“Hey!” He spins around, glares at me, then creates his own snowball and chucks it at me. We break out into a full-blown snowball fight. I throw another snowball at his head, but he ducks.
“Miss me, miss me now, you got to kiss me.” He teases.
“In your dreams, Scotty.”
“You’re always in my dreams.” I try to register the words in my head, but he throws another snowball at me. I try to throw one back, but it hits my grandpa instead. My grandpa laughs. He bends down and collects snow in his hand before throwing it at me.
“Ow, my back, I’m going to leave you two kids to this.” My grandpa laughs softly before walking inside.
“Do you want to build a snowman?” I ask Scotty.
“Yes!”
We begin rolling snowballs, big ones. I make the middle one, Scotty makes the butt. He rolls it by the deck, then helps me pick up the middle, placing it on top of his big snowball.
“I don’t think we have enough snow.” I cross my arms, staring at the ground, where in some spots you can now see the frozen ground.
“There’s more back here.” Scotty waves me over to a big patch of snow, and we begin rolling the head. Scotty places the final head on top of the two balls. We step back to look at it from afar.
“I will go get carrots.” While he runs inside to get carrots, I grab some rocks for the eyes and smile.
I place two sticks at the arms, then place my beanie on top of the snowman.
Scotty runs back outside and places the carrot nose on our snowman.
We stand there and admire our work for a few moments.
“What should we name her?”
“Who said it's a her?” Scotty protests.
“Fine, him.”
“Mr. Snowman.” I smile and nod, just like Mr. Sprinkles, there’s now Mr. Snowman.
“Why do you always use a Mr?”
“Because I respect Mr. Snowman.”
“But what about Mr. Sprinkle?”
“I barely remember that night.” We both laugh.
5 years later
‘Graceland Too’
— Phoebe Bridgers
Scott
“Where is he?!” I rush into the hospital room, seeing Lara already there sitting down by his bed.
I rush over to him, seeing him lying in the bed unconscious. He has some cuts on his face, his head is wrapped in bandages.
My friend, the one who has been there for me since I was young, is lying motionless in front of me. He’s hurt, badly.
Lara didn’t elaborate on the phone. I came right after my game ended because it was too late to back out of it.
“How bad is it?” I ask, tears stinging my eyes, but I blink them back even though I just want to break down right now.
“He was in a car crash.” I hear a voice behind me and turn around to see Aurora walking back into the room.
“Who was driving? Danny is an excellent driver.”
“I was.” Aurora croaks out. My fists clench.
“Why the fuck would you let this happen?!” I yell at her, which isn’t making the situation any better.
“I didn’t mean to! A rabbit jumped onto the road out of nowhere!” she yells back.
“So you chose a fucking bunny over Danny?!” Lara grabs my arm, and I feel the blood rushing out of my veins.
“Scott, take a deep breath.” I match my breathing to hers, taking calm, deep breaths. She pulls me into a hug, and that’s when I break down into tears. I’m a guy, I shouldn’t cry, but it’s hard not to when your friend is in a coma.
“Call us when he wakes up,” Lara tells Aurora, and she nods, taking Lara’s seat. Lara brings me out front, rubbing my back as we walk. I feel like a pussy.
She takes me back to her house, her parents aren’t home. Ever since she went to college, they have been traveling the world. As we walk into her old room, the memories come flooding back, seeing the unicorn on the bed makes me break out into tears once more. I can’t believe she kept Mr. Sprinkles.
“What’s wrong now?” she asks. I stare into her brown eyes, and I tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear, caressing her cheek slightly.
“Us,” I whisper. She leans into my touch. Her actions speak more than her words.
“We're friends,” she states, but it’s not what I want to hear.
“Right,” I murmur.
I say right even though it doesn’t feel right.
Being in a relationship feels wrong.
Being friends doesn’t feel right either.
I don’t know how we got here. I stare at the ceiling, lying in her arms in her bed. Just like old times. Neither of us says a word as we sit in the solemn silence of her bedroom. I let the comforting scent of vanilla fill my body.
“Do you want to visit my grandparents?” She asks.
“I’ll check to see if I can take time off.”
**
I was able to take time off due to Danny being in the hospital, so right in the morning, we started the drive to her grandparents.
I want to recreate all the moments we shared last time we were together.
The drive was long in awkward silence. We didn’t talk to each other the whole way until we arrived and knocked on the door.
Lara gave her grandparents a heads up, and they were over the moon.
“Lara dear!” Grams hugs her. I watch their reunion in silence. It feels wrong being here, but so right at the same time.
“Grams, I missed you so much.” She hugs her tightly.
“I missed you, too, child.” Grams pulls away from the hug and turns to me. She stares at me for a long moment before pulling me into a hug.
“I missed you, too, Scott.” I nod, silently agreeing with her.
Lara
I pick through the food on my plate, taking a bite of the green beans.
I’m sitting across from Scott, with my grandpa on my left and Grams on Scott’s left. My grandpa is still hesitant to talk to Scott. I think it’s taking him a second to get used to him actually being back.
“Lara, do you want to go into the shops tonight?” I look up at the Grams, then smile and nod.
Maybe leaving will give Scott time to talk to my grandpa.
“Of course.” My Grams looks weaker and weaker every day, yet she hasn’t been diagnosed with anything. I want to spend as much time with her as possible before she passes, so I won’t regret anything.
“How is being a professional basketball player, Scott?” Grams asks him.
“Stressful, but fun. I want to be focused if I want to get another contract right now, mine is for two years.”
“Sounds interesting.” I know Gram doesn’t care about basketball; she just wants to make Scott feel at home.
“Ready to go, Lara?” Grams questions.
I nod. “Yup.”