Rich climbed in the backseat. “You ride up front, Marlowe. I’m going to take a nap.”
“Dude, it’s like ten minutes until we get to your place, even with dropping her off.”
“Fuck off, I’m tired.” Rich curled up in the backseat using a jacket as a pillow.
Dexter rolled his eyes. We got in the car and pulled out of the parking lot.
93.3 Thrash Radio, our local alternative rock radio station, played low in the car on the short drive.
Once we arrived at my house, a single-wide trailer I shared with my sister, I looked over at Dexter. “Thanks for the ride. I appreciate it.”
“Anytime, Mar. Really.” His smile was genuine, and it brought me back to the night at his place with Bunny. The admiring way they both looked at me. Biting my lip, I turned and got out of the car, gently shutting the door.
I could hear yelling coming from inside the house. My sister’s boyfriend was here, and they were fighting again. Closing my eyes, I took a deep, steadying breath and walked up the stairs to the front door.
two
the drive
Dexter
“Rich, get up front. I’m not driving around with you in the backseat like a child.” When I turned around, he had passed out on my jacket, drooling. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Rich!” I yelled his name, and he jumped, eyes now wide open. “Get in the front seat, you asshole.”
“The fuck, man. Wait, is Marlowe gone?” Rich looked like a sad puppy dog. “I didn’t get to ask her to tell Naomi I love her.”
“Dude, she knows. Just get the fuck up here.”
He sighed and moved to the front seat.
We drove to Rich’s apartment, which was just a few streets over from Marlowe’s place.
“Thanks for taking me out tonight, Dex,” Rich said as he got out of the car. “When are we all getting together again? It’s been a few weeks.”
“I’ll talk to Bunny tomorrow. Soon, though, for sure.”
Rich nodded, shut the door, and walked away.
As I pulled out of the apartment complex, I rolled the windows down and lit a cigarette. Being around Marlowe for thefirst time since that night a few months ago was rough. I wasn’t sure how we had avoided each other for so long, and it wasn’t on purpose, at least not on my end. Maybe she was avoiding Bunny and me. She hadn’t been to any of our parties since then, but I just assumed it was because she had been working. I knew Captain’s had been shorthanded. But maybe she actually was avoiding us.
A song ended when I turned the radio up and Stevie, my favorite 93.3 Thrash Radio host, began talking. “Tune in tomorrow at three PM for exciting updates about Thrash Fest ‘03! We promise you won’t want to miss it. The lineup is already out, and we know everyone is stoked for who we have coming to town this year. But we have even more secrets up our sleeves…so don’t miss it, thrashers!”
The band had already planned to go to Thrash Fest like we did every year. One day Solace would play Thrash Fest, not just play it but headline it. That would be our ‘we made it moment’ when we could headline our hometown music festival. Captain’s was a sponsor, so we played a show at the bar the night before the festival the last couple of years. But to actually get to play the festival was our dream.
Taking a long drag from my cigarette, I blew the smoke out, loving the drive down the empty backroads to the house. Bunny and I lived in the house we grew up in on the outskirts of town. It was off a dirt road, and we had a ton of space. My aunt Sylvie didn’t want to deal with the upkeep anymore and wanted to move to a condo on the beach. She figured we were old enough to live alone and insisted that Bunny and I stay there. We didn’t argue. She just checked in on us all the time, until we were in our 20s. She finally chilled out then.
Bunny sat on the front porch smoking as I pulled into the driveway. He didn’t even look my way as I got out of the car and walked toward him.
“Hey man, I thought you’d be asleep by now.”
“Nope, been up cleaning all night. There’s fucking trash everywhere.” He ashed his cigarette. Still not making eye contact with me.
Confused, I glanced inside through the screen door. The house was spotless. We always cleaned up the next morning after parties. There was never any trash left around for days. “Okay?” When I turned to look back at him again, he shoved past me, throwing the screen door open and going inside. “Bunny,” I shouted, following him into the house. He ignored me, grabbed a beer from the fridge, went to his room, and slammed the door.
“What the fuck?” I closed the front door and went to bed.
three
old habits
