Road Trip

I sat against a toilet cubicle, the white tiled floor cold and hard. I sat with my head in my hands, taking my eyes away from the bright light. Why was Jasmine even trying to get me back? It was useless. I knew everything now. And Holly couldn’t have been lying, I just knew it. Nobody could fake that amount of distress.

Suddenly, Max burst through the door, and I caught a glimpse of Jasmine who was pushing against the door trying to get in.

“Let me talk to him Max!” I heard her call. I listened to the shuffling and squealing from the other side of the door as Max squeezed around to my side of the door, pushing against it to stop her from opening the door.

“Just go away Jasmine you’ve ruined your fucking chance!” Max shouted, struggling against her will to see me. I just sighed, until the pushing war stopped, and Max slammed the door shut.

“Shit, that chick is crazy,” Max sighed, sitting down on the tiles with me. “She fucking slapped Holly,” He growled. Oh my god.

“Shit, really?” I said, turning to him. He looked really upset.

“Poor girl cried, I stood up to Jasmine and she demanded to see you. She was shouting and screaming and showing us all up. Don’t get involved with her, Craig. She’s a fucking psycho. And a shitty best friend to Holly,”

“I don’t wanna get involved with her don’t worry,” I grimaced. “Is Holly ok?”

“Yeah, she’s in the ladies at the moment.” Max sighed, running his fingers through his long mane of hair.

There was a long silence, and suddenly I felt claustrophobic. I wanted out. I dreamt of a perfect summer, a summer without a care and now within 2 nights I have all this.

“Max, I wanna get out of here,” I whispered. I closed my eyes, and I felt Max jerk beside me.

“What about Holly?” He cried. “I really like her, I actually, felt something for her for once, Craig. I’ve only known her a day but I want more time to get to know her. I don’t wanna throw her away,”

“She can come with us?” I offered. I guess if it made Max happy it would make me happy too. “Might take her away from Jasmine?”

Max stared at the tiles, watching the gleam bounce back to his eyes. I didn’t wanna do this to him, but this was for the sake of the trip. We were doing this to get away from Ronnie, Escape the fate and our lives, to have the best summer we could possibly have. I like Jasmine, or at least did like her, but she has the potential to make my life worse than it already is back home.

“I’ll ask her.” He stated, getting up from next to me and walking toward the door. “But she has roots here. I wouldn’t count on it,”

And at that moment, I swore I saw a glisten of a tear in his eye.

“Max,” I said, just before he shut the door behind him. He turned and nodded at me. “You don’t have to do this. We can stay if you like,” Max shook his head, sighing.

“No, Craig. I’m not ruining our best summer ever, that I’m enjoying with my best friend in the whole world, for a girl I’ve only just met. No matter how much I like her,”

And with that, he turned on his heel and walked out of the door.

I sat there for a second, sighing to myself. My heart caught in my throat, I felt as if I was waiting for a court verdict or something. I didn’t want to hurt Max. Or Holly for that matter. That girl deserved a break from that psycho bitch from hell.

I decided I should go out and see how Max was, and perhaps offer some sort of back up in case Holly was kicking off. I stood, my legs aching from the constant crossing of my legs. I stretched them out as I walked, feeling better and then turning to jelly as I approached Holly and Max who stood by our abandoned table. There was no sign of Jasmine, which put my heart at rest.

“Well, Holly, what I’m trying to say is that, I’m-” Max turned to see me, and I tried a weak smile for him. Max grimaced as I looked at Holly, who’s face had gone white and she stood biting her lip, gripping the side of the table for support.

“-Giving you a choice. You can come with Craig and I…or you can stay,” Max said, as I placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. Holly’s eyes flickered between us both, and I saw her knuckles go white from gripping the table too hard.

“Erm,” She hesitated. “Look, Max, Craig, I really like you guys, you’re great fun to be around and…I would love to go with you. But I have roots here,” She looked Max in the eye. The atmosphere was tense, and my eyes began to well up. How could I do this to them? They totally had something going.

“You need a break from Jasmine. Take some time off work or something?” Max asked, also gripping the table, resting his fingers on hers.

“I know I do, but for a break I can go stay with my parents in Tennessee…I was gonna go do that anywhere next week.” Holly’s voice broke on the last word and she sobbed. “Everything’s just fallen apart for me today!” She wailed, and buried her head in Max’s chest.

“If I go, we have to keep in touch, yeah?” Max said, hugging Holly tightly to his chest, beginning to sob himself. I wiped a tear from my eye and sat down on a stool, watching them have their moment. This was my fault…

“Of course.” Holly looked up at him and smiled. They both turned to me, both their eyes glistening against the sunset behind me. I took the hint, they wanted to be alone. I walked away, my shoes thumping on the wooden floor and stepping outside, the 2 lovebirds kissing out the corner of my eye as I left the building. The fresh, cool evening air hitting my face, blowing a tear clean off my face. I sat on a patch of grass across the path, staring up at the big orange wavy sign of Bar Ochre.

-----10 mintues later------

“Come on, I need to go now before I go running back to her or I’ll never leave,” Max smiled weakly, opening the car door and jumping in. We’d left Holly at the bar, as she wanted to go home and pack - she was leaving for Tennessee tomorrow.

“Max I’m sorry,” I apologised, sitting beside him in the driver’s seat of our battered car.

“Forget it, I’ve got her number haven’t I? I’m here to get girl’s numbers, you know that. So mission accomplished right?” Max smiled, adjusting the rear-view mirror. That’s my Max. I grinned back.

“Half accomplished,” I stated. “I haven’t found a girl for keeps yet. You have,”

Max looked down at the dashboard, smiling to himself.

“She is for keeps, isn’t she?” Max smiled, not looking at me. There was a moment of silence as the sun set behind the high-rise buildings, as we reflected on our short time in Atlantic City. A few says we’ll never forget.

“So, where to next?” I asked, breaking the silence with a cheery smile.

“Pennsylvania?” Max asked.

“Oooh, Philadelphia sounds nice,” I grinned, starting the car.

“Let’s go then my friend!” Max called, the good mood and great feeling rushing back. “Let’s go get some more girls!”