Georgia Stars

I laid on my bed, staring at the white ceiling. The dim lamp on the bedside table was the only source of light leaving my room looking horror film esque. Tonight was my first night in Georgia, and while it wasn’t Seattle, it wasn’t too bad.

Despite the fact that it did feel like home, it wasn’t. Being here would never make up for the fact that I am missing out on all the fun that the summer before senior year brings. While all my friends were partying it up and making trips to the coast, I was sitting in my Great Aunts house with no friends. My parents never gave me a choice about what I wanted to do. It was always planned for me.

I yawned out of boredom, considering I was no where near tired around ten o’clock. I had spent all day catching up with Aunt May, looking at pictures from my childhood semi annual visits that I didn’t even get the chance to explore around.

Soft music, the sounds of Tim Mcgraw, flowed throughout my room, almost putting me in a slumber. Almost.

A tap at my window pulled me out of the trance that my own thoughts and the low music was putting me in, sending me sitting up in my bed. Another tap, followed by another, and another this time encouraged me to get out of my bed and wonder slowly to the window.

Pushing back the thick, old curtains very cautiously, I squinted my eyes, seeing a figure standing in the front lawn.

“Brad?” I called out softly, opening the window. He grinned up to me, his features now more visible in the dark night.

“Come down! We’re going to be late!” He responded back with a laugh, looking over his shoulder where two rowdy boys climbed in the bed of the truck, laughing loudly as they did so. “Guys, keep it down!” He laughed out before looking back up at me. The shine of light from my room rebounded off of his face, his skin glowing as he looked up at me expectantly.

“Late to where?!” I asked thoroughly confused, seeing as I was never informed of these plans.

“Just get dressed and come down!” He demanded, leaning back against his truck. I nodded, closing the drapes and slipping my clothes off faster than I ever have before. Pulling on my favorite pair of old faded blue jeans and a white top, I ran my fingers through my pre-straightened hair.

I grabbed my tan slip on Uggs and my phone. I left my light and music on as I very quietly shut the door behind me, sneaking down the hall, holding my breath as I passed Aunt May’s room. Once down the creaky old stairs, I let out the breath I was holding and used my phone light to navigate through the pitch black house.

Deciding it was best to go out the back door, I made my way through the kitchen, grabbing a cookie as I did so and chewed on it nervously as I opened the sliding doors. Once out on the deck, I glanced up to Aunt May’s room, sighing in relief as it was dark, not even the glow of the TV illuminated, telling me she had gone to sleep.

I ran around the house as quickly as possible, only stopping once I got to the sidewalk in front of his truck to toss my shoes to the ground and shove my feet into them.

“I’m so going to get caught,” I mumbled, running my fingers through my hair. Brad rolled his eyes, pushing his body off of the cherry red painted Chevy truck with his arms.

“You know as well as I do that Mrs. Whatley will never even realize you’re gone,” he said, smiling over his shoulder at the two boys who were eying me. I raised my eyebrows at them, not being able to see their faces in the dark, but feeling their eyes on me. “Emma Lee, you remember Joel and Joey Stoy, right?”

A smile stretched at my lips as I looked at the two identical boys who hopped out of the bed of the truck. One stepped on one side of me wrapping his arm around my shoulders, the other stood on my right, wrapping his arm around my waist.

“My, my, my,” One sang.

“Little Emma Lee, how you have grown,” the other drawled out, both accents thick and laced with southern hospitality. I laughed, smiling up at the two boys from down the street who always tagged along with Brad. It was clear that the two were drinking, the stench of the beer on their breaths was strong as it floated through the air.

“Okay, come on,” Brad said, taking my hand and pulling me out of their grasp. He led me, still holding my hand to the driver’s side door, helping me up into the truck, even though I didn’t need it. I slid to the middle as Joey and Joel both hopped in the other side. Brad jumped in next, in front of the wheel.

My body was pressed between two larger ones as Brad drove off, the radio blasting some country song that I actually didn’t know. The twins drunkenly sung along, keeping my attention the whole time, even though my left leg was burning as it was in contact with Brad’s.

After a few minutes of driving, Brad stopped in the middle of a completely deserted road in the middle of no where. My stomach churned, realizing it was stupid for me to get in a car with three men I didn’t know anymore. All three outsized me significantly, making it easy for them to kill me without a fight and hide all of the evidence.

“Settle down,” Brad whispered with a laugh as he turned off of the road and into the field, the ride suddenly becoming not so smooth. My hand absentmindedly latched onto Brad’s that was sitting in his lap instead of on the wheel. He laughed, “You’re such a city girl,” he told me, but held onto my hand never the less.

Not a minute later, we drove into a small patch of woods, hiding us from the road. The light of a huge bonfire made me grin, along with more people than I could count milling around, sitting in the beds of trucks just like Brad’s.

Brad pulled in backwards, before turning off the vehicle, pulling his keys from the ignition. Joey and Joel were already out of the truck before it stopped, jumping in the back to put down the latch.

He glanced at me sideways, giving me a heart melting grin before opening his door and getting out. His hand latched onto mine as I slid across the seat, my Uggs sinking into the wet mud as I jumped out. Pursing my lips, I stepped over the pool of a muddy like swamp with some help from Brad.

I hoisted myself up onto the back of the truck, sitting beside Joel. Brad jumped up beside me, handing me a blue and silver can of some kind of beer. I thanked him, cracking it open and taking a sip as I stared into the fire and the ember coals.

“Nice to see you’re not a prude,” Joey smirked, watching me take a drink. I grinned, winking at him as a few other guys came over and started talking to Brad, Joey and Joel.

Some time within the next two hours, I ended up getting pretty drunk. Brad had taken me around and introduced me to people who I will probably never see after this summer. He also re-introduced me to random people I had known when I was little and visited for the summer. All of them seemed to remember me, but I hardly recalled any of their faces.

Joey and Joel had left with some guy who said he’d take them home on his way, but I wasn’t ready for the night to end, so Brad and I decided to stay for a bit longer. He made me smores and got me every drink that I had. I never thought that little Bradley Miller from down the street would ever turn out to be such a gentleman.

We talked about everything from memories from so many years ago, to our college plans for the next fall, and to hockey. I’ve never seen someone so passionate about something, and he even introduced me to some guys on his hockey team here in Alpharetta.

Though I didn’t want the night to end, I was having so much fun, Brad and I eventually got into his truck around three am. After some random guy gave Brad his own version of those tests the police give you when they pull you over for drinking and driving, Brad grinned, confident that he wasn’t too drunk to drive, and pulled out, back onto the field.

“Are you sure you’re not too drunk to drive?” I asked him, glancing at him from the passenger seat as we once again drove through the bumpy field.

“Not at all,” he shook his head. My jaw dropped, realizing what he was saying. A grin formed on his face. “Chill, we’re in the middle of no where, we’ll be fine, I promise,” Brad reassured me, “just hold my beer and I’ll worry about the driving,” he said before taking a long chug from the can and handing it to me. I sighed, shaking my head, wondering what my mother would say if she knew I was in the car with someone who was drinking.

Brad pulled out onto the deserted street, glancing back at me for a second. He placed his hand on my knee, sending me a charming smile before he put his full attention on the road, with some song by Kenny Chesney playing lightly from the speakers.

I looked out the window at literally nothing, even if there was something out there to look at, it’d be way too see anyway.

“There’s gum in the glove box,” Brad randomly informed me. I nodded after a second, realizing that it would hide the smell of alcohol on our breaths. I leaned up a bit, opening the glove box to fetch the gum. Smirking, I bit my lip, glancing over to Brad as I pulled out the single, orange wrapper.

“Niiice,” I drew out teasingly with a smirk still fixed on my face. Brad glanced over, his eyes widening as he leaned up, trying to grab the condom from my hand, but I pulled back, slipping it from his grasp as I laughed.

Suddenly, the road got a little bumpier, and it took me a split second to realize that we were going off the road and into the dark field. “Brad!” I screeched, causing him to also realize what was going on and slam on the breaks. We both jerked forward at the sudden halt, our seatbelts auto locking.

“Fuck,” Brad mumbled, running his fingers through his hair as he let out a sigh. I bit my lip.

“That’s totally my fault, I’m sorry!” I exclaimed instantly, looking over at him with wide eyes.

“It’s not your fault,” he replied instantly. He looked in my eyes for a few seconds before his eyes fell down to my lap. Brad reached out, grabbing the can of beer that was secured between my legs. He took a long drink of it, finishing it off before he set it in the cup holder.

He nodded to himself, pressing down on the gas, but the car didn’t move an inch. “Awesome,” he mumbled, opening his door and jumping out. I chomped down on my lip again, following suit and sliding out of the truck.

Just our luck, as I walked around to the back, the tires were at least a half of a foot in the huge mud swamp. Brad sighed, placing both hands on top of his head as he tugged at his thick hair.

“It’s okay,” I started, examining the tires. “It’s only stuck and there’s no damage. We just have to push it out of the mud,” I said, nodding as I knew it wouldn’t be too hard. Brad agreed, and we both stepped to the bumper getting ready to push as hard as we could.

I groaned silently, feeling my Uggs sink into the deep mud. With several big shoves, we finally got the front tires up onto the road and out of the thick mud. Glancing to my side, a pair of eyes glowing in the headlights. I gasped, taking a quick step back, but sliding in the mud, sending me flailing backwards. A scream escaped my lips as I grabbed onto Brad’s sweatshirt, trying to steady myself, but I only succeeded in pulling him down with me.

“It’s just a farm cat!” Brad laughed out loud, laying on his back in the mud as the black cat made its way through the mud to rub against Brad’s arm.

“Oh my god,” I mumbled, glancing down at my newly ruined white shirt. Neither of us bothered to move as we laid on our bags the cold mud seeping through the fabric of our clothes. “I am such a klutz.” Brad laughed, nodding as he turned over a bit.

“Yeah, you are!” He agreed, raising his hand and brushing the mud on his fingers across my cheeks. My jaw dropped as he grinned. I sat up, turning towards him as I scooped up a handful of the liquidy mud. Just before I could rub it on his face, he caught my wrist, smirking down at me.

This was the moment I was waiting for. His face neared mine as I just looked up at him under my eyelashes. Our lips seemed to gravitate together and nothing mattered at the moment but his lips about to press against mine. Just before they touched, the farm cat jumped onto Brad’s lap, causing him to pull away automatically.

“Uh, we should probably get you home,” he announced nervously. I nodded, biting my lip as I stood from the ground. Running my fingers through my now mud coated hair, I got into his truck, where it was completely silent for the rest of the drive back into town.