Chasing Fireflies

“Now you be safe okay, honey?” My father wrapped his arms around me as I grimaced.

“Dad, this is kind of embarrassing.”

My father quickly let go of me. “Oh, sorry, Laurel.”

“I think it’s cute,” John piped up. He came up behind me and slung his arm over my shoulder. “Hey Mr. Campbell. How are you?”

My father smiled politely at John. “I’m doing great, thanks.” After a moment, my father asked, “So, are you excited about LA?”

John perked up. “Absolutely. This is what we’ve dreamed of for so damn long… sorry, Mr. Campbell.” John blushed.

My father laughed and shook his head. “It’s perfectly fine. It’s actually The Misses you have to be careful around. You can say whatever the hell you want around me.”

“Good to know, Mr. Campbell.”

My father shook his head. “Please, John. I know you’re the newest member of my daughter’s crazy group of friends but you can call me Larry.”

John Cornelius O’Callaghan V was the newest member of my group of friends. Pat and I had met in preschool, and Kennedy and Garrett were added in elementary school. Jared joined the group in seventh grade, and John had joined only a year and a half prior. Granted, he hadn’t been around my dad much (or really at all), so I could easily sense that the conversation was pretty much over. “Come on, John.” I pulled him towards the van and waved a final goodbye to my father. “Bye, dad! Tell mom I love her!”

“I will!” my father called back. He retreated inside the house just as Kennedy’s car pulled up. “Hey!” he called out. “Is it alright if I leave my car here for the weekend?”

“Absolutely,” I nodded.

“Where’s everyone else?” Kennedy asked, stepping out of his car before locking it behind him.

“Garrett texted me a few minutes ago and said that he was running late.”

“Typical,” John muttered.

Kennedy and I laughed. “Um… Pat went to go get some snacks. And Jared should be here by now--there he is.” Jared’s orange sports car parked in front of the mailbox. “Keys,” I commanded, putting my hand out in front of Jared.

“Hello to you, too,” he said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. “You too, Kennedy.” They gave me their keys and I walked inside to give them to my father. He was sitting in his recliner, watching the morning news. “Here, dad,” I said, handing him the two sets of car keys. “These are Jared and Kennedy’s car keys. Their cars are parked in front of the house.”

My father took a brief break from looking at the television screen and smiled at me. “Alright, honey. Have fun!”

“Thanks, dad.” When I got outside, Jared was laughing so hard that I thought he was going to pee his pants and Kennedy was blushing about a million shades of red. “What’s goin’ on?” I asked.

Between laughs, Jared managed to utter, “Kennedy brought his Care Bears.”

“YOU WHAT?!” I yelled. “What the hell? I thought they were ‘safely stored in your basement’.” I put air quotes around a few words and John high-fived me.

Kennedy sighed. “I just couldn’t leave them, okay? If I did my mom would move them and…” Kennedy became quiet as Pat and Garrett walked up the driveway.

“Your mom would move what?” Garrett asked.

Kennedy was silent. “His Care Bears,” I said and Kennedy glared at me, obviously aware of what was about to happen.

“You brought your Care Bears? You--you brought… your Care Bears.” Garrett smirked. “I have nothing else to say… WAIT! I do want to say that Pat brought delicious food.” Garrett pointed to the bag of snacks that was in Pat’s right hand.

“What’d you get?” I reached out for the bag and Pat handed it to me. “Oreos, nice. And Cheez-Its? Bar-B-Que Pringles; THE BEST! And Capri Suns. Fruit Punch I hope?” Pat smirked at me. I looked back in the bag. “Ahh, Fruit Punch indeed. You’re good, Kirch.”

Pat smiled. “So who’s driving?”

“LAUREL!” Garrett exclaimed.

I groaned. “Why me?”

“Because,” Garrett countered, “you’re the only one who hasn’t driven the van yet.”

“Whatever.” I sighed, after we got situated in the car, John in the front next to me, and Garrett, Pat and Jared in the back, we were on our way.

---

A half hour later found us pulling into a Wendy’s that was nowhere near where I had planned to stop to eat. “I can’t believe we are eating lunch at 9:15 in the morning,” I announced. We all stepped out of the van and walked toward the entrance.

John shrugged. “I’m hungry.”

“We know that,” Kennedy chimed in. “We’ve known that for the past half hour, you know, when you told us you were hungry every other minute, eventually forcing poor Laurel here to stop way sooner than she had planned?”

John just shrugged again. As we approached the entrance, Pat leaned forward and held the door for us. “Thank you,” I told him and he smiled at me. After all six of us had piled into the fast food joint we took our place in line behind an elderly lady and her husband. “I think I’m just going to get a frosty,” I exclaimed. “I’m just not that hungry.”

“But then we’ll have to stop again,” John whined.

Jared laughed. “You’ll be hungry again by then, believe me.”

John nodded, and then laughed. “You’re probably right.”

When we reached the counter, a young brunette smiled at us and asked us what we wanted to order. “I’ll have a Baconater Double, no lettuce, uh… a combo please, with fries. And… I’ll take a large chocolate frosty.” The brunette put all of this into the machine and smiled at Jared to go on.

“I’ll just have an ice water, thank you.”

“A small order of fries and a small chocolate frosty,” Pat requested.

Garrett paused for a minute. “I’ll just have a small chocolate frosty.”

“Same,” I echoed.

“And you?” the brunette asked Kennedy.

“A medium Coke. That’s all.”

“Alright, so I have a Baconater Double without lettuce combo with fries, a large chocolate frosty, an ice water, a small order of fries, a medium coke and three small chocolate frosties.”

I nodded. “That is correct.”

The brunette smiled, “That will be 13.79.”

“Who’s paying?” I asked.

“I will.” Garrett took out his wallet and paid for our meals in cash. After he received his change we found a booth to sit in and started eating.

“So what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” Kennedy asked after taking a sip of his coke.

“I was hoping we could get to LA by three. But I have a feeling that’s not going to happen, especially if we have to stop as often as we have been.”

“Hey!” John shouted through a large bite of his sandwich. “This is only the first time!”

Everyone laughed. “It’s alright, though,” Jared added. “The meeting isn’t until tomorrow morning so we have plenty of time to get there.”

I nodded. “Besides, after Phoenix, Garrett’s driving so we’ll get there even faster.”

Garrett scoffed. “That is not true.”

“Oh come on, Gar,” I said. “Don’t tell me you don’t drive like a freaking race car driver when you’re on the highway.”

“So I go a little over.” Garrett shrugged. “What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that you drive like a maniac. So all I was saying is that we’re going to get there faster because you’re driving.”

Garrett waved my comment off and began talking to Jared about God knows what. John and Kennedy started their own conversation. So I looked over at Pat, who was sitting across from me and laughed. “Why do you do that? That’s so weird.”

Pat dunked another one of his French fries into his frosty. “Have you ever tried it before? Hmm Laurel?” When I raised my eyebrow he said, “That’s what I thought. Here,” he handed me one of his fries, “try it.”

“I am not going to stick a French fry into an ice cream treat, Patrick.”

“Come on, Laurel. It’s really not that bad.”

“Do you promise?”

Pat laughed. “I promise.”

I sighed and dipped the French fry into the chocolate ice cream. I hesitated before putting in into my mouth. “Don’t be shy, Laurel. Just do it.” I stuck the French fry into my mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “So… how was it?”

“It tastes like a French fry dipped in chocolate.”

Pat shot me a weird look. “That’s because that’s what it is.”

“Whatever, I guess it’s okay.”

“See, it’s not that bad.” He handed me another fry. “Want some more?”

I shrugged and dipped the fry into the frosty. Just as I put the fry into my mouth Kennedy called out, “Hey! They’re sharing food!”

“Aww,” John said. “How cute.”

I blushed, but didn’t skip a beat before saying, “Kennedy brought his Care Bears.”

That shut him up. I glanced over at Pat. He was staring at his food, refusing to look at me. I didn’t want to make a scene so I waited for him to raise his head. When he did I shot him a small smile, which he returned. “They’re just jealous of our friendship,” I whispered to him.

He nodded in agreement. The subject was dropped, but I still wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. Was sharing food the equivalent of acting coupley? Did it really mean more than it meant literally? If so, I was going to make sure I never shared food with Pat again. I certainly didn’t feel that way about him… did I?