A List of Best Intentions

“Are you serious?”

That was Cody’s answer to me asking him if he’d want to go to Liberty with Charlie, Elton, and me. It killed my hopes.

“Yeah,” I replied. It was a no-brainer. When was I ever not serious?

He had closed his eyes and grunted. “I can’t go. My dad’ll never let me to something like that. It’s stupid.”

“Then convince him to let you go!”

“I can’t! My, um…” he paused. “My Aunt Bieber’s coming down again.”

I fell for that. Looking back, I can’t believe I did.

Well, what was done was done, and I couldn’t undo that. The plans were made. The Sunday after the musical, we’d be taking a road trip to Liberty in Charlie’s Jeep, ‘cause Charlie said he could drive. Neither me nor Elton objected. I figured he knew Charlie better than I did, so I went along with it.

Our plan was to drive around the place until we found somewhere that looked like a film set, with directors and actors and stuff. And when we did, we’d cruise past in a shot and make noises, moon the actors…you know. We really didn’t think about it beyond that. That wasn’t a problem, though.

I was lookin’ forward to this trip, dude. I’d never gone on a road trip with kids my age and this was a first. That seemed pretty dope. And to boot, I was gonna get to know a couple of people.

I couldn’t sleep that Saturday. My mind was swimming with scenes I’d imagined, picture perfect scenarios of friendship I hoped with all my heart would really happen.

Charlie picked me up at nine in the morning, bright and early. I had to wake up super early. Way earlier than I normally did, anyway. Although it was out of my comfort zone, I didn’t mind. Nothing bothered me that day; it was just one of those things where you got a good mood and it won’t die.

“Peace out,” I’d said to my parents as I left. As far as they knew, I was going to the beach again. (Man, I lied to my parents a lot. I hope they never read this story.)

The map was spread out across the dashboard as I jumped into the Jeep, anticipating the best. I think Elton was mad or something, ‘cause his arms were crossed, but Charlie looked cheery as usual, anyways.

“Hey Kevin,” Charlie greeted.

“Yo,” I said back. As soon as I buckled up, we zoomed away, to Liberty…and beyond.

For ten minutes, while we drove through the backcountry plains of deep Tanglewood (and I mean deep), the three of us were silent. I was kinda disappointed, and then Elton spoke up.

“That map is ancient,” he spat.

Charlie grunted and yawned. “It doesn’t matter, El.”

“It so does! What if these roads don’t even exist anymore? Then we’ll get lost. Then we’ll probably crash somewhere die.”

He looked at me through the rearview mirror, his bushy eyebrows tilted downwards in desperation. “Kevin, you see what we’re gonna be dealing with all day?”

I snickered. I gathered that Elton was kinda persnickety doing the play, but I guess that’s how he was. It wasn’t always a bad thing.

Elton punched Charlie. He laughed a big, hearty kinda laugh that could only come out of a dude his size.

“Chill out, El,” he snorted.

So he did. We all did.

Charlie put the radio on to our local pop station that was playin’ good stuff all the time. Hanson was on. And although I’m pretty sure all of us thought “Mmmbop” was pretty annoying, we didn’t change it. The song was too ridiculously catchy, and the happy tune set the mood indefinitely.

Pretty soon, the surroundings became unfamiliar and I’d assumed that we were somewhere super far away from Tanglewood. Flat plains were replaced with old-timey roads shaded by trees. The clock in the car read 11:27.

“Can we stop for lunch?” I asked, not really expecting a yes but still hoping for one. My stomach growled.

Charlie rolled his head. “Uh, I guess. Holler if you catch a McDonalds.”

“I’m a vegetarian,” Elton mumbled.

Charlie deadpanned, “Then get a salad.”

“Do they even sell salad there?” I pondered.

“That’s a good question,” Elton grumbled.

So we didn’t give it another thought, really. We cruised on with the airwaves leading our way (the map helped, too), down the Calhoun Memorial Highway, finally reaching our destination.

The sign outside the loose cluster of buildings read, “Welcome to Liberty!” It didn’t look like a huge town, really. It boggled my mind as to why they’d film a movie there.

“Well, here we are,” Elton spoke up. “…Where’s the set?”

“Screw that, where’s the food? Every town has a McDonalds. I’m hungry,” Charlie whined.

I couldn’t resist a smirk. “Just keep your eyes peeled, guys.”

The good luck finally showed itself. After aimlessly driving around just out of curiosity, we found it – a big sign with the familiar golden arches. Inside, I jumped for joy.

“Yes!” Charlie whooped, pointing ahead. “Let’s go!”

With grins of hunger plastered to our faces, we pulled into the parking lot and parked. (Eating in a car just didn’t sound appetizing.)

Elton wrinkled his nose up upon entering the restaurant. There were only a few other people there besides us, and they were just old people. I guessed that McDonalds wasn’t busy on Sundays in little South Carolina towns. Or, maybe everyone was at church or something.

Still, we had gathered that this town wasn’t real lively, overall. That was the point. We looked up at the menu and made our choices silently. I was just about to make a decision when Charlie announced, “My treat.”

Elton gave him a weird look. “How…why?”

“I work at Chester Cheese’s. I got enough cheddar.” He pulled his wallet out, looking so much older than he really was – seventeen. (Plus I got a few flashbacks I got to when Cody and I “crashed” that party a while back.) “What do you guys want?”

“Salad,” Elton said flatly.

“Cheeseburger,” I told him.

We ordered our stuff and got our drinks, and pretty soon we were all cramming food in our mouths; our stomachs were filled to the brim with delight. And I didn’t know about Elton and Charlie, but I was pretty anxious for Chill Factor.

“Are you ready to crash the scene?” I smiled.

Charlie chewed on a French fry and said, “Hells yeah.”

Elton only nodded.

I’d come to a realization that the perfect images of me and Charlie and Elton I’d thought of earlier weren’t gonna happen. But, oh well. At least we were here, in Liberty. At least we got outta Georgia, if only for a few hours.

Elton stood up when he was done and told he us was going to the bathroom; that left only me and Charlie. Alone.

The first time I saw him, he scared me. Eventually, as he hung around Elton and me during practice, he seemed to break that little impression. He was a nice guy who always talked in a real easy way.

But the first thing he said to me when Elton left for the bathroom was, “You’re not being a dick to him again, are you?”

The question sent me reeling. “What?” I coughed.

“You’re not bein’ mean to him, I hope,” he elaborated.

“Hell nah!” I denied. I didn’t think him, of all people, would have the cojones to defy me. Let alone, ask me something negative, especially after putting on such a friendly face.

Charlie shrugged. “Alright. Just asking…”

“Well…why?”

He shot me the only dirty look he’d ever given me, itching the 5 o’ clock shadow all over his chin. “’Cause I know you gave him shit when you guys were young.”

“But that was kindergarten, man. I ain’t like that,” I explained. What was done was done. In the past. I didn’t get why he was grilling me about it.

He sighed, leaning back. Then he smiled. “I knew that kid since junior high. I know the crap he’s gone through – having to switch schools, coming out and everything…and when he came to Westburg I guess he kinda found his place.”

“Acting?” I asked. “Yeah, he’s good.”

“Yeah. And no one here fries him ‘cause of who he is. And I can tell he’s so much happier,” he continued.

“Did he tell you…about me?”

Charlie tilted his head. “He did the night you crashed our rehearsal. Told me about the names you called him, the stuff you did to him. And he said he was paranoid.”

“What about now?”

“Now? I ain’t sure.” He smiled. “I like ya. You’re a pretty genuine kid. But El? He’s got some issues. Don’t mess with him or else I’ll have to beat you up after he gets to you first.”

I didn’t say anything to counter that.

“Takes a lot to be his friend. Even I had to jump through hoops,” he trailed off. “That kid, he’s a weirdo, but he’s got a lot of dreams. And I think you probably made him so determined. He wants to prove himself to everyone.”

“Huh.” I hung my head and stared at my soda.

Out of nowhere, Elton popped up. “You guys wanna dip? We gotta find that movie.”

Charlie slapped his hands on the table and brightened up. “Hells yeah! Let’s bounce.”

~~~~~

You might think that finding a movie set would be pretty easy.

It wasn’t. So stop thinking that.

We spent half an hour nonchalantly drifting through Liberty, looking for some place nobody knew would even look like. We didn’t know the exact location – all we knew was that it was in Liberty. Which sucked. A lot.

“Give me the map!” Elton urged repeatedly to Charlie.

Charlie grunted and tossed the wad of prehistoric roads into Elton’s lap.

“Just look for cameras and actors and stuff,” I reminded.

Elton snorted. “Which actors?”

“Cuba Gooding Jr. and Skeet Ulrich.”

“Never heard of them,” he said.

Charlie laughed. “You know, this movie’s probably gonna bomb. Ten years from now nobody’s gonna know what the hell Chill Factor even was.”

“Well, it’s worth a shot,” I shrugged.

We went on arguing about which streets to go down for a long time. Most of the drive, actually. Charlie kept going in circles for a bit, which prompted Elton to yell at him to, “Turn already!”

He did.

We ended up in the outskirts of town.

And there were cars.

And cameras.

And a black guy talking to some dude who looked official. I recognized the black guy as one from the picture in the paper.

“Cuba!” I shouted, pointing.

Charlie slammed on the brakes. “Who?!”

“That’s it! We found ‘em!” Elton hollered, gasping at the sight of the set. “Let’s go!”

Charlie wasn’t going.

I slapped his back. “C’mon, man! What’re you waiting for?”

He spoke in a low voice, completely dead serious. “No. We have to wait.”

Elton cocked his head. “What?”

“For the perfect moment. When the cameras start rolling…we’ll crash it,” he explained.

“Ohhh,” I realized. It dawned on me, then it made sense.

So…we waited. We waited for a long time.

The sun beat down on us through the sunroof; the heat was starting to become tiring. Ten minutes passed. Twenty. Thirty. Before we knew it, an hour of idleness had gone buy. We’d gone through an entire Nirvana tape three times.

But suddenly, a beacon of hope glimmered. The across scurried to their places. Cuba and Skeet got into their car – an ice-cream truck.

And the director yelled, “ACTION!”

Charlie stomped on the gas pedal with all his weight and we lurched forward toward the mess.

Quickly, I unbuckled myself and stood up, popping the sunroof. The hot air swooshed around me and I found myself laughing hysterically. Charlie rolled down his window while he sped toward the boundaries of the set. By that point, the director had turned around and the actors were gaping at us through their window.

Elton stood up next to me and raised his arms up. His curly hair was blowing every which way; he secured his glasses every other second.

“WHOOOOO!” I shouted. “HA HA HA!”

“YOUR MOVIE’S GONNA BOMB!” Charlie yelled heartily.

“IT BETTER KICK ASS!” Elton added.

“AAAH!” I yelped. For good measure. I didn’t feel like saying actual words at the moment.

And just as quickly as it began, it was over. We had zoomed past the scene at lightning speed, and that was that.

Elton and I plopped back into our seats, satisfied; Charlie was having a conniption fit out of laughter.

“You guys, that was so dope!” he squeaked. “Oh man, they can’t film over that!”

“Sh’yeah!” I nodded, my face hurting from my grin.

Elton looked back and glanced at me, positively beaming his heart out. “Best day ever, man.”

I think my heart kinda stopped. The picture-perfect friendship montage I’d dreamed about didn’t happen, and I lost hope for a moment, but after Elton said those words, it brought me back to the positivity that had racked my brain since the day I was born.