Passed Out on Your Lawn

I heard a car pull up outside and ran to the window.

“Shit, they’re back. Better get downstairs now!” I said upon seeing our mothers.

We hurried down the stairs and shoved a random movie in the player. I hid The Evil Dead under the sofa and jumped on top as if we’d been there all along.

“Hey kids, we’re home!” my mother giggled foolishly.

Not drunk, surely?

“Did you guys have a good time?” Max’s mom chimed, coming in second.

“Yeah,” we chorused in an emotionless tone.

“Oh good,” they chorused.

“Did you?” I asked.

“It was lovely,” my mom told us.

“Now its very late. Time for bed Max,” Sandra cooed to her son like he was five.

“Its not even midnight, Mom,” he rose an eyebrow at her.

“Oh shush, you two can play tomorrow,” she cackled, “Come on.”
Talk about condescending.

“You’re wasted huh.” he muttered, “See you around,” he said to me.

“Bye-bye you two. Good night!” my mom waved ferociously like it was going out of style.

The farewells took longer between our intoxicated mothers but eventually Max and Sandra left, I shuffled off to play video games and sent my mother to bed.

**

It got to midday the next day and I woke my mom up with pancakes in bed.

“Oh thanks, honey,” she smiled.

“No problem. Enjoy,” I lowly giggled to myself that she couldn’t handle what was probably only a little alcohol at her age.

“Dakota,” her voice rang as I got to her bedroom door mid-exit.

“Ah-yes?” I turned on my heel expecting her to want another glass of juice or something.

“Did you have a nice time with Max last night?” she smiled coyly at me.

“Yeah,” I nodded slowly and casually despite suspecting she was up to no good.

“What do you think of him?” the smile still upon her face.

“He’s alright,” I shrugged, “a bit…suffocated.”

My mother’s smile turned to a soft frown, “What do you mean by that?

I sighed and walked back to her, “Well…he likes all the same stuff I like, but his mom won’t let him…I don’t know if ‘express’ is the right word,” I pondered, “You know like play records, wear band shirts and hang posters. It…sucks,” I told her, slightly nervous.

“Oh.” She sat quietly with a blank expression.

“I know there’s probably nothing you can do or say to make her change her mind but it still sucks. Like its…” I lost my train of thought as the phone downstairs rang.

With a nod of recognition I went to answer it.

“Hello?” I spoke into the receiver.

“Hi, Dakota?” it was my friend Sophie’s voice.

“Yeah. What’s up Soph’?”

“About our trip to the mall, I can’t do today. Sorry,” she told me.

“Oh…that’s ok then,” my face fell into disappointment and I felt my whole body systematically slump.

“I’m really sorry. Next weekend for sure. See you in school?” Sophie’s voice gave away no emotion at all.

“Yeah, see you then,” I grumbled and hung up.

My feet carried me to grab some coke and Oreos before descending the stairs and shutting myself in my room for the day.
My ‘friends’ had these habits of bailing on me and I was used to disillusionment as well as all the other shit those girls filled my existence with but it still sucked every time something happened. Don’t get me wrong, they could be ok, but a lot of the time I’d rather have nobody than them.

It got to about six PM and I hadn’t stopped reading all day. My books were severely worn out. I went to change the disc in my CD player and heard these continuous tapping noises on the glass of my window. So I pressed the play button and turned to open the window. Something small and hard nailed me right by my mouth.

“Ah mother fucker!” I touched where I’d been hit, “What the fuck?” peering into the dark I saw someone in my yard.

“Shit sorry, Dakota. I didn’t mean to get you,” it was Max.

“Pretty good shot,” I smirked, “what the fuck are you doing?”

“Trying to get your attention. Wondered if you wanted to hang out. My friends got caught pulling some prank and got their dumb asses grounded,” he shrugged.

“Sure. What you got in mind?” I asked and leaned on the frame.

“Uh, would it be ok to take you up on that offer you made yesterday?” he asked.

My brow creased while I figured out that he meant he wanted to listen to music with me.

“Yeah no problem. I’ll come down.”

**

It was pretty unusual for me but all night we stayed in my room listening and talking about music. We didn’t notice the time until it got to three AM.

“I’m gonna be so fucked!” Max jumped up from his spot next to me on the bed. We’d been sat side by side with our legs stretched out until now.

“If your mom goes nuts just blame me. My mom will help me take the fall,” I instructed.

“I don’t know, Dakota. That doesn’t sound right,” he said pulling his jacket on.

“She’s bad enough as it is. Just do it. Trust me,” I assured with confidence.

“Maybe. Thanks for tonight,” he hugged me quickly and I felt me cheeks heat up.

“Catch ya later,” the words struggled to make it past my lips.
And with that he sprinted out of my house as quick as anything.

Safe to say I didn’t sleep after that.
I plugged my headphones into the CD player and listened to my records forever.

**

Next thing I know I’d wasted my entire Sunday in a trance and it was Monday morning.

I dropped into a seat my Sophie and Lynette with a grunt.

“Hey there, koala bear!” Lynette smiled once their conversation was over. That was a thing she called everyone.

“S’up man,” I muttered.

“How was your weekend?” Sophie asked.

“Alright actually,” I shrugged, “How ‘bout you guys?”

“Fun!” they chorused and began banging on about it- I wasn’t paying the tiniest bit of attention because I really didn’t care.

“Dakota?” Lyn snapped me into reality sometime later.

“What?” I dazed.

“Were you listening?” she smiled with confusion. “What’s with you?”

“Nothin’. Gotta get to class. Later,” I stood as the bell rang and shuffled from homeroom.

I was thinking about how much more interesting Max’s silence was compared to their gossip. Fucking catastrophe.
My dark hair covered my eyes but I could see everything as I slowly inched my way to English with the most enthusiasm I could muster. English was my favourite because I could write whatever I wanted and my teacher wasn’t paying attention to what it was. Sure I was more than likely going to fail everything but oh well.
I sat in my assigned seat and wrote lyrics on the first clean page. Not original ones, just ones that were in my head.

“Hey Dakota,” the quietest girl in the world, Shelly, sat by me as she was assigned.

“Hey Shell’. How’s it goin?”” I greeted her quietly.

“Not so bad,” she shyly smiled, “Good weekend?”

“Yeah was ok,” I nodded.

“Hey Dakota,” I looked round as Max passed on his way to the back of the classroom.
“Hey.” I never realised he was in this class. Then again I didn’t realise much that occurred past my own nose most of the time.

“You’re talking to Max Green?” Shelly asks quietly, seeming somewhat perplexed.

“Yeah,” I smiled to myself, “We hung out a bit over weekend,” I admitted.

“Since when did you know him?” she pressed.

“Oh only since Friday night. We live close and our moms went out so stuck us together at my house,” I explained with an eye roll.

“So…” she peered to the back of the class where he was sat with a friend, “is he as weird as he looks?”

“Shelly! He does not look weird!” I gasped and quickly lowered my voice, “He’s alright ya know,” I frowned.

“Have you got the hots for him already?” she giggled.

“Oh please!” I rolled my eyes again and glanced back to him again.
He was writing or drawing something and had an adorable smile going on. I must have absentmindedly smiled myself because Shelly giggled again.

“Fuck you,” I grunted.

**

“Honey have you got any plans for Friday night yet?” my mom asked around mid-week.

“Nah,” I responded after momentarily musing.

“Oh, well Sandra and I are going out again. You wouldn’t mind spending another night with Max would you?” she smiled hopefully.

“I’m sure he has better things to do, unlike me, but I’m cool with that yeah,” I nodded and turned back to my book.

“Dakota is everything ok?” my mom sat beside me on the couch. “You haven’t been out with your friends in a long while,” she added.

“They’re boring,” I huffed, “Fuck ‘em.”

“Dee!” she reproached my nickname.

“What?” I rolled my eyes.

“Swearing at your age. Come on!”

“Dude, I’m fifteen not twelve,” the eye rolling continued.

**

“What’re we doing tonight?” Max leaned against the kitchen counter as Friday swung by.

“Dunno. I’m in a foul mood. I’m almost surprised you had nothing better to do than hang out with me,” I mumbled, hopping onto the counter.

“O…kay. Why are you in a foul mood? Why are you almost surprised? And also I…sorta wanted to hang out,” Max’s eyes went to the linoleum after his confession.

I narrowed my eyes in bewilderment before replying, “I’m a cynic that’s why I’m in a bad mood,” I told him first, “ I’m almost surprised because nothing actually seems to surprise me anymore. So why would you choose to hang out with me?”

I’d been going through a bout of self-loathing the past few months and despite enjoying Max’s company I couldn’t help but be negative. Telling myself it wouldn’t last, he didn’t actually like me, nobody could like me. Sure I’d snap out of this funk sooner or later but nothing was helping so far.

“I like you, Dee, you’re interesting and I suppose we have more in common than you realise,” Max explained.

“Than I realise?” a low scoff found its way from my throat.

He turned his head to look at me but I could tell he felt uncomfortable holding the gaze. “I think we’re as miserable as each other. But I also think we can get each other out of it.”

Hmmm go figure.

“So what will put a smile on your face?” he pressed.

I thought for a moment until my self-destructive nature kicked in. “Well if my mom finds out she’ll go nuts. Yours will probably slice you like a prison bitch but what the hell,” I shrugged and pulled a bottle of vodka from the cupboard stash.

“And you laugh when I say you’re cool,” Max smirked.

“I’m trouble, wouldn’t say cool,” I retorted with a smirk of my own and opened the fridge, “coke or juice?” I offered.

“Whatever you’re having,” he nodded.

I fixed two hefty orange and vodka drinks, “To misery,” I held my glass up and passed him his.

“The best of us can find happiness in misery,” he clinked his glass with mine and sank half of the liquid. “There’s a smile,” he winked.

My face heated up a little so I shook my hair in hopes of covering my reaction.

“Ok…next on the agenda,” Max spoke and it could have been a question or a statement.

“Dude if you’re as miserable as me you’re sure not acting it,” I stated.

“I’m using the lull in my bad mood to the best of my abilities. So…what do you while we get wasted on your mom’s liqour?”

**

“Dakota? Max?” my bedroom door opened and the main light was flicked on.
Up until then I’d been unconscious in the dark.

“Ow Mom!” I shined, stirring from sleep.

“What’s going on here?” her voice suggested she was in a drunken subdued state. “Sandra they’re here.”

A grip tightened around my waist and I found Max burying his face into my neck.

“Oh leave them be,” Max’s mom turned out the light and closed the door leaving us in darkness again.

We’d passed out after draining the bottle and rocking out to records. I pulled the cover over our fully clothed bodies and turned onto my side, snuggling into Max’s warmth where I fell to sleep once more.