High on Summertime

“Chaaarrrrlllliiieeeee! This party is so.much.fun!”

Charlie scrunched up her nose at the smell of her best friends breath. “Phew, I think you have had enough my friend.”

“No!” Kyle yelled dramatically. “No way Charlie barley! This is the last party of the year!!!!”

“Just the school year buddy. You need to slow down. You can’t do anything to risk your scholarship.”

“Oh just wait until you see me play in college. I’m going to get aaaaalllll the ladies. You’ll be jealous of me,” Kyle winked at Charlie who just rolled her eyes; she knew telling him that she is a lesbian was a bad idea. “Don’t worry though Charlotte, I’ll be sure to save some pus-“

“Okay!” Charlie yelled. “That’s definitely enough for you. Let’s get you home.”

“Fine. You’re such a party pooper,” Kyle pouted.

“Give me your keys.”

Charlie should have known this would be the time he started to act up. So when he screamed no and ran outside she was cursing herself for not taking his keys from him when they first got there. She ran after him and caught up to him, thankful that he was so drunk so she could actually catch up. She grabbed onto his arms to stop him but he shook out of her grip and laughed, thinking it was a game.

“Kyle this isn’t funny. Give me your keys.”

“No,” he said laughing and getting behind the wheel of his car.

Charlie reached around him to try to steal the keys from him but even drunk Kyle was much stronger than her. He pushed her away finally screaming about how he won the game. She knew there wasn’t much she ocudl do but get in the car with him and hope for the best. Charlie made sure he at least buckled up before buckling up herself and holding onto the door handle tightly. It wasn’t so bad getting out of the neighborhood but once he was on the main road is when it went downhill. Since it was so late there weren’t any cars which was a good thing but Charlie knew he needed to have his hybeams on but he wouldn’t turn them on. Kyle decided he wanted the radio on but Charlie insisted on keeping it off.

“Let me turn it on Charlie.”

“No. Stop fighting me and focus on driving.”

“Chaaarrrlllieee, you never let me have any fun.”

Charlie rolled her eyes. “Sure I don’t. Seriously Kyle, focus on driving which you shouldn’t be doing in the first place.”

Kyle stopped fussing so Charlie thought he was finally sobering up. She moved her hand from the radio and tried not to notice how he was swerving. Suddenly Kyle was yelling and reaching for the radio to turn it on. He turned the wheel too hard and suddenly they were going into the other lane. Kyle turned the wheel in the other direction but again it was too hard and they went swerving back over. Charlie was holding onto the door handle so tightly her knuckles were turning white, she told Kyle to calm down and straighten back up. He tried but again he swerved off to the right into the ditch, going up the small hill and finally turning around so they crashed back into the ditch. The airbags deployed and Charlie could see smoke coming from the hood. She felt a little hazy but couldn’t feel any major injuries. She looked over at Kyle but he seemed to be okay, blood wasn’t coming from any parts of his body but his hands and some scrapes on his face.

“Kyle? Kyle are you okay?”

“I think so. Are you?”

“Yeah I think so.”

“Oh my god I am so dead. I am so fucking dead. I’m going to lose my scholarship and everything. Fuck I am so screwed. I’m terrible. My parents are going to fucking kill me.”

“Get out of the car Kyle,” Charlie said unbuckling herself and getting her door open.

“What?” Kyle asked through his cries.

“Get out of the car,” she repeated more sternly but he still wasn’t moving. Charlie walked to his side and opened the door, reaching over and unbuckling him. She pulled on his shirt and dragged him out of the car. “You gotta help me Kyle. Come on just walk a little bit.”

Kyle was still rambling about his scholarship and how his parents were going to kill him. She ignored his ramblings and walked him further into the grass and made him sit down.

“Kyle!” Charlie yelled finally getting him to shut up. “Listen to me right now. I was driving. I was driving and trying to get my phone from my pocket because I thought I had a call.”

“Charlie no, no I can’t let you do this,” Kyle was crying now.

“You have to. You have too much riding on this. I’ve got nothing; you and I both know it. So I took your keys and I was driving okay? I thought I was getting a call so I tried to get it and swerved off the road.”

Kyle didn’t say anything; he pulled his knees to his chest and kept crying. Charlie pulled her phone from her pocket and called Kyle’s parents. The Lancaster’s were best friends with her parents; Carl, Kyle’s dad, and her dad, Jeremy, are law firm partners. She knew that Carl and Mary would want to handle this as quietly as possible, just like her parents and since no other cars were in the accident she didn’t think it was necessary to call the police.

Carl got to the crash site fairly quickly and got them both into his own car, surprisingly calm and called for a tow for Kyle’s car. Carl asked for the details of the crash, Charlie telling him the lie she thought of. She knew she was going to be in a lot of trouble but she would do anything for Kyle, even if that meant the destruction of her own future.