Sweet Children Come Out And Play

And that is how it happened. But now, it was finally, it was the very last minute of the last day of the last year of school Delphine would ever have to endure in high school. At thirty three seconds left, the entire class started counting down, “Five, four, three, TWO, ONE!” and applause thundered through the room as everyone ran out of the classroom. ‘That was it!’ Delphine screamed inside her head, rushing down the stairs, ‘It’s over!’

The next day was graduation and the graduation party until five in the morning. Richelle and Tre, Mike and Brites, and Billie and Delphine ran around all night in the party that covered up the parking lot between buildings of the school. Actually, Billie and Tre snuck in, but they were around so often that nobody noticed they did not go to this school anymore. Occasionally, they lost each other and met up every half and hour or so later. The girls all got their nails done by some nice ladies helping out. She had never had a manicure in her life until right then. Brites got her hair dyed with thinner green streaks and Delphine redid the thick strikes of blue on her brown hair. Yeah, they did that too. So, why not take advantage of it? It was the final goodbye to all their other friends and at five in the morning the party would finally came to an end.

In the last hour, as the “party”, it was at school so it’s not as if there were any drinks, was winding down, Delphine thought that she would feel sad. She was never going to see many of these people again in her life. Some of them might never come to a reunion, and some would die before the first would come. It was inevitable. She thought she would be one of the people to break down crying, but when it came down to saying the final good byes, she wasn’t sad anymore. Billie was there the entire time with his arms around her, and their best friends in the world, Mike, Tre, Brites and Richelle, the people that they had both known all of their lives, where going to be together with them all summer for the tour. When it came down to it, Delphine was done with all these people.

She was so sick of how fake so many of them where. How so many of them may have been the bell of the ball in high school, but now every single one of them was going to have to figure out how to make it in the real world. The pretty little town they lived in was not going to protect them any longer, and the expensive houses they lived in, and were used to, where going to start asking for money. ‘Well,’ she thought, ‘we shall see who makes it. Now they can see what it feels like.’

And then it was all over. Delphine walked out of her high school for the last time as a student, hand in hand with Billie Joe. And for the first time, she felt like she was going to make it at this life thing.

The group walked a few streets over into down downtown. “A bar!” Tre cried out. “Let’s go!” They all agreed and started running down the street. Tre went up to the counter inside. “Six Budweisers please,” he asked suddenly calm. A woman brought over the first round of beers.

“Tre, Budweiser?” Billie wined. They downed them in five minutes
anyway. “Another round!” Billie piped up. By the end of her second, Delphine was feeling some buzz. Richelle was too, but the guys seemed mostly unaffected. Third and fourth beer; everyone was drunk. Delphine never had four very often. Guys have a higher tolerance then girls anyway and she knew this was her cut-off. She did not have to count though. Four beers into the evening and she couldn’t see straight but it was hella fun. Richelle and Tre started kissing which led to making out in the middle of the bar.

It was like one huge party and Delphine was feeling good. Mike and Billie had stumbled away from the table. Delphine stared around the room for a minute. Time seems to slow down and speed up at the same time when you’re drunk. This was past the point of the horny drunk she had more often. This was too numb to feel sex even if she was having it. But she wasn’t stupid, she knew what was going on. It just made it harder to walk around without bumping into things.

Billie turned around, thinking Delphine was just behind him. He looked and found a girl looking at him. He turned away and went to look for Delphine again. “Delphine!” he called. Then someone else bumped into him. It looked like Delphine for a second, but before it could reach his mind that it wasn’t, she grabbed him and pressed him up against a wall. For some reason, he let it go. He kissed back and lost sight of everything else.

Then Delphine suddenly had to go to the bathroom again. She stumbled through the masses; almost knocking over a glass and accidentally hitting someone, but she hardly noticed, and it was fun all the same. She brushed water over her hands and started for the bathroom door to leave, thought better of it and went back to the sink, but her hands were clumsy and she got impatient with the soap so left. The beer was starting to ware of a little bit. As she was walking out the door, her eyes fell on Billie. ‘What the fuck is he doing?’ she thought, squinting through the smoky room. She stepped closer and saw it. His lips and hands were feeling up some faceless slut.

Billie stopped and saw Delphine out of the corner of his eye. She was starring at him. “Delphine!” he started to call as she ran away. He pushed the girl aside and stumbled blindly into the haze. “Delphine, I’m sorry!” he realized what he had just done.

Delphine ran over to Richelle, Brites and Tre who were standing outside. She looked up at them, “We’re going home.”

“What? Why, Delphine? What’s wrong?” Richelle asked. She seemed a bit more sober. Delphine did not want to be drunk anymore.

“I have to go,” she repeated.

Just then, Mike ran out of the bar, waving and calling something to them. Delphine slumped down on the cold hard sidewalk. The street light was blaring down on top of them and the glare was getting to her. It was going to give her a headache. “Delphine!” Mike ran up to her. “Delphine, Billie didn’t mean it.”

“He was kissing another woman, Mike,” she said calmly.

Richelle gave a gasp. Tre looked shocked too. “He’s sorry. He fucked up,” Mike said putting an arm around her.

“It doesn’t change things,” tears were rolling down her face. “And why doesn’t he could out and say this to me?”

Tre kept his mouth shut, and Mike really was lost for words. “I think he’s scared. I really don’t-” What else could he say? “Let’s go get some coffee.”

“I just want to go home.” Delphine took hold of the side of the poll and hoisted herself to her feet. Everyone else crowded around, though she barely noticed, and they began the horribly long trudge home. It was still dark, but morning would be there in just another hour or so. To her it seemed like everything should just stay dark forever. The sun should just stop for a month or two and let her be in peace.

They compromised and made coffee at home. Richelle handed Delphine a cup. “Try to drink it. It’ll help,” although she really had no idea how when the problem was a broken heart. Delphine sipped on it for awhile and no one said a thing. Tre was feeling a lot more sober now and gave a glance to Richelle who was sitting beside him on the couch. He looked worriedly at her, as if to say, ‘I wouldn’t do that. You know that right?’ She saw and touched his arm.

Mike stayed a few more minutes. ‘He’ll be fine,’ he thought, ‘So long as he doesn’t do something else stupid.’

He finally decided the best thing to do was to go and find Billie Joe. Otherwise, he might disappear for a couple of days and they would have no idea where to find him. And the tour was tomorrow. He ran most of the way back to the bar.

It took awhile to find Billie first. Eventually, he discovered him sitting outside on the back porch. He had his head in his hands and his eyes were red. Mike sat down beside him without saying a word.

Finally, Billie looked up, “What the fuck did I do?” Mike just looked sympathetically at him and sighed. “Why did that bitch have to come up to me?” he almost yelled. He meant the other woman in the bar. “No, what am I kidding. This is all my fucking fault.”

“Hey man, it’ll be all right. We’ll just wait a day. Talk to her then.”

Billie seemed perfectly sober now. “We are going on tour tomorrow, Mike. I just ruined everything. If she doesn’t come with us…what the hell am I going to do?”

“We’ll talk to her.”

“But I hate feeling like this! I don’t know if she’ll say yes! Why the fuck would she now!?” Billie knew very well that he probably would not be saying all this to Mike if he was not a little bit buzzed like now, but frankly, he couldn’t give a fuck now if he tried. He threw his fist down on the wood planks angrily.

“Billie Joe, just calm down.”

Billie stopped raving at the air and looked back to Mike. “Sorry,” he said sincerely. “It’s just…I’m the only one to punch right now. There’s nothing to do…”

“Well, look, you still love her. Right?”

“Of course.”

“Show her that.”

“How?” he said miserably.

“I don’t know. A song?”

“No, that wouldn’t prove anything…and what would I say?”

“That you love her,” Mike shrugged.

“Why would she listen to that?”

“Dude, there is nothing else to give.”
~
Delphine awoke the next morning, and as she came to, everything slipped back. She stirred and opened her eyes, a voice said, “Delphine?” It was Billie. He was standing against the wall with his head bowed.

She paused at first, staring at him in his dirty clothes from the night before. “Billie, what are you doing here?” she said quietly. Billie did not speak for a moment.
“Delphine, I am so sorry. I don’t even know how to tell you-” he started. But then he chocked, stopped and bit his lip.

“Billie, you felt up another woman,” she tried to say calmly. Tears were welling up in her eyes again. It was no use holding them back. Billie had seen her cry only a few times. But some of those had been out of happiness. This time, it was a sad cry, and he had done it to her. He watched them glide down her cheek silently, hitting the pillow below, and the guilt doubled ten times over in his stomach. He hated himself. He was the one who had done it to her.

He paused, “I know. I know and I fucked up.” He looked up at her now and Delphine sat up on the bed, pulling the blanket around her body. She realized tears were already falling down his cheeks. How could he do this to her? He had cheated, but she could not help the feeling in her gut that she loved him. Stupid. She couldn’t find any words.

“I wasn’t watching and I fucked up, but – but I love you Delphine. That woman was nothing, and I love you.” Delphine stared at him. “If you would give me another chance, I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you.” Billie hated what he was saying. It was something he could have sworn came out of some shitty soap opera if he did not know it was coming out of his own mouth. But then, what else was he supposed to say? What killed him most was he meant it with all his heart. But there is no way to say that.

“Billie, how can you be so sure?” Delphine said sadly. She did not sound angry. Just hurt.

Billie stepped forward and kneeled in front of her. He took one of her hands, slowly, and tried to keep a steady voice. “Because, when I realized I could have lost you right then, I just – I have spent up until this point in my life trying to find you. I love you and you only and I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, no matter what that takes. I love you Delphine and-” Billie reached into his pocket and pulled something small out. She could not see at first but he uncurled his fingers and held up diamond ring. Delphine’s lip dropped open. “Will you marry me?”