Claire stood up. "You're here," she said to Brian.
He gave her a smile. "I couldn't miss this reunion when you contacted us after seven long years, now can I?"
"I'm glad you're here," she said and looked down at me. "I'm glad everyone's here. Eat up, Brian. Because we leave after dinner."
"So we're really leaving on a road trip at night?" Darren said. "I thought it was a joke. But I did bring all that we'd need."
Brian took a seat next to Josh and wouldn't meet my gaze so I looked away.
Sam looked between us and clapped a hand on Brian's back. "So what have you been up to all these years?"
"I own a company, although it's not doing as well as I'd like."
"Cheer up. Every company goes through it. I'm sure it'll pick up in no time," Sam said.
Talk continued among us, except Brian and I were silent now. He refused to acknowledge me, didn't even look at me.
While we caught up with seven years years worth of gossip and stories of everyone, time flew by swiftly and it was midnight when we finally decided it was time.
Claire refused our offers to share the bill among everyone and paid for the food and left a handsome tip for the cute waiter we had.
Sam dragged all the boys outside on the pretext of checking out the car Claire said she'd rented for this trip.
I stayed with her until she paid the bill and when we got out, there had apparently been a brawl between the boys. Brian now had an angry red mark on his cheek and I looked to see who had a hurt hand and it was Darren who seemed to cradle his hand and shook it every now and then. Sam, Josh and Tyler were glaring at Brian and I pretty much had an idea what this was about.
"This car is hot," Sam said.
Claire beamed. "It was the best one they had. Hop in."
When Brian wasn't looking, I pulled Darren aside and asked, "Did you punch him?"
"He deserved it."
"Darren, it's fine. You don't have to get involved."
"How can I not? You broke my heart for him. You have been together for seven years and now he thinks he can just break up with you because he feels like it?"
"I'm sure there must be a reason...something I failed to see. Maybe I did something wrong—"
"Don't you blame yourself. You did nothing wrong. You can't do anything wrong. He's the one who has lost his head." He shot a glare at the back of his head.
"Come on, you guys!" Claire beckoned us.
Soon we were all cramped in the eight seater car. Claire had requested for the passenger seat to be empty and we all knew who she thought that was for. Jake. We were pretending he was also with us.
Josh, Sam and Tyler rushed to occupy the seat and no amount of silent begging was useful for them to sit with me. So I ended up in the last row with Darren and Brian with Darren between us.
"Am I the only one who thinks starting a road trip in the middle of the night is a horror movie waiting to happen?" Tyler said, glancing at our surroundings nervously.
"Don't worry! I'll keep you safe," Claire's cheeriness did little to reassure us but if she wasn't worried then we'd just have to trust her. "Ready?" She asked once everyone was seated.
A chorus of excited 'yeah's sounded and then we driving into the still, dark night with not a soul in sight.
I would've been nervous, maybe even a little scared to be out at midnight on a dark road in a car with the roof pulled back in deafening silence but it dissolved into nothing when Claire blasted on music and soon we were enjoying ourselves, singing along–well, not really because Sam and Tyler didn't know the lyrics to half of those songs and instead resorted to mumbling the wrong words.
If I tried hard enough, I forgot about Brian sitting just next to Darren and actually have fun with my friends who I was seeing after such a long time. Only then could I forget that he was avoiding me and things were awkward, something that had never been a thing between us.
We talked over the music, had fun, recalled pleasant high school memories–being careful not to venture into topics concerning Jake, Jesse, Darren and I or Brian and I.
The cold night air whipped against us as we drove deeper into the hills and barren land, away from civilization and our respective responsibilities even just for a couple of days.
Time flows fast when you're having fun. That was exactly what happened and when I noticed others were getting drowsy and I myself having yawned for the sixth time, I checked the time to see it was two in the morning.
"Guys, if you're sleepy just go to sleep," Claire said, glancing at us through the rearview mirror.
Josh had already slipped into slumber and had rested his head against Sam's shoulder at some point which he didn't seem to mind.
"Are you sure? I can take over," I offered.
She snorted. "No, thanks. I'd like to be alive for the next day and your yawns say otherwise."
"I'm not sleepy yet," Darren said.
"It's fine. I'm the one who wanted us to start at night. Just go to sleep."
"All right. But any time you get tired, just wake me."
"Me too," I said.
After that I didn't realize when sleep took over me. I had packed warm so even the cold air couldn't keep me from a deep sleep. I wasn't aware who had gone to sleep, who I was leaning against and if Brian had also gone to sleep.
It wasn't until my face began to feel too warm, almost hot and there seemed to be infinite brightness beyond my closed eyelids that I finally stirred awake.