She Got Lost

- 5 -

Peter and I were currently in the car without a single word being said. In all honesty, I didn't know what to say to him. I wanted to ask him about the black eye but he didn't seem to want to talk about it. 

He pulled onto the familiar road. Since freshman year, most days we would come to the park and waste time. Well, to others it was wasting time, but to us we were having the time of our lives. 

"Pull over." I told Peter. I knew he wouldn't be in the mood to do so but I didn't care. Away from the black eye, I needed to spend time with my best friend. 

"Gweny, I really just wanna get you home." He dragged out. 

"Please? It will only take a minute." I begged. He sighed but as we reached the entrance, he pulled in. I smiled to myself for winning but didn't let him see it. 

He pulled into one of the spots we've probably parked at 59 times before. I look over at him to see his eyes are closed as he was leading his head back against the car seat. I could tell he was tired and guessing by his black eye, something out of the ordinary happened at practice. "What are we doing here?" He asked while finally looking over at me. 

"Well," I start, "I wanted to swing for a few minutes. It's been awhile since we have." He looked at me like I was a four year old on his nerves. 

"It's almost 8 on a school night and you want to go swing?" He laughed with an amused grin on his face. 

"Um, sure in fact I do." I said like I was offended, although I wasn't. Before he could say anything, I quickly get out of the car and run to the swing set. 

Growing up living decently close to each other, Peter and I would meet at the park a lot. We would sit on the swing and just talk about things. If one of us had a bad day, meet at the park. If something really exciting happened for one of us, meet at the park.

I heard his car door slam and footsteps soon following after. He sat down next to me and just sat there staring at the ground of a few moments. He looked over at me and took a deep breath. "Heyward was talking shit." He said. The black eye. He actually wanted to talk about the black eye. Knowing Peter, I had figured he wouldn't tell me about it.

"About what?" I asked gently, not waiting him to push away from the conversation. 

"You." He said, looking me in the eye. Me? Why me? I think I've talked to the guy maybe twice. Why would he be talking shit about me?

"Uh, well," I mumbled, not sure how to ask it the question without sounding like a loser. "Why was he talking bad about me?" I bluntly let out.

"He uh-" He started, cutting himself off to think about his answer. "It wasn't necessarily shit talking about he wasn't saying nice things."

"Oh" I said almost instantly. I completely understood because it's happened before. The bottom line was boys at our school sucked. 

"Yeah, uh, he was out on the field talking to Dawson and I heard him saying things-." He cut himself off again, probably for me since I wouldn't like to hear the gross things Kyle Heyward was saying about me. "I told him to shut up, but he wouldn't stop running his fucking mouth." He said with a shrug. "So I kicked his ass."

Honestly, I didn't know what to say. On the one hand, I wanted to thank him for helping me out when I didn't even know he was. Second, I wanted to slap him and tell him he shouldn't be getting into fights. So instead I said neither. "Looks like her got you once." I smiled over at him. He laughed and brought his hand to his face. 

"Yeah he did in the beginning, didn't stand a chance at the end though." He stood up and walked in where he was now in front of me. "It took Brandon and Hunter to get me off him." He said with a little grin on his face. He put his hand out in front of him as a sign to help me stand up. 

I grabbed his hand, "I think you might be a psychopath." I said while biting my cheek trying to hide in my smile. 

 "WOW." Peter yelled, "I risked getting my pretty face hurt for you and that was my thank you?" He playfully frowned back at me. 

"Thank you, Pete." I said sincerely. He looked down at me with a smile. 

"I had to. You would do the same for me. Right?"

"Yeah," I said without thinking, "I would." 

"Good."

"Good."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

After talking a little while longer, I look at my phone to see a text from mom. 

Mom - Hey honey, I'm home, Where are you?

Me - I'll be home soon - park with pete. love you!

"Mom text?" Peter asked. 

"Yeah we should probably head back soon." I said not wanting to. It's been a minute since Pete and I got to hang out. During the summer with football and work, he was always busy and we barely got to see each other. 

We started walking back to the car when Peter stopped. "What are you doing?" I asked confused by the sudden stop. 

"Um I'm not sure how to say this." He said. 

"Just say it." 

"I'm not a fan of Dylan." He admitted. I looked at him a little confused. I didn't understand what there wasn't to like about Dylan. I mean, it wasn't like he was a bad guy or a great guy, I just didn't see what was bad about him. 

"Why's that?" I asked knowing I would be thinking about it for the rest of the week. Peter has good intuition. Always has and always will. 

"I'm not sure he just gives me a weird vibe." 

"I think you've been reading too many books." He laughed.

"You're one to talk about reading too many books, Gweny." He gently shoved my shoulder, making me stumble a little. "But you're right I shouldn't judge so quickly." 

"Yeah we'll keep an eye out, okay?" I said reassuring him.

"Sounds good." He says while we head back to the car. 

We got in and got ready to go. I plugged in my phone and started playing music. One of my favorite songs started playing and I looked at Peter with a face mixed with shock and pure happiness. 

"ANOTHER SUMMER NIGHT WITHOUT YOU" I started to scream and I heard Pete burst out laughing. 

"You sound great just so you know."

"Oh, I know." I laughed and we sang the rest of the song together. Another summer night without you.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

It doesn't take too long until we are pulling into my driveway. I could tell Peter was getting tired so I told him not to forget to shower. "You calling me smelly?" He asked offended.

"Just a little bit." I say while opening my door.

"Need me to pick you up in the morning?" He asked. I thought about it for a moment. 

"Yeah sure sounds good." I said while closing my door. I give him a quick thumbs up, which he does in return and I run into the house. 

I see that mom was sitting in the living room, watching tv. She heard me walk in and looked up. "Hey honey, how was your day?" She asked. I could tell she, like Peter, was very tired. 

"It was good, mom. Yours?" I asked while taking my shoes off.

"It was fine, theres food in the kitchen I'll warm up for you." She says as she begins to get home. 

"Nah ma its fine, I'm not that hungry. Go get some rest." I told her while giving her a kiss to the forehead. She tried to complain but I didn't allow it. 

"I love you sweet girl."

"I love you too mom.

I quickly run up the stairs and into my room. When I get there, I throw my bad onto my bed and whip out my phone. 

Me - Hey, don't worry about picking me up tomorrow, i have a ride.

A few minutes later they text back

Caroline - sounds good, sleep well, love ya

Me - You too - Love ya too.