You Remember Me, Right?

Chapter 16

They talked for what seemed like hours. It was surprisingly easy, almost too easy. She used to tell Jesse things, but it felt like ages ago since they had a heart to heart conversation. Now he just blankly listens while she drones on and on about something that happened to her that day. But with Unicycle, they had no expectations of each other. Jesse didn’t have to hide his boredom and Aubrey didn’t have to pretend to listen while Jesse talked about the latest movies coming out. She swore, she knew more about film production than she should.

 

Unicycle listened intently while Aubrey babbled on about her favorite television show or song on the radio. The conversation was light, and that was what Aubrey had been needing for awhile. Unicycle was a surprisingly good listener. He nodded at all the right times and interjected some advice when he felt like her sentence was coming to an end. He never really knew much about Aubrey apart from school, but that never meant that he wasn’t interested. He did have Aubrey in some of his classes but she was so roped up in her studies that they never had time to chat about anything else.

 

Unicycle was a little bit tipsy, just a smidge. His older brother, as a sort of brotherly gesture, had threw him a beer before dropping him off at the dance. “For a fun night,” he had said as Unicycle took a swig and exited the car. It wasn’t like Uni had never drank, but he was still a bit of a lightweight even if he never wanted to admit it out loud. His parents were lenient.They had let him take a flute of champagne at a wedding recently. They figured their son should be exposed to alcohol in high school to know his own limits before being thrust into college situations where alcohol was everywhere.

 

He, fortunately, wasn't going to be driving the rest of the night since he made sure he could catch a ride with some of his friends. The confidence to talk to the one and only Aubrey Posen was oozing out of him as he made stupid jokes and talked about the weirdest things. In school, she was just this force of nature. She worked harder than everyone he knew. Even if he wanted to be more friendly with her, she was just always on a different wavelength than him. Today, the stars must’ve aligned because here they were, outside the school gym on prom night, talking like old friends.

 

After being out there for forty five minutes or so, a comfortable silence fell over the two of them. Thank god they lived in Atlanta otherwise they would’ve froze out there. Her dress was wrinkled, but it was of no worry to her. Aubrey was content just sitting outside with a boy she hardly knew. Everything just felt so simple.

 

Maybe it was because of the alcohol or maybe because he wanted to do it for awhile, but Unicycle turned his head to see Aubrey’s blue eyes staring back at him. Hesitating for a second, he moved closer when he realized she wasn’t backing away from him. Within a few centimeters from each other’s face, the door opened.

…..

Jesse was worried. He hadn’t seen Aubrey around for the past hour or so and that was very rare. She was usually ushering him from one table to another, attempting to greet all her fellow club members from every extra curricular she partook in. She even made them retake the photo booth strip five times because she didn’t like how her hair looked. Ten minutes later and with a brush in her hands, she was finally ready.

 

Convincing himself that she was in the bathroom or something, Jesse put his concerns about Aubrey to the back of his mind. It was a school dance, where could she go? Nevertheless, he promised himself if she didn’t turn up in the next ten minutes or so, he would go looking for her.