My Father's Best Man

Chapter 6

I woke up early the next day and sat at the edge of my bed for a while. I didn't turn on the TV because I was afraid I might wake people up. With nothing to do, I left for some vending machine breakfast and turned in my room key early. I did that a lot, turning things in early. It seemed like my allegrophobia have only gotten worse with time. 6:30am, and I was already done packing. But I couldn't leave just yet because I had already promised the girl upstairs to give her a ride.

She really milked her time with the check out. By the time she had everything packed, it was already 10. She went back upstairs for one last trip and came back with an unannounced passenger.

"Say 'Hi!' Toby."

She grabbed her pup's paw to wave to me. I half smiled back. I wasn't too happy with the unannounced guest; nothing in particular, it was just rude of her to not mention that before. And I was not a fan of the toy dog breed.

"Oh! You're not allergic, are you?"

"No."

She handed me her dog and went to turn in her key. When she came back, I opened the passenger door, and she thought I did it for her.

"Wow! You're a real gentleman, aren't you? Who said chivalry's dead?"

"Oh, no... The door on the other side doesn't work."

It had been a while since I had to explain that to anyone. She seemed a bit amused, so I continued on with the story of how my friends took my truck for a joyride and jacked up the passenger door. That story delayed our departure even more.

As we drove past the checkout window, I saw the clerk giving me a bad look. It dawned on me that there was a dog inside my car. He probably thought the dog was mine. I avoided eye contact with him because I didn't feel like stopping to explain myself. And she probably snuck her dog in, so it wouldn't help for me to dump the responsibility on her.

Within minutes, we were on the 15 freeway. She rested her bare-naked feet on my dashboard, and her dog had his head next to the side mirror. I was a bit nervous because I was afraid her dog might jump out. But her dog was relatively calm, and she seemed unfazed, so I didn't say anything.

"So how long were you guys together?"

The wind was pretty strong, so she was yelling a bit.

"A bit more than a year."

"And she still invited you to her wedding?! Wow! It must have been something special then!"

I didn't respond.

"You met in college?"

"Yeah."

That was a lie. Well, technically, Brooke was in college when we first met.

"I didn't go to college."

That didn't surprise me.

"I mean, I didn't finish. Went to a junior college. Only there for one semester. Four years. That's just too much. I'd still be in there right now. I mean, I don't mind studying something like psychology or american poetry. But it's just too expensive, you know?"

"Yeah."

I actually had no idea what she was talking about. My father was the one who was going to pay for it. He and my mom really cared about our education.

There was a bit of silence after that. I didn't know what to talk about. It didn't look like we had much in common, but she broke the silence again.

"Do you mind I turn on the radio?"

"No. Go ahead."

She scrolled through the radio stations and found something contemporary. By the way she skipped through some of the channels, I could tell she wasn't a country fan.

"This good for you?"

"Yeah."

I was surprised that she asked. It was my truck after all, but still... She pulled her mixed poodle in and rolled up the window. I started humming to some Sam Smith tune without realizing it.

"You don't look like you'd have a good voice, but you do."

"Huh? Oh..."

I quickly stopped. Singing wasn't really something that I did. The trumpet was always my excuse to not sing in public. Instead of joining the children's choir, I was always the one soloist on stage. Perhaps that was why I was picked on.

"So where'd you guys go to school?"

"Colombia."

Now that was definitely a lie.

"You drove all the way out here from New York?!"

"Oh, no. I live in Colorado."

"So you moved to Colorado after you graduated? I'd imagine people tend to stay in the city more, especially the first couple of years."

"Uh, no... I'm still a student. It's summer break right now. I was originally from there."

The lies were catching on, so I had to pump my brakes. She paused for a little and seemed to have figured something out.

"Oh! So is she's older than you! People don't usually get married when they're still in school, right? Only after they graduate...?"

She seemed deep in her thoughts.

"That means you guys only recently broke up... for about a year? She's probably doing this to hurt you then. She probably didn't even think you'd go to her wedding!"

She was like a detective... connecting all the dots I left for her. But what she said made me question Brooke's motivation. I didn't question it before, but now, that was the only thing I could think about. What if Brooke didn't want me there? What if she was only doing this to hurt me? Did I hurt her that much with my final text?

I could feel Ms. Pink hair's pity gaze close on me, but I kept my eyes on the road. I didn't look over to check on her facial expression, but I could feel her sympathy oozing out. I started looking at my rearview mirror a lot more now that I couldn't look to her side to check the right side mirror.

I shouldn't make eye contact with her anyway. It always bothered me that people in the movies would stare at each other for a long time while driving. There should be at least one car crash from all those movies combined!

"Oh! Over there!"

A herd of ravers outside the arena had our attention for that brief moment. They were all by the main entrance, anxious to get in. Despite of how hot it was, some of those Coachella dropouts were still dancing under the sun. I parked my truck as close to the building as possible.

"Thank you so much!"

She reached behind the seat to grab her bag.

"The concert's not till noon. Want me buy you an early lunch to return the favor?" "No... That's okay. I still have a lot of driving to do."

"Okay. You be safe, alright?"

"Alright."

I didn't know if she meant me driving on the road or guarding my heart at the wedding. Either way, I didn't think too much.

She opened the car door, and instead of giving me a hug, she extended her palm.

"I'm April, by the way."

I shook her hand.

"Michael."

As I released her hand, she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. It was probably out of pity, but it felt nice. She then picked up her dog and dragged her luggage towards the neon hippies. In that moment, I fell a little bit for her.