"No, you two weren’t smart enough to use a condom,” Kevin says, laughing and slapping his leg.
In between our laughs, Paige says, “Remember how sick you would get at school?”
"Ugh.” Her nose scrunches up. “Don’t remind me. Those days were the worst.”
Once all of our laughter dies down, Paige says, “Look how far you two have come.”
B and I gaze at each other with easy smiles.
"Yeah, I never thought I’d see the day,” Kevin says.
“We have come a long way,” B agrees, resting her head on my shoulder.
Warmth spreads through me, knowing we’ve been through hell and back, yet she still finds comfort in me.
All of us quiet down. A yawn erupts from my lips, reminding me I have to take all three of them home now. “Should we get going?” I ask.
B lifts her head from my shoulder. “Yeah.”
“Amari and Emma are sleeping in Amari’s old room. I let your mom know that I’ll be driving you home.” I stand up, glancing down at her.
She nods as she stands up.
I grab a hold of B as she wobbles, trying to walk back into the house. “How much did you drink?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I was having a good time.”
All four of us live relatively close, so it doesn’t take me long to drop Kevin and Paige off. I purposely dropped them off first so I could be alone with Blakely.
As I drive through her neighborhood, the streetlights glow in the night sky. B starts laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, looking over at her as she tries to hold her laughter in.
“Do you know what this reminds me of?”
I shake my head. “No. What?”
“All those times we would sneak out together.”
Flashbacks of those nights invade my thoughts. All the times I would drop her off and couldn’t let her go because I wanted to spend every second with her. All the sleepless nights and going to school and work exhausted were worth it if I got to spend it with her. We were so crazy in love and did anything to be together. Now, as I drive her home, my heart aches because I know I’m dropping her off to go to bed with someone else. It makes me sick knowing she is lying next to someone else. It should be me.
Blakely sighs.
“What?”
She shakes her head.
“Come on, tell me.” I glance over at her in the passenger seat, her expression illuminated by the soft glow of the streetlights.
“I miss sneaking out,” she mumbles.
That’s not exactly what I was expecting to hear. Although it makes me a little happy to hear it, because maybe...she misses me.
“What do you miss about it?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “The thrill of doing something bad and not getting caught. Even though I got caught a few times.” She laughs. “I don’t know. It’s just…life was so simple back then. Don’t get me wrong, I love Amari with all my heart, and I don’t regret my life now. But do you ever just miss the simple times?” We both turn our heads and stare at each other.
“Are you talking about before we had Amari?” I ask, slowing the car down before coming to a complete stop at the stop sign.
