New Music

New Music

an Art of Lainey Short Story

By Paula Stokes

--for everyone still looking for their own Micah 

Half of St. Louis seems to be heading to the Central West End for the Great Forest Park Balloon Race. I went last year with Amber so it feels weird to be taking Lainey this year, like I'm recycling dates. But how could I say no? She hasn't been to the race since she was a kid, and she's majorly excited. She keeps fidgeting in her seat and pointing at things. 

"Did you see that guy, Micah?" Lainey points out the driver's side window. "Ohmygod, his mohawk was even taller than yours, and dyed blue!" She turns half around to watch the guy disappear behind us.  

"Awesome," I say without looking. "Did you want me to let you out so you can go talk to him?" I sneak a sideways glance in her direction. 

She laughs. "It's hot when you pretend to be jealous." 

"It's just hot." I reach down and crank my window open a little more. It's mid-September but it still feels like August, a blanket of humidity hanging warm and heavy in the air. The fact that my car has no air conditioning doesn't help. 

Lainey blots at her face with her palm but she doesn't complain about the heat. She turns back to the window, practically hanging her head out so she can get a better look at everything we pass. "I think I saw the Energizer Bunny behind those trees!" 

The Energizer Bunny balloon is the first one to take off every year. We're still several hours away from launch, but the bunny is probably already inflated. She might've caught a glimpse of its ear or something. "One of us has to watch the road," I remind her.  

"Sorry," she says. "I just can't believe we're going to see the balloons. I haven't been to the race since I was in first grade." 

"I know. You told me like six times." 

Lainey slugs me playfully in the shoulder. "Why do you pick on me so much?" 

My lips curl into a grin. "Because it's fun?" 

We hit a huge snarl of traffic halfway down Forest Park Parkway and I slow the car to a crawl. I reach over and take Lainey's hand. Her fingers slip easily between mine.  

"Thank you for driving all the way down here." She sighs, reclining back into her seat. "You make me happy." 

Warmth surges through me. It still kind of blows my mind that Lainey can be so...sweet. It's weird. I knew her back in elementary school and thought she was pretty cool, but when she made varsity soccer as a freshman she got sucked into this popularity vortex and became the kind of girl I avoided on principle. 

But then Amber and I broke up and Lainey and I started hanging out this summer as part of Lainey's insane plan to win back her ex-boyfriend. And then, after a lot of denial and screwing up on both of our parts, we finally admitted we liked each other, for real.  

And now she's my girlfriend. 

I can see her legs in my peripheral vision. Her tan, perfect, muscular legs protruding from tiny jean shorts that are frayed at the bottom. I sneak another look at her as the car in front of me slows to a stop. Her reddish blonde hair is curling from the humidity, making the straight red and black streaks my little sister, Trinity, clipped into her hair all the more prominent. Sweat is beading on her forehead and her eye makeup is slightly smudged, but she's still ridiculously hot.