The Summer of Dares

Chapter 5

      "Steal a lobster! Put that down, that would be hilarious." Isaac announces, popping his final fry into his mouth. Many burgers, plates of fries, and napkins later, we had formed our list of dares.

"Why steal a lobster? Where are we going to find a lobster Isaac?" I fiddle with the pen in between my fingers.

"Just write it down, trust me." He points towards the napkin, shaking his head profusely.

I shrug and pass the pen to Jackson, who writes it down for me. He kisses the set of napkins that we had scribbled down all of our ideas on, "Perfection!"

      I laugh at him and grab them from his hands. I read over the chicken scratch that is Jackson's writing. "I'll type up a solid copy tonight on my computer, because this," I point to the napkin, "Is gibberish."

      Jackson roles his eyes, arising a chuckle out of me. Parker takes a sip of coca cola and smiles at me, "When do we begin Scarlett? You're kind of the leader of this whole thing."

      I shrug, tucking a strand of my brown hair behind my ears. Although creating the list was fun, I hadn't really thought about completing it. "I guess we can start this Saturday, as long as Viv is allowed."

      The group collectively agrees. A new conversation begins between Jackson, Parker and Isaac that doesn't seem to include me. I take a sip of my water and stare out of the window on the side of our booth. The sun is nowhere to be seen and the moon is the only thing lighting the sky. The lights are dim in the diner as well, in attempts of creating a peaceful setting with all of the chatter going on. I can feel myself zoning out from the atmosphere, fixated on the stars in the sky. Fixated on the thought of my parents. My mom. Oh, how she loves the stars here. We used to spend our summer nights laying on the beach, spotting constellations and naming stars as if they were our own.

      "Cash or card?" A woman asks in a sing-song voice.

      I shake my head and turn to the direction of her voice. Parker is handing cash to the waitress, paying for all of our meals. "Oh no, you don't have to do that Parker."

      "Of course I do. It's the first dinner all together, you guys took me here so I am happy to pay." He says in a nonchalant tone. I watch him speak to Jackson, tuning out the words, yet focusing on the motion of his lips. They're a bright pink, a shade any girl would wish to have. As he begins to smile, his dark green eyes slightly squint and slant downwards. Suddenly he's staring into my blue ones.

      "Ready to go?" He asks, then turns to Isaac as well.

"Yup." I answer, returning the smile. The four of us get up from our red booth. I thought just for a moment, that this booth was ours. Sure, someone was bound to slide into it soon once the waitress had cleaned any trace of us being there, but it was still ours.

We begin walking out of the diner. Jackson waves to an older man - we call him A.J - he's owned the diner for decades. A nice and decent man, especially to a group of loud teenagers. He waves back at us and shines a toothy grin in my direction. "Thanks again, A.J!"

Isaac holds the door open for us as we leave the diner and begin walking towards Jackson's truck. "Shotgun!" I call out,

Isaac trails further behind us and yells, "Yes Scar, we get it. You always take shotgun." I can imagine he's rolling his eyes, which brings me much pleasure.

The four of us get into Jackson's truck and he immediately turns up the radio after he puts the keys into the ignition. Jackson then opens up the sun roof, allowing the night breeze to fill the truck. My hair flies in the wind which provides me with a short sense of freedom. I glance over at Jackson. Oh his poor scalp, it must be so cold. I run my hand over his head and let out a short laugh, "What a baldy."