(NOT fan fiction!) Kurt Cobain and Tally Fisk

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Kyle didn't always live in the big, fancy house on the other side of Westfahl Wood.

I think his house was probably nicer than mine but maybe not. It was pretty similar. One level. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms. Dark carpet and a garage door that squeaked when it opened.

His room was almost as familiar to me as my own. And my room was familiar to him.

I remember being excited on the Fridays that I went home with him from school or he went home with me. I remember being disappointed the times when I'd ask my mom if Kyle could come over after school Friday and she'd say, "Maybe next week, Spence. You can't spend every Friday with Kyle."

There were even a few backyard campouts. My dad would start a fire in our fireplace for us to roast hotdogs and then we'd run out into the backyard in our pajamas to eat them in the tent. Kyle always said your dad's so cool.

We played ninjas and cowboys until dark when we'd turn into wilderness explorers with our own TV shows as we caught fireflies and moths.

Then, when it was too late, according to Dad, we grumbled our way into the tent and tried to outdo each other in a contest of who could tell the grossest story.

"You don't remember, do you?" Kyle says. He's holding the stick, the one I tried to pick up. "Too good for me since first grade."

"I didn't remember," I say. "I do now. I remember."

I look at his face again. And now I see it. I see the Kyle I was friends with hiding behind the angular features of a man.

It feels like a reunion. Like we should hug and say, I missed you, man.

But that would be ridiculous. We're not long-lost brothers. What does a kindergarten friendship count for anyway?

"Yeah. Okay," Kyle says.

He turns his back on me and continues to gather wood.

I half-heartedly follow, picking up a stick here and there, trying to figure out what just happened.

A teen movie is playing out before my eyes when I make it back to the beach.

I hang back, watching John and Brianna stand with folded arms, leaning close, whispering. Music is playing from a Bluetooth speaker and couples are dancing in carefree and silly ways. Tally and Kyle are two-stepping to a pop song and laughing, in their own world.

Chris, Tate and a few other guys are working on making the fire bigger and I notice April staying close to Chris's side, tied to him by the force of unrequited attraction.

Unrequited might not be the right word. Chris just seems oblivious to April's interest in him. Unrequited describes my longing for Tally. What must it be like to have someone crazy about you while you have so many options that you couldn't care less?

Mavis waves at me from where she stands with her feet in the lapping waves. Davy Semper splashes water at her and Mackenzie Winthrop and they squeal.

The cool front blows in as I take a step to join John and Brianna. It comes as a gust and sends a chill to my bones and my T-shirt flapping behind me.

Brianna scurries off, seeking warmth at the fireside and I, pretending the cold doesn't affect me, stroll casually to John.

"What does she see in him?" he asks.

My gaze drifts to follow his and I see Brianna whispering something to Kyle while Tally and April hold an animated conversation closer to the water.

"Brianna and Kyle?" I ask. "That drama isn't over?"