Summer of '74

Alright, Alright, Alright

"How much longer?"
"We're almost there. Another fifteen minutes." My father turned the radio down and came to a stop. "Did you want to stop anywhere to get anything to eat before we get there?"
I leaned on the door and shook my head. "I'm good." I looked outside and frowned as we finally passed other houses. After an hour we'd finally come across homes, a church, and a school. Everything around us looked so dead I was surprised when I saw kids outside and playing on an empty playground. I looked at the one street that seemed to have stores down it and an old gas station on the corner. "Chris-"
"Hm?" I came back to reality.
"Our house doesn't really have an extra room for you so we turned the the office into a room for you."
I nodded. "That's nice."
"Are you really not going to college?"
Ah.
"I don't know. I want t-"
My dad slammed on breaks and put his hand in front of me to keep me from slamming forward. "What the-"
A group of teens walked across the street not caring they'd just walked in front of my dad's car. They kept walking and laughing. A few held cans of beer and one had what I assumed was a cigarette. Once they passed my dad shook his head. "It's gonna be a long summer."

We pulled into a house in the middle of a neighborhood where all the houses practically looked the same. Children played on the street and neighbors waved at each other. "We're here." He got out of his car first and unbuckled my seatbelt. I opened the door and stretched getting out. "I'll put your suitcase in your room. You can go ahead in." A man across the street called my dads name and he smiled. "Hey!" They began making small talk and I went inside. The front door was unlocked and as soon as I entered the house Barry Manilow's Mandy was on full blast. A woman I assumed was my step mother was in the kitchen dancing while on the phone. She looked so much like my mother from what I saw. Except her hair was not pin straight like my mother and in the fashion of an Afro. She turned and jumped upon seeing me. "Oh my! I'll call you back!" She hung up excited to see me she hugged me. I was taken back and kept my arms to my side awkwardly. "You must be Christine!"
I nodded. "You're so beautiful- He didn't tell me that." Her smile was genuine and it made me smile back. "I'm Theresa. It's so nice to finally meet you."
"You too-" We were interrupted by a little girl running through the house.
"Andrea! What are you doing?!"
"I have to go outside! The ice cream man is here and I finally have money!" She whined. She couldn't have been any older than 10.
"You're sister is here-" She froze at her words and continued. "Andrea meet Christine."
The little girl gawked at me and nodded before taking off. I laughed and Theresa apologized. "It's okay. I'm gonna go... Look around."
She nodded and hugged me once more. "I'm so happy your here." She gazed at me a second with the smile remaining on her face before she pulled away. "Your room is down the hall to the left." I went the way she described and opened the door to a cramped room with a bed , end table and desk in it. A window a over the bed over looked the street busy with children swarming an ice cream man. I sat on the window sill and sighed. I didn't want to be here.
I thought back to last week with my friends the final sleep over before Alexandra went to Yale and Traci went to Mexico with her boyfriend. I envied them so much. They were doing something great and I was- here. A baseball hit my window and I jumped. Andrea ran to it and waved at me with a Popsicle in her hand. I waved back and she tossed the ball back and ran towards some kids. Everyone looked so happy.
I guess I should be too.

***new story kind of. I wanted to do a 70s kinda story for a while. Just because saw Over the Edge and Dazed and Confused and fell in love. So enjoy.