Summer of '07

Super Bowl

He introduces me to a few people, and by the looks of it I seem to be the only person at the party that he's known since childhood. Makes me feel kinda special for some reason, despite the fact that we've been estranged for quite some time. Most of his friends seem rather cocky—which would explain how they came to be friends with Elijah, since he was no different than any of them.

We all hang around the living room as the game unfolds, but to be honest, I've kinda lost interest in football over the years. I haven't played it since the seventh grade and have pretty much lost touch with most things football related. Now that I think about it, I don't really know why I came out to the party tonight given that I knew that it was a Super Bowl party. I didn't really have anything better to do but seeing as I don't know anyone here but Elijah, I probably would have been better off staying home tonight.

Once I start seeing other people go outside, I follow them to get away from all the commotion surrounding the game and the ridiculous new commercials. I sit out beside the pool and watch as people come and go, having their little conversations as they drink either wine or beer. I'm still not drinking either, especially considering I drove here... don't want to be driving home drunk, did that before.

My loneliness by the pool soon comes to an end as Michelle comes out and notices that I'm by myself. She takes a seat beside me and begins asking me questions about myself... I guess to get a better feel of who I am.

"So how long have you known Elijah?" She asks me.

"My whole life, pretty much. I knew of him in elementary school. We were also both on the football team in middle school," I reveal to her. " We didn't become friends though until high school... cuz of... a girl we both knew from summer camp."

"Oh really? Yeah, Elijah doesn't talk much of his high school days, so I'm sorry for not knowing who you are."

"Oh no, you're good. I don't like to talk about those days either. High school wasn't the best time for me."

"Totally understandable. High school can be a shitshow for some people."

"What about you? How long have you known about Elijah?" I ask her.

"Since our junior year of college. I was 21."

"Oh cool. I thought he said 23 though."

"Yeah, he was 23. I'm two years younger than he is." Interesting... Elijah remembers how old he was but not how old his wife was when they started dating.

"Interesting," I mumble, as she turns her head to look over to Elijah standing on the other side of the pool as he converses with some of his other friends.

"Yep, we've been together for six years. Best six years of my life," she says, as if bragging.

"Cool," I mutter beneath my breath, as I follow her gaze and look over to Elijah, whose line of sight quickly connects with mine. Not Heather's—I mean, Michelle's.

"So are you married?"

"Oh god, no!" I say, as if repulsed by the idea, which I'm not obviously, but... I don't know why I said it like that.

She chuckles, "Why do you say it like that?"

"Oh no, I didn't mean to say it like it was a bad thing... I just meant that... I'm not ready for that kind of commitment."

"Yeah, it's a huge life commitment. But when you've found someone that you truly connect with, it's easy to make that commitment."

I look over at her and I see the way she looks at him. I can tell that she's in love with him. Though when I look over to him, I don't exactly see the same thing. He smiles at her, but it's just not enough to indicate that he feels the exact same way that she does. I believe that he loves her, but the extent of that love is... curious.

My thoughts come to a halt when Elijah heads over in our direction. He takes a seat next to Michelle and kisses her on the cheek. "Having fun yet, Trav?"

"Yeah, man. It's a pretty cool party."

"You don't have to lie," Michelle says with a smile. "It's kinda lame actually."

"Well, I didn't want to be rude."

"Yeah, I remember when I was in college and I went to parties where I didn't know anybody. It was never really fun," Michelle says.

"Nope. But you know what would make it fun... if you drank from that keg, upside down," Elijah suggests with a smirk on his face.

"No thanks, man. I'm good."

"Oh come on, man! You gotta do it, just this one time!"

"Nah..."

"Don't be a pussy! Just do it, if you get drunk I'll drive you home afterwards," Elijah insists, just like he used to pressure me into doing things back in high school. I can see that part of him hasn't changed at all.

"That's assuming that you don't get drunk," Michelle comments.

"I won't. My tolerance is pretty high at this point." Reminds me of the last time we got drunk together... that didn't end well. "What do you say, Trav? You down?"

As usual, I cave into peer pressure and let Elijah lead me astray.