You Have 86,400 Seconds To Find Me

11:00pm (72,000 Seconds Remaining)

   "Like-wise! What are your parents first names?"

   "Uh, George and Colleen," I answered, figuring it would probably be better to just go with it.

   "Bill and Laura," Macy responded. "Okay, last one. You have a girlfriend back home?" 

   I looked down at my drawing, wondering if I should answer her. Really, what did she need to know all of these things for? Wasn't this a little heavy for a first conversation?

   "It's okay, Max, you can trust me," Macy said, as I looked up and noticed for the first time how piercing blue her eyes were.

   "I'm single," I said, not taking my eyes off of hers. Not because I wanted to gaze into her eyes like a creep, but because I just couldn't look away. They were just that penetrating.

   "Diddo," Macy said, just as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Then, like nothing had even happend, she began to put her belongings back into her dark purple bag and get up from her seat. 

   "Wait, wait, wait," I said, stopping her before she walked away. 

   "Yes?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

   "What was the interrigation for?" 

   "Well, isn't it obvious?" Macy asked, smiling. 

   I shook my head, no.

   "I just had to learn all the specifics you're supposed to know about your best friend."

   "I'm you're best friend?" I asked, wondering if this was some sort of pick-on-the-new-kid prank.

   "Yeah, why not?" Macy smiled, "You look like you could use one." 

   And then she walked away, leaving me speechless.

   I looked down at the photo in my hand, the one we had just taken down from the tree. It was a photo of me on the first day of school, the day Macy had come up to me and declared me her new best friend. I was wearing a navy blue button-down shirt and jeans, my hair was slightly longer than it is now, my bangs in my face as I was leaning over the table, drawing. 

   I couldn't believe it. How had she taken this without my noticing? Should I be a little weirded out? I turned the picture over and found that Macy had written me a little message on the back, in her neat print.

   I knew way back then you were special, Max. And hey! Speaking of Beverly Hills Cop, it's a shame we never went to a Drive-In movie. We should go one day.  -Mace

   "So, how do you feel about this picture?" Kelly asked, leaning over my shoulder to get a better look at Macy's note.

   "Macy took it my first day of school, the day we met," I said, turning the picture back over to look at it again.

   "Yeah, I know," Kelly said, catching my attention.

    "What?"

    Kelly looked up at me again and shrugged. "I was sitting across from her when she took it."

    "You remember the day she took this?" I asked, stating the obvious.

    "Did I not just say I did, Maxwell?" Kelly said, throwing her hand up in the air. 

    "Right, sorry," I said, shaking it off. "What did she say?"

    "Not much, actually. That was right before our big fight. I remember we were small-talking about our English assignment and then she was like, "Hold that thought, I'm going to go talk to the new guy," and then she was gone."

     "So we started hanging out right after...," I started to say.

     "Right after the first incident?" Kelly finished for me, nodding. "Yeah, she started getting close to you right after we stopped talking." Kelly looked down at her now completely empty cup of coffee, probably wishing it was still full so she could take a very conveinent sip right now. "You were good for her," she whispered quietly, sounding sad, thinking of Macy and how she was back then. It occured to me that this whole thing with Macy was probably a lot harder on Kelly than it was on me. Kelly had known her way longer than I had, after all. 

   "We'll find her," I said, re-reading Macy's note again, trying to figure out what she meant by a Drive-In.

  Speaking of Beverly Hills Cop, it's a shame we never went to a Drive-In movie. We should go one day.

   There were no Drive-Ins around here that I could think of. But then again...

   "Hey, do you mind looking something up for me?" I asked Kelly, handing her my iPhone so I could keep looking at Macy's photo. I wanted to sit here and think back to the good times, when Macy and I had just started getting close. When everything was still good.

  "Yeah, sure," Kelly said, clicking on my Google App as I told her to look up all the Drive-In locations in the area. A few minutes later she said, "Well, there is a Drive-In about twenty minutes away from here," Kelly said. "But it isn't a Drive-In where you go and watch movies. It's a restaurant."

   "What is it called? I asked, as I began pulling out of the parking lot.

   "Howard's," Kelly said, as I turn onto the street and headed for the main road.

   "Well, then," I said, hoping that this was the direction Macy wanted us to go in. "Howard's Drive-In it is."