Bay City Runaway

Chapter 14

"Oh totally, I've never been to Kansas City."

I was trying to figure out how to get Jennifer's seat, but the line was piling up behind me.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around," I said, lamely.

"Ok. See ya," she said.

And so, I walked on. I thought back to how Tyrice had said how critical it was that I get that seat by her and how I'd failed. Maybe once we got going, I could get Jennifer to switch me for a while, I wondered.

I found Zach a few rows back, shaking his head and grinning. He had saved me a spot.

"Plan B?" he said.

"I don't have a plan B."

"Don't worry about it. You have the whole trip to connect. You just gotta get her alone for a little while. I'll help you out. Ok?"

At around 11:30, we stopped at a McDonald's for lunch. We piled out of the bus and walked into the restaurant. Zach and I managed to get in line with Jennifer and Laura.

After we made our orders, Zach said: "Do y'all mind if we join you?"

She turned to Jennifer, who was not paying attention and then to us. "Sure. That would be fine."

After we had gotten our food, we sat down, and Zach said, "So, that was some party, right?"

"Oh yeah. We had a really good time," said Laura. "Not like some other parties I've been to recently."

I got the feeling she was talking about her party from the summer. I tried to avoid eye contact with her.

Zach said, "Yeah, well, some parties just don't turn out the way you hope them to. Namsayin?" he said, both to Laura and to me. He kicked me a little bit under the table.

"Um...yeah. Some parties we say or do things we regret," I said.

"Yeah, well..." she said.

"Yeah, and some people are just assholes," said Jennifer, glaring at me.

"Laura," I said, taking a leap, "Do you think we could talk about this? Maybe on the bus?"

She looked at Jennifer then at Zach. "Zach, can you swap seats with me when we get back on?"

Zach gave me a quick smile and said to her, "Yeah, no problem."

The silence as we boarded the bus was awkward. There was no small talk to be made now. I let her sit by the window, and I popped a breath mint while she wasn't looking before I sat down next to her in the aisle seat.

I started in, "Look, you didn't want to date me, and besides, I saw you with that Chad guy."

"It's not just about Stacey. I got in trouble with my mom for all the booze you brought, and you made a drunken ass of yourself if you recall. Making out in the pool. Being rude to my parents. Making fun of my brother for not wanting to jump off the diving board. You really fucked up, James."

"Well, what about Chad? I saw you two together. You were getting really friendly with him," I countered.

"Chad's mom had just died in the spring. That was the first time he'd gone out for a couple of months I was just comforting him. Nothing is going on between us."

She stared hard at me as I digested what she was saying.

I no longer had a leg to stand on. "I just...." and I could feel the very beginnings of a tear coming. "You just really threw me off. I mean, every summer since we've been in college, we'd gotten back together. I really wanted to be with you. I really want to be with you. That whole thing with Stacey and me was because of how hurt I felt by you. I want to be with you."