January.
Chapter 48
When we pulled in to the IHOP parking lot we saw Jonah smoking in front. He waved when we drove by and into a parking space. When we got out of the car he dropped his cigarette and started walking towards us. "Hey," He said. His eyes were wide and he was jittery I guess. Bennett looked at him.
"Are you okay?"
"Had one of them five hour energy shots." Jonah said grinning. "Been awake for two days tomorrow morning." Bennett nodded, looking at me and exchanign a look. I smiled a little. "Beck and Sean are inside. I had to have a smoke."
"Okay," Bennett said. And we went inside. It was so cold out.
Jonah yelled across the restaurant to them. It was empty except for soem college-aged kids that turned shooting Jonah a dirty look. But he was boucing running towards the table. A waitress yelled at him, but he had already crahed in to Becky jumping in to his seat.. She elbowed him hard in the rib. "Jesuschrist," She hissed. "You freaking moron."
Sean laughed. Jonah shifted. Bennett and I sat down across from them. There were two tables pushed together. Bennett spilled off onto the other. I sat next to Sean.
"Where were you tonight?" Becky asked me and Bennett.
"Party," Bennett said. "I thought you guys were going to it."
Becky rolled her eyes. "Family thing." She said. "I don't get it. We all sit at home watching this giant ball drop in slow motion it's dumb."
Sean smield a little. "It wasn't that bad." He said. "Your mom was hysterical."
"No," Becky said. "She was embarrassing." She looekd at me and Bennett. "She was gettign drunk and singing the national anthem for twenty minutes, it was awful."
Jonah was tapping his fingers on the table. They were hitting the table so fast and hard it was annoying. Becky reached over slamming her hand down on his. "Stop."
Jonah laughed. "What?"
Sean laughed too. "Is anyone else coming?"
"Paul said him and Rainie were." Bennett said. "I ran into them at the party. They just needed to stop by her house real fast. She had to watch the ball drop with her family."
"Oh," Sean said. "Cool."
"Okay," Jonah said. "Guys, you gotta' hear this story..."
It took twenty minutes before Jonah shut up about how he hit this animal. He had no idea what it was but he did it last night on five hour energy shots again. He apparently stays up for long periods on special occasions. Last summer it was the fourth of July and him and Sean set fireworks off at four in the morning. Bennett had told me when Jonah got up to get another cigarette.
When he came back in Rainie and Paul were with him. Jonah was telling Rainie his story about hitting the animal and she was nodding and listening and Paul was trying his best not to because Jonah was making this story as exaggerated and long as he could. "...it looked liek a beaver or a woodchuck or something. I don't even know. It was so weird. And then..."
Bennett cut in saying hello to them. But Jonah kept telling his story and Rainie kept listening. She was making a horrified face. Not saying anything. Just staring at Jonah. "It was insane." Jonah finished.
Rainie was sitting diagonal to me. She exchanged a look with me because Paul and Bennett were talking about something. I smiled laughing a little. Becky looked at Jonah. "You need to lay off these five-hour-energy shots." She said steadily.
He laughed at Becky. "They're not bad for you." He said. "Truckdrivers take them all the time."
"Are you a truckdriver?" Sean asked leaning towards Jonah.
"No."
"Then why do you use them?"
Rainie laughed. Jonah didn't answer. He kept tapping his fingers.
The waitress came over asking Rainie and Paul if they wanted coffee and refilling the rest of our cups. When she was gone, Jonah looked at Bennett excitedly. "Did I tell You!" He said loudly.
"No, what?" Bennett was humoring Jonah. It was like he was drunk but he wasn't.
"Saves The Day is coming in a few weeks." He put his hand in the air. "We're going."
Bennett gave him a high-five. Then Jonah turned to me, I gave him a high-five too. He hadn't forgotten my Saves the Day shirt.
"Who are they touring with?" Paul asked.
Jonah paused for a few seconds. The only time he stopped moving. His eyebrows went down. We waited. He was thinking hard. "I don't remember." He said finally.
Rainie put her hand in front of her mouth laughing silently. I was smilign a little too. Trying not to.
We just kept gettign coffee. Jonah going out and smoking every twenty minutes. Sean and Becky going with him sometimes. I didn't know Becky smoked, but I wasn't surprised when she did. Rainie moved over one chair so she was across from me. "I like your hair." She said. "When did you dye it?"
"Last Friday," I said.
"It looks so good." She said smiling. She was so nice. She looked over at Paul. The empty seat beside her was bothering her a little. She pulled him over a seat. Bennett had been talking, but Paul didn't break the conversation. He just moved over next to her. She turned back to me. "Your friend, the one who had the orange hair, is her hair red now?"
"Yes," I said nodding.
"Yeah, I saw her with that kid you and her were with when you were shopping. I thought it was her." She said, her eyebrows down a little. She moved her hands around her coffeemug. Her wrists were so thin and boney. "Are they dating?"
"No," I shook my head smilign a little. "You'd tihnk that, but they just hang out a lot because he's straightedge and the kids he hangs around with aren't, so whenever he isn't hanging out with them him and Cass hang out."
"Really?" She said her eyes widening a little. "Gosh, I thought they were going out for sure. But I don't know much about relationships. My best friend though, she can tell everytihng about someone's relationship in a flash."
I nodded listening. Paul and Bennett weren't even paying attention to this conversation. But I don't know much about relationships. She was Rainie Joseph. In love. Hearing those words coming out of her mouth was the opposite of what you'd expect.
"She's never had a relationship last more than two months." She said. I sipped my coffee. "My longest relationship before Paul, was three months, so I wasn't any better."
"Wait what?" Paul said suddenly.
"Nothing," Rainie said looking at him smiling. "Me and Elisa are just talking."
Bennett looked at me. "What are you talking about?" He asked me in a really quiet voice.
"Nothing," I said smiling at him a little.
Paul sighed rolling his eyes. Rainie kissed him cheek. "You're so self-concious." She said to him.
"No, I'm not," He said under his breathe.
She looked at me and Bennett. "He's really insecure about himself." She said.
Paul sighed again, Bennett laughed a little. I looked at Paul. His was covering his face with his hands like someone who are irritated and on the edge annoyed always do. She laughed at him. "I'm just joshing you." She said.
"Joshing you?" Bennett asked Rainie. "Who says that?"
"She does." Paul said. "Every fucking chance she has to."
Rainie sipped her coffee. Not saying anything. Her and Paul were cute. Even when she was annoying him he never yelled at her or got into a fight with her. I remembered im talking loudly into the phone fighting with her. It's impossible seeing that happen now.
Jonah came back in alone this time. "Becky's dad wanted her home. So Sean's driving her. I odn't know if he's coming back." Jonah said sliding in to the seat beside Rainie. He looekd tired. The energy shot was wearing off. The difference between Jonah now and a few minutes ago was amazing. His eyes were tired. Sagging. He was crashing.
"You look tired." Rainie nudged him.
He stared at her numbly. "Where's my coffee?" He asked.
She pushed it towards him. He drank it down. Hoping it would keep him awake. But in a few minutes he was laying his head in his arms on the table. Blinking. And looking at us silently.
"Is he okay?" Paul asked.
"He's dying," Rainie said laughing.
"I'm fine," Jonah mumbled. He closed his eyes fighting to keep them open. He turned his face up. Resting his chin on his folded arms. He looked at me. "Hi, Elisa." He said.
I smiled a little. "Hi," I said.
"I don't look like I'm dying, huh?" He was overtired. He had no idea what he was saying. It was like he was a drugs. Rainie was smiling looking at him. Bennett was laughing quietly.
"Nah," I said.
"Mmhmm." And he rested his head back where it was. "I told you so." In two minutes he was out.
"That's why those tihngs never work." Paul said. "You just crash when they wear off."
"Awww," Rainie said. "He's gone."
"He always does that." Bennett said. We were all starign at him. "Him and Sean started it in middle school. Taking energy shots and shit. Staying up all night. It's stupid."
"Does Sean still do it?" I asked him.
"No," He said shaking his head.
"How's he going to drive home?" Paul asked smiling, laughing a little.
Bennett sighed. "Let's let him get some sleep. We'll wake him up when we are leaving."
They ended up not waiting till when we were leaving. Bennett called Sean and he came to drive Jonah home since Jonah had actually walked here. They were heaving Jonah outside who was delirious and overtired. Rainie was just watching Paul. I figured I could start conversation.
"How long have you and Paul been together?" I had been curious.
"Nine months," She said, turning back to me. She dipped a spoon into her coffee spinning it around in it. I tried to come up with the least generic response I would to this. But all I could come up with was Wow. "It's weird. We've broken up twice, and somehow we always end up back together. Even if we broke up at the end of the summer and went to different colleges something tells me we'd end up back together. Right at the beginning."
I nodded. There was nothing to say. She kept spinning her spoon in her coffee. Staring at the light brown color as it made a hurricane shape of cream. She was just talking. Not to me. To whoever was listening. Which was coincidentally me. "How did you meet?" I heard myself asking.
She msiled a little looking up finally. Releasing her spoon which spun halfways around without her guidance. "We met at this party, I was set up with his friend and I don't know I got Paul's phone number because we sort of clicked. But," She sighed. "I started hooking up with Sean at parties and we were going to go out instead of me and Paul. Somehow me and Paul kept running into each other and the next thing I know I'm sitting outside of a gas station with him and he asked me out." She smiled a little. Laughing at herself. "It sounds like a cheeseball love story huh?"
I smiled a little. "Yeah," I said. "But isn't that a good thing?"
She looked at me liek I had said something she never thought of. "You're right." She said smiling still. She looked off into nowhere. "I don't know. We're so weird together. We always just fit."
I smiled. Looking down at my cold coffee.
"What about you and Bennett?" She asked. "I was always wondering how you guys met."
I looked up surprised a little. Rainie Joseph wanted to hear how I met Bennett. She didn't know. "We were put together in a group and we started talking about music because I was wearign a band t-shirt he knew." She leaned in interested. "And I don't know, I was at theis party with my boyfriend and I went outside to get osme air and he was there. It was the night Paul punched him, and he told me what happened. And we sort of became friends."
"Wait," She said her face serious. "The night Paul and I got back together?"
I nodded.
"That's so weird." She said. "Sorry I interrupted you."
I didn't plan on going on any further. But for some reason I did. "My boyfriend cheated on me, and I don't know for some reason I went to Bennett. And we talked that night. And he walked me home, and we kissed under a streetlight-"
"The ngiht I put in a good word for him to you?" She asked excitedly.
"Yeah," I said smiling.
She smiled. "God, I felt so guilty about that. I was so happy when you and Bennett started going out, but really? That night you guys figured out you liked each other?"
"I guess so," I said. "Yeah."
She smiled. "Aww, that's so perfect." She said. "Because a few days earlier I went into him and Paul's work and I was talking to him and asking him what was new and just teasing him because I got him to admit he liked someone. And he told me your name. I don't know, I jsut knew it was you that Friday." She was smiling. "That's so perfect. So me and Paul kind of helped you guys find eahc other?"
I smiled. "Yeah," I said.
She sat back a little. Paul and Bennett were walking by the window up front. She sighed. "I really love him though," She said. "I feel so empty when he isn't with me." And I had thought it was the other way around.
We left at four in the morning. Everytihng Rainie had said to me was still fresh in my head. Paul and Bennett were jsut relieved they had called Sean to get Jonah home when they did. We said goodbye. Rainie walking away. Finding Paul's hand with hers. They were perfect. Everything they've been through. They loved each other. I envied Rainie even more now.
Bennett moved his arms around my waist. It was still so dark out. He kissed me. "Did you have a good night?" He asked.
"Yes," I said queitly looking at him.
"Do you need me to drive you home now?" He asked.
"It's four in the morning," I said. "I don't think my mother cares how late I stay out tonight."
He kissed my forehead. And wove his fingers in to mine and we drove to Cherry street disapearing behind a red door. We didn't go upstairs. We stayed downstairs. We sat on the couch. We cuddled together under the same blanket and we went through the channels. He found a movie he liked. It was a Christmas movie, and he admited to me when he put it on that it was one of his favorite cheesy movies.
And we watched it until I accidentally gave up on him. And fell asleep. My face buried agaisnt his chest. And his arms around me. Holding me close.
I woke up to a paid programming special on this special Express Cooker. I felt his chest rising and falling underneath me. It was seven in the morning. Twelve hours ago our night began. And I ended up here. It had been one night. The new year was here. I tipped my chin up and kissed his neck softly.
He woke up a few moments later. Not sure of why he was. He stretched his shoulders with my laying on top of him. Not disturbing me. And he kissed the top of my head.
If there was a better beginning to any day, year, or morning it wouldn't be much better than this.
He walked me home. The sky was a sunny type of dawn. The sun rising and everything was waking up. The sky was a sunny watercolor rainbow painted from the horizon to as faar as we coudl look up. His hand was in mine and we walked the sidewalks nobody knowing us. And nobody in this world mattering except for each other. He left me in the middle of my front lawn. His eyes closing as he held me for a few seconds.
I walked inside. Shutting the door but keeping this image of him. Tired, and happy standing in the snowy front lawn I used to build snowmen on. He made my heart pick up speed. Racing in my chest faster than I could ever measure.
My house was queit. Empty and silent. I missed him already.
