Photo by Pasi Jormalainen on Unsplash
by Allison Renner
Darkness surrounds the house and fields stretch as far as the eye can see when I go outside for a breath of fresh air, to get away from the party for a moment.
He brings me a drink and asks questions about who I know at the party, where I plan to go to college, but I keep trying to figure out why the air is swimming around me. It’s so hot and smells of exhaust, even though Justine parked the car next to the others along the dirty road, almost a mile away.
I won’t remember that he will give me a piggyback ride and buckle me into his passenger seat. He will drive me home—to his home, and reassure me in the morning that he gave me his bed and he stayed on the couch. I will give him a tight smile of thanks while I call for a ride home from Justine, who will joke about my walk of shame, but she will have no idea.
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Allison Renner’s fiction has appeared in SoFloPoJo, Ellipsis Zine, Atlas and Alice, Spartan, and others. She can be found at allisonrennerwrites.com and @AllisonRWrites.
