Once we got to the clearing and our beat up jalopy was finally in sight the three of us paused, as if it was a big black bear in our path. Rust had taken over most of the cream paint job we had pooled our money to get with our after school jobs at the McDonald’s. I was surprised to see that no scavengers had stripped the car of anything valuable. It was pretty deep in the forest, though, but living in a small town that revolves around hunting and fishing, you’d think that it would’ve been found by now.
“Oh my god, the Roxy air fresheners are still in there!” Michelle said as she walked towards the truck. “Do you still have all of those Roxy shirts, Teal? God that must’ve been all you wore back in high school,” she chuckled and fished in her pocket for the keys.
The truck was initially Michelle’s, given to her by her birth father who had wandered back into her life in grade 10 and left shortly after. Pretty soon Teal and I started putting some of our money into it too as the three of us were inseparable. We were using it almost exclusively to either go for shakes at Wendy’s with whatever loose change we could scrounge up from our lockers. Driving out to the point to meet up with our boyfriends, making out by the glow of a bonfire. Dropping off last minute outfits to each other for major milestones like prom, first dates, band trips and sports banquets.
Back then, everyone in the town knew it was us driving by because of the racket the car would make going down the road. I couldn’t count on one hand how many times the cops would pull us over and threaten to take it off the streets. Once when we were driving around town, wasting time between classes, a cop pulled us over and passed Michelle a wire hanger and begged her to have one of us attach the muffler to the body of the car to keep it dragging on the road. I think that got us four more months until we finally laid it to rest in the woods where we were now.
Surprisingly, when Michelle slid the key into the lock, the doors popped open. “Shotgun!” Teal screamed as she walked towards the passenger side. The door creaked open about three inches, and Teal shimmied using her hips to pry the door open enough to peek inside. The smell of rotting seats and whatever else was left on the floors of the car was overwhelming. “Oh gross, there’s like three dead mice in here,” Teal said, covering her mouth and nose with her sleeve.
“Must’ve eaten through the bottom,” Michelle said peering through the driver window, a little hesitant to try the door after a few more furry carcasses caught her eye on the driver’s seat.
I fling my backpack onto the ground and zip it open and begin rummaging for the blanket tucked in the bottom. I lay it out on the hood of the car, smoothing out the creases as best as possible. I throw a pack of pitas and hummus onto the blanket and crack open three beers. “Have you guys seen that meme on Instagram that says something to the effect of, ‘Nothing like the days when you’d tell your parents you were at a sleepover, and you’d be dying in a field from drinking too much vodka’? I wonder how many times we ended up sleeping those nights off in this car.” I say, passing the cans to the girls.
“Or how many of those awful clove cigarettes you smoked that would make me gag,” Teal added. “You fucking band kid freak!” She says, raising her can towards me and taking a swig.
“Well, at least, I wasn’t giving bj’s to the basketball team as it was my job.” I shot back, walking and taking a swig of my beer.
“Hey, that was like only two guys!” Teal said, “and besides, I think they were twins or cousins or something. So does it count as two? I’m queer now anyway, so whatever.” The two of us burst into laughter that echoed all around us, bouncing off the trees.
It was nice seeing the girls again. We hadn’t spent much time together after we graduated High School. The truth is, I didn’t even know what Michelle was up to these days and had Teal on Facebook, so “likes” were the extent of our relationship. Although we were standing forty minutes into the woods, it was if the old gang was back again, like time was standing still. We rummaged around the car for a bit longer, took a few photos to post on Instagram and walked back into town, a little buzzed from the beer, heat and excitement of the day.
“You girls want to hit Wendy’s for a shake?” Michelle asked once we got to her car.
“You know it!” Teal answered.
“Shotgun!” I yelled.
