Wanna Go Back

The sun beat at his back, as he lifted the hood of his care. Henry stared at the engine, wiping the beads of sweat on his forehead. Crap. He didn’t know anything about cars. He really should have joined his dad and older brother and Saturday mornings back in high school instead of writing pointless fanfics on his laptop. Those fics didn’t get him anywhere really except maybe improve his writing ability.

Emily came up beside him, fanning herself with his small notebook. He normally would have yelled at her for using his planner to cool herself down, but Henry would forgive her. The sight her dressed down was something refreshing. He had never seen her in a spaghetti strap tank top.

“Don’t even pretend to know what you’re doing, Henry.”

“Fanning yourself will only make you hotter,” he shot back at her. Henry closed the hood of his car. Again, he caught an eyeful of her figure.

She leaned against the driver’s door with a groan. “Princess HAD to get married in Vegas in the SUMMER.”

Henry looked at the side of the popped hood. He motioned their attention to the blacktop they were parked next to. “Hey, at least roadside assistance is coming and we’re near civilization.”

He figured it was a high school from what he could see through the hexagons of the metal fence. Basketball hoops were spread across the concrete, but beyond that they were tin lockers stacked over each other. Doors, which he assumed were entrances to classrooms, divided ten sets of two lockers.

“Even if the wedding was in Vegas and it was gaudy af, you have to admit that Princess and Anthony had a cute wedding.”

Henry frowned and took a look at the metal junk in front of him. The mess of metal boxes and plastic container things frustrated him beyond his every being. Dammit. He shouldn’t have been a lame teenager staying in all day. Well, that wasn’t the only thing on his mind really. Henry still couldn’t believe that his longtime girlfriend broke up with him when Anthyony and Princess on the dance floor. It came out of nowhere really. All he remembered was smiling when Emily reached the couple and pinned a $20 bill to Princess’s sash. Henry obviously had to give her an earful. She was always reckless with money and she was living on a freelance artist with student loans to pay. Emily had student loans that she didn’t finish college for. Then, he saw Amy, his girlfriend or now, storm out of the hall. Henry followed her and that’s when the argument started, escalated and ended.

Yeah. The wedding wasn’t cute. It cost him a girl he really liked.

“Ok now,” Emily was besides him again. She pushed his hands away from the car and reached for the hood down. Henry got a sneak peak of her stomach as he tank rose before she slammed the hood.

Suddenly, his throat felt dry.

Emily sat on the hood and patted beside her. Henry wanted to say a snarky comeback for doubting his nonexistent abilities at fixing his second hand car. Geeze. He was going to make bank as a lawyer as soon as he paid off his loans and got a job protecting tech startups from lawsuits.

*BBBRRIINGGG*

Both Henry and Emily turned back to the black top. Doors burst open revealing students rushing to their lockers. Some sauntered side by side discussing and giggling. Emily clicked her phone revealing it was 2:30. Ah, so school was over for the day.

“Don’t you miss high school?” Henry whispered.

All they could hear was the sun lightly roasting every living creature in the desert city.

“Sometimes.”

Their gazes locked. For a split second, he wanted to cry. The last time he looked deep into Emily’s warm brown eyes was when they both decided to pursue her passion. Henry promised her he would write comic book scripts and maybe even a screenplay for an animated cartoon. Emily would draw for him and breathe life into the words he scribbled. They were both young. He clumsily spoke empty words, well they weren’t so empty when Henry was 17. Henry wanted to take every step to turn his fanfics into real stories, those that people would write their own fanfics of. He wanted Emily to follow eveyr step behind him. But then, life took over. Henry got involved with realistic minded friends, or “bros” as Emily would always talk about on their once weekly phone calls, and he decided to pursue law. That’s where the money was and where Amy was headed anyway.

Emily looked away. Her cheeks visibly red. Maybe it was from the heat. Henry went to the driver’s seat to grab the water bottle in the cup holder. He passed it to her, watching as she nodded a thanks and took a sip. A drip trailed from the coroner of her lips and down to the crevice of her chest.

“I miss when we use to hang out, and when we were like them,” She added his response.

Emily turned to the kids gathering in packs string along the black top. Most under the shade because of this awful heat.

“What happened?” Emily beat him to the punch.

“Amy broke up with me last night,” he blurted out.

“No. Between us, dude.” She stood up and walked up to him.

Every fiber in his body was stunned by her new stature. Though she stood below his eye level, confrontation exuded out of her stare. Were there things he ignored all these —

“I visit you once in undergrad ready to start our comic, which we had weekly ‘meetings’ for over the phone and then you ditch me for your dude bros and your new ‘something,’ Amy. After you had midterms and so happen to sleep with Amy, you stopped talking to me and decided to be a lawyer,” her eyebrow was furrowed the entire time and her arms crossed over her chest.

“How did you find out I slept with Amy after midterms?”

“Cuz your girlfriend at the time wanted to make sure I knew you weren’t mine.”

“You were never mine!” He threw his arms up. This caught the attention of the high school kids. “You could never be mine. You’re some crazy fanfic stalking commenter who had a HUGE crush on me and followed me to school.”

Henry looked at her — her chest heaving from the yelling and pent up frustration.

“Apparently, you did too.” His eyes widened at the comment. “You don’t think I knew that Amy got pissed at you parenting me about my damn spending habits during the wedding reception or the fact that you’ve been checking me out since you offered to drive me home.”

Emily went to the front seat and reached inside. She pulled the lever releasing the trunk. Emily stomped to the back of the car to grab her rolling suitcase.

“I’m so stupid,” she pulled out her phone as Henry approached her. “Ugh! It’s so dumb that I thought we could just go back-”

“We can!” I wanna go back. I want us to be friends just like how we use to.”

“We can’t be friends again! Even though I said that,” she grumbled an incoherent sound. “I said that because I miss you. I miss the Henry from high school!”

“You don’t think I miss the teen Emily either?”

“Well, we can’t be those two again can we?!” Emily typed away on her phone. “Don’t even think of driving me back to California! I’ll just get a ride share to the damn airport.”

“What?”

Emily stuck her tongue out while displaying her phone screen.

“This is the worst wedding ever!” Henry exclaimed.

“Uhh,” an unfamiliar voice reached them. “Sorry to interrupt, but I’m the roadside assistance guy. I can help you. Thank you for waiting.”

Henry sighed, hoping he could take a second to be composed. Though, he could never be really composed around Emily. Gawd, he always had to say the dumbest things around her. How did he lose control around her?

“His car broke down. Probably cuz it’s so hot. Henry will be ready for you.” Emily said before turning away from them.

“Emily,” he called out to her.

“I can tow your car, but I have another appointment, so I’ll have to get started now. Will she be riding back with us?”

“No!” Emily yelled from a few steps away.

“Ugh,” Henry grumbled. He’d deal with her late. “No. I’ll be there.” He looked back at Emily with a frown.