Kerass walked down Main Street attempting to enjoy his last Friday of freedom before junior year started. His skin baked in the cloudless sky. He breathed in the fresh air walking further and further away from the center of town. Oak Stream seemed quieter mid-afternoon. He couldn’t explain why but the sheer silence on the street was both ominous and comforting. The wind whistled prompting him to keep moving away from town.
Looming in the distance was the water tower. The water tower marked the town limits welcoming people to Oak Stream while simultaneously bidding them farewell. As he approached the town limits, he saw a leg swinging back and forth at the top of the water tower. Someone was sitting there. It was illegal to climb up to the top of the water tower. Whoever it was needed to come down before they got in serious trouble. One could spend a night in jail if they were caught doing anything at the top of the water tower.
Kerass threw a rock as high as he could to grab the person’s attention.
“Is that you Coscarelli?”
Kerass grinned at the ground because he recognized the voice. “Gus, what are you doing up there?”
“It’s the best place to think in the whole town. Why wouldn’t I be here?”
Kerass called up to Gus telling him he should come down. “You know what’ll happen if you get caught, right?”
“Nobody’s going to catch me,” Gus said with an air of confidence that pissed Kerass off.
“How can you be so sure?” Kerass asked accusingly.
“None of the cops go this far away from Main Street and besides, who would tell them, you?”
“No,” Kerass whispered to himself conceding.
“Live once. Why don’t you come on up here and join me?”
Kerass bit his tongue. Gus had made a very valid point. The cops never really left the town center. The rule to stay off of the water tower was more in place for safety reasons anyways. The tower was old and in severe need of a repair, but Oak Stream didn’t have the money to repair it at the time. If Gus was fine sitting up there, what could it hurt if Kerass sat up there too?
Without verbally responding, Kerass started climbing up the ladder rungs attached to the feet of the tower. Gus applauded approvingly. The applause echoed in the woods beside the town limit making Kerass self-conscious, but he kept climbing.
At the top Kerass was afraid to step off of the final rung. Gus slid over to him reaching out his hand. Kerass took it and climbed over Gus. Turning his body around Kerass saw the city and the forest from new heights. It was breathtaking while also blinding from the sun. Gus never said another word while they sat there. It was understood that they’d internally process things on their own.
Looking down at The Hub, the Main Street burger joint, Kerass reminisced about the beginning of summer. She had yelled at him. Cadence had yelled at him. He understood why, but it didn’t make him feel like he deserved to be shouted at any less. It was the first words she had said to him after he revealed that Julia had kissed him. He had foolishly admitted at the same time that he had kissed Julia back in the heat of the moment. Telling her it meant nothing gave him a solid week of silence before she started derailing him in public. She proclaimed him to be a cheating bastard. What was it exactly that he had responded in return? After apologizing he asked her what she wanted him to say, but she just kept on yelling. He was calm the whole time. That was the only part that he remembered.
Thinking more about it, maybe reflecting on top of the rickety old water tower was a bad idea. Kerass crawled over Gus reaching for the ladder rungs. He made eye contact with Gus before moving down the rungs.
“Will I see you at the upperclassmen pool party tonight?” Kerass asked.
Gus smiled. “Yeah, yeah I’ll be there.”
“All right, well I’ll be seeing you,” Kerass said looking down at the ground proceeding to make his descent down the tower.
Cadence sat inside The Hub sipping a caramel latté. She liked that they had expanded to become a café too. The local bar had closed down due to lack of business. A chain bar had opened up across the street. The Hub bought the vacant spot and turned it into a café. This had been where she spent time with Gus over the summer. They laughed and talked about stupid stuff, nothing serious.
She knew she would see him at the pool party. Kerass…she hadn’t spoken to him since their argument outside of the very building she was sitting in. She remembered how it happened clear as day. She walked up calmly to him and asked him if they could go to couples counseling? He blinked really fast as if he were about to sneeze and then did so without covering his mouth…so incredibly gross. He simply asked if high schoolers were allowed to go to couples counseling, which was a no-brainer. She just rolled her eyes in reply. He defensively raised his voice asking what she wanted him to do, to apologize profusely? She calmly said she just wanted to understand why. It was barely above a whisper! He then shouted that she was accusing him of being a cheating bastard and told her to go to hell. He could be such an asshole, but why could she not stop thinking about him?
Cadence had talked to Gus about it all summer. Thinking on it, she was amazed by how close Gus had become to her. He was like her brother. She had a feeling that he wanted something more though…
Why don’t we go there…
The question he wrote in her yearbook at the end of sophomore year scared her, horrified her. She hadn’t responded in any way and that was that. They were simply friends…only friends. The reality was they could never be. Kerass meant too much and she didn’t want to risk losing Gus’ friendship.
Another moment had haunted her all summer. She was sitting in the very seat she was sitting in now. Across from her was Gus. He toyed with her hand, caressing it and holding it. It was very sweet, but friendly albeit a little weird. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it. While doing so, he locked eyes with her. She could’ve sworn there were flames in his irises. Just as quickly as the passion was there, it was gone. Gus went back smiling and goofing around about whatever lame superhero comic book he had just read. Although whenever he discussed comic books, it was the only time his guard was completely down.
It had been a month to the very day of that kiss on the hand. Gus had distanced himself gradually since then. A full week had passed and they hadn’t exchanged a single word to each other. It made her sad, although she wasn’t exactly sure why. It was prideful to think that he was avoiding her. He was just busy. Yeah that’s it. Only busy, he was probably finishing up summer reading assignments. Biting her tongue she admitted that she couldn’t help thinking that the lack of communication was all about how she had avoided the subject. Looking outside, she realized it had transitioned from day to night. It was 8:30. She was going to be late for the pool party.
Damien was drenched walking by the edge of the pool as Julia did a cannonball. She busted out laughing as she came up again.
“Yeah, thanks for that,” Damien said as he walked away from her.
“Oh don’t walk away from me, come back!” Julia called out teasingly.
Cadence had just walked through the chain-link fence. Damien couldn’t help but blush. Even after all this time, she still grabbed his complete attention, a quality that was very appealing. He walked over to her grabbing her shoulder.
She turned around and smiled. He had obviously taken her by surprise.
“Damien? What are you doing here?” she said instantly hugging him.
“I know, I know, a college freshmen at a high school party. Pretty lame, huh?”
“Just a tad.”
“I actually came with Julia.”
“Oh…”
Damien watched as her eyes trailed to the ground.
“Not with with her,” he said which caused Cadence to smile.
“I’m not that stupid, you know.”
“I never said you were. Listen,” Damien began. He continued asking if she had seen Jay.
“No, I haven’t seen him all summer to be honest,” she said. She added that he might be at the pool party, but Damien grabbed her just as she arrived.
“Oh, right, right. How stupid of me, I saw you come in. I guess I’m just a little preoccupied.”
“Go on,” her voice commanded.
“I wanted to leave Oak Stream on better terms with Jay,” he stated. He continued saying that he had avoided him all summer, but he wanted to wish him well and hoped they could be friends. “Sounds pretty dumb, huh?”
“No, not at all. I don’t think he’s gonna show though. He’s been away all summer, I think.” She added that he should go to Jay’s house just to make sure, but she wasn’t sure if he would be back in time to say goodbye to Damien.
“I’m not fully sure he even wants to.” Damien sighed and put his hands on his hips. Looking at Cadence, he knew she couldn’t solve his problem. He hugged her and said, “I’m so glad I got to see you before I headed off though.”
“Me too.”
“Well, I guess I’ll see you when I see you.”
“Yeah…see you.”
Damien turned around and walked away. He knew he was leaving Julia behind at the party, but it didn’t even matter. He knew definitively now that he was saying goodbye to high school and with that recognition, he couldn’t help but shed a tear of remorse over what he was leaving behind.
Cadence walked over to the punch bowl smelling it. Yep, it was definitely spiked, and with the cheapest beer you could imagine. Rolling her eyes, she turned and immediately bumped into Kerass.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” she said, her voice trailing off.
“I’m sorry. I think we got off on the wrong foot this summer. I’ve thought about that encounter a lot actually every-”
“I have too,” she said cutting him off. “Every single day.”
“I understand why you were mad.”
“I wasn’t mad, you were!”
“No, I remember it clearly. I was calm and you were mad.”
She couldn’t believe how he could misremember their biggest argument of the summer, the one that caused them to stop talking to each other.
Kerass held up his hand. “Whatever, you can believe what you want. There’s only one thing I would have done differently about how I left.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
“I should have kissed you,” he said and walked away shaking his head as he went.
She could barely process what had just happened when she heard Gus say something behind her.
“He’s wrong about one thing.”
She turned around and looked at him straight in the eyes.
“I should have kissed you.”
Jay lay in bed lying in the fetal position clutching an unopened letter. He was uncontrollably crying. An entire summer had been wasted and he had nothing to show for it, not even his dignity. He and his father never found his birthmother, but her lawyers had found him on the last day of their search. He didn’t even know if he cared to know her anymore. He regretted the fact that he even knew she existed. She had done what was possibly the most despicable thing that had ever happened to him. She had mailed him a restraining order.
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