Cadence honked her car horn to grab Gus’s attention. He must have been so deep in thought that he just didn’t notice.
“I was ignoring you because this part is very delicate, would you give me 2 minutes?” Gus explained without glancing her direction.
Granted, it was a little bit rude, but so what? She turned the engine off. This would give her a minute to think. She had driven 200 miles to be here at the farm with him. She felt no remorse withholding this relationship from Kerass, absolutely none at all. Yet she couldn’t stop thinking about Kerass, which made her feel bad when she was supposed to be focused on just having alone time with Gus. She heard a tap at the window bringing her back to the present.
“Seems like I’m not the only one who was living inside their head,” Gus said sniggering. With a straight face, he continued saying, “I had no idea you were going to drive all this way just for me.”
Cadence was so touched that she didn’t know what to say. She wanted to say something sappy in response, but it all just seemed so corny in her mind. Why did she still feel a bit of embarrassment around Gus telling him how she really felt?
“Thank you, honestly,” Gus said.
“What is there to do around here?” she asked trying to avoid sounding like some clingy girlfriend. She’d made that mistake her sophomore year and it backfired like crazy having gone the entire year single.
“Well you could help out with the manual labor…”
Cadence raised one eyebrow at him, which got a chuckle out of Gus making her feel better about herself instantaneously.
“Or you could talk to me while I do all of that stuff, keep me company, you know?”
Cadence smiled, but when she looked, she saw that there were four other men working. She wanted some one-on-one time with him away from Oak Stream. She already felt like she had unintentionally dragged the spirit of Kerass along on what was supposed to be a romantic getaway.
“Is there anything, you know, that we could do one-on-one?”
“Oh!” Gus replied startled. “I was so focused on the work, I almost completely forgot. It’s hell week here, you know.” He gave a low whistle. “For some alone time, well, you gotta wait ‘til midnight. Trust me when I say that midnight memories here are extraordinary.”
The heat shimmered off the blacktop. The temperature inside the car read 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The drive took well over an hour. It was now or never.
“You ready?” Jeremy asked.
Jay nodded unbuckling his seatbelt. All of his buddies from the Oak Stream High Christian group got out of the van with him. Kerass had come along. It took some convincing, but he came round. Kerass had wanted some alone time with Jay, and Jay totally respected that and wanted the same thing, but this wasn’t the proper time to do that. The buds from the Christian group had become true friends to him. They were all there to support him primarily and their school secondarily.
The event program that was handed out to him made it official in his mind. It was the state competition for marching band and he wasn’t a part of the final performance. He held his breath and exhaled slowly.
Kerass stood to the side of the concessions stand waiting for his slice of pizza. He had no idea this was going to take all day. Last year when he watched Jay perform it only took the morning, but because they were watching everybody this year, it was going to take all day, forever in his mind. Jay had apparently become a huge fan of marching band in general and whispered praise or snide comments depending on how well he thought they were doing. None of it mattered to Kerass. He wouldn’t have minded sleeping all day, but the sun was so bright and the stands were so uncomfortable that it was an impossibility.
Jeremy walked over standing by him while he continued to wait for what seemed like 10 minutes for his pizza slice.
“Kerass, right?”
Kerass nodded.
“Great. I can be bad at names sometimes, so I’m glad I got yours right.”
“Props, bud,” Kerass said laden with sarcasm. Fortunately Jeremy laughed.
“I know,” Jeremy began. He continued saying that it was an awkward thing to say. “Anyways, Jay’s talked a lot about you. I feel like I already know you.”
“Yeah, Jay’s really important to me.”
“So…” Jeremy exhaled. He told Kerass that the other guys really bonded with him in the car.
This was news to Kerass who thought that it was just mindless chatter.
Jeremy continued saying that seeing as Kerass was a fellow believer, a Christian, “it just makes sense, right? Do you think you’ll come out to our club meetings?”
“I can make time for it I guess. You guys are chill enough anyways.”
Jeremy slapped Kerass’ back twice. It was more forceful than Kerass was anticipating. He may indeed get a bruise from this. It was fine though. The guys were trying, even if it was an odd way of going about it.
When Kerass sat back down next to Jay, Jay noticed something extremely odd. In the sweltering heat of 85 degrees, Kerass was wearing a hoodie. Why? Why was he wearing a hoodie?
“Aren’t you steaming up?” Jay asked.
Kerass shrugged his shoulders. “The wind’s a bit chilly is all…” he mumbled monotone.
“Yeah, but there’s no wind.” Jay pointed out. He proceeded to tell him that he was perspiring. “Why are you lying to me? This isn’t you.”
“This isn’t the proper place, Jay,” Jeremy gently scolded.
“Just drop it,” Kerass sternly begged him.
“No!” Jay yelled, which now disturbed those seated around the group who glared in response at him.
“Jay!” Jeremy condescended in a breathy whisper. “Drop. It.”
“This isn’t over, not by a long shot,” Jay added conceding.
Oak Stream’s marching band came onto the field. Jay watched with anticipation silently critiquing every missed note, step, and flag twirl. Each piece got a little more intense. The show began with a ballad and ended with a march that was played at double the intended speed. When the performance ended, Jay didn’t clap. He was completely unaware of his surroundings. He couldn’t tell if that was their best or their worst performance of the season. Ultimately it didn’t matter.
The day continued on with more junk food, lots of other marching bands performing, and lots of talking and bonding. It was amazing to see how quickly Kerass had become comfortable with Jeremy and the others. This warmed Jay’s heart a good deal. Finally, as the afternoon came to a close and the sun began to set they started to announce the rankings. Jay wanted a 3, at the very least. Something equal to what they had performed the previous year, if not better. There was no number one band in the state. It was solely based on how well each individual band did, which made marching band all the more fun because there was no ultimate winner. Oak Stream’s marching band got a 2, an excellent for their performance, an entire level better than the previous year. Jay was so shocked and thrilled that he jumped up screaming, jumping, and clapping his hands. Jay watched as Mr. Martin mouthed something to the band. They all stood up and shouted, “This is for you Jay!”
Mr. Martin added, “You’ll always be a part of Oak Stream’s marching band.”
Jay was so stunned that he couldn’t help it. He started to cry. Sure it was embarrassing to do so in front of the guys, but he couldn’t hold it back. The tears flowed effortlessly down his face.
The seconds on the clock inside the car continued to rise. There were 25 seconds left to midnight. She was delighted, if not a little bit surprised, that Gus had taken the midnight time frame so literally. She understood overall. In what now remained 10 seconds, he would be off the clock and then the fun would really begin.
The clock read 12:00 a.m. Gus looked over at Cadence and smiled tilting his head towards the door. They got out of the car. They were in the middle of a field. It had taken them 10 minutes on a dirt road to get to the field. Off in the distance, Cadence could see a dirt and gravel path through a gap in the trees. Cadence looked up at the stars. The night sky looked brighter than ever before seeing as she was so far away from Oak Stream, which while being a small town, still covered the night sky from it’s radiance.
An engine turned on. Gus drove an ATV right beside her holding out a helmet. She took it from him and snapped the buckle shut. Throwing her leg over the side, she got on and put her arms around his waist. Her heart started pounding before they even began to move forward. The ATV headlights turned on, which made the sky harder to see, but showed that there were 2 or 3 deer in the trees in the distance.
The ATV lurched forward in the field. Cadence let out a gasp. She looked at the speedometer as the speed continued to rise past 25, 35, 45 miles per hour. She started to scream in shock and delight as Gus did figure 8’s throughout the field. Before she knew it, the ATV had already climbed to 75 miles per hour. Her screams turned into laughter. She couldn’t stop laughing. Tears of euphoric joy came down in buckets as she laughed without a breath.
Then just as suddenly Gus hit the brakes. Cadence’s laughter stopped as she gasped for breath, trying to still her ever-beating heart. Although she hated to admit it, her heartbeat rose in the stillness. She was closer to Gus and words failed her when she tried to think of why she loved him, but inexplicably, she had grown to be nervous, an excited nervous around him.
Gus slowly moved the ATV forward going 15 miles per hour down the gravel and dirt path in the forest. The wind picked up. Gus turned the headlights off. Cadence looked at the deer. Their heads were touching each other as they ate the grass to the side. She couldn’t tell if they were fighting or in love. She didn’t know why she thought of the animals loving each other and why it would even matter, but in that moment, it did.
The light reflected from the moon cast shadows from the leaves painting Cadence’s face in light and darkness. Gus stopped the ATV in the middle of the circle turning the ATV back around toward the field. He led her off the vehicle. She put her arms around his neck. He bent his head down, their lips met. Crickets were chirping, an owl hooted, but the sounds did not disturb their bliss.
Cadence inhaled about to say something, but Gus put his index finger up to her lips.
“It’s nobody’s business but ours,” Gus said.
Julia had made a mistake. She wanted to turn back around so desperately, but like an utter fool, she had neglected to check the gas gauge. Now she was running on empty. She had been running on empty for 10 miles. Now her car sputtered to a stop. She hit the dashboard in an attempt to take her frustration out on the vehicle.
Just then, a car pulled up behind her. The red and blue lights turned on. The police officer walked slowly over to her vehicle and tapped the window with the butt of her flashlight. She rolled down her window putting her hands on the steering wheel. She held her breath as the officer opened up her mouth to speak.
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