American Honey

I grabbed my purse from behind the counter. “Ok, let’s go. Can we stop at home and get me some clothes?” I looked down at the shorts and t-shirt I had on from working all day.

She made a face at me. “You can borrow something of mine.” She grabbed my arm and led me out the door to her truck. I climbed in and we drove to her parents. She was still living with them but hoped to move out soon. I secretly thought she was waiting until she got married to move out, but she denied it when I asked her. When we were younger, she would always talk about falling in love and getting married and having babies. She didn’t really care about a career.

She talked the whole ride, catching me up on everyone we hung out with when we were younger. It didn’t seem like a whole lot had changed. I’d been away for so long; would I still have anything in common with them? I had to admit I was a little nervous about this party tonight.

We arrived at Brittany’s and I was greeted warmly by her parents, both of them giving me hugs. She didn’t let me spend much time talking to them, dragging me off to her bedroom. She found me some shorts and a tank top I could wear and shooed me into the shower while she did her hair and makeup.

When I got out of the shower, she insisted on doing my hair and makeup. I watched her in the mirror and I couldn’t help but notice how different we looked. I was about six inches taller than her while she had a fuller figure. Her hair was black and hung well past her shoulders. I had dishwater blonde hair as my grandmother called it that would get wavy in the summer heat. She had dark green eyes and mine were so brown my grandpa always teased me about being full of shit.

“There,” she smiled and put her makeup brush down.

I turned and looked in the mirror. “Brittany!” I exclaimed. “You did an awesome job.” My hair was pinned up in a messy bun with a few pieces framing my face. She picked out the perfect colors of eye shadow to compliment my coloring and it wasn’t too dark. She had definitely found her calling.

“The boys will be fighting for your attention.” She crossed her arms over her chest and admired her work.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know about that.”

“You just wait. Besides, you’re something shiny and new to them. They’re tired of the girls that are always around. They’ll be all over you tonight, trust me.”

We applied our lip gloss and headed out, stopping to say goodbye to Brittany’s parents. We got back into her truck, giggling and looking forward to the night out. Matt’s place was off of the main road and there were bumpy back roads that led to a shack in the middle of a big field. As expected, there were big trucks parked everywhere. I never saw trucks this big in Madison.

Brittany found a spot to park and we checked our hair and makeup in the mirrors on the truck. “Ready?” She asked with a grin.

I gave her a firm nod; I was as ready as I was going to be.

As we got closer to the party, the music got louder. It was only around six PM, but things were in full swing. I looked around, not sure if I recognized anyone anymore.

“Kara!” A girl screamed and ran up to me, embracing me in a big hug. She pulled away, holding onto me at arm’s length. “How are you?”

I glanced over at Brittany as if to say ‘Help me!’ I had no idea who had just basically tackle hugged me.

“Hey Missy!” Brittany said, saving me. That’s right, Missy!

“I’m good, Missy. How are you?” I smiled at her. She never even noticed I didn’t remember her.

“I’m great.” She hooked her arm with mine. “It’s so good to see you. It’s great you’re in town for the summer. We’re going to have such fun.”

I looked over my shoulder at Brittany behind me. I barely remembered hanging out with Missy all those years ago. Why would I now? Brittany shrugged her shoulder and smiled at me. I had a feeling she was going to fill me in later.

“Let’s go get a beer.” She led us over to the keg and handed me a glass. We stood in line to get our beers when someone else came up to talk to Missy, making her forget all about me. I handed Brittany a beer and we laughed.

“Who was that?” I whispered to her, making sure Missy couldn’t hear us.

“I thought you remembered her,” she snorted and took a drink from her cup.

“I do. Kinda. I remember a Missy, but that’s about it,” I admitted.

“Well, if you have something you don’t want people to find out, don’t tell her. She has the biggest mouth ever. And if you want to get the scoop on anything or anyone, ask her,” she rolled her eyes. “I try to avoid her.”

I nodded and took a sip of my beer; it tasted so good on this warm day. I looked around the field, checking out the scene around me. There were a few couples hanging on each other and a big group of girls giggling. Next to them I caught the brownest eyes looking at me. It unnerved me and I had to turn around.

“Who’s he?” I hissed at Brittany behind my cup.

“Who?” She asked, looking around, getting up on her tiptoes to get a better look.

I smacked her lightly. “Don’t be so obvious.”

“What?” She asked, looking around more casually. “Who are you talking about?”