Tonight the moon’s so bright, you could, you could drive with your headlights out…
The words echoed through my mind as Bryce turned the song up and opened the windows of the car. I let the cool summer wind rush across my face, holding my long black hair out of the way with one hand and letting the other hang out the window.
‘Cause a little bit of summer’s what the whole year’s all about.
I remember Bryce singing along to that song. His voice was so beautiful. I closed my eyes and listened. The wind roared in one ear and the music sang in the other. I allowed a smile to spread slowly across my face. In that moment, with the distant smell of water and leaves wafting through the car and the moon shining bright up above our heads and Bryce’s voice floating around and through it all, with his musky smell and my vanilla perfume mixing in with the smell of summer, life seemed to be moving perfectly slow.
Bryce and I had been friends for as long as I could remember. He was funny, loyal, sweet, and dashingly handsome with his chiseled chin and piercing green eyes superman smile. I’d been in love with him for years now. Ever since the first day of kindergarten when he sat down next to me at lunch and asked if I wanted to share his Oreo cookies with him.
All too soon, we reached the riverfront and Bryce turned the music off.
“Hey, Janey, we’re here,” he said gently.
I lifted my head and opened my eyes, bringing my hand back into the car so that he could close the windows and turn the car off.
“You ready?” he asked me.
“No,” I say, “After tonight, summer will be over and I will have to be far away from you again.”
Bryce shook his head at me, laughing at my grumpiness. He got out of the car and waited for me to follow. I sighed and gave him what he wanted.
We parked on the grass at the bottom of a hill. There were ten or twelve other cars parked around us. Bryce put his hand at the small of my back, and we walked up the hill. I could see a faint orange flickering over the crest of the hill, and I could smell the smoke from what was undoubtedly a bonfire. I heard laughter and music and conversation floating over the top of the hill, mixing in with the musical rush of running water.
“Okay,” I admitted, feeling the energy flow to my cheeks and my fingertips in excitement, “I guess I’m ready.” Bryce flashed me his superman smile and we reached the top of the hill.
Below us, there was a humongous bonfire on the sandy part of the riverbank, surrounded by four poles that held up string lights. People were lying out on blankets and looking up at the stars, or dipping their toes into the river. Some were getting food or beer and sitting around the fire.
I looked at the people below me. I knew almost everyone there. Most of them went to high school with Bryce and I, and some must have been students who were still in high school. My town had a tradition for an end of the summer bonfire party, and every year college kids would come back and throw it. Bryce and I had been invited when we were in 11th grade, making us pretty popular. Now, as I looked down on the scene below me, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic. These nights were always the best nights. Bryce and I were going to have fun tonight.
“Come on!” I said, taking Bryce’s hand and running down the hill.
“Wooohoooo!” yelled Bryce, and I laughed wildly, feeling the wind rush past me as we ran.
The air was pleasantly cool near the water. It had been a hot summer, and though I was sad to see it end, I was ready for weather not as scalding as it had been. After high school, I lost touch with a lot of my friends. I was never really that social, only popular because of my friendship with Bryce. I wasn’t all that sad to see some of those relationships fade away. But Bryce kept in touch with everyone. It was easy for him. He loved to talk and he loved people, and it was difficult not to love him right back. When we reached the bank, Bryce went off to say hi to everyone, and I decided to go sit down and wait for him.
I found a couple of girls from my graduating class and sat down with them. Sarah, Lacey and Anne had been best friends in high school, and I had hung out with them pretty often, mostly when Bryce was hanging out with his guy friends. The trio, as I called them in my head, had remained inseparable after high school. They’d all gotten into the same college and were probably known as the trio there as well.
“Hey, guys,” I said as I sat down next to them. It was nice to see them again, I had to admit it.
“Janey!” shouted Sarah, reaching her free hand out and pulling me closer to her. “Ohmigod, it’s so great to see you! How have you been?” She was already drunk. Her other hand was holding a dangerously full cup of beer. Sarah was a party girl, through and through, but she had taken partying to a new level after her cousin had died last year. I had never met him, but he and Sarah had been close, and she’d had a really hard time. She’d gotten so drunk at the party last year that she’d had to go to the hospital.
“Yeah, I’ve been good,” I said, taking the beer from her hand, “I’m just gonna take this from you so that you don’t spill it by mistake.”
The trio laughed. “You’re so sweet, Janey,” said Sarah. “Why don’t you go ahead and drink that? You need to get on our level!” I hoped she wasn’t going to have a repeat of last year.
I forced a laugh out and said, “Totally, thanks.”
“So. Tell me. What have you been up to?” asked Lacey, her words slurring just the slightest bit.
“Oh, you know, just hanging out with Bryce. The usual. Getting ready to go back to college,” I said, taking a sip of the beer. It was cool and refreshing, going down easily.
“Ohmigod, that’s so funny! You know, I’ve been spending a lot of time with Bryce too,” said Sarah, leaning forward to me. “He is super cute. And super sweet.”
“What?” I was sure that Bryce and Sarah had not seen each other since the last summer. He would have told me he was hanging out with her. We always told each other what we were doing or where we were going; it was our thing. “I think you’re a little too drunk Sarah. Let me go get you some water.”
As I got up, I heard Sarah mumble something to me, but I didn’t look back to see what she’d said. Lacey and Anne could take care of her; I’d had enough nostalgia for the moment.
I went to look for Bryce, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I decided to sit by the river and dip my toes into the cool running water. I texted Bryce where I was and then waited. The moon was so bright tonight. It made the river look like waves of silver, rushing by to break against rocks and then re-form. I hummed the song from the car a little, enjoying the smell of smoke and beer and running water as they mixed together on the breeze. The wind glided across my face and I closed my eyes for a second, enjoying the sensation. It was like the wind was talking to me, whispering in my ears.
I opened my eyes and shook my head. I should have been enjoying the company of friends instead of sitting alone on the riverbank. I finished my beer and decided that, since Bryce still hadn’t shown up or texted me back, I would get up to look for him. He was probably still catching up with people. Besides, it was getting uncharacteristically chilly down by the water and it would be warmer back with the crowd of people and the bonfire.
“Don’t get up just to get another, you can drink from mine…” a voice smooth as air drifted to my ears, startling me. I turned quickly to find the source of the voice and saw a guy sitting on the ground where I had just been. Weird, I hadn’t seen or heard anyone walking to the riverbank.
“So, you have good taste in music and you have good manners,” I said, sitting back down and taking the cup from him. I had never seen this man before, but no one came to these parties that wasn’t a close friend or relative of someone from town. He was very tall and lanky. He had brilliantly orange hair and his nose was covered in freckles. In the bright silvery moonlight, his skin shone a soft pale white.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, sliding closer to me. “Hi, my name is Johnny. I’m Sarah’s cousin.”
So I was right. “Hi, Johnny. My name is Janey. Sarah should not drive home tonight.”
He laughed and said he wasn’t planning on drinking too much tonight. I didn’t know much of Sarah’s extended family, but she had only talked about her cousin who had passed away last year. Maybe Sarah and another cousin had become close through the loss of their kin.
“So, Janey, what’s a girl like you doing sitting all alone by the river?” he asked.
“Oh, well I was just waiting for someone, but I also really just like the river,” I said. I didn’t want to give the impression that I felt out of place in a crowd like this. “It’s just so beautiful tonight.”
“Oh, waiting for a boyfriend, or…?” asked Johnny, sliding farther away from me. He was trying to be charming. It was kind of working.
“No! No, just a friend. But he’s probably saying hi to some people. I was just waiting here for him.” I was not making this any better. My voice was too loud and my cheeks were getting warm. I thought for sure Johnny would raise an eyebrow or make a sarcastic comment, but he just smiled, and my cheeks stopped burning.
“Oh, okay,” said Johnny, sliding closer to me again, “so can I keep you company while you wait?”
I told him that I’d love the company, which was weird because I truly never said anything of the sort unless I was being sarcastic. But there was something about Johnny that made me feel automatically comfortable around him. He was easy going and the more we talked, the more interested in him I got. I forgot about the chill that had been clinging to my skin as our conversation progressed. He asked me all about myself, and it wasn’t just small talk. Johnny looked at me when I answered his questions, like he was generally interested in my life.
I told him that I wanted to be a journalist; that I wanted to report stories that would change the world. He didn’t laugh at me. I told him that I still watched Disney movies because I loved that time of life when things were easy and simple. Watching those movies reminded me of that time. The whole time we were talking, the song from before played through my mind.
We can dance with the dead, you can rest your head on my shoulder if you wanna get older with me…
To be continued…
Spooky and Lovely 
👏🏻👏🏻
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