Chapter 3
December, 1999
"To us!" They said together as they held the bottle between them. The first semester, their exams had gone well. They managed to keep themselves among the top five in their classes and they worked hard for that. They took a sip each from the bottle of scotch Summer had highjacked from her mom. "This is good." He said despite how the liquor burned his brain. "We should save some for other occasions."
She hummed and reached in her bag to bring out a pack of walkers. Emerson did the same revealing box of Liquorice Allsorts and his walkman and some cassettes. "Here." He handed them to her as he opened the chips, "Erica sent them in her apology letter. " He paused savouring the crunch of chips in his mouth as the taste of vinegar chased away the taste of alcohol.
"Apology?" She asked as she leaned back against the stone they always sat by.
"Yeah," he said as they put the headphones in their ears. Soft music started to play in their, a new indie rock album. " Her school is having a fundraiser for their summer program. She said she had some works to prepare and can't get shit done here." He finished almost slumping against her.
"Can't blame her though." Summer pointed out handing him a cigarette, already lit. He took a long drag.
"Yeah neither can I." He said. "Summer?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I spend the winter break at yours? " He asked hesitantly his voice slightly shaking. Emerson hated dumping his stuff on her but an entire break with his dad always home was too much and he was really hoping he could hide away in his room spending time with Erica. Now it was all out of the window. And he needed the excuse to get out. She looked at him. But he couldn't look up. "Well I think we do have the science project that we need to finish. As long as you don't mind sleeping in the garage cause I ain't staying inside around her all the time."
Emerson felt the tension leave his body. He looped his arms around her waist hugging her tightly. "Thank you. I'll do the chores. You don't have to be inside even a minute." He mumbled against her neck. She hugged him back just as tightly. " My dad had all these tools there. Our project is gonna rock." She answered and pupped a candy in her mouth.
"We're gonna graduate at the top of our class." He pupped one in his mouth as well, his cigarette forgotten on the ground.
"Then we choose a college in the furthest part of the country from here." She chewed on another.
"And we'll never look back." He finished picking another one.
"We'll never look back." She whispered going for the scotch instead before shutting the cap and putting it aside. They sat there quietly afterwards, just nibbling on chips and sweets as music hummed softly in their ears.