In The Car

I knew I should have listened to her. Two churches, five farm silos, and two cop cars later, we were still in the middle of fuck-knows-where.

“How much time do we have left?” I asked her.

“10 minutes.” she answered without checking her phone. “Still no service.”

“Fuck.”

Brynn rolled down her window and stuck her arm out the window. I peered past her to check the sun: it was hovering a hair above the distant mountain on the horizon. There wasn’t enough time to find the others.

Brynn noticed the car slow down, “What are you doing?”

“We can either find the rest of our graduating class, or we can enjoy the sunset.” I pulled onto the side of the road and shifted the gear to park.

She poked her head out the window to check the sun, “I’ll get the blanket.”

I popped the trunk open for her and stepped out the driver side. The sky was starting to turn peachy pink. The distant mountain had already protruded a fair bit into the citrus sun like a fang.

The picnic blanket wooshed open in the breeze. I grabbed one end, Brynn had the other, and we pulled it open.

I was the first to lay down. Brynn kicked off her shoes, crawled next to me, then turned over onto her back.

The sky had turned a brilliant neapolitan of fruity colors with darkness at the fringes. About half of the sun had sunk into the mountain in the horizon. It dipped lower, allowing the glow from other far off stars to twinkle in the night. My eyes started to well with tears; the sentiment had gotten the better of me.

I just had to say it, “Our last sunset as high schoolers.”

“Yup.” Brynn’s voice wavered, “We did it.”

Somewhere on the other end of Washington, there were 90 more of us, all watching the sunset together. Somehow, it felt more special that I spent my last minutes as a high schooler with Brynn.

“Do you have any regrets?” she asked.

I didn’t need to think much for that one, “I probably could’ve studied a little more. Just ‘tried’ more in general, I guess.”

“Outside of school, I mean.”

I turned to her, “I wish I got to know you sooner.”

“Aww, thanks.” she turned back up to the sky. The sun had fully set. We were college students.

“No, really.” I propped myself up, “We’ve only been on two dates— three if you count tonight— yet in a month from now, I’ll be in California at UCLA.”

She giggled.

“What?” I asked.

She pulled me up onto my feet and grabbed a corner of the picnic blanket, “Let’s just focus on the now.”

She led me over to my car, opened the door, and gently pushed me onto the back seat. She threw the picnic blanket into the front passenger seat.

“What are-“ I started.

Brynn straddled me.