Chance Encounters

LARRY’S POV

I was sitting at the drafting table. Ever since I was a kid becoming an engineer was the path already chosen for me. My father had short fiery hair and a bottle of Guniess. “Laurance, Goddamn it that line needs to be moved 45° to the left. Figure it out because this is embarrassing.” He watched me as I erased the line moving it to the spot he deemed fit. “Yup that’s more like it.” He walked away and I slumped into the chair. This was the normal way,after homework I’d do extra drafting for an hour. My path as an engineer,predetermined by my father was starting out. Glancing at my father’s current project the new Corvette. I stuffed those thoughts aside, and continued to sketch out my project.

I can say that my new neighbor was interesting. She had a truck that stuck out and wore flannels and jeans. We’ve only met a few times,but she had to be a complete mystery. I watched out my window hoping something would call me out of this prison. I guess the moral of life is definitely be careful what you wish for. It was Skye throwing a rock up to my window. I opened it gave her a thumbs up. Sneaking out of the house will be easy. My father predictably,was passed out still holding a Guniess and my mother must have been in bed reading. I walked out the back door and met her on the side of my house. She waved me onward to follow her. She opened her truck door and I opened the passenger door. “What’s up?” I asked. She handed me some letters addressed to her from Vietnam. “My father sent me some letters,I wanted to grab you and Mark before I opened them.” I gritted my teeth, Mark was always the one who women went after,I mean I know I’m hard to handle and quite a bit nerdy I suppose. However,Skye seemed to mirror my personality, before I could have anymore inner dialogue she was backing the truck up.

She kept the headlights off as she parked in the road. I showed her how to get into his yard. “Look,just follow me.” I hissed. We went around the side of the house to where his room was. Knocking on the window lightly he opened it. “What the hell do you two want?” Mark asked. “Look it’s kinda important,I got some letters from my father.” Mark annoyed,threw on a shirt and some pants. Then hopped out the window. “Well, I’m coming I suppose.” He whispered. We piled back into the truck. Quickly driving out of the subdivision before anyone could be the wiser.

Annoyed with life I decided to turn on the radio. Probably a poor idea as the news was pretty grim. “Soldiers are surrounded by the Vietcong, a bar was blown up 3 killed 6 injured.” I sunk in the seat,I’m sure that was calming. I noticed her starting to white knuckle the steering wheel. Before I could even speak there was Mark, consoling her. In a strange way I was shocked. He’s not the type to console someone.

Pulling into our usual spot that we made, she shut the headlights off and blasted the heater. It was getting too cold to not have some type of coat and if it were war here we would be screwed. She apologized for dragging us all out here in the middle of the night. I shrugged, “It’s ain’t no big deal, I wasn’t doing much of anything.” I said adding sarcasm to the last bit of my sentence. Then I suggested that we swap seats so we could all see. Her and Mark got out and swapped. She turned on the cab light and began reading them. I focused on Mark next to her. He seemed less cold and actually focused on someone because he wanted to be. Don’t get me wrong,Mark is a great buddy,but it was strange to see how focused he was towards her. She finished the second letter, and I grinned. Probably not for the same reasons she thinks,but this duo becoming a trio wasn’t such a bad thing. “Sorry for dragging you both out here so late, I appreciate it the support anyway. Also I know it’s late as hell so I’m really sorry about that.” I shrugged, “Eh it ain’t a big deal, I’ll just catch up on sleep before class tomorrow.” Then without even thinking about my next question it just flowed out of my mouth, “How about we skip and just come here tomorrow?” Mark and Skye exchanged looks and both nodded. All three of us did a group hug.

I did indeed fall asleep, I rested my head on the window, and my eyes closed on their own. I woke up around the time Mark got out of the truck. Those two exchanged some words and a hug. Once she put the truck into 1st gear she looked over at me. “Hey Larry,thanks for coming with me tonight and for being there for me.” She smiled,her honey colored eyes were blending in with the night. “Hey not a problem.” She backed into her driveway,killing the headlights she asked me a question, “Want to burn one? I know you have to get going soon.” I smiled, “Yeah I’ll burn one with ya.” She pointed to underneath the passenger seat, “There’s a box of eight tracks if you would like to pick one.” She then pulled some bud out of her boots along with some papers and began to roll. I took the shoe box from underneath the seat digging through them and found that she had pretty amazing music taste. “Lots of CCR in here.” I said, pulling out four of their tracks off to the side. With a glance she mumbled, “Yeah,well it’s my favorite band,really like the Grateful Dead and King Crimson as well.” I was digging it. Selecting the album Wheels of Fire,by Cream, I popped it into the radio. As the song Passing the time,came on we had been smoking for a while. “Ya know this is the first time I’ve made any friends,back in the U.P. I would always stay and train dogs or just be by myself. I’m glad I got to meet you guys and have you two as my buds.” She inhaled and passed it to me, “Well it’s the first time that Mark has came out of his shell. I honestly think you two would be good for each other. You both like the same things; cars,music,hunting,guns. He needs a person like you as his partner, push him to do amazing things.” Her face went a shade of lobster as I pecked her on the cheek. “I’ve got to go I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She nodded shutting off her truck.

I didn’t sleep. Between my old man screaming at my mother and me hopping into my window sleep would in fact be a lost cause. I sighed as I got up from my desk,turning off the little lamp on it I tucked my freshly drawn print into the drawer. The old man will stop bitching when he sees that I’ve practically done his job for him. I got into my GTO. It was my near finished project car. The Corvair would soon be sold. I threw myself into the driver’s seat. My old man came out telling me not to be late. I nodded and pulled out to the field which we claimed. I beat everyone there as I parked on the far left. I leaned the seat back as I took a nap. The morning sun hitting my face warming me.

Mark pulled to the right of me leaving some space in between, his obnoxious exhaust giving him away. We both got out and walked up to the old barn. The thing was hanging together by a thread,yet it felt homely to all three of us. Mark and I sat down, turning towards him I made sure to keep a stream of eye contact. “You know something?” I asked Mark who was rolling a joint for his side hustle. “What’s up Larry?” He asked looking up at me. I shrugged,”Well ya know, ever since you met her your demeanor on life has changed. I’ve never seen you so intrigued about a female before.” He looked up at me, his eyes were stormy, “It’s not everyday that the one you know will be your life partner gets thrust upon you.” He licked the paper and handed me one, “Look,tell me one thing Larry,have you ever met someone that shared the same passions as you? That wants to the same things as you?” I shook my head, “You know the dating thing isn’t for me.” I said lighting the joint. He nodded. “Besides, I don’t really care if I have a girlfriend or not,engineering school is and will be the top priority.Besides you know that I’ve been working on my project GTO.” He shrugged as a response something that I particularly hated. “The point that I was trying to make was you should ask her out,I doubt that she will say no, not to mention,she feels the same way about you.” He had a glimmer of hope in his eyes,quickly shattered by the sound of another exhaust. Skye came walking into the barn. “What’s up?” She asked. Mark handed her the joint,and shot me a pleading look to keep quiet about our previous conversation. She asked what we wanted to do. Mark answered, “Well there’s a creak back there.” We all agreed that would be a great time.