Justin O'Hare, the golden boy of Wild Cliff, football quarterback and party prince of the small town. After graduating high school many thought he would leave, go to college elsewhere or perhaps just drive his car through the country but just like he had his whole life he shocked everyone when he stayed put and attended Lilac University.
The parties continued, the unhinged drinking and flirting. The sex, the on-and-off relationships with any girl he deemed was worthy to spend a night in his bed and yet he somehow kept up his grades and was top in his class as a psych major.
They lay on the grass and looked up at the sky.
Melissa shook the bottle over her open mouth and the last drops slid down the glass and wetted her lips. Her tongue played over her lips to catch the drops and she savored that last taste of something historical.
Lola chuckled as she looked at the ominous clouds that were forming above them.
"I can't believe we're adopting Justin O'Hares's conflict solution,"
Melissa laughed and dropped the bottle to the ground.
"It's effective and trust me it is easy to get used to. " he said. With his hands under his head and his lip pulling in a sad drunken smile he didn't notice when Lola turned her head to gaze at him. Her eyes were glossy from the liquor and deep from the sadness she heard in his voice.
"Only for a while though, isn't that what we learned 4 years ago?" She said.
Justin turned his head to the side, his hazel eyes sparkled as they locked with Lola's, and his mind railed back to that time 4 years ago when they first drank together.
The first time they ever talked to each other Lola first learned the wonders of alcohol on a broken soul.
With time, and Melissa, her soul had begun to heal and leave behind shallow scars. Enter Jax- her soul not only healed but was set aflame with a thunderous love that grew rapidly, faster than she could cope and though she was scared she allowed herself to fall with him.
"I remember it working for quite a bit," Justin said hoarsely.
The silence that thickened between them didn't go unnoticed even by Melissa's hazy state.
She looked between them and noticed the lingering gazes and Justin's tongue gently gracing his lips as his eyes fell to Lola's mouth.
Melissa blinked to see if her vision was messing with her but with each blink, it seemed that Justin was slowly moving in closer so she jumped up and cleared her throat.
"I have an idea! Let's go to a bar!" She screamed while trying to regain balance when the blood rushed from her head.
Lola pulled herself back and turned her head away from Justin. She bit down on her tongue and squeezed her eyes shut tight, contemplating the effects of how the blood was rushing through her veins and warming her core.
"I like it, let's go." Justin got up and dusted himself off.
Wobbly and drunk they piled into the car and Lola blinked but each time that her eyes opened her vision was as blurry as before.
"This might be the dumbest thing we've done," she said and started the car.
Melissa giggled and gnawed on her lip and Justin leaned between the seats with a bright-eyed smile.
"Head to the lakeside grill," he said.
They had a bar at the restaurant where everyone went for after-work and the monthly girls' night which took place on the third Wednesday of each month.
All of the other places in Wild Cliff where people went for a drink were pubs that quickly turned messy and one club that sufficed because by the time people arrived there they were too drunk to have any standards and would dance the last hours of the night away to whatever music was playing.
More often than not the parties ended at Justin O'hare's house- at least that was the case whenever his parents weren't home.
But for a glass or two, or the pre-buzz when you wanted to have fun and be able to talk in a calm atmosphere it was the lakeside grill you went to.
That was where Lola had taken her first drink and where she found out the true wonders of liquor on the broken spirit.
It was where she and Justin first met, where he bought her drink after drink, and where they later jumped into a cab and went to his place to continue the party into the later hours of the night.
He watched her as they drove carefully down the street. The cars seemed to move across the lines and the dark clouds moved like the base of a drum.
Lola squinted and tried to focus, she gripped the wheel tightly in her hands and took a deep breath as she released the gas pedal and allowed the car to just roll down the street.
"Turn left!" Justin called.
Lola's eyes widened, her hands turned the wheel before her mind caught up and she gasped at the car driving in front of her. The sound of horns blaring and tires screeching pierced her ears in a wave of pain and everyone pressed themselves back onto their seats as they missed the meeting car by inches.
She drove down the path that would take them up the back of the restaurant and pressed the break into the floor. When the buzz of near-death stopped ringing in her ears she heard the panting and panicked breaths of the people in the car. Melissa was pressing her nails into the seat, her jaw was on the floor and she stared wide-eyed out at the dense forest in front of them. A few sparse trees with a lot of rocks and moss by the lake where teenagers would often come for privacy. People rarely came around the back of the restaurant because the road was just a dirt path and there was nothing there except an old broken down raft.
"Are we dead?" Melissa asked in a hushed tone.
Lola shook her head, opened the door, and fell out of the car.
She landed on the ground on her knees and grabbed the grass in her hands. The cold was pushing through her pants and icing her palms as she gasped for a breath.
"Lola?" Justin jumped out and fell to one knee beside her.
"Is she okay?" Melissa squealed and ran around the car. Winded from the scare and the blood rush had her panting as she stopped and leaned down to see what was happening.
Justin lifted her shoulders, forced her back on her knees, and pulled her onto his chest.
His arms wrapped tightly around her and his hand pressed against the back of her head.
"We're fine...we're all fine." He reassured as he stroked her hair.
Despite the cold that was swirling in little whirlwinds around them, pearls of sweat formed on the side of her face and dripped down onto Justin's shoulder.
A sob rose in her throat and she fisted his shirt- the quailing bobbing in her throat was muffled as Justin pulled her closer to his chest.
She could feel his heart beating against her and it was picking up speed the longer she leaned on him.
She closed her eyes and focused on the feel of the thumping of his heart, the sound of the breeze brushing the branches around them and cars driving up the graveled path to the lakeside grill soothed her jumbled nerves.
One second and she would've killed her best friend.
One second and everything would've been different, they wouldn't be alive. Justin and Melissa would've lost their lives considering the speed of the car that they nearly collided with.
Lola would be gone too but that wasn't as much of an issue- all that railed in her head was how she almost cost two people their lives because of decisions she made.
A branch snapped behind them. Lola jumped around, turning her head to see what it was and Justin flew back to the ground.
"What the fuck," he barked and stayed put on his back.
"What- what did you see?" Lola asked and dried her face.
She looked around for the sign of someone but it was empty.
"A fucking wolf," he wailed.
Lola looked up, her eyes locked with Melissa, and the color drained from their faces.