Allie has always been the one who stands out, although not in a good way, or so at least she had thought. Most of her life she never really fit in with anyone else or had any friends, she was always the one who got picked on and criticized with everything that she did. For the most part she kept to herself, did her work in school and got good grades, went to work, and then came home and went to sleep everyday with no trouble; everyone else was going to parties, doing drugs and drinking but that just wasn’t her, not to say that she had never done any of that. A year ago that was her, going to parties every weekend, doing drugs every day, and drinking four or five days out of the week. But over the summer she had transformed herself into an independent, working, responsible woman and left those days behind.
As she was getting into her car her phone buzzed three times, meaning a text. It was a text from Emily. “Hey. Do you know what time you’re coming over?”
“I’m just leaving work now. I have to go home first to get some stuff but then I’ll be over.”
“Okay. Well, if you want when you come over, you can have a beer or two and play some cards,” Emily texted, already having a beer or two more in her system than she needed.
“Alright. Well I’ll be there in about forty – five minutes or so. And sure, I will, but I do have to be home by midnight unfortunately.” Only she didn’t want to go home but she knew that it was something she had to do.
“Even if you want to just have one beer, just drink a lot of water before you drive home.”
“I’ll let you know when I’m there. I’m on my way,” Allie replied hastily because she wanted to get out of her driveway and be on her way already.
Slowly she drove up the long, narrow, twisting dirt driveway where darkness surrounded her while rain pelted her car. Only a faint light from the house could be seen from the top of the driveway. The house was only one story, besides the basement, and was centered in the middle of a field with trees that surrounded the property. In front of the house and across the driveway there is a structure that looks to be a tool shed that’s bordered by trees but at a closer inspection it is actually a chicken coop. Off to the right of the house is an attached dog grooming salon, which has been the family’s business for over sixteen years. At night it can be a very eerie place, but is fun to explore the crevices in the woods were anything can pop out at any moment in time and you never know whether something will or will not.
On her way to Emily’s house she had this feeling that tonight was going to be an unforgettable night and in all honesty she didn’t know what to expect. Allie knew that Emily’s cousin had other people over and that they had all been drinking and playing cards for most of the day, and when she got there it was eleven o’clock at night, and they’d been doing this since four in the afternoon. Originally her mom had told her that she had to be home by midnight but after a beer and a round of cards it was time for her to leave but she didn’t want to drive after she had been drinking.
Allie tried calling her mom, and called her more than once, but she wasn’t picking up the phone so she felt stuck; she didn’t want to drive but she also didn’t want her mom to freak out either. After the first few times she tried calling again and finally left a message.
“Hey mom. It’s me. I don’t know why you’re not picking up the phone but I was wondering if I could stay over Emily’s tonight. I know its short notice but it’s her last night here. Anyways, call me back. Thanks. Bye.”
Luckily while she was outside her mom finally called and said that it was okay if she spent the night; in the meantime her mom had been sitting in church (which she does not like at all) for her nephews and nieces communion which had been for the last four hours so she sat on the phone swearing telling Allie and Emily about the night and they couldn’t help but to crack up. Afterwards they went back to Emily’s cousin, Ashley’s room were Ashley and her friend were listening to music, smoking a cigarette and waiting for us to come back for the next round of asshole.
“Have you ever played asshole before?” Emily asked Allie sitting with her legs crossed on Ashley’s bed.
“No, I haven’t. What’s the point of it?” Allie asked, never hearing of the game and having absolutely no idea how to play it.
“It’s a drinking game. So if you’re gonna drink you might as well learn it,” she said like it was a known fact.
“It’s easy!” piped in Ashley.
“Two’s clear the pile. Fours are socials. You start at your lowest card, put it down then the person after you puts down a card that is higher, if they don’t have anything higher they can pass and take a drink or put a two or four down, but you want to try and save those.”
“Okay so basically you just have to put down any card that’s higher than the one at the top of the pile. And I want to keep my twos and fours as long as I can. Right?” Allie was starting to understand.
“Yeah. And you can only put down a double if it starts as a double when the piles cleared. You can’t put two of the same cards down if there’s only one of them in the pile at the time.”
At that Ashley and Emily showed Allie how it’s played by putting cards down and explaining it in a little more depth. Even when they started playing their first game without her, on socials she still took a drink and everyone chuckled telling her ‘that’s how you play.’
“Alright I think I got it,” Allie told the group, thinking that she gets it but not knowing for sure, about to find out.
“The last person who still has cards in their hand is the asshole.”
Allie watched them play a game so that she could see how it was done but nonetheless on fours she still drank. If she was going to learn she might as well have started while she was learning instead of when it was time to play. After they finished that round she joined in on the game; the music was loud and we were all being even louder. Ashley’s boyfriend had passed out in Emily’s room hours earlier and even with how loud they were he never woke up until the three of us went in there. Ashley brought him a glass of water and Emily instinctively started jumping on the bed, shaking him, and yelling trying to get him up. That’s when the war started. Emily took the water and wouldn’t give it back to him, and poured a little bit on him. Once he was up and out of bed, he retaliated and poured most of it on her, splashing the floor and bed with water. When the water was out she grabbed the coffee sitting on her dresser and poured the whole cup down his shirt.
Emily was a different kind of girl, she was very quiet and kept to herself but yet at the same time was very outgoing. She had spent a good part of her life heavily on drugs and alcohol, partying every night, skipping school, and had even been to jail once. It was after that experience that her parents shipped her off to North Carolina, where she is now, with her aunt, uncle and cousin.
Once she got here is when she stopped doing drugs and alcohol for the most part, she still did every now and then and stopped going to parties completely and started going to school again. Mostly it was because she was secluded where she lived, and did online schooling so she never got the chance to meet many people until she came to public school. When you look at her you can see a smart, pretty girl but most people don’t know what lies underneath until they get to know her pretty well. Emily’s one person on the outside but a completely different person on the inside and it takes a lot for her to open up. It was because of this and so many other things that she and Allie had in common that made them click.
Once Ashley’s boyfriend had gotten up and out of Emily’s bed they went back to her room and talked for awhile. Godiva chocolates were sitting on the dresser and Emily gave one to Allie but because they’d been drinking she wasn’t in the mood for it right then and there so she put it in her hoodie pocket. After talking they both decided that they needed to go outside and smoke a cigarette although once Allie got up she noticed this huge brown circle on the side of her white hoodie. It took awhile for her to figure it out but then she realized it was the chocolate! It had gone through her white hoodie, her grey tank top and to her skin and then it went through Emily’s comforter, blanket and two sheets! Neither one of them realized that chocolate could go through so much.
“Oh my god! Do you see this!? Do you see my sweatshirt!? It even went through my tank top!”
“Hahaha. I didn’t know it could do that,” Emily exclaimed unable to stop laughing.
“Well look at my sweatshirt! Look at it!”
“I can put it in the wash. Maybe that’ll get it out.”
The both of them set off to go to the wash to put Allie’s sweatshirt in the wash. Only first Emily got some shout to put it on but instead of spraying the sweatshirt she kept spraying Allie and the both of them were just doubling over laughing. Once it successfully got into the wash they went back to Emily’s room and discovered something else.
As she started pulling back each sheet she found another layer of chocolate on each. Emily said, “It went through my bed too!”
“How can one little piece of chocolate do that? How is it even possible?”
“I don’t know but it did it!”
“I guess that’s some magic, heavy duty chocolate.”
For the entire conversation they were both laughing so hard that neither of them could breathe. Allie had been pointing at her sweatshirt while Emily had been peeling back each sheet to see how much damage the little piece of chocolate could have possibly done.
By this time it was time for them to go outside and have another cigarette. They were sitting on the bench in the front of the house and began talking about a bunch of different things and a lot came up in the conversation that Allie never knew. It had turned out that one of her closer friends, who she trusted had told Emily a bunch of rumors that he had heard when he first started talking to her, and after hearing it she didn’t know if she would ever be able to look at him the same way again. Also she had found out what had happened St. Patrick’s Day night with Emily and Allie’s friend. Allie couldn’t believe it and grilled Emily about it in a harmless, playful way. They were on that bench talking for who knows how long and a lot was said. And some of it they remember and others they don’t. But that’s what drinking can do to you - it can make you forget.
After some time they both got up and decided to go take a walk in the woods and then to go visit the chicken coop. Allie’s never really been a fan of being in the dark outside, and especially in the woods so she grabbed onto Emily’s arm while they were walking. It had turned out that all they did was walk in a little circle but once they got out of the woods they stepped in big mud puddles that they did not realize until it was too late because it was dark and it had been raining earlier.
The chicken coop was dark and all that could be heard were chicken’s clucking; once they had walked up the two steps and opened the door Emily turned on the light so that they could see. Chickens were walking around and gave us that ‘why are you disturbing us’ look.
It was Allie’s first time being in the chicken coop and she got to meet the chicken that Emily had raised in her room until it had gotten old enough. She had also never seen chickens like these; they were white and fluffy and had tiny little heads. Only one was a normal chicken, it had brown and red tints and had feathers just like most chickens have.
Their goal had been to stay up all night; or at least until six, which is when Emily had to be up. They had planned on to stop drinking around four and start drinking coffee to keep them up for the rest of the time but neither of them made it. If they had wanted to stay up they really shouldn’t have been laying in bed because that’s like saying that you’re going to go to bed. That was most likely the cause as to why they both fell asleep.
At six o’clock the loudest alarm Allie had ever heard went off, and she just wanted it to turn off already. Allie kept shaking Emily telling her to turn it off, make it stop and at some point in the hour or two that they’d been sleeping the glass of water Emily had been drinking had spilled in the bed. Eventually they both got up, Emily got in the shower while Allie stayed in bed.
These were the last two hours that Emily would be in North Carolina before she went back home to Colorado. The shuttle would be in the driveway by 8:40 to come and take her to the airport and that would be it, she’d be gone. After their night they both needed a cup of coffee. More like two or three really. Allie, Emily and Ashley’s boyfriend were all outside sitting on the bench, smoking a cigarette, drinking coffee and talking. Emily and Allie were getting ready to say their last goodbyes but they kept holding off, not wanting to quite yet.
“I can’t believe your leaving already!”
“I know me either but I’m happy to be able to go home.”
“Oh, I know you are but I’m still going to miss you!”
“Well that’s why you have to come visit me out in Colorado!”
“Hey who knows maybe I’ll move down there one day!”
“But first you have to come visit to make sure that you like it.”
“Don’t worry I’ll defiantly come visit. You don’t have to worry about that.”
At that the shuttle that would take Emily to the airport came into view in the driveway. Emily and Allie hugged each other and said their last goodbye right before Emily got onto the shuttle. Right before Allie got into her car, she whispered to herself one last thing.
“Good Luck.” She watched the shuttle travel down the long, narrow, twisting, dirt driveway. The same one that she had driven up the night before.