Nothing felt real. The scratch of my dress pants, the brisk autumn air, the sound of a boy stifling his crying. Those all had to be figments of my imagination. Loosely, I swung my wrist up and took a glance at my watch. 11:49PM. Almost midnight. 

      “You know you don’t have to bring your arm all the way up to your face to read the time right?” Ben’s raw voice broke the almost thirty minute silence. “You can just..look down and check.”

     Near the buzzing light of the streetlamp, I noticed that his undershirt was wrinkled and his hair uncombed. “I like it the way I do it,” I said. 

     In this unfamiliar street, we sat in the bed of my third-hand pickup truck, both of us swishing our cans of Sprite around and pretending like we hadn’t just run away from Evie’s funeral. The hair tie she lent to me on Tuesday was around my wrist, and I couldn’t stop pulling at it. 

      Evie and I had met during summer break when we worked at Baskin Robbins. To say we were inseparable from the minute we met would be a bit far-fetched, but as our summer days dwindled, we grew closer in a way I didn’t think we would.

      It wasn’t hard to talk to her. We were both juniors on the verge of becoming seniors, we both loved science, and we both teased each other for the flavors of ice cream we preferred.

      “You look like the happiest eight year old boy on Earth,” I said as Evie snapped a picture of her blue raspberry sherbert.

       “I definitely am,” She replied. It was after closing hours, and we often shared the last shift. 

      I slipped one of the ice cream scoopers into the sink full of hot soapy water and quickly turned my attention to the flavors laid out in front of us. It wasn’t a difficult decision really.

      “Why do you always eat old people ice cream?” She joked as I scooped rum and raisin ice cream for myself. 

       I shrugged, “Why do you always eat ice cream that looks like play dough-” The sound of the door opening startled me. It was 10:13pm, past closing time.

       A boy our age waved at Evie and gave me a friendly smile.

      “Ben!” Evie left the front counter and greeted the stranger named Ben. 

       “Are there cameras here?” Ben asked. I noticed his right ear bore an industrial piercing. I myself had always wanted one but I didn’t have a high enough pain tolerance for it.

       “Yeah, but I doubt anyone will check the film unless we’ve been robbed or something.” I said. 

      Evie brought Ben to the front counter “Clare, this is Ben, we’ve been friends since we were six-”

       “Unfortunately.”

       I was unsurprised to see that he had earned a smack on the arm from Evie, and I snorted a bit, grabbing a plastic spoon to eat my ice cream. 

       I gestured to the plethora of flavors the parlor had and said, “Want some?” 

       He laughed and shook his head. “I don’t really like ice cream.” A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead and he swiped it away. “I’m here to pick up Evie.”

      “We’re going to the community pool near my house,” Evie said. Reaching over me, she grabbed a chocolate dipped waffle cone and handed it to Ben, who began crunching on it immediately. “It’s really nice, and they just got new cushions for the seating.”

      I suddenly didn’t feel like eating anymore and I set my dessert down. “Do you want me to close without you?” I asked. The granite counters had been wiped, the floor mopped, and the trash taken out, there was no reason for Evie to stay here with me. I discarded the rest of my ice cream. 

      “I don’t want you in the dark parking lot by yourself,” She said. I didn’t want to be by myself either. The flashing neon sign that presented the psychic outlet below it gave me the creeps, but it wasn’t about sketchy people or sketchy stores. Evie and I had only known each other for a week but seeing her friendship with Ben made me feel like an outsider, which was true. Hell, they had known each other since they were six. What was I doing, acting like I was was close to her–

      “Wanna come with us?” she asked, popping my thoughts like a bubble. 

      I’m so stupid, I thought, getting moody like this doesn’t help anyone. I acted like I was debating the offer, but I already knew my answer. 

       “Sure,” I said, “but I don’t have a swimsuit.” 

        “I don’t have one either. Me and Ben just light the fire pit and hang out.” Evie said.

       I checked the cat shaped clock on the wall. It read 10:16pm. Before getting this job, my curfew was 10pm, but nobody was there to stop me from getting into a car with Ben and Evie.

       “Isn’t the pool locked at 10?” I said.

       On cue, Ben reached into his pockets and pulled out a shiny key, a mischievous grin on his face. “I’m the lifeguard, so that won’t be a problem.”