“Neko Case is playing tonight. I know San Francisco isn’t exactly a life-changing trip, but we’re gonna make it feel as epic as possible.”
His words didn’t really sink in right away, nor did her eyes focus on the page. It was a printout receipt for concert tickets in San Francisco. For eight o’clock that night. “It’s a thank-you. For the promposal and how awesome you were.”
“Dave. These are Neko Case tickets.”
“We leave right after school. I had exactly enough money left over to buy the tickets, so you’re paying for gas.”
“These are Neko Case tickets for tonight.”
“Did you have a stroke or something?” He laughed.
“What did you tell Gretchen?”
Dave furrowed his brow, a confused smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “About tonight? That I’m taking my best friend on a Nevers road trip. What else would I say? She says you’re a genius for planning yesterday.”
“Oh.” Julia was still holding the printout in her hand. “Well, this is pretty cool, then.”
“Understatement foul. I know it’s not cross-country or Holy Grail epic, but we’ll make it as epic as possible. We’ll blast music and pick up hitchhikers and have epiphanies. If they don’t come naturally, we’ll find a bunch of peyote and wander the desert. We might have to find a desert. Plus, check this out.” He stowed the binder back into his bag and reached into his pocket.
“You have a driver’s license?”
“Yeah, Gretchen took me over the weekend.”
Julia grabbed the license out of his hand, just to get Gretchen’s name out of the conversation. “You look like a murderer.”
“Isn’t that the point of picture IDs? That way if you become a murderer they can flash your picture on the news and everyone will be like, ‘Yup, that guy totally kills people.’”
“How did you even get your eyes to do that?”
“I’d love to take all the credit, but that, dear friend, was good fortune smiling down upon me.” She handed him back his license and he shut his locker. “As I am the official driver of our Nevers-breaking road trip, I’m bestowing upon you the role of Snack Master. I know you’ll take your duties seriously.”
“Prunes and warm milk, got it,” Julia said, more out of a habit to always keep the joke going than anything. They were at the hallway where they would split in different directions until lunch.
“I’m thinking we’ll take the One the whole way there, and after the concert we’ll have late-night Thai food somewhere in the city. Maybe even do a bit of stargazing on one of those little beaches on the way back? If the fog isn’t too bad. We’ll pull an all-nighter, make it back to school in the morning exhausted and hating life. It’ll be great. You’ve always wanted to see Neko live.”
“Yeah,” Julia said. “I have.”
“If you’re nice, we can even play the boxers or briefs game.”
“That sounds sketchy. What’s the boxers or briefs game?”
“That’s where the passenger holds up a paper to cars passing by that tells them to honk once if they’re wearing briefs and twice if they’re wearing boxers. If they don’t honk, you assume they’re free as a bird.”
“Gross.”
“It’s important sociological research, Julia. It’s supposed to be gross.”
o o o
Julia and Dave stood in front of her car in the parking lot. Her once-white car was now everything but white. Markers in every color of the rainbow had been used to ask Gretchen out to prom, most of them not the washable kind. Julia had been more than okay with that, wanting to go all out. Now, in the light of the afternoon, knowing she’d be driving somewhere other than the SLO High parking lot, something inside her cringed.
“I think I was hoping this would disappear overnight,” Julia said, arms crossed in front of her.
“No such luck. Now quit stalling and hand me the keys.”
“You’re serious about this? I thought that license you showed me was a fake. Are men even allowed to drive?”