Winger

lunchtime

BY THE END OF CLASS, I started getting pretty depressed thinking about Annie going home for the weekend.

When I saw her at the start of lunch, carrying her suitcase out to the parking lot, I imagined myself throwing my body in front of Kevin’s car, kicking and screaming, to stop her.

She waited at the gate for me, standing with Kevin and Megan. I couldn’t see Joey anywhere.

I grabbed the suitcase from her hand so I could carry it for her. I took Kevin’s from him, too.

He said, “Thanks, Ryan Dean.”

“Any of you seen Joey?”

The girls both looked at Kevin, who shook his head and said, “He didn’t come home last night. I was hoping maybe you’d know what happened.”

Kevin looked worried.

That’s when I got kind of scared.

“No one knows where he is,” Kevin said. “I went and checked at the office, too, because his car’s still here.”

I looked out at the lot.

Joey’s BMW was parked next to Kevin’s car, like it always was.

“What?” I said. I couldn’t believe it. “I saw him leaving the dance.”

“I didn’t see him all night,” Kevin said. “Once I started dancing, I never saw him after that. They called his parents. They think he ran away or something. He did it before, remember? The cops are going to come.”

I did remember the time Joey ran away from school for three days, but he didn’t have a car then. Why wouldn’t he just drive away this time?

We started walking out to Kevin’s car.

Kevin said, “He got into a fight or some shit with Casey and Nick. Some of the guys on the team got between them or there would have been a fucking riot at the dance. Nobody even noticed.”

“And you’re just going to leave anyway?” I said.

“What else can I do? Joey’s a big boy. He’s almost eighteen, Ryan Dean. He’s done this before, and I haven’t gone home in three weeks,” Kevin said. “Joey’ll be okay. He’s just pissed about something. Again. No big deal. The boys will cool off, and everything will be back to its old shitty, O-Hall self.”

“He looked pissed off last night,” I said.

“Nick and Casey got drunk,” Kevin said. “Shitfaced. They fucked the place up, and nobody knew anything about it. Those fuckers stayed up all night cleaning the mess up. Farrow and the old woman downstairs never knew shit about what those guys did while they were gone on their little Halloween binge.”

“Something’s not right,” I said.

“You worry too much, Winger.”

We loaded the suitcases into Kevin’s car, and I walked over to Annie’s door. I hugged her, and we kissed before she got in.

“I’m going to miss you,” I whispered. “I love you.”

She looked like she was about to cry, and in a weird way that made me feel really good.

I closed her door, and Kevin started the car.

He said, “Tell Joey to call my house when he shows up. He’ll be back today. I know Joey. Just watch.”

“Okay,” I said. “Well, I’m going to check with the office again.”

“It’s going to be okay, Ryan Dean. I’ll see you on Sunday.”

I looked back at Annie and said, “Bye. See you, Kevin. Megan.”

And I stood there beside Joey’s car and watched them drive away.