Boogers
by Natasha Gibbs

The grassy land passed as a constant murky blur through the car window before Bri’s eyes, along with the memories.  Her eyes took in the creeping shadows and the dazzling dark sky as her lungs inhaled the humid night air and her mind the scene of a night that occurred only two weeks ago- the night that Bri walked with Robert beneath the same enchanting sky.

The monotonous sound of the Walkers’ van engine droned along as Krista said, “Dad, can we listen to the radio?”  Bri turned the warm can of Sierra Mist in her hands as she watched Krista drink the rest of hers.  Bri took a sip and almost gagged.  She vaguely wondered if her friend’s pop tasted as flat as hers.

Bri heard the “oldies’ station grow louder, but found herself unable to identify the song that began to play.  On the contrary, Krista began to sing loudly to all the words she knew and some she did not know.  The two girls and Krista’s parents laughed and teased each other as they all tried to sing or listen to Krista’s voice. 

This continued for several songs until they began to lose the station, at which point the driver and three passengers began to lose their patience and the radio got turned off.  Bri wondered if the church vans still followed closely behind them.  She then noticed that she had finally stopped wishing that she hadn’t agreed to ride with Krista’s mom and dad instead of riding in one of the church vans, which carried most of her friends.  She leaned forward in her seat and tried to spot one of the large white vehicles in one of the car’s side mirrors, but saw only darkness.  Bri sat back and watched Krista dig in her black purse, which matched the shirt she wore.  The black blouse had Pink letters on the right arm that read the label “Abecrombie & Fitch”, and a pink shirt beneath it that brought out the freckles on her arms.  Krista finally pulled out a nail file and began working on her long, French manicured fingernails.  Bri tried to suppress a sudden pang of jealousy and glanced sullenly down at her own chipped, short fingernails and her Clemency Concert tee shirt. 

Krista sighed deeply before she said, “I already miss camp!”

“I know.  I can’t believe we were only there for two days!  Everyone seemed so sad about leaving!”  Bri said.

Bri watched Krista’s mom’s plump face light up with interest.  Mrs. Walker, unlike Mr. Walker, had a face that glowed with every aspect of her animate character.  She wore no make up, though her full lips and round eyes only enhanced her “flower- child” image.  Mrs. Walker joined the conversation, elongated eyelashes brushing her eyelids, lengthy brown locks flowing as she moved.  “When we were packing up and cleaning the cabin, everyone seemed kinda’ down.”  Mrs. Walker knew every sixty’s and seventy’s song.  Always the first to start a protest and the first to admit it, her eccentric personality never failed her.  “Especially Kyle.  What’s his girlfriend’s name?”

“Whitney.”  Bri answered triumphantly.

“They make a cute couple.” said Mrs. Walker.

“I don’t want a boyfriend anymore.”  Krista commented with a wrinkled up nose.  “You can’t trust boys.”

Bri thought she saw a twinkle in Mr. Walker’s eye in the rear view mirror, but he stayed silent throughout the “girl talk”. 

Mrs. Walker turned slightly in her seat and said, “Well, now, there are some pretty cute boys in the youth group, aren’t there?”

“Yeah…but the only ones you can trust have girlfriends.”

Bri felt that she understood her new friend.  They had just become good friends at camp, though they had met before.  She met Krista through the charming, good-looking Robert.  Actually, she had first thought that he and Krista were “more than friends”, but when Robert and Bri began dating, Robert only said that Krista liked him and that he thought she seemed a little strange.  However, Bri felt a real connection with Krista, especially concerning the whole “you can’t trust boys” theory.  She, of course, thought of Robert when she said, “Yeah…they’re really…flirty.”  Surprisingly, Krista’s eyes enlarged, head nodding, curly red hair bouncing. 

“I know!  Especially Robert!” Krista exclaimed.

Bri’s head suddenly tilted with curiosity and she failed to keep herself from saying, “Exactly!”

Mrs. Walker turned around in her seat and asked Bri, “You mean he’s led you on, too?” 

Bri allowed a heavy, grim, laugh to escape her lips when she nodded.

“Oh…” Bri began hesitantly, “we went out a couple of times and then at church he completely ignored me and acted like nothing happened.”

Krista’s eyes became giant almonds, mouth gaping open, before she said, “He did the same thing to me!”

“Bri, when did you say this happened?” asked Mrs. Walker.

Bri began to feel more comfortable.  “The first time?  A few months ago.  But then he did it again, within the last couple of weeks.”

Krista’s hand went to her mouth, but Bri heard her gasp.

“He was with Krista last Saturday.” said Mrs. Walker.

Bri recalled that Robert asked her out for that Friday, but stood her up.  She also remembered the humiliation she felt when her brother told her at the following Sunday’s lunch that he had seen Robert at a car show the night before with a girl.  “That was you?” she thought at Krista.

“So it all makes sense,” said Krista, breaking Bri’s train of thought.  Bri watched Krista who seemed deep in thought, pale skin tense, rosy lips puffed and pink cheeks reddening with concentration and anger, “he’s totally come on to both of us, and then dropped us once he knew that he’d won us over.”

The two friends sat thinking about this in silence.  The sound of the engine picked up the conversation with its muffled groans.  Finally, Bri said, “Girl, we’ve been played.”

In response, Krista shook her head in disbelief, saying, “He told me I was his first girlfriend since fourth grade.  He told me that he loved me!  He kept calling me!  It was not the other way around!”

Bri related to her what he told her about Krista being “strange” and having unrequited feelings for him.  If these things made Mr. Walker concerned (or if he even listened), he didn’t show it.  His eyes stayed carefully on the road ahead.  Mrs. Walker, however, didn’t bother hiding her outrage.  “I can’t believe that boy!  And his mother, all the time tellin’ me that he doesn’t do anything on the weekends and just stays home all the time.” she said, delicate eyebrows raised.

Bri remembered her and Krista following Robert around at camp, each hoping the other wouldn’t notice the target of their affections.  She remembered Robert teaching her how to play pool, and then inconspicuously letting her win.  Then she thought of the way he walked right by her- no, through her, to hang out with all of his friends.  She saw in her mind the way his friends looked at her, almost as if they thought of the whole thing as funny.  Before now, Bri foolishly thought of that look as envy or acceptance. Yes, “played” was the right word for the way Bri felt, if any word could somehow encompass the intense sinking feeling of humiliation at the pit of her stomach.

During the rest of the ride home, everyone tried to listen to a soft rock radio station.  Bri sat in her leather seat, squished between pillows and ice chests, trying to make the feeling of betrayal and heartache disappear with the stale air that left her lungs.  She realized that the air had first left her lungs when she met Robert, and it had never fully returned.  She looked at Krista who stared at the back of her mom’s seat, arms folded across her chest, legs crossed, and eyes glaring at an invisible Robert.  She knew that if she asked her, Krista would help Bri get revenge.

Bri laid her head back and gazed out through the window, searching for something to fill the hole left by Robert and his flattering words.  She realized how ridiculous she seemed in spending so much time seeking a serious relationship with Robert- or any boy, for that matter.  She suddenly asked herself why she even needed that kind of relationship at her age, a mere sixteen.  As she thought back on how her life got turned upside down by Robert over the last few weeks, she finally gave up trying to find a reasonable answer.  Her reflection in the blackened window gazed back at her with a look of gentle reproach.

      For the first time in her life, Bri felt that she understood why so many adults told her and her friends to avoid “serious” relationships.  She realized that she had a lot of growing up to do before she even needed to know what “serious” meant, and that was okay.

      By the time the van pulled into the church parking lot, Bri had decided to give up revenge and saw that Krista, who had just woken up from a nap, had also decided to drop the notion.

      Bri took her first deep breath as she and Krista stepped out of the parked van in time to see Robert standing behind his car with his luggage at his feet and his car keys in one hand, picking his nose with the other. 

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