Waiting for Tonight

How could she just hang up on that note? What kind of ‘Goodbye’ was that? Not that it really was one. Looking down at the now black screen of my phone, I shove it into its home - my back pocket - before standing from the old leather couch in my living room with a sigh. 

“I got something really important I need to tell you later, but not over the phone. Got to go now!” 

Why couldn’t Cora tell me over a line? That doesn’t make sense. Actually, she probably just has nerves that she’d rather get off her chest in person, which would make sense. She is getting married tomorrow after all. 

No matter, I’m sure she’ll tell me at dinner. Tonight, the old group is getting together again to, in a sense, give her away on our own terms. Her husband-to-be, Harrison, is going to pick her up from the restaurant while we dump her into the back of the car. We did the same with Doug, and will continue to do so until everyone is married off, the night before their weddings. 

As dumb as the whole thing is, it’s important to the five of us. Though I wish we never had to do this with Cora, at least not for Harrison. Not that he’s a bad guy, no, he’s perfect for her. And they are so in love. It’s honestly astounding. 

But, back to the topic at hand, Core almost sounded scared. Maybe I should call her back. Well… there is always tonight, she did say she can’t talk over the phone. I’ll just ask her tonight. All I have to do is wait. 

I lift my arms over my head in a stretch, my grey, ruffled shirt raising slightly and showing off a little skin from my stomach. My back pops once, twice, three times, before I release my muscles and swing my arms slightly back down at my waist. Now for work, a desk job for a gaming company - I’m one of the many graphic designers, and I take great pride in my art. I was just about ready to leave Core called, so all I need to do is slip on my shoes and walk out the door.  

While doing exactly that, I can’t help but wonder what was wrong with Core. I can’t help but overthink the little things, it probably doesn’t matter too much. I’ll know what’s up later. 

-------------------------

    My old, beat up pickup truck pulls up to the semi-nice restaurant. Well, nice enough to not be mistaken for a drug store, but who am I to judge? Anyways, we’ve hung out here since we met, and it has a lot of good memories. I can already see Lance’s car - who used to be Lacey, but went through a transition recently, so we still get mixed up sometimes - pulled up on the right of the building. He was laying out on the hood of the same honda he’s had since his late mother gave it to him for his sixteenth birthday, so I switched off the ignition and jumped out to join him, after locking my own vehicle. 

“Hey Lae, it's been too long!” I smile as he hops down, giving me a quick side hug as he grins back. “It really has, Little John,-” He’s been calling me that since middle school, my genes holding me back, even now “we need to do this more often!” We both laugh jovally as I agree, just as Doug pulls in with a brand new black Ferrari F60 - Doug being the most successful of all of us. He just came back home for the wedding, since he moved out to Los Angeles with his wife Yoko, but he couldn’t help showing off his new toy to our small town. If I had that car, I would do the same. 

Lance and I jog over to where he parked - farthest away from every other car and in a corner, and Lae immediately pulls Doug out the front seat and slides in himself, ogling the expensive interior and stroking the leather seats in awe. Yoko is most likely back at their hotel room, but would be here with us if this wasn’t a strictly ‘Us’ night. Doug laughs at our friend, as I check out the inside from my place outside, I don’t trust myself not to mess anything up. 

“Can I drive it?” Lance pleads, just as Doug switches the car off, silencing the hum of the motor. “Not a chance in hell, hot shot. Now get out, your going to scuff the seats!” Doug and Lae have always had a love-hate relationship, and I know that at some point, Doug had the biggest crush on him in high school. We tease him about it to this day, Lance most of all, mock-flirting and draping himself over his shoulders. 

And, of course, the ladies are the last to arrive, but Marianne usually is. That girl has no sense of time. 

Soon enough, the three of us see a crisp white chevy pull in a few spaces from Doug’s car, and out pops Mari, her face and hair all done up in a messy but obviously time-consuming look. 

“Hey boys! Is the woman of the hour inside?” She giggles as Doug finally closes and locks his door, Lae still sulking about not being able to take it for a spin. “No, she hasn’t gotten here yet, why?” Doug responds.

Mari pauses, “She called me about half an hour ago telling me that she was already on her way, she should have been here by now!” We all stop, before all pulling out our phones to see if she texted any of us. Nothing. “I’m going to call her.” Lance says and he clicks on her contact name ‘CoreBear’ and puts it on speaker. The call immediately goes to voicemail, and that’s when we, mainly Mari and Lance, begin to panic. 

“Did something happen? Maybe she got into an accident on her way here!” 

“Maybe her phone died and she made a wrong turn!”

“Knowing her, this is probably just a prank, her car is probably around back.”

Mari and Lae go run around the back while Doug and I ring up Harrison on his phone.

It rings, once, twice, then he picks up. “Hello? This is Harry.” 

I sigh in relief that he answered, my anxiety going through the roof right now. 

“Hey Harry, it’s Doug. Listen has Cora called you” Just as Harrison goes to answer, Mari and Lae come back around the building, “She isn’t here! Where is she!” Mari panics, biting her lip and rubbing her hands together as if she were cold, a nervous habit she’s had for as long as I can remember. 

Harry responds “What? She isn’t with you? She left a little over half an hour ago!” That matched up with Mari’s story, “Did you try to call her?” He asks.

This time, it was me who spoke, “Yeah, but it went straight to voicemail, Mari and Lance just checked around back, and she’s not there either.” 

It was at this point in time that I suddenly remembered what she had said this morning “I have something really important I need to tell you”. Did something happen to her? Is she in trouble? Maybe I should tell the others what she said. “John, you in there?” Lance says, putting his hand on my shoulder and pulling me from my trance, “Yeah, yeah I’m good.” I decide against mentioning it, I don’t want to scare the others, and it might be private anxieties. We use each other as ‘unpaid psychiatrists’, as she had labeled years ago. 

Mari is still freaking out and calling her and texting her like crazy, while Lae is looking over her shoulder and Doug is finishing up the call to Harry, both deciding to divide and conquer by calling whomever could have seen her within the past thirty minutes. I join Doug and Harry, calling up an old acquaintance named Joe who has been working at his car garage for twenty years, of which you have to pass to get from Cora’s parent’s house to the restaurant. A few rings later, Joe picks up, and I quickly explain the situation. He said that he did remember seeing her, for when she saw him out front, she pulled in and shared a few pleasantries. She and Doug both worked for him while we were in high school, and they bonded pretty fast. 

Joe said he’d keep a look out and call around as well, and I thanked him before hanging up. He’d call if he found anything. I voiced my findings, while Doug said that he called Grannie Lee, an old woman who basically lived at a cafe that wasn’t too far from here. She was a kind soul, though she was a chatterbox, and a little loopy from age. She thought she saw Core’s car, but wasn’t paying too much attention because she was talking with another regular. She wasn’t much help, but she would help spread the word and would be another look out. 

But, so far, we were pretty empty handed. Eventually, we all split up to drive around to try and find her and promised to meet up in an hour if no one found anything at the local police station to get a bigger search party.

We were worried, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what she told me. Something happened. I know it. Right before we split up, I told them about the call, and Mari started to cry. She and Core were very close, and when I said that she sounded scared, she began to think the worst. Mari drove with Lae because she didn’t trust herself to be able to drive with a straight head, and they drove the route she would have taken to get to the restaurant. Doug took a longer route that still passed by Joe’s shop, while I drove around the area. Mari was still on phone duty, and would every once in a while call up Doug or myself to check in. 

Nothing. We found nothing. No car, no wreck, no Cora. Harrison met us at the police station along with her parents, they were calling everyone they knew while Harry drove them around looking. Soon enough, we had a couple cruisers out along with anyone we pulled in along the way. Everyone knew everyone in this town, and everyone loved Core. Harrison was close to breaking down, we could all see it when we met up. We all were, minus Mari and Core’s mother, who were hugging each other in panic. Lance wouldn’t stop rambling about possibilities, all the while pacing, while Doug was talking with Yoko, who later joined the search party. What happened to Cora? What did she want to tell me?