5

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Contest #40 08MAY2020

Write a story about one event from the different perspectives of multiple friends.

5 by clcronan 2020

“Soon enough we let our freak flags fly,” the five friends took turns exchanging the phrase they chose as their summer motto. As Brown University wound down for the end of their freshman year, each headed home, all in different directions. They had all met when they joined the “No Labels” independent political club, but ironically they loved to label all their activities, and they never managed to show up when any voting took place.

When September finally arrived, their weekend together in Providence, the weekend just before school started, the thing that they talked about all summer, was finally underway: Palladium Palooza. Their travel plans, their rendezvous point, their hotel, and most importantly their tickets to a full day of their favorite bands at the Providence Palladium were secured.

“I get it, I heard you, listen my Uber is out front and my flights leaves in less than 4 hours so I have really got to go. No, really. Please excuse me while I hang up on you.” 

Peggy was not usually so abrupt, but Chris seemed to always have another Punti story, and she had to hurry or she’d miss her flight. She looked at her uneaten breakfast, muttered “disgusting,” and through it in the trash. She grabbed her pink cashmere sweater and her fourth and final suitcase and locked the door behind her. The Uber driver, forewarned about “just one more bag,” stood waiting by her open trunk. Peggy cast her best “meek and helpless” fluttering eyelashes at the driver who return the glance with a “you’d better tip real well or I just might bitch slap you” glare. Peggy got into the back of the car and with a single glance at the state of her surroundings, immediately felt nauseous, and mumbled, “Disgusting.” The seat was stained and the air reeked of old food, and the driver must have had a breakfast sandwich in the front seat. Peggy mustered all her coping skills to try to ignore it all, but her brain just kept repeating the word, “disgusting’. They headed for LAX to catch the 7:00 am flight. Peggy hated the layover she’d have to make in Chicago. It wasn’t just the fact that one hour was sometimes not enough time to change terminals, but that the second leg of the trip was on Republic, and she couldn’t help feeling United was selling her off to the lowest bidder. Traffic got thick, really thick, like she knew it would, so she pulled her sweater tighter around herself, laid her head back and nodded off. She wouldn’t arrive in Providence until nearly 6:00 pm, and she’d probably sleep on the plane as well, but she was always so tired that she’d perfected the art of resting without losing awareness of her surroundings.

Ag had considered every variation of ways to get to Providence tonight. She’d finally settled on the 4:30 out of Newark for $100 to which she would add an Uber ride for $60 ( if the ride took only forty-five minutes, which it never had before, so that meant she should plan more like an hour and fifteen minutes, so a fare of more like $120,) She knew JFK was closer, but oddly, way more hassle, because of the convoluted need to fly south to North Carolina for a connection. She could take train - Acela out of Penn for $125, but the schedule was 4p-7p, and she was not sure if arriving at 7pm at the station would be ok for Autumn and the others to make a separate trip to pick her up after the airport stop. She hated to be a bother, so that meant that her current plan fit best. She hoped.

“Yes, you did. I did hear you, I just feel like a bother. I’m just not sure I’ve made the right choice. Ok.Ok.Ok. Oh, god, fine, see you there.” Ag felt so nervous she was having trouble catching her breath. She wasn’t expected her Uber ride to arrive until 1:30 pm,

but had started pacing and looking out the window at 11:30 am. Autumn had called to tell her she knew that she was pacing, and to sit down in front of the tv - no news shows - until 1:00 pm. She also said she knew Ag had packed 3 days ago and her travel paperwork was in her purse, and her house keys were in her hand, and that her red hat and jacket were hanging on her luggage handle, all parked next to the door, ready to go.

All correct. Autumn was annoying sometimes in her crisp, simplified approach to everything, but Ag new she had come to rely on her. She sat down to stare at the TV without really watching it, and tried not to look at the clock. Her ride to JFK airport was arranged, and Autumn was meeting her, and the others, at Greene at 6:00pm. So why couldn’t she just relax and be happy about seeing her friends soon.

“So long, New Orleans. See you all too soon.” Didi toasted with her coffee cup toward the kitchen window. The flight out of Louis Armstrong had been cheap enough, and she had wrangled a free ride in from her ex, so that saved a bit of cash too, so technically, things were good. Then why was she daydreaming of a fiery car crash on the way to the airport where her useless ex had only just enough time to profess his deep and eternal love for her. “Whatever,” she said aloud.

Her favorite purple hoodie had a grape jelly stain - why did that strike her as funny? Oh, sure the reaction it would get from Autumn and from Peggy - so uptight those two, but whatever. 

Her eyes were still puffy from crying over that sappy movie last night, but she knew the ex would never notice, so no bothering with makeup. Whatever. Just as long as Little Debbie and Lorna Dune and Dr Pepper were willing to go to Providence early, maybe the’d have time to catch up with Ben & Jerry while they waited for the others to get in. Maybe the plane would crash and her last meal would be flight peanuts. Whatever.

“I was only tryin to be nice. Why did Peggy have to hang up on me?” Chris’ lip quivered but then she snorted a laugh when she quickly followed that remark with, “With the roll of the dice, Peggy got her fangs out to see. “ Another chortle another rhyme. “If that girl has one vice, it that’s she ain’t no Punti.” Opuntia, Peggy’s invisible jackrabbit friend had been with her since she could remember. And she was always giving her good advice, so if she thought Palooza Weekend was a good idea, then it was. Chris pulled on her leopard print tights and adjusted the suede skirt she chose for the trip. She had three tops on, one skimpier than the last, but all together and under her leather jacket it all came together in the look she called wild chic. “I’d better throw a few things in a bag, what time is it?” She stepped over her rumpled belongings, back and forth across the room trying to find the old carpet bag she loved to use as carry-on, and the zebra yoga pants she remembered taking out of the wash, and her favorite makeup pieces that just couldn’t seem to all stay in one place. She wondered if Punti kept moving things but would never say so out loud in case it hurt Punti’s feelings.

It was not going to be easy to get to the Loredo airport for a 7:30am flight. And the two stops the flight would make were like torture to think about, but if all went well, she’d arrive by 5:30pm and finally get to see her friends. Punti was jealous of how much she missed them. But Punti needed to quiet down when the girls were around, so most of the time it worked out ok.

Autumn folded her fourth outfit in a small tight bundle and added to her suitcase tucked tightly into it’s spot beside the other three outfits. Her mother called to her from downstairs, “What time are you leaving?” “I don’t know.” She replied instinctively, but quickly follow up with, “Chris arrives at T.F.Greene airport at 5:28, Ag at 5:37pm., Peggy is due in at 5:57pm, Didi will have been there since 3:40pm. I will leave here at 4:30pm to account for moderate traffic, and allowing for time enough to retrieve luggage, and we should be at the Graduate Hotel by 7:00 pm without much difficulty.” “So, 4:30 then?”

Her Mother had a way of doing things like cutting a perfectly formed schedule into one bullet point. “Bravo, Mother, you got me again,” Autumn thought but did not voice.

She adjusted her navy blue headband to account for her glasses and snapped into her navy blue blazer. She felt very smartly dressed in her loafers, argyle stockings, navy blue linen trousers, her white damask blouse, and her very best blazer purchased at Neiman Marcus during their fall sale.

The world slowly spun on its axis as each traveler made their way to Providence. Didi was so relieved to greet Chris that she hugged her a bit too tight and a bit too long. But Chris returned the greeting in kind. The found Ag, whose flight was almost on time, and the small group of three did their version of a giggly group hug. Peggy wouldn’t arrive for another twenty minutes, but Autumn was waiting for them at the luggage carrousel as promised. They chattered wildly until the whole group and all the luggage had been gathered together.

Peggy’s luggage took up all the trunk space, so everyone else rode with their bags on their laps. Autumn pulled up to the hotel and instructed the girls to stay put. They were checking in as a party of two and sneaking the others in, just to save their cash for spending money. Once settled, and sleeping arrangements chiseled out, the flutter to get dressed for a night on the town began. 

All talking over each other, three conversations spinning at once, each managing to participate in them all. Steam from the shower mingled with the scents of soaps and shampoos, deodorants, and hair sprays, and perfumes. The flashing of the lights from the tv added to the sense of constant motion in the flurry of blouses and sweaters and skirts and leggings and underwear and bras and young women engaged in what appeared to be a complicated, choreographed dance meant to express youth, excitement and friendship.

Didi plopped down in a chair. The leg of the chair snapped, and she ended up on the floor covered in the chaos the had been strewn upon the faulty chair. Ag ran to her, imploring, “Whatever are you doing down there?” Didi, even in her mild state of surprise from the fall, retorted, “‘Whatever’? did you just say, ‘Whatever?’ Did anyone else hear that? Miss Ag has come over to the dark side!”

“Do be ridiculous! I used the word in it’s proper context, which is more than you’ve ever done!” She reached over the mess to help her friend get up and caught her heel on a bra strap, and ended up in Didi’s lap. After a fleeting moment of shock the room exploded in laughter. Peggy, who had just stepped out of the shower to see what was happening, slid on the floor mat straight into Chris who grabbed at Autumn to try and keep from falling. The three of them ended up in a heap that sent everyone into a fit of laughter that got them grasping for breath. The two crawled toward the three, who crawled toward the two.

Soon the cacophony of laughter, the chaos of all the clothing, and the flickering of the tv screen blended into a moment that defined the weekend; Laughter, love, sharing, and a friendship that would survive the years to come.