staff, we head out, we get loaded, we have some fun, and then we come back in here, hung over as hell, and run the restaurant tomorrow morning! There’s no need to go home and ‘freshen up’. Who are you trying to impress?”

Karen had a point. But I just felt like an outsider and I think I was looking for an excuse to bail out.

“I know,” I began. “It’s just that, I don’t wanna feel awkward. If everyone else keeps a pair of trunks in their car because they know this happens every week, then I’m gonna be the douche sitting in the lawn chair by the pool in his jeans and tshirt watching everyone else have a good time.”

“Look, if you’re that worried about it, just stop at the Wal-Mart along the way and grab a cheap swim suit.” Karen, always the pragmatist, seemed to have come up with a reasonable compromise.

“J.T. lives near a Wal-Mart?” I scoffed, knowing good and well that when you’re out in the country, EVERYONE lives near a Wal-Mart.

Karen cast her head to the side and gave me her ‘don’t be like that’ smirk. I returned the smile. “Okay, so how do I get to J.T.’s?”

“You just follow highway 16, past the Wal-Mart…”

“Past the Wal-Mart,” I repeated, shooting her a coy smile. Karen just sighed and continued.

“Yeah, after the Wal-Mart you’ll go through one of those blinking yellow lights at an intersection and then you take the next right onto Rifle Range Road…”

“Rifle Range Road?!” I interjected. “Where the hell are you taking me?!”

“John. Your parents live on Foxhole Lane. I live on Houston Mill Road. Don’t act like it’s a big deal. You know this town. This county. College has changed you. When’d you get all high and mighty?!”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just don’t like this J.T. guy,” I explained.

“He’s really not a bad guy. He just had a bad rap. He never lied to Becky or Courtney about his intentions. They just ‘hoped’ for something more and got pissed about it afterward.”

“Yeah, I understand that.” And I did understand that. So I changed my attitude and perked up. “So, Rifle Range Road…?”

“Follow that for about a mile. There’s nothing out there but pine trees and wooden fences, so when you see a house with a couple dozen cars parked on the front lawn, you can pretty much assume that’s it.” Karen concluded.

“Fair enough.”

And so, I set out for Wal-Mart on Highway 16 in pursuit of an affordable, and most assuredly fashionable piece of swimwear.

I got to the store around midnight. And naturally, like every Wal-Mart in America, it was lit up like a Carnival, proudly displaying its ‘open 24hrs a day’ status. The parking lot was practically empty. ‘Why in the hell does a place this remote need a 24hr department store?’ I asked myself.

I got inside and headed for the clothing section. I had to give my eyes a moment to adjust to the searing fluorescent lights. As I broke off from the main aisle and turned in between the clothing racks, I noticed a young couple passing me in the other direction. They caught my eye mostly because they were the only other shoppers in the area. But also, because the boy was so damn