summer

do you remember hooper? he was kind of an asshole, but the only kid you'd ever met who could keep up with you in conversation, and though he liked to beg sometimes he never fell at your feet like the others did.

you got lost once, in his beat-up old station wagon, even though you both travelled the back roads every day, and ended up at the end of a dirt road in the country. wild roses grew on the fence at the edge of the grass, and hooper rolled down the window and picked one while dogs barked on a nearby porch and you laughed at the thought of being chased back down the road by an overalled man with a shotgun.

it was warm that day and the air smelled of honeysuckle, cloyingly sweet. for a few hours you were friends, two geeks against the world, and then

hooper disappeared, or maybe you did, and that was a good thing.