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“Come on, Johnny,” Bobby wheedled. “You haven’t been to anything since the Halloween dance.”
“I haven’t felt like doing anything,” Johnny replied. “It just feels so childish, you know?”
“She’s already left for school,” Bobby answered.
“It’s not about Ali,” he scoffed. Then paused, “Really?”
Bobby nodded, “Tommy said Barbara left yesterday and they were going together. And if Ali isn’t there, then LaRusso won’t be either. Come on. One last bonfire before we all go our separate ways? Jimmy is leaving for Princeton next week, we’ve only got another week before we move in at UCLA, Tommy and Susan are leaving tomorrow, and Dutch has already started working at that restoration shop. It’ll be our last time to get together until Christmas.”
Truth be told, Johnny had missed doing all the senior things with his friends, but LaRusso had made school so unbearably that he hadn’t wanted to do any extra school activities with him. He considered what Bobby had said, Ali was already gone, so she and that creep wouldn’t be hanging all over each other everywhere. Sitting up, he rubbed his hands together.
“Alright. Let’s do it!”
Susan, Tommy, and Dutch were already at the beach, getting the fire going and organizing the food. A few more kids from their class were milling around. Freddie and his gang were kicking around a soccer ball and another group was splashing in the waves.
“Hey,” Johnny smiled, hugging Susan and shaking hands with the guys. The last rays of the sun were painting the sky a pale pink and bright orange and the sand and air was still warm. It was relaxing.
He spread the blanket he’d brought out near the fire, grabbed a beer, and stretched out on the blanket to watch the waves. As the darkness fell, his friends joined him one by one, Jimmy being the last one, wearing a Princeton t-shirt for which all the guys gave him crap.
“If I’d gotten into Princeton, I’d be bragging too,” Susan laughed, defending him. “I’d be head to toe in their logo.”
“You and Tommy didn’t do so bad with Berkeley,” Jimmy replied in kind.
“Bobby’s going to be a starter for the UCLA soccer team next year,” Johnny piped up, proud of his friend.
“Maybe,” Bobby corrected, trying to downplay it. “And you’ll be there too.”
“Riding the bench,” he laughed.
“You get the same scholarship as you do for the field,” Bobby shrugged.
Everyone fell silent for a minute, until Dutch spoke up, “And I’ll be working and making money while you all sit in a classroom for another four years and pay out the ass to do it.”
“Nice.” Susan rolled her eyes, before leaning back and relaxing against Tommy.
“Look, guys, so I didn’t get into a college. I’m happy where I am. I’m learning a lot and my parents and I both agreed, formal education wasn’t a good investment for me,” he shrugged, then grinned, “They let me use a blow torch and cut things up. Of course I’m happy.”
“Lord help them,” Jimmy laughed, clapping him on the back.
“Can I join you?”
Johnny looked up at the sound of the lilting voice and his heart dropped.
Ali.
Here.
She looked beautiful in a pale pink blouse and jeans so faded they were barely blue. Her hair was blowing back from her face in the breeze. Johnny’s heart caught in his throat. She was still as beautiful as ever.
“Have a seat,” Jimmy said, holding out his hand out to her.
She sat down next to him, folding her legs underneath her.
Of course she was here and of course she’d made a beeline for them. Johnny sighed and took a long drink from his beer bottle. He turned to face the ocean and stretched his legs out. He could just ignore them for one night. He’d been ignoring Sid for the last ten years.
“I thought you were leaving with Barbara,” Tommy said.
Ali shook her head. “My mom can’t find my birth certificate. I had to get a new one. I’m heading out in the morning. I’ve talked to Barbara though, she said our room is great.”
“I don’t mean to break up the boring shit, but where’s the twerp?” Dutch smirked.
Ali rolled her eyes. “If you mean Daniel, we broke up after Prom.”
“You did?” Bobby asked, shocked. “Why?”
“I didn’t like the way he was acting lately. I mean, he acted like he was some type of celebrity at prom, signing autographs. The tournament was months ago,” she confessed. “And then there was the college thing. Every time I asked him about it, he’d say something smart like ‘I’ll go Harvard. They’d love to have me. I’m the All Valley champ after all’ Or something else dismissive like that. He’ll be living off that tournament win for the next thirty years.”
Ali dumped Daniel? That caught Johnny’s attention.
“The worst part is that he can still compete this year,” Susan said.
“Who cares?” Tommy spoke up. “Let him. Vidal will rip him apart.”
“Vidal will be 18 before the tournament,” Johnny replied. “His birthday is in November. At most, he’ll be fighting that pussy from Topanga.”
“I don’t want to talk about him,” Ali stopped them. “It’s my last night in town. I want to forget him.”
“Well, then, here you go,” Johnny smirked, handing her a beer from their cooler. “Drink until you can’t remember his name. Or you get alcohol poisoning, whichever comes first.”
She laughed and slid over until she was near him. He smiled, but refused to acknowledge that part of him that wanted this to be more than just wanting to hear him better.
“Drive me home?” Ali asked, sidling up to Johnny as they were packing up. They had spent most of the night talking with the group but also privately with each other. It had been nice. Like old times.
Ignoring all the warnings going off in his head, he smiled, “Sure thing.”
“Johnny, I’m sorry,” she said, once they were alone in the car. “For how everything went down last summer. I mean, not the break up, but I broke up with you for being a bully, but then I stood by and watched as Daniel bullied you. I should have spoken up sooner.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” he replied, trying to hide that he was thrilled. “I was a jerk too. And I’m sorry. I’ll replace your radio.”
“That’s okay,” she smiled. “I won’t have room for it in Denver anyway.”
He reached out and squeezed her hand. He lifted her hand to his lips which led to a kiss, then so many more kisses.
“Want to come up?” She asked. “For old time sake?”
“Absolutely,” he breathed. He tried not to read too much into this, but it had to mean something right? Sure, she was leaving town the next day, but long distance happened all the time. She’d be home on break before too long and he was pretty sure there was a football game between the two schools when he could visit her. Maybe this was his second chance. Right?
Johnny could hardly believe it when he woke up in Ali’s bed. She was still asleep. It wasn’t the first time he’d stayed over with her, but she didn’t seem as concerned with hiding it from her parents. Used too, she’d set three alarms to make sure they woke up early enough for him to leave before her folks were awake.
“Good morning,” she smiled, stretching.
“It is,” he agreed.
“Last night was fun. I’m glad I got to see everyone one last time,” she replied.
“Yeah. I’m supposed to go over and help Tommy pack up,” he yawned. “You know he’s waited to the last minute.”
“And Susan has probably been packed up for the last month,” she laughed.
“That they are still together is amazing.”
“Well, you know, opposites attract,” she replied. “They’ll be married by Christmas break.”
He laughed. “Probably. Speaking of Christmas, maybe we could get together then?”
“Yeah, maybe,” she replied, uncertainly. “I mean, if we’re both still unattached.”
Unattached? So, she obviously didn’t think of this as them being together. He swallowed hard.
“Oh, um…, I just …, um meant like a bonfire or something,” he stammered trying to hide the sinking feeling in his gut.
“That’d be great,” she smiled again. “We could get everyone together again.”
“Yeah, sure.” He pulled away and sat up, getting his clothes back on. “I’d better get going. Don’t want to have Susan mad at me.”
“Johnny?” Ali said, catching his hand as he was leaving.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for last night,” she replied, honestly. “I mean what I said last night. I’m sorry for my part in the way the year turned out. But, I’m not ready to restart this. I’m not completely opposed to it, I’d love to spend time with you when I’m home. I just don’t think we should lock ourselves into something when we’re leaving.”
“Yeah, I get it,” he replied. He really did. That would be just setting them up to fail. He hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek.
“You know, there is nothing saying we can’t talk between now and then,” she said, hugging him back. “You know, maybe speed up the ‘getting to know each other again’ process.”
“That’s a good point.”
She smiled brightly. “Is your number still the same?”
He nodded.
“Good. I’ll call you when I get there today.”
“I’ll be around.”
“Goodbye, Johnny,” she said, kissing him softly.
“Goodbye, Ali.”
If Johnny was in a great mood while helping Tommy pack, he was smart enough not to tell the guys why.