After Midnight - Scott

As he slid into the driver's seat of his well-worn yet dependable Ford Explorer, Scott Jenkins was thankful that he had started it and blasted the heat before he had packed all of his gear and bags into the back. Although it was freezing outside, at least it was not snowing anymore as he got ready to pull out of the now empty Riverside parking lot. Scott was an up-and-coming DJ at Riverside, a local club, which basically meant that he filled all of the time slots that the popular DJs weren't interested in taking. And since Scott could always use the extra cash, he was just leaving Riverside at 5am on New Year's Day after finishing the final shift of the night for the last 4 hours of their New Year's Eve After Party. That way, the much higher paid guys could either join the party themselves or head home to bed after their earlier shifts.

Scott put Adam & Kevin's address into Waze and waited for it to calculate his route. He was hoping to make it in time to surprise everyone during brunch - it was a New Year's Day tradition for them all to cook a big brunch together and either support or make fun of one another's resolutions. That all depended on how outrageous or repetitive they were. I mean, it was a guarantee that poor Adam was going to resolve to start a relationship with the girl of his dreams, Scott chuckled to himself. How many years running had he been saying that, anyway? Guy’s a hopeless romantic, he thought as he shook his head, smiling. Waze predicted that he should make it to the house by 10:30 if he drove straight through, so with a couple of stops, he should make it there by 11:00 at the latest. He pulled out of the lot and took a right onto Route _____ , now to find someplace that’s open today that has some caffeine and food, Scott thought hopefully as he turned on the radio and turned up the volume to keep himself awake until then.

Almost every place he passed was dark and sleepy as he continued up ___ towards the highway. Well, if nothing here is open yet, I'll have to gut it out till I pass a rest area on ___, he thought grumpily. He couldn't even remember the last meal that he had eaten - the company holiday parties that he worked had been almost nonstop for the entire month of December, and he felt like he had been fueled solely by protein bars and caffeine. But after passing several coffee places that weren't yet awake, he finally spotted a bright, bustling gas station with a Dunks inside, and it was like a beacon for his tired, addled brain and empty stomach.

Since the rest of the world was likely asleep or nursing a hangover, the parking lot & gas station were empty. Scott decided to take advantage of the opportunity, so he pulled up to a pump and got out to fill his tank for the ride. His mind drifted as the tank filled; he was looking forward to seeing his friends and catching up on everyone’s plans and dreams now that they were months from graduation. Even though breaking into his line of work was sometimes frustrating and financially difficult, college had never appealed to Scott. He would rather have gotten a root canal every day for these past four years than sit through any more endless lectures. He had barely survived them in high school, although not because he wasn’t intelligent. Scott was simply intolerant of wasting his time, and many years ago as a middle schooler, he had decided that school was the biggest waste of his time. Ever. 

The gas pump clicked Scott back to reality when the tank was full, and as he finished up the transaction, he hoped for a quick and easy ride to the condo. Thankfully he was unlikely to run into much traffic or asshole drivers. 

After a quick pass through the Dunks drive-thru, Scott pulled back onto Route ____ and was eagerly making his way through a sausage egg & cheese croissant while washing it down with huge gulps of iced coffee. 

Once Scott demolished his breakfast and coffee, he settled in more comfortably, and as the caffeine did its job, the miles flew by. He had always enjoyed driving, so he planned to take on the rest of his trip with minimum stops. He would do it nonstop if he could, but his large coffee would prevent that. 

Four hours and one stop later, Scott crossed the state line into ________ and only had about 30 minutes until he reached Adam and Kevin’s place. 

Scott knew that Dahlia would be there and looked forward to seeing her. Their breakup was based solely on the logistics of Dahlia heading off to college and Scott moving closer to a city with more job opportunities for him, so it wasn’t messy or contentious. He heard through some of their friends over the past four years that she had dated a few different guys, but he knew that she was not presently involved with anyone. Looking back, Scott recognized that he was certainly not the greatest boyfriend throughout their high school relationship, but how mature and attentive could most 15-18 year old boys be, anyway? He had been forced to grow up and mature a lot since then and hoped that they would have a chance to talk today. Scott was pleasantly surprised to feel his heart jump a little at the thought. Although he had also dated a few people over the past four years - a couple of them even lasting up to a year - if he was being honest with himself, he had never felt the connection with any of them that he had felt with Dahlia. So maybe I should tell her that today, he thought, and a huge smile grew on his face as he took a left at the sign for Kevin and Adam’s condo complex. 

Scott made the last few turns around their neighborhood, eventually pulling up to a spot in front of their condo that someone had vacated earlier in the morning.  He put the truck in park and groaned as he unfolded himself from the driver’s seat. It had been a while since his only stop, so he took a few seconds to stretch his back and legs before heading to the back of the truck for his bag. 

Scott slung the strap of his bag over his shoulder, closed up the truck and walked up the driveway towards the front door. His breath coming in clouds ahead of him, Scott shuddered in the frigid air and turned the doorknob to let himself in the condo. As soon as he was inside, he felt the warmth wash over him, and he smiled. He could hear everyone talking in the kitchen amidst the cacophony of them chopping veggies, whisking eggs and banging pots and pans. Scott quietly dropped his bag down by the foyer stairs and then took them two at a time to use the upstairs bathroom. Afterwards, he washed and dried his hands, opened the door and turned back towards the stairs. Just before he reached the end of the hall, a bright glint of sunlight caught his eye as he was passing Adam’s room. The brightest pink shirt on the planet was hanging on the back of Adam’s desk chair - and  it wasn’t just bright, it was actually sparkling in the daylight coming in from Adam’s window. 

Huh, Scott thought, looks like Adam may have had some company up here last night. Nah…it was more likely that he let someone crash in his room and he suffered on a couch. Adam was always the quintessential Nice Guy doing the Right Thing. Scott shook his head at himself for thinking Adam would have had a one night stand, even on New Year’s Eve, and he turned back towards the stairs to head down and join everyone in the kitchen. 

At the bottom of the stairs, Scott hung a right and then went down the short hallway towards the kitchen as a shit-eating grin grew on his face. He burst into the kitchen, yelling _______

and the room erupted; suddenly Scott was getting hugs from every direction, and everyone was yelling over one another as they all tried to catch up on everything all at once. Adam leapt up from the table to give Scott the standard guy hug/handshake/back pat combo, But wait, what? Scott thought, as he stiffly returned Adam’s hug while his brain struggled to process what he had just seen, Why had Adam’s arm just been resting so casually on Dahlia’s thigh? 

Scott returned Adam’s hug, thinking What the fuck is happening? And while a million questions and scenarios ran simultaneously through his mind, his eyes locked with Dahlia’s over Adam’s shoulder as his brain wrestled with the true story behind the bright pink shirt he saw sparkling in Adam’s room earlier. It had a whole new meaning now, and in that instant, he saw something flicker in Dahlia’s eyes as she recognized his disappointment. But then Scott managed to collect himself, break free of Adam’s hug while extending a hand and saying, “Good to see you, brother. Looks like your resolution’s finally gonna be different this year.” Adam laughed confidently as he strongly shook Scott’s hand, looked him square in the eye and simply said “Yup. Definitely.”