Leaving

“Take one last look at the house,” said Buck.

“Alright, I’m looking,” I said.

“Aren’t you a little bit sad to be going?”

I reclined the passenger seat, and tilted a pair of sunglasses over my eyes. “A little, I guess.”

“Whatever you say, Tod.” Buck leaned over. “Uh, Tod?”

“Yeah?”

“Sit up; Mom and Dad are waving goodbye.”

I sat forward, and sure enough, both of my parents were standing in the driveway. They were smiling, and my dad had an arm around my mom’s shoulder. I rolled my eyes, knowing that they couldn’t see it. My brother and I both smiled back and waved.

Buck put the car in drive, and we took off down the road.

“It’s a big step, you know. Are you excited?”

“Hell yeah,” I said, laying back in my seat again. I closed my eyes. We had a long trip, and this was earlier than I was used to waking up.

“I remember my first year of college. Man, I had the best schedule back then. Everything was stacked in the afternoon, so I got to sleep in almost every day. Except Thursdays, that is. Thursdays sucked. How’s your week looking?”

“It looks okay. Better than being stuck in one building for six hours a day.”

“Yeah,” Buck chuckled, “I don’t think I realized ‘til I got to college that high school is one part learning, two parts day-care. It’s amazing how much more you can learn in less time. Of course, the onus is on you to actually, you know, learn.”

We sat in silence for a while. Buck steered us onto the highway, and I could feel some of my stuff shifting in the back of the car.

“Maybe we should have tied some of that down,” I muttered.

“It’ll be alright. We packed a bunch of clothes between everything, remember? Speaking of, do I need to take you to get some cheap furniture when we get there?”

“Nah, my roomie’s bringing a couch.”

“That so?” Buck smiled. “I brought my old futon when I went to school, and it got beat up all to hell during that first year.”

“That so?” I said, imitating Buck’s voice. He shoved my shoulder.

“Hey, don’t give me that!”

“You sound like some kind of wanna be cowboy,” I said, laughing.

“Howdy partner, I’m Tod! Any of you yellow-bellied ne’er-do-wells want to be my friend? No? ‘Cuz I won’t stop making fun of you? P-twang!”

“Ah, shut up,” I said.

“I’m just saying, you’re the one who needs to make new friends, not me.”

“If I don’t make any, I can always come bother you, though. Right?”

Buck shot me a serious glance.

“I hope not,” he said. “But I am obligated by our parents to say, ‘Yes.’”

“Did they really make you promise that?”

“They definitely did.”

“Ugh, that’s such a Dad thing to do,” I said, rolling my eyes again.

“Well, snark aside, I am around for you, if you need me,” Buck said. “It’s good to have support. Anything can go wrong -- not that it will, but it can -- and it’s good to have family nearby that you can talk to.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I guess.”

“I’m not gonna do your homework or anything, but you’ve got my number.”

“Yeah, I do.”

There was another long pause. I watched the gas stations and fast food stops rush past. The road emptied out as we drove, and soon we were passing through open country. Buck put on some music, and we hummed along to it. The sky was blue and seemed far away.

“Hey Buck,” I said, eventually.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for driving me.”

“Don’t mention it.”