Page 161 of Fly's Path

“You do know I’m from down south. Jimbo distills his own moonshine. Have you drank bathtub gin? You don’t know what a party is until Jimbo brings the moonshine.”

“Do I want to know about Jimbo’s parties?” The answer is probably no.

“Nope. Little Timmy got sick of breaking them up, so he told Jimbo to bring less to the party, or they’d have words.”

“Did you go to a lot of Jimbo’s parties?” Sheri just doesn’t give me the party girl vibe.

“I watched a bunch of them.”

What does that mean? Whatever it is, it makes me sad that she was on the outside looking in, but I’m also happy she wasn’tthere with a preppy jerk falling in love while drinking cheap booze. “Did you ever wish you went?”

“No. I was never their kind of people.”

I get that all too well. “Pretending to be never quite felt right.”

“Exactly.

“Fly?”

“Yeah.

“When I told you about that tattoo, I didn’t really explain the meaning behind it.”

“You said it was a little rebellion.”

“Not the way you would think. I never felt seen. Like everyone there saw the me they thought I was. But that tattoo made me feel visible…at least to myself, since I never showed it to anyone. It was a weird teenage deep thought.”

“And now do you still feel invisible?” I worked to make sure no one saw me. Sheri worked to be seen but always remained invisible.

“No. They see me now. I just don’t care if they do.”

That feels oddly healthy and sad at the same time. “I see you.”

“Yeah, you do. You’ve seen me since the first kiss.”

If only she knew how much that first impression meant to me…Why can’t I tell her? “I saw you before that kiss.”

“Uh, don’t remind me.”

“The joy on your face the night we met made me want to know more about you. It was the reason I stopped to talk to you before that kiss.” The reason I did a lot of things.

“I wish it didn’t. Maybe you are remembering one of the other girls?”

Like I could ever confuse you with someone else. “You were wearing a sparkly pink dress with heels so high your legs looked never-ending. I should have known you were a runner then, just looking at your legs in those shoes, but it was your smile and laughter that had me enthralled.”

“Like my drunken stupidity kept you enthralled. It’s so embarrassing that you even remember.”

“Sheri, you never need to be embarrassed with me. I’m never judging you. All I ever see is a beautiful, brave, vibrant woman who takes on the world one challenge at a time with unfailing honesty.”

“It was that bad then.”

“Have I told you, you’re stubborn?”

“Well then, we fit together because you’re incorrigible. At least it wasn’t the karaoke bar, too. Tell me you didn’t see me there as well.”

“I wasn’t at the karaoke bar, but now for one of our dates we’re definitely going to a karaoke bar.”

“You’re going to have to get me very drunk first. Like VERY drunk.”