Jeffrey, Gina, and Audrey were looking at Sam.
“We’re in a park, or something,” said Sam grinning.
“Don’t kill yourself,” said Jeffrey.
“I don’t know what to do,” said Sam.
“People expect you to kill yourself now,” said Jeffrey.
“Really?” said Sam. “I don’t know. Maybe an asteroid will hit me after my next two books come out. I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what to do, like, overall, or something.”
“Draw hamsters,” said Audrey.
“I already did that,” said Sam.
“There’s nothing left for you,” said Audrey.
Sam walked around then kicked his foot making his shoe go very far away. He ran to his shoe and put it back on. He stood on the grass without looking at anything specific.
“Your shoes are ugly,” said Audrey.
“My shoes, no,” said Sam looking at his shoes.
Audrey stepped on Sam’s shoe. “Now it’s okay,” she said. “I’ll do the other one.” She stepped on the other shoe. “That feels good,” said Sam staring at his shoes trying to think about something. He wasn’t really thinking anything, he thought.
Near Jeffrey’s car Audrey got on a bike locked to a bike rack and tried to pedal. Jeffrey and Gina walked ahead. Audrey looked at Sam while trying to pedal. “Try pedaling harder,” said Sam.
At Jeffrey’s car Sam asked Audrey if he could sit in front.
“Sure,” said Audrey. “Why are you asking me? It’s not my car.”
“I don’t know,” said Sam. “You were sitting in front before.”
“Yes, you can sit in front,” said Audrey.
Sam sat in the front seat and said “yes” in an expressive voice while moving his fist in the air and staring at Jeffrey. “Do you do that,” said Sam. “Do you ‘pump your fist’ ever?” Jeffrey said sometimes he did. Audrey pushed a wooden sword into the front seat and Sam held the blade and pushed it so the handle went against Audrey’s chest. At a stoplight Sam screamed “Obama” at someone watering grass with a hose. They parked and went in a Vietnamese restaurant. Audrey ordered “the Princess Bowl.” Jeffrey ordered “the Chicken Noodle Bowl.” They finished eating and sat on a street corner looking at people across the street playing instruments and asking people for money. Audrey pointed at a feature of Sam’s shoes and said she didn’t notice that when she said Sam’s shoes were ugly.
“Are they like pirates,” said Jeffrey about the people across the street.
“I think they are,” said Sam. “Pirates heckle.”
Jeffrey looked at Sam and said he was going back to Sarasota.
“Do you need a ride to your car?” he said to Audrey near his car.
“I’m parked just over there,” said Audrey.
Sam stood with Jeffrey on the driver’s side.
Jeffrey gave Sam some of his drawings.
“Thank you for coming,” said Sam. “I liked hanging out with you.”
“Me too,” said Jeffrey and then said a long sentence Sam responded to by making noises and nodding while thinking about how Audrey and Gina were standing in view, near the other side of the car, without talking to each other or looking at anyone.
“Do you want a ride to your car?” said Jeffrey to Audrey.
“No, I’m parked just over there,” said Audrey.
“Weird,” thought Sam. “He already asked that.”
Jeffrey and Gina got in the car. Sam saw Audrey walking away. “Wait, where are you going,” he said. “I’m alone.” Audrey walked toward Sam with a self-conscious facial expression. “We’ve pretty much done everything we can in Gainesville,” she said quickly. “Yup, there’s nothing left to do in Gainesville. We’ve done everything.”
“What are we going to do,” said Sam.
“We can follow someone,” said Audrey.
They followed a small group of people in a band that Sam liked for about ten blocks. Someone offered Audrey twenty cents for a cigarette. Audrey said she didn’t have one. The person gave Audrey twenty cents. Audrey offered someone twenty cents for a cigarette. The person didn’t have one. “You should have screamed ‘fuck’ when he didn’t have one,” said Sam and turned and saw Audrey trying to open a locked door.
“Fuck,” she screamed with a serious facial expression.
Sam laughed. “Good job,” he said. “I want iced tea.”
They sat on a curb with iced tea and a double espresso. It was getting dark out. American Apparel was in view. Someone on the street messed up a trick on their skateboard. “You can’t skate,” shouted Audrey.
“What,” said the person skating away.
Audrey shouted “Obama” at the person.
“That was good,” said Sam. “You dominated him a lot.”
“I have an idea or something,” said Sam. “We should start from very far away and then run toward each other and then give each other high fives jumping in the air.”
“Let’s do it,” said Audrey beginning to stand.
“No, wait,” said Sam. “It’s better just to think about it.”
Audrey said something agreeing with Sam.
“Now what,” said Sam.
“I don’t know,” said Audrey.
It was quiet outside.
People were walking around.
Sam thought about what he was going to say.
“Do you want to go to that show at UF?” he said.
“Yes,” said Audrey.
On the University of Florida campus they went into the building the concert hall was in and each went in a bathroom. Sam came out and saw a missed call from Sharon. He text messaged Sharon that he would not be going to dinner. He walked around and didn’t see Audrey. There were many college students in the building. About twenty minutes later Sam saw Audrey walking out of the concert hall. They walked into the concert hall and sat against the back wall for about an hour. Audrey said one time she found a half-eaten watermelon inside a giant bush. They left the building around 9 p.m. and sat or stood in different places on campus. They walked into a very dark area with a small lake and a forest.
“Oh, this is where Ghost Mice played yesterday,” said Sam.
“I was here,” said Audrey. “Thomas saw you. He was like ‘there’s Sam.’ I was like ‘oh.’ I didn’t see you.”
“I didn’t know you were here,” said Sam.
Audrey said there was a path around the lake. She walked ahead of Sam into the forest. “This is good,” said Sam and saw car lights. “Wait, there’s a road right there. The road is ruining it for us.” Audrey laughed a little and held a palm frond out of the path. Sam walked past her and saw a chair and quickly sat on it. Audrey looked at Sam sitting on the chair. Sam stood and moved the chair onto the path. Audrey sat on the chair facing the lake. Sam stood behind her and massaged her head and she said it felt good. Her eyes were closed and she made quiet noises sometimes. Sam felt her leaning backwards into him. He looked at the moonlight reflected off the lake. He looked down and felt that he had seen Audrey at the end of a motion where she had looked up at him furtively. Sam thought about leaning down and kissing her while still standing behind her, with his head sideways, or upside-down a little, or something. Sam looked at the lake. He looked at Audrey’s nose ring. He leaned over and kissed her mouth and moved to the front of the chair while kissing her and she stood and they kissed for about ten minutes. “Do you want to go back to my car?” she said. “Yes,” said Sam. They kissed some more then stared at each other with neutral facial expressions. Sam thought that her facial expression was as neutral as Sheila’s when Sheila was in similar situations. Sam felt his own neutral facial expression. They walked out of the forest. People asked for their wristbands to get into the concert. They took off their wristbands and gave them to the people.