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so here's the thing about rural teenagers in the early 2000s and earlier: they did not have shit to do, so they hung out in the nearest small town mall parking lot or in random parks after dark.
and one time during the summer before i went to college, i was doing this very thing with my friends. we met up with some boys that some of those friends were absolutely into, and i'm sure you can already tell where this story is going to go.
my ride decided she wanted to ride back to one of those boy's homes in the boy car, and she designated another boy, who i'm pretty sure went to my high school but did not graduate from my high school, to drive her car.
speaking of high, he was. he was very high.
and like, i was smart enough to know this was a bad idea. but i rode with him anyway, because while i was smart enough to know better, i was also very dumb.
he told me and my friend (who was also dumb enough to get in that car) that we had to make a quick stop, and because i was very naive, i thought that meant to get gas, not to sell weed to some other guy in the mall parking lot. i was wrong. it was the latter.
so on the way out of "the city" (pop. 18K) back to this kid's house, we pass some cops in the mall parking lot. and this guy says, "oh shit, oh shit. here, hold these." and he dumps a random assortment of pills from the bottom of his cigarette pack into my hand.
remember i am very naive, SO I HELD THE DAMN PILLS as we drove by the cops and he waved. HE WAVED AT THEM, EVERYONE. that was, of course, not at all suspicious.
in a miraculous turn of events, the cops didn't think he was suspicious enough to stop us, so we continue. we continued very fast. like, 85mph on curvy country roads kind of fast.
there i was, just thinking about how this was it for me, i wasn't going to get to go to college in a few weeks and become an eye doctor, i was going to die because my friend was into some dude (ain't that the way it always goes).
so as i turn to tell him that he needs to slow the hell down because i want to go to college and become an eye doctor, i see that he is singing along to that tony rich project song "nobody knows" from 1996 very passionately.
he is tapping out the beat on the steering wheel (10 and 2, sir, is what 35-year-old holly would have said), and i for sure think i saw him tearing up a little. someone hurt him, and that is partly why i found myself in this position.
you should be able to discern two things now without me telling you explicitly: i went to college (but did not become an eye doctor) and this guy was absolutely arrested for trying to rob a pharmacy like 7 years later.
anyway, this is a story about how maybe we should lay off teens who are "addicted to technology and don't go outside" & also how i haven't been able to listen to that tony rich project song "nobody knows" for almost 20 years without thinking of the night i was certain i'd die.
