I sit on the roof of my car, looking up at the stars. Denise jumps up onto the bonnet. She sinks a few centimetres, and the car’s crumpled metal makes her lose her balance.
“Denise!” I shout. More of a reflex really, the whole concept of ‘Consequences don’t matter anymore’ hasn't sunk in yet.
“So what?” Denise smiles, “It’s not like you can take it anywhere. Plus, the world’s ending!”
“I hadn’t forgotten.”
Denise proceeds to jump up and down on the bonnet, making a god awful amount of noise.
“Denise! The drinks!”
She looks down, and realises that the two cokes she was supposed to bring us were now positively fucked.
“Oh shit,” she says.
She jumps up onto the roof, and shifts over beside me.
“Give me one,” I say.
“Leila-”
“So what?” I say, “the world's ending.” I give her a light nudge with my shoulder, and she hands me the can. Aiming it out into the vast desert in front of us, I crack open the can, and a stream of brown foam—with some force—shoots out onto the ground in front of me.
Denise laughs, and does the same.
I flick what liquid is left on my hands onto her, and take a sip. I spit it out immediately, “Eugh, it’s warm!”
“So what? The-”
“Shut up,” I laugh.
There's a moment of silence, I look up at the stars, Denise stares down at the ground. The moment turns into an eternity, and we’re sucked into the void of our own thoughts.
“The powers out,” Denise says slowly. “I guess whoever works there got up and left, wanted to spend the last day with their families…” She trails off.
“That's why the coke’s warm.”
I laugh, a short breath.
Denise turns to me, “What is it?”
“I just never thought that I’d be spending the last 16 hours of my life, with a total stranger.”
“Hey, I’m not a total stranger, we met at the wedding, remember?”
The wedding. Sharon's wedding. That seems like a lifetime ago. Back then my life had meaning, I had things to look forward to, people to meet, now all that I have is…
Is Denise.
“What did it all add up to?” I ask.
“Hm?”
I take another sip of my warm coke, stand up, and toss the still full can as far as I can. It makes it just over the road, and lands in the dirt on the other side.
I stand there, the breeze blowing through my hair, watching as a few ants spot the coke soaked dirt.
“All the decisions in my life, all the things that I did, they were all for something, right? When I look back on my life when I’m all grey and old I was supposed to say ‘I did something.’ And. Given literally any other situation, I could say that about my life now. But the worlds fucking ending, and nobody, nothing, is going to mean anything anymore. Nothing I did, or anybody did, is going to have any impact.”
Denise snorts, “The only thing that’s making an impact any time soon is that asteroid.”
“Why?” I ask, “Why do you say things like this?”
There’s a pause. “To cope.”
Another moment of silence. No point lying to yourself anymore.
“Leila,” she says, “I’m fucking scared.”
“I know… I am too.”
Denise looks up at the stars with me. “… To think we don’t even get the pleasure of seeing it.”
“I think it’s for the best,“ I say, “we wouldn’t want it hanging over our heads.”
This makes Denise laugh, and she gives me a punch in the arm. “Come on,” she says, “let’s find something to eat.”
“Oh, you're hungry now?”
“Fuck yeah I am. What’s the bet we can find some of Sharon’s wedding cake?”
I jump down from the roof. “Alright,” I say, “let’s go.”