THE RESET: A New Year's Eve Story PART 7 - THE DRIVE BACK
The road home is loud, awkward, and impossible to take seriously anymore.
They were forty minutes into the drive when Marcus broke.
He'd been sitting there, staring out the window, trying to act normal. But the silence was killing him. The weight of what they'd all seen. What they'd all done.
Someone had to say something.
He turned around in his seat to face Becca.
"So," he said. "Tell me about that tattoo on your butt."
The van went dead silent.
Then Diego started choking on his water.
Jamal barked out a laugh. "Oh my god."
Becca's face went bright red. "Excuse me?"
"The little star. Right cheek. I'm just saying, I have questions."
"You... you noticed that?"
"Everyone noticed that."
"I didn't notice anything," Diego said quickly.
"Liar," Aisha said. "You were staring."
"I was NOT."
"You absolutely were."
Becca covered her face with her hands. "I got it when I was twenty-two. Spring break. Bad decisions."
"It's actually kind of cute," Claire said from the driver's seat.
"Thank you?"
"Better than Marcus's farmer's tan."
Marcus looked down at his arms. "What's wrong with my tan?"
"You look like you've been wearing a t-shirt in the sun for six months."
"I work inside!"
"Clearly."
Jamal leaned forward. "Can we talk about Diego's swim trunks tan line? That was aggressive."
"I wear shorts when I run!" Diego protested.
"Very short shorts, apparently."
"They're athletic shorts!"
"They're Speedos."
"They are NOT Speedos!"
Aisha was crying laughing. "Stop. I can't breathe."
"You want to talk about tan lines?" Jamal said. "Because I saw Aisha's bikini outline and it looked like she hasn't been to a beach since 2019."
"I work in data analytics! When would I go to the beach?"
"That's my point!"
Becca wiped her eyes. "Okay but can we acknowledge that Jamal has better abs than all of us combined?"
Everyone turned to look at Jamal.
He shrugged. "I do CrossFit."
"Of course you do," Marcus said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you're the guy who does CrossFit and now we all know it for a fact."
"At least I'm in shape."
"You're in shape. Marcus has a farmer's tan. Diego has a Speedo tan. I have a spring break mistake on my ass. What's your point?"
Claire started laughing so hard she had to pull over.
"Are you okay?" Aisha asked.
"I'm fine. I just... I can't drive while you people are roasting each other. It's too much."
She put the van in park, turned around in her seat.
"Okay," she said. "Since we're doing this. Becca, your tan lines were the least of your problems."
Becca's eyes went wide. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You were doing the penguin walk the entire time. Like you were trying to protect yourself from the cold."
"The water WAS cold!"
"We were all in the same water. You were the only one walking like a penguin."
Marcus was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. "Oh my god she's right. You looked like you were about to lay an egg."
"I hate all of you."
"No you don't," Aisha said.
"I really, really do."
"You love us. Admit it."
"I will admit nothing."
Diego leaned back in his seat. "You know what the worst part was? The running. I ran into that water like my life depended on it and then immediately regretted every choice I've ever made."
"That was obvious," Jamal said.
"Was it?"
"You screamed. Loud. Like, everyone heard you."
"I did not scream."
"You absolutely screamed," Marcus said. "It was like a horror movie."
"The water was FREEZING."
"We were all in the same water!"
"I'm from Arizona! I don't do cold!"
Claire wiped her eyes. "Okay but can we talk about how Marcus took like five minutes to actually get in the water?"
"I was acclimating!"
"You were stalling."
"Same thing."
"It's not the same thing. You stood there waist-deep for so long I thought you were going to turn around and leave."
"I considered it."
Becca grinned. "And yet you stayed."
"And yet I stayed."
They looked at each other. A moment of genuine connection underneath all the shit-talking.
Then Jamal ruined it. "Yeah but you still have that farmer's tan."
"Oh my GOD."
Aisha pulled out her phone. "We should take a picture."
"Absolutely not," Diego said.
"Why not?"
"Because this is evidence. Evidence that could destroy our careers."
"Our careers are fine. We went to a team-building retreat. We participated. That's all anyone needs to know."
"We got NAKED."
"At a clothing-optional resort. That's literally what you're supposed to do."
"That's not what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to do trust falls and talk about synergy."
"We did the trust falls," Claire said. "Remember? With Trevor?"
"Trevor," Marcus groaned. "God, Trevor was so happy this morning."
"He has no idea," Jamal said.
"None whatsoever."
Becca pulled out her phone. "I'm taking a picture."
"Don't you dare," Diego said.
"Too late."
She snapped a photo. Six people in a van, laughing, exhausted, changed.
"Send that to me," Claire said.
"Me too," Aisha said.
"This is blackmail material," Diego protested.
"It's a memory," Becca said. "Of the weirdest night of our lives."
"The best night," Claire corrected.
"Best?"
"Yeah. Best."
They sat with that for a moment.
Then Marcus turned back around in his seat. "Alright, Claire. Your turn."
"My turn for what?"
"We've roasted everyone else. What did you do that was embarrassing?"
"Nothing. I was perfect."
"Liar."
She grinned. "Fine. I may have... danced."
"You danced?"
"In the water. At midnight. With a group of strangers."
"What kind of dancing?"
"The kind where you don't care what you look like because everyone's naked and it's midnight and nothing matters."
Jamal raised his hand for a high five. Claire reached back and smacked it.
"Respect," he said.
"Thank you."
Marcus shook his head. "We really did this. We actually got naked and ran into the ocean."
"We did," Becca said.
"And now we have to go back to work and pretend we're normal."
"We are normal."
"Becca. We saw each other naked. That's not normal."
"It's normal for us now."
"What does that even mean?"
She shrugged. "It means we can't go back. Only forward. And maybe that's not a bad thing."
Silence.
Then Aisha spoke up from the back. "For what it's worth, I think we're better now."
"Better how?" Diego asked.
"Better as a team. We've seen each other without the armor. Without the performance. And we didn't fall apart. We're still here. Still talking. Still... us. Just more honest."
"That's surprisingly deep," Marcus said.
"I have my moments."
Claire put the van back in drive. "Alright. One more hour. Anyone need to stop?"
"Coffee," everyone said at once.
She laughed. "Coffee it is."
They merged back onto the highway. The city getting closer. Reality creeping back in.
But for now, they had this. Six people who'd done something insane together and come out the other side still intact.
Still roasting each other.
Still laughing.
Still a team.
Just a different kind than they'd been before.
END OF PART 7 of 8
