A Casual Collection: Season 3

Ep4: The Imp goes camping with us!

"So that imp huh?" Kadien started, popping open a can of beer. He had taken Brad out to chill at the baseball park. It was a public space on the weekends and while everyone else took to the diamond to mess around, he and Brad always sat up in the bleachers, under the overhang, and hidden away from the sun. Besides them was Kadien's cooler, filled with an assortment of drinks he had taken from the vending machine and home, along with enough ice to last the whole day.

Kadien took a sip of his can while waiting for an answer, but Brad just stewed outward towards the field. "Dude?"

Brad jerked his head towards his friend as if he had been distracted by something else. "Yeah yeah, monsters and stuff."

"Tell me about it! Told pop about it and he said in a real grunty voice 'that's the devil's tongue boy, focus on baseball!'" Kadien added his finger over his nose to simulate the stash. "Hur hur hur, what am I gonna tell Martha now?"

"How is your mom anyway?" Brad asked. Kaiden shrugged and took another sip of his beer.

"You know, they're better....."

"Cool..."

"But yeah, about this imp. Best thing to happen this fall I tell you. First, we get this, purple storm or Arora Borealis or something, then the fricken CIA comes over, then this? Man his food is good!" Kadien said ecstatically. "Only thing that could make this better is if I start throwing heaters!"

"I wouldn't say the best thing to happen..." Kaiden shot Brad a weary look after he had uttered those words. "What?"

"I just saying, Leana was right about him coming out of nowhere, and now all of a sudden they are just buddy buddy with each other?" Brad drew invisible lines as he talked as if he was connecting the dots on a conspiracy. "It's not right."

"Oh, so it's this type of conversation...."

"What do you mean by that?" Brad asked, getting annoyed out of the blue.

"You're jealous of him aren't you?"

"No, why would I be jealous of him? I'm not even into Leana like that anymore," he said.

"If you say so bro." Kaiden picked up another beer from the case and handed it to Brad. "You think he can make homemade coca-cola?"

"He's not some sort of culinary genius alright?!" Brad suddenly yelled. "Heck, if all I did was watch cooking shows all day I could make something good."

"So that's a no on the question then...." Kaiden put down the beer and continued drinking his own in silence. It was obvious Brad had beef, which he could care less about. But now it was cutting into their sacred bro time in the rafters. Guess it's time to herd a bull, he thought. His brain kicked into overtime to figure out what could bring Brad and Mortoii within each other's good graces before he lost the good food he had been eating all week, and his baseball buddy. Think Kade, what would dad do...

His mind drifted back to whenever he and Damien had an argument. Pops would always make them go camping until they made up, or at least played along to be back before dinner...

"Camping....Camping. Brad, I'm feeling a nice hike into the woods with the gang."

"Oh, the two of us?"

"No no no you know, me, you, that hottie Becky, Leana..."

"Sounds good," Brad answerd, nodding approvingly.

"...and Mortoii." Brad's head stopped moving as the name came through Kaiden's mouth. "The five of us, and a night under the stars. What do you say?"