You ready for that beer?

And the world stands still

It's such a cozy environment over at Luca's place. Although I don't live here and drop by maybe once or twice a month, it always feels like coming home.

"Beer!", I groan as I sink into the cushions of the old couch, putting up my leg in plaster and placing the crutches next to me. "Now!"

"Well, somebody is bossy!", Luca jokes, as he hands out beer for everybody. "And greedy! I've only got one couch, dude. Lucky that Street's not here yet, could get pretty tight otherwise."

Grinning, I move over so that he and Tan can dit down, too. "Where is he anyway?"

"I don't know" Luca shrugs his shoulders. "Said he wanted to drive up to his foster parents and didn't know if he could make it back in time."

As if on cue, we hear a key turning and a second later, Street steps into the room.

"Speeking of the devil!", Luca yells. "Hey, buddy, you made it! Party hasn't even started yet."

I wanna joke around, too. But only one look at Street's face and I swallow the words.

Even Luca is uncertain. "Dude, everything allright?"

Street forces a meaningless smile. It looks deceivingly real, but not real enough for me.

"Just tired", he says, "was a long ride."

"You want a beer?"

He scrutinizes the bottle critically as though he would rather have something stronger, then sighs and takes it. I wonder how the boys don't notice anything. Come on! Street looks as if somebody had died.

"How are you foster parents?", I ask in a friendly way, but so loud he can't ignore me.

Still, he doesn't look me in the eyes.

"They're great", he answers, taking a sip from his beer, staring into the bottle. "Yeah ..."

I couldn't just leave him like this, could I? But before I find the right words to dig deeper (my negotiating skills from last week had mysteriously vanished again) Deacon stands up and raises his beer.

"To Chris!", he shouts.

Bad timing, bud, I think.

After everyone cheered, Deacon is still standing, and I feel my chances of getting a serious word out of Street fading with every second.

"Also, there's something I'd like to announce", he goes on and breaks into a wide smile. "Annie's pregnant again!"

Okay, now I can't be mad at him anymore.

"Way to go, buddy!", I tell him, grinning, when it's finally my turn to congratulate him. "What is it now, the fourth, fifth ...?"

Deacon pushes me, laughing. "Yeah, yeah, make fun of us all you want."

I push back. "Come on, let's get another beer on that! To you and Annie and the life growing inside her!"

"Yeheah!" Tan and I raise our beers and he gives me a mockingly look. "Didn't know you are such a poet, Chris."

Laughing, we empty our beers and then start another one. We win back our spots on the couch, were we go on drinking, laughing, chatting, while the time passes.

It's already past midnight when I realize I haven't seen Street in a while.

"I get some fresh air, okay?", I tell Luca as I pull myself up. I may have an idea on where Street's hiding, but I don't wanna alarm all the others. He probably needs to be alone right now, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve the chance to speak to someone.