I was still in my bedroom getting ready for the bonfire when the first guests began to arrive. My single bedroom door was cracked open, letting the voices of excited party-goers from the kitchen seep into my room. I was just putting together the finishing touches when I heard a light knock coming from the double doors.
"Come in," I announced, and Bonnie stuck her head through the door. I looked at the open door on the other side--the one that leads to the kitchen--and then back at her with a puzzled expression. "I thought you were out there with everyone?" She smiled and let herself in.
"Not yet," she giggled. "Let's go out there together." Bonnie grabbed my hand and pranced out the door, leading me to the party. Whether or not I was ready, there was no time to do anything but follow her.
As we reached the kitchen, we were met with Wes briefly pausing his lime-cutting to notice our sudden (and, may I say, graceful) entrance. Bonnie opened the fridge, pulled out two beers, and quickly popped the lids off before handing one to me.
"Do you guys want limes with that?" Wes offered cheerfully.
"I'm good," Bonnie declined.
Wes' expression instantly transitioned from excitement to an exaggerated disappointment that was almost puppy-dog like. "But I cut up all these limes," he whined playfully.
I held out my beer towards Wes. "Lime me up, boy." His face returned to its original excitement as he gently placed a lime slice on the rim of my bottle.
"Leo's about to go outside to start the fire," Wes mentioned, gesturing to Leo in the living room as he was crumpling balls of paper, presumably to help keep the fire going throughout the night. Before I even realized it, I was making my way towards the couch and sat right next to him. He was leaned over, his elbows pressing on his knees. He looked over his shoulder at me and smirked. I leaned over to set my beer on the table, meeting his level momentarily before leaning back into the couch. His eyes stayed locked onto me.
"Excited?" he asked. He seemed to be a man of few words, but he delivered his charismatic energy with such strength.
I chuckled, trying not to stumble on my response. "I love bonfires. They're one of my favorite aspects of winter." I inhaled sharply, realizing how stupid my response probably sounded.
Unless it was a completely fine response and I'm just overthinking it? What if he points out how awkward I am? Oh god, what do I do with my hands?
I quickly broke my twiddling fingers away from each other and picked up a piece of paper to contribute to the crumpling, breaking eye contact. "Mine too," Leo smiled. He pulled out a plastic bag from behind him that was almost full with balled up paper and put it in front of us so that I could add my contributions to the pile. I tossed the balls of paper in one by one, increasing velocity with each toss. Leo laughed as he watched each piece fly into the air and land perfectly into the bag--until I lost my aim, resulting in one of them to bounce off of his face as it descended.
"I'm so sorry," I said, unable to hold back my laughter. I covered my mouth with my hands in a poor attempt to at least hide it. Leo nudged my leg with his, smiling. He stood up and faced me.
"Come with me, bully," he said, nodding his head towards the back patio. "We have a fire to make."
I followed him out to the back patio and was surprised to see how different the environment of the patio looked at night. The string lights that surrounded the patio fence illuminated the area with a completely different look. The couches had been arranged to circle around the fire pit, far enough to sit on without melting your face off. Leo began assorting logs in the middle of the pit. I wasn't sure how to help, so I stood behind him and watched. He was quick; I could tell that he does this on a regular basis. Once he finished grouping the wood, he pulled a ball of paper out of the bag and pat down his front pockets. He looked back at me and asked, "Do you have a lighter?"
