High by the Beach • France

Chapter Four

Despite going to school there for however many years, Finney had never gone to one of the monthly parties. Every month Bruce asked him and every month Finney said maybe—which meant no. He didn't go because the only person he even remotely had was Bruce but since Vance was now here, queer, and also going he felt less alone. Finney now had two people to annoy—three if you counted his dealer—and that was all he needed.

The following night was led by a bunch of teenage boys as they climbed out of their windows and ran to the woods like Lord of the Flies. Vance jumped down first and proceeded to help Finney, who made no effort to get down by himself.

As soon as the roommates neared the noise Finney started growing anxious—when it came down to one or two people he was perfectly capable holding up a conversation though a crowded Cesspool of teenage boys wasn't exactly his defenition of fun. Vance wasn't the most social of people either but that was mainly because in general he didn't like people that much, or at least that's what he told himself.

As soon as the two boys entered the clearing that had been filled with students who were too bored to do anything productive and a bonfire, Bruce found his way over to them, once again ditching his group friends. "Hello!" He beamed while Finney just eyed the cup in his hand. "Is there alchohol here? If there is I would've showed up a lot sooner." Bruce laughed at Finney's question before answering. "I mean, probably, but I don't drink–" Bruce pointed to his cup. "–this is literally just hot chocolate," Finney nodded with a soft smile and started looking around. "Well, i'm gonna go find alchohol," He explained, leaving the other two friends alone.

"So, what do we do now?" Vance asked and Bruce's eyes lit up. "If Finney stayed a bit longer he would've seen that the beat part about this party isn't the alchohol—or the party really." Vance watched in confusion which was when Bruce took his hand and began leading him through the trees, stopping before one that stood tall above them.

"Quick question, do you know how to climb trees?" Bruce asked, Vance was still confused but he gave him a small nod. As he was about to ask what the hell was going on Bruce started climbing so he was quick to follow. They both ended up on a large branch a little ways above the ground, legs thrown over either side to keep themselves balanced as they faced eachother.

"So you come to parties to climb trees?" Vance raised his eyebrows as he watched the other boys face which was lit up by the moonlight flooding through the branches above. "No, I climb trees to get away," Bruce corrected. The music that was being blasted in the distance was barely adible to hear so it left the two alone with their own thoughts.

"What do we do now?" Vance questioned looking around, there wasn't exactly a lot to do while sitting in a tree. "Whatever we want," Bruce smiled before throwing his head back to glance at the night sky that, once mentioned, shined through the cracks in the leaves.

As he did so, he wondered if Finney was watching the sky as well; he wasn't sure why the other boy was on his mind but somewhere in the stars Bruce saw his face. Like when one saw a constellation, patterns could be made out when looked at in the right angle, Finney was this pattern—in fact he was there in every angle. As the stars realigned to form the teenager Vance spoke up and Bruce returned to Earth.

"Well I guess I should get to know you now," Vance shrugged as if getting to know him was something he didn't even necessarily want to do, which was anything but the truth. "Oh, you guess?" Bruce saw through the facade as he raised his eyebrow. "Uh-huh," Vance nodded before continuing. "Let me think..." The teenager paused as he watched Bruce intently, trying to read his "vibes" as the kids say. "You listen to Lana Del Rey," He guessed with confidence, recieving a bright smile in reaponse which was when Vance knew that he was correct.