A Night Out

Part 1

Toby was putting on his dark grey denim jacket. The sleeves were slightly too long for him, but the jacket keeps him warm when he goes out, so he doesn't mind.

At 6:55p.m. they knocked on the door. Early by a few minutes, as usual. He opened the door. Jake, Donna, Keith and Max were waiting on the porch. Toby could see them through his bedroom window. He came out to greet them, a little, fluffy, newly groomed dog on his heels eager to be in the spotlight of the group.

"Benny, stay", Toby warned the dog against escaping through the white picket fence because he knew he wouldn't be able to see him with his pitch-black fur blending in perfectly with the night. It would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

"Come on, let's go", he said to his friends, after securing Benny in the living room.

They took the 5-minute walk along Gloucester Street to the Tutaekuri river. By the time they got there it was dark and the chilly air didn't penetrate his denim jacket.

"I'm going to make a fire. I'm so bloody cold", Donna said, pulling out her cigarette lighter.

"See, if you had taken your jacket like I told you, you wouldn't be shivering, would ya?" Keith teased her, giving her his jacket.

"That's why I have you", Donna smiled.

They assembled a circle of rocks together from the banks of the river. The rocky ground, disappointing compared to the rare sandy shores in Ahuriri, felt uneven beneath their shoes.

The fire shone brightly in the night, creating flickering shadows of the trees on the rocks, making shadows appear within the small forest blocking their view of the neighborhood.

Hours passed as they joked, laughed and reminisced about high school, shared what they had already done during this gap year, and thought of their other friends at university who already knew what they wanted to do during high school. Some of them didn't want to admit it, but they didn't want to let go of these good times, go into the unknown, the unpredictable futures ahead of them. The flowing river became white noise as their conversations echoed amongst the trees.

"Does anyone wanna go for a swim?" Max asked, "this fire is making me sweat through my pants."

"Yeah, spoiler alert, you're wearing sweatpants under your jeans", Toby, pointed out.

"What can I say? It was freezing, now it feels like I've been sitting in a hot tub for the last 3 hours", Max said, struggling to take his tight, navy-blue jeans off and rolling his black, baggy sweatpants up to his thighs. He left his sneakers by the fire and started walking towards the river.

"I'll go with you", Keith said. He took his thick black hoodie off, revealing his white singlet and rolled his jeans up to his knees.

"They're not gonna stay in there for more than 5 seconds", Jake laughed.

They watched Max go in, panting, dealing with the shock of the water while beginning to swim in.

Keith followed him, "Oh my god, I can't feel my feet. How are you already up to your neck?"

Max laughed, "Get it over and with done, put yourself out of your misery and make it to your knees at least."

Keith hesitantly walked towards him. They all watched him; giddy with anticipation that he would chicken out.

"Too slow!" Max said, and splashed Keith in the face. Keith stumbled over in surprise, lost his footing and fell face first in the water.

Toby, Jake and Donna burst out laughing.