When You Can't Sleep At Night (an Of Mice & Men Fanfiction; Austlan)

Chapter 1

        "No way," Alan said as he wrestled the small mp3 player from Tino. "We should definitely play Slipknot." He fiddled around with the buttons as he scrolled through the songs.  This got a frown from Tino as he said "I want to play Nirvana." They both looked at me, as if saying that I needed to be the one to decide. A chuckle escaped from me as I said "Tino, as much as I love you and Nirvana, Slipknot is certainly for the win." Alan made a face of pure victory.

      "Ha!" his grungy yet medlodic voice exclaimed. He pressed the play button and heavy guitar rhythms blasted through my ears, and seemingly the entire beach.

      "Must they always have this argument?" a shy Aaron asked me, half jokingly. I threw up my hands as if to say "fucking beats me."

      The guys and I were sitting around a bonfire on the beach by the ocean. The familiar Costa Mesa salty air and now cold sand had become something I could never get bored of. I look around at Alan, my best friend since we were in kindergarten, who now sits beside me; then there's Aaron, who is taking a bite of pizza we have laid out in a box outside the pit of fiery light. Aaron moved here in middle school, and we've been cool ever since he planted a stink bomb in our snobby teacher's desk by his third day here. It smelled like pure ass, but boy was it hilarious. And finally, I look at Tino, who is softly head banging to the music and taking a swig of cheap beer from Alan's refrigerator. He moved here last, in about 8th grade. Alan aimed a spitball at him in Spanish class, and, to our surprise, he caught it and spit it right back--without a straw.  It won Alan, Aaron, and I completely over. Triple A, as Aaron likes to call it. My name's Austin, that's why he came up with the name.

      I take a deep breath and gaze out into the cool midnight air. Well, somewhat cool. Cold air here is 64 degrees. The soft waves caressing the sand and moon as bright as ever has never ceased to amaze me.

      Today is officially the last night of summer. And tomorrow, we go back to the shit hole that is high school. For the past two years we've been going to Shady Glade High, a large school on the opposite side of town, which is near where we live. I snicker just thinking about it. Back to boring classes and bullshit teachers. Back to the people that have tried to completely ruin our lives since freshman year.

      But I thrust those thoughts away for now. Tonight's the last night and I'm not going to spend it thinking about hell.

      Tino and Aaron are talking about some sort of comic book they both read, and Alan rolls his eyes. The tip of his warm beer bottle touches my bare shoulder. "Want the rest?" his deep brown eyes twinkle in the light of the fire. I reluctantly take it and down a swig. The liquid burns my throat slightly, but I don't mind.

      Alan constantly takes booze from his parents. To say he's an alcoholic would be somewhat incorrect. He drinks a lot, but he could easily stop. It's nothing to him, and drinking doesn't affect his mood in any way. He's always like he normally is, wild, yet laid back, and out there yet comes across as lazy. He drinks a lot, but he could easily stop. It's nothing to him, and that's how he feels about practically everything, I've learned. Everything around him is just there in his eyes. It makes me wonder if he thinks the same way about our friendship.

      "Well, since it's our last night before school, I say we hit the water." Alan says, disrupting my thoughts. Aaron and Tino agree and we all run down to the freezing waves full sprint. Everyone immediately starts splashing, even me. We laugh and laugh and eventually Alan picks me up and throws me back down into the water. The impact is surprising, and I happily open my eyes while still underwater.

     The view simply amazes me, even though it's dark I can still see shells and seaweed surround me. I splash back up, whipping my long brown hair out of my bangs, and also slapping Alan with the salt water in the process. Everyone has the gooftiest grins on their faces.