The Best of Summer

Part One

~~~~

"Okay, okay," Nixon's voice dims our laughter as we listen to him, his amused voice loud over the burning of the campfire and our own voices, "would you rather... have your hand smelling like pee for the rest of your life... or have a huge boil-sized pimple on your chin for the rest of your life.''

We're quiet for a short moment, contemplating both options before Gianni breaks the silence, his elbow perched on his knee as he looks over at Nixon above the medium sized fire.

"Well, can't you, like, always spray your hand or something?" Gianni smirks, as if he's found a loophole in Nixon's statement and the five of us all roll our eyes at his stupidity. Nixon never had loopholes, and Gianni was always one to dissect Nixon's questions over and over again- repeatedly, until he could find a loophole, which he never did.

"I mean, you could always spray your hand, man, but do you want your hand smelling like a million and one different colognes and shit, with a disgusting pee stench?" Nixon smirks back at Gianni and we all laugh, amused by his abrupt change in demeanor from cocky to annoyed.

"Okay, well, I don't know about ya'll, but I'm not trying to have some big ass boil on my precious face for the rest of my life, I'll have stinky hands, thank you very much," Vanessa laughs while answering Nixon and I nudge her laughing as well after she mentioned her "precious face".

"Hell yea, Nessa, I'd just wear gloves or something," Marlo nods vehemently at Vanessa and so do I, agreeing on her answer.

I mean, I would never be able to deal with some immortal pimple on my face, hell no, especially if it's boil-like. 

The rest of the boys, Jude and Danny nod as well, and Nixon seems pleased with our answers.

"I'ght I have one!" All attention goes to Danny who sits to the log on my right, holding a burnt marshmallow in one hand and his phone in the other.

"Oh lord..." I laugh as Marlo looks at Danny slightly annoyed, because we all know that his "would you rather" would involve a series of things: sex, disgusting sexual images, and... yea, sex.

"No, seriously, Marls, it's nothing too crazy, I promise," Danny winks at Marlo and throws his marshmallow on the dirt beside her foot.

"Alright, go, bruh!" Gianni hurries Danny, obviously back in his natural state after his short embarrassment.

"Okay, damn," Danny raises his hands in a surrendering motion, laughing, "Okay.... would you rather..."

He pauses for dramatic emphasis.

"Have a dick attached to your neck or a vagina on your hand?"

He says the sentence so fast that Vanessa, Marlo or I don't get the chance to tackle him to the ground and tell him to shut up. He starts laughing like a crazy hyena as he watches us scream profanities at him, though I honestly don't see how he finds that amusing.

The guy seriously has issues.

Instead of tackling him, I throw my stick that had a marshmallow on it at him, hoping to successfully hit his head, though all it did was fly behind him as he dodged it, still laughing and clapping his hands together like a seal.

"You disgusting ass idiot!" Vanessa flips him off and the rest of the guys laugh as well, considering we all know how much Nessa really doesn't have a filter when it comes to cursing.

"Damn, Nessy, I love it when you talk dirty to me," Danny's eyes grow wide in amusement as he watches Vanessa run up to him, and he scrambles to jump off the log in record speed.

"You little shit, come here so I can beat your fucking ass!" Vanessa chases Danny around our little circular area, jumping over extra logs and sticks on the ground.

"Oh yes, Nessy, spank me! Beat me!" Danny continues to scream behind his shoulder crude- yet hilarious- thoughts, and Vanessa lets out a strangled cry before jumping on his back and hitting his head.

The whole time, Marlo, Gianni, Nixon, Jude and I are on the floor, literally cracking up. I wipe away the tears from my eyes but they continue to fall as I cackle, watching the scene in front of me. A point comes where most of our laughs don't even have sounds anymore, and we're just gasping for air as we clutch our stomachs. Jude is the first to get up properly, but after looking back at Vanessa and Danny again, he falls back on the ground, his bellows louder than before.

What made the whole situation even funnier is when Danny falls on the ground, Vanessa on top of him hitting his back as he eats the dirt and leaves on the ground.

I don't even know how I managed to stay alive after seeing that.

Jude, Nixon and Gianni sit up against the wooden log, still unable to control there compulsive laughter, but managing and Marlo and I follow suit, sitting up against the log behind us, controlling our breathing.

My hand lays down lazily across my stomach, my legs outstretched as is Marlo's.

"Summer, " Jude says, looking up at me, "you have some..."

He moves his hands around his head, motioning that I had something on my head, and as I look up at his dirty blonde locks, I see a pile of leaves atop his head, too.

"Yea, you too.. actually, all of you do," my breathing comes back normally, as well as everyone else, and we no longer hear Vanessa's or Danny's screams, so I assume that they're tired out and are coming back to our spot. As I look up towards their previous area, my assumption is proven correct when I see Nessa and Danny standing up and walking to our direction.

"Damn, that was fucking hilarious," Nixon chuckles, and his whole body shakes as he does so. Gianni nods, a small smile gracing his lips, his hair flopping down to his eyes before he pushes it back with his left hand. Jude pulls up on of his legs moving it side to side while the other is still outstretched.

Nessa and Danny come back, with small smiles on their faces, before Danny plops down in the postion the rest of the guys are on, on an empty log, and Nessa lays down on her back on the same one, messing with Danny's hair.

A few minutes pass as we sit in complete comfortable silence, and a swell fills up in my chest as I look at my best friends since childhood.

The seven of us had always made a campfire behind Nixon's backyard, since his yard was so huge- almost an acre of land- before saying hello to the up coming summer. This had been our tenth campfire, it was seriously our ritual.

Our Junior year seemed to have slipped through my fingertips, one more year being finished before graduating. Now we were seniors- well, after this summer- and it felt almost surreal.

But then again... it also seemed that this summer would be the best summer of our lives.