Late Nights and 99 proof

Chapter Two~ RYAN

We spend the later hours of the morning socializing over breakfast and making small talk, avoiding everything we're really here to talk about. Ana Danky. The bitch that stole my bike in third grade. Tasha's pink pencil she bought at the book fair. Richard's seat on the bus and Kenny's jawbreakers right outta his mouth!

"Snorkeling and swimming with dolphins? What are we 12?" Jef woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Viv rolls her eyes, ignoring his comment. He goes outside for a cigarette and she continues. "If you wanna go, we should leave in an hour."

Jef and I stayed back, I'd rather relax on the beach and get some sun. Maybe play volleyball with some of the babes on the sand. Jef packs a cooler full of beer for our commute and we head down to the public area of the beach. Children and their parents take up most of the sand space and we don't find an empty spot to sit for a few miles. No one's complaining though, where we are now made it all worth it.

I figured playing volleyball with a bunch of fine ass women would satisfy me but watching is even better. "Let's invite a few of them back to the house, have a little fun before everyone gets back," Jef says and as much as I want to say yes, I don't. "We look like we could be their father, there's no way they're going anywhere with us."

"Chicks dig that sorta thing, watch!" He springs up from his towel and jogs over to the net, flexing his core. The man clearly works out all day long. He's kept the same body since high school. "Hey ladies!" I hear him yell from where I'm sitting and they all melt like butter. His muscles are defined as he jogs through the sand and his pigmented skin glistens in the sun.

Pretty soon after he left, he returned with two skinny girls on his arm. I mentally hope neither was for me. I prefer a woman with a bit more substance. These girls are too ditsy, too giggly and way too drunk for me to comfortably interact. The last thing I need is rape on conscious too.

"I'll stay here, you go ahead! Knock yourself out," I tell him and he doesn't even hesitate. Snaking both arms around their waist, he guides them to the private beach house we all share for the next week.

Same old same old Jef, I thought.

I walk the beach for a while, taking in the warmth from the sun and the cool breeze that follows. I'm dodging random children for a few miles but as the evening grew darker the families slowly disappeared.

I walk back to our reserved section, collapsed in the sand and the next thing I knew I was waking up from a nap with sand clinging to the left side of my face.

Best sleep I've had in a long time.

***

"No spouses," Jef finds it necessary to remind Tasha with a grin plastered on his face. He sits sloppily in his seat, swinging his knees apart and then together again as if he was airing his jeans out. He's the only one without a blanket.

"I know that asshole!"

We all stand bundled up with blankets and our favorite party favor around a campfire on the beach. Jef, Tasha, Richard, Vivian, and myself. It was complicated getting Richard off his damned laptop and join us so we can finally talk. He's all work no play but tonight, he'll loosen up for sure.

"You ever tell anybody?"

"Fuck no! Not even my wife. I've tried everything I can to not remember that night. I wish I had just stayed home and in bed, as my mother told me to do," Richard exclaimed.

"I can't imagine what my life would be like now If we had gotten caught," I say.

"Jail time brother, that was the only way for us." Richard's words sting and I find myself pushing back three shots of 99. This was a hard pill to swallow. The thought that if just one of us had slipped up and gone to the authorities, we'd all be behind bars for just that one single mistake. Stomach pains worsen and I sit down. I wonder how different Ana's life would be, too, if we hadn't done what we did.