Harder to Breathe

The small bar that they congregated at was filled with warmth and laughter. The whole room was spilling out with giggles and slurred speech. Everyone seemed to have been having a good time.

"Come on, Keith. This is a Garrison get together, at least try and look less like you're being tortured," Lance said as he slotted his arm around Keith's shoulders. The Cuban smelled of liquor and his cheap cologne. Keith could feel the back of his throat closing up with the intense smell and he swore he was going to vomit all over Lance's brand new Prada shoes.

Scrunching his nose and counting to ten in his head, Keith sighed and slowly lifted Lance's arm off of his shoulders. "I get it, Lance. I'll act like I care but could you not suffocate me to death, please?"

Lance's blue eyes gleamed and smacked Keith's shoulder two times before shifting away, "Sure thing, Mullet."

The party itself consisted of some heads and lieutenants from older graduating classes gathered together to buy out an entire bar for the evening. It was a nice little building, with green shingle roofing and the gold-colored walls made the place feel homey and warm.

---

Keith wasn't planning on going to the party and was planning an entire evening of having a Star Wars marathon with his dog Cosmo from the comfort of his home. But Lance, Pidge, and Hunk wouldn't take that as an answer and Lance even persuaded Keith's mom to help convince him to go.

"Go and have fun tonight," she'd said as she pulled out some bills from her purse and handed it to him. "I'll watch Cosmo for the night. You know I get lonely staying in this place by myself," her eyes lowered.

Keith didn't know how to refuse when she put it like that. He knew that she got lonely ever since Pop died, but he also really didn't want to go. Cosmo whined and nuzzled his nose to Keith's hand and licked it. He looked down at his dog and smiled, "Alright, I guess one night won't hurt." Keith handed the leash to his mom and kneeled and scratched behind Cosmo's big fluffy-pointed ears, "you be good while I'm gone. I'll be back to pick you up tomorrow."

A car horn blared behind him, loud and consistent. The blue Mercedes behind him was relentless. "Come on, Keith! Vamos a Hacer un Movimiento en!"

Keith rolled his eyes and hugged his mom, "I'll be seeing you tomorrow."

She hugged tighter, "Try and have some fun."

Keith turned toward the street, giving his mother a tight smile.

Yeah, fun.

---

As the night progressed, Keith noticed that Hunk and Pidge were still missing and had yet to arrive at the party. Keith could only handle being at this party with Lance only for so long.

As if on cue, Hunk and Pidge walked into the bar. Hunk was holding hands with a girl that was slightly taller than him and a curvy body. She was smiling brightly and was laughing at something that he had said. That was something Keith didn't expect.

"Hey Keith," Pidge waved and plopped herself down at the small table he occupied by himself.

Keith smiled at her and brought the beer he was nursing in his hands to his lips and took a sip. "So, who did Hunk bring with him?"

The small girl leaned over to the pitcher of beer and poured herself a glass, "Oh, that's Shay, Hunk's girlfriend, and co-worker." Pidge took a big swig of her beer and sighed in content. "It's kind of the reason we were so late," she explains. "She forgot she had to pick her grandma up from the hospital."

Keith nodded and took a big gulp of his beer until all that was left on the bottom of his cup was foam.

Hunk walked over to their table and sat down, Shay sat with him to his right, "Hey Keith, I'd like you to meet Shay," Hunk introduced and Keith extended his hand as they both gave a generous shake with light pressure in their fingers.