Five Seconds After the Flash

Chapter Five

I left for Daniel's house when it started getting dark. It was an easy walk, and thankfully it wasn't too muggy out. I'd changed into my favorite jeans and a loose fitting white tank top with my white Converse shoes. I was taking advantage of the lowered humidity and wore my hair down in quickly curled waves around my shoulders. Mom had even talked me into wearing a little makeup, even though I'd assured her that it was dark and no one cared anyway.

It only took about 10 minutes to walk down to the end of the street where Daniel's house was on the cul-de-sac. There were a couple of cars in the driveway, and I could make out a few shadows in the light of the bonfire that was already blazing behind the house. Daniel knew me too well to make this a huge party with a bunch of people that I didn't know.

I walked around the driveway and to the back of the house. His backyard dipped down into a bit of a valley before the trees started. Uncle Rob had built the firepit there years ago. There was bench seating circling the pit, and Daniel had filled it to the very top edge with brush. The fire looked way too big for the quaint little circle of rock. There was some kind of indie music playing over the outdoor sound system

"I don't really think you're supposed to use a fire pit like that," I joked, walking up behind him.

He turned with a smile, holding a drink in his hand.

"Well, oh my god, thank you for the opinion," he said, pulling me into a huge hug, "Like most opinions though, I'm going to have to completely ignore it."

I had seen him a few weeks ago at the memorial, but the atmosphere had been much different then. He looked generally the same as he had in high school, a little bit on the heavy side with perfect hair and teeth. He had grown a beard though, and I complimented him on it.

"Well, you know it's hard enough being openly gay in this one horse town," he said, "I figured I may as well grow a beard to match the other rednecks."

I hadn't realized until that moment how much I had missed him. Other than Ryan, he had been my best friend growing up.

"I'm going to be honest, Vic. It's kind of weird to see you without ol Ry Ry," Daniel said, walking me over to grab a drink. They had a hut set up on the opposite side of the yard from the fire pit and in the shadow of the back porch. Daniel called it the Booze Bungalow because that's where Rob and Jen kept all their liquor for entertaining guests.

We walked into the hut and I couldn't help but smile. Daniel and I had snuck in there so many times as teenagers, back when Uncle Rob had kept a lock on it. There was a bar on the side of  that was typically open for serving, but they had the window area closed up, making it pitch dark on the inside. Daniel used the light of his phone to look under the bar at the various bottles.

"Um, won't Uncle Rob notice that you're taking that?" I asked.

He snorted. "It's adorable that you still call him Uncle Rob, like you're 6 years old or something. Do you think he fucking takes inventory or what? Besides, I bought my own liquor this time since I'm legal."

"Where is he anyway? Are your parents not here?"

"Nah, they're having their bi-weekly date night tonight so they won't be home until way later. They don't care, V, we are adults now."

He had 2 shot glasses on the counter, and he filled them both with tequila. Then he picked one up.

"To Grandpa," he said.

I picked mine up and toasted him, then we tossed them back. He immediately filled them again.

"And this one," he said, "is to us."