𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄, 𝐬𝐭𝟐

TWENTY-SEVEN. fine wine

NATALIE D'ANGELO

—

christie, steve, dustin and i spend the next few days together, after our ever so lovely christmas night. we laugh and have the most fun we possibly can.

over break, i notice that mike never really leaves his home. the only people i watched leave the wheeler residence were karen and nancy. other than that it was like the rest of the house house was vacant.

the one time i saw mike was when christie, steve, dustin and i were having a snowball fight in our front yard, on new year's eve.

i pick up the powdery white substance and pack it in my hands until it forms a hard, snowy ball. i'm ducked behind one of the many bushes in our yard, hiding from the other team.

it is steve and i against christie and dustin. i peek out from behind my very own bush as i see dustin come out from his.

i take my arm flying it back and launching the ball until i hit dustin square in the stomach. "where'd that even come from!" he yell looking around as i duck back behind the bush. i'm a master of disguise if i do say so myself.

my head turns and i look to my right. steve is busy making a bunch of snowballs so we can ambush to two idiots on the other side. we are all absolute idiots if i am being completely honest. them eighteen, us turning fourteen, this is a child's antic and yet we still do it.

when steve finishes his last snowball, he looks over at me and raises his eyebrows excitedly.

"you ready?" steve whispers to me. there is no sound in the neighborhood at all. other than the occasional person that revs their engine as they pass by and the whooshing sound of the wind as it goes down the center of our street.

i nod at steve and grab a bunch of the snowballs he made, running towards the other side of my yard.

"ambush!" steve yells loudly and we chuck snowballs at the two idiots on the other side. "ugh!" i hear christie groan loudly when steve throws one directly at her leg. he chucks one more and it hits her square in the chest.

"ow! steve, dude! my tit!" she yells, grabbing it. "oh shit!" steve's eyes go wide with fear.

she lunges towards him, tackling him to the snow packed ground. dustin and i do nothing but laugh so hard at the scene in front of us, we're sure we are going to piss our pants.

"stupid ass!" christie shout echoes as she stuffs a hefty amount of snow down steve's shirt. he continuously screams no as more of the powdery substance is added. dustin and i are on our knees at this point, stomach hurting, tears streaming down our faces.