Our Last Summer

Chapter 25, Fireworks

(No POV)
July 4th, 2018

Fireworks popped into the surrounding skies as Caroline and Madelyn walked to Noah's house for the weekend. All of them had just gone back to their houses after a long volleyball game. The three girls were on a travel team and they had a long game that afternoon. They went home and showered, getting ready for a small party with the boys at Noah's. Noah's parents were out of town for the weekend and he had one of the biggest houses between them.

Caroline was in charge of the drinks, which she was able to easily bring because her mom was on duty that night. Madelyn was in charge of the music so she brought a flash drive with a bunch of music that they all like. Ethan was in charge of bringing drinks other than alcohol so they could try a variety without drinking straight liquor. Tyler was in charge of the drugs, which is no surprise. All he had to do was go into his dad's room and take whatever he had. He normally had some weed, cigarettes, and occasionally cocaine lying around. None of them liked cocaine though so he just brought some weed and cigarettes for them. He thought he was going to be the only one smoking tonight.

Jason was in charge of bringing food and snacks so they can enjoy the evening. And Danielle was in charge of fireworks, sparklers, and card games. Danielle was already there with the boys. They were sitting in the living room, a giant window showing the fondly lit sky. The fireworks exploding fascinated all of them especially when they were under the influence of any body-damaging substance. Noah, Jason, and Ethan were playing a video game while Danielle was teaching Tyler how to play War.

Something about Danielle's careful shuffling pulled Tyler into a hypnotic state, just watching her chipped polished fingernails move gracefully around the cards. By looking at it, there was no way she could slip a card without him noticing. She was so graceful with it and she was staring deep into Tyler's eyes the entire time. The cards moved around like silk, barely even staying in one place. She created a bridge between her hands, all of the cards dropping into a pile where her fingers held. She shuffled them one more time and started to give out some cards.

"I don't understand why you're teaching me this. Aren't we playing poker later?" He asked, grabbing his cards to look at them.

"Don't look at them." She snapped, smacking his palm. He clicked his tongue and put the cards back down as she placed the last card on the table. "We're playing this so that we can pass the time before the alcohol gets here."

She picked up her pile, it still facing down so she couldn't see anything. He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and pulled out an old red lighter from his other pocket, rolling his finger along it to light it.

"Do you have to do that here?" Danielle asked as he placed the cigarette between his lips and lit the end of it. He looked up at her and stuck the lighter back in his pocket, almost offended by her question.

"I won't blow it at you." He said as he takes the cigarette from his lips and blew the smoke toward the boys. She rolled her eyes and looked down at the table, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"You're an athlete, you shouldn't be smoking." She disciplined, grabbing the top card. "Now, grab your card and we'll start." He rolled his eyes and rested the cigarette between his lips again and grabbed his pile.

"Dude, that's not how you fucking play!" Ethan shouted at Noah as he aggressively presses the respond button. The other boys were laughing at Ethan's outburst and accusations of Noah's cheating.

"It is, you're just trash." Noah corrected, making Ethan get annoyed now.

He responds and hunts for Noah, performing the same action Noah had just done to Ethan, making Noah groan in frustration. Before Noah could start yelling at Ethan, the front door swung open, and in came Caroline and Madelyn. Tyler and Danielle didn't leave the concentration of their game, but Noah paused the video game, making Jason and Ethan groan.