Jen and his various friends belong to @indecentpause Prequel to From the Roof of my Mouth warnings: drug abuse, drug overdose Before everything, before they were friends-with-benefits, before college and complications, they were Nakoa and Ryan. Two idiots still telling each other lies, still hiding secrets they shouldn't, still searching for something unnamed. Ryan meets Thom during his and Nakoa's first vacation, in the summer after high school, and Nakoa tells himself it's not jealousy burning through his veins when he sees Thom and Ryan together. Instead, he aligns himself with Jen, who Nakoa knows the night they meet that Jen will push him to new limits. It's not a romance. Nakoa learns to fill in the blanks left by Ryan's distance with drugs, with highs, with the taste of cherries on Jen's lips. It's not a romance, but Ryan forces himself into a box to make things work with Thom, until Nakoa's poor judgment and emotion flare into chaos.