My phone rang as I tossed the last of my stuff into a bag. I picked up my cell phone, checking the ID and mentally sighing as I slid my finger across the screen.

                "Hey, Roan," I said.

                "Hey. Come over. I'll order us pizza. That movie you like was on sale at the store, so I grabbed it," he said.

                Aw, man, way to make me feel guilty. "I can't tonight, Roan. I already have plans. I was actually just about to leave my house."

                "My parents won't be home tonight," he said, his voice insistent. "We'd have the whole house to ourselves. We could just hang out and watch a movie or...whatever, Garrett. We can do whatever."

                "I'm sorry, Roan. I really can't tonight. I'll keep tomorrow free for you, if you want?" I offered.

                "My parents will be home tomorrow," he said. "If we do it tomorrow, we'll be stuck in my room the whole time. Dad doesn't give up the living room TV. If we do it tonight, we can go in the living room and pull out the couch. We can have Fireball and cream soda."

                "Stop trying to tempt me," I groaned. "Roan, I mean it, I already have plans. I can't just cancel on them. I wouldn't cancel on you, and I won't cancel on my friends. If you want to come to our bonfire, I can ask Akira if his dad would be okay with that many of us."

                "No, it's fine," he said, but I could hear that irritation in his voice. "Have fun at your bonfire, Gar."

                "Roan-" I started.

                "I'm going to call Ali and see if she wants to hang out tonight. I'll talk to you tomorrow," he said and hung up.

                I rubbed my eyes and set my phone down. He could be so sweet and so exhausting all at the same damn time.

                I grabbed my bag and left the house, getting into my car. Roan would hang out with his friends, and I'd hang out with mine, and everything would be fine next time we saw each other. I wasn't going to cancel on my friends for my boyfriend, not unless it was important.

                So I drove myself to Akira's house, going up and ringing the doorbell. Mr. Riku answered and led me inside.

                "Hi Garrett. Akira and Jack are grabbing the stuff from the basement. You can wait in the kitchen for them," he said, gesturing to the kitchen table. He didn't give me any instructions for what to do about the three people gathered around the island counter watching me.

                "Um...hello," I said, sitting at the table as Mr. Riku left the room.

                Kaito, Silas, and Jill all watched me. Kaito looked irritated that I was in his house, and I briefly wondered if he and Roan would make good friends. I seemed to be able to piss them off with mind-blowing ease.

                "Staring at me won't make me go away," I said after another awkward moment. "Please direct your attention to literally anything else in the room."

                "So anyways, my mom said she can get us those tickets at a reduced price," Jill said, and the three fell back into conversation with each other.

                Now that Silas's nose wasn't bleeding, I noticed how nice his hair looked. He'd cut it shorter, and it rested at a nice length. It gave him a much cleaner appearance. He looked a lot less like a guy who would corner you in gray sweatpants and socks and sandals to steal your lunch money, and more like a guy who'd hold the door open for you on your way into the store and tell your grandma to have a nice day.

                Akira and Jack appeared a few minutes later, carrying blankets and cushions. Akira noticed me and scowled.

                "Nice of you to help," he said.

                "Your dad told me I could wait here for you," I said with a shrug. "I sure hope you don't need my help to carry a few blankets."

                Mr. Riku came into the room, setting his cell phone on the table. "Kaito, you'll pick your mother up from the airport in two days."

                "I'm busy that d-" Kaito started, but Mr. Riku cut him off.

                "Your mother is more important than your plans, and you'll pick her up in two days. Akira will make sure her shop is clean so she can get back to work once she's settled in at home," Mr. Riku said.

                Kaito pulled his shoulders back a little, but didn't argue. "Yes, sir. Tell me her estimated arrival time when you know it."

                "Leave me the keys to her shop. She and I cleaned it before she left, but I'll get everything in order for her to reopen it quicker," Akira said.

                Mr. Riku gestured to him. "See that, Kaito? No arguing from your little brother. You could take a lesson from him."

                "Can we go outside? I hate your family drama," I barely managed to hear Jack whisper to Akira.

                "We're going to start our fire," Akira said, and I hopped up to follow them outside.

                They set the blankets and cushions down and we began arranging them comfortably. I looked up at Akira as we worked.

                "So your mom's coming home? That's good. I thought she was staying out there longer?" I said.

                Akira shrugged, but he couldn't hide the little smile on his face. "I thought she was staying out there longer, too. It'll be good to have her back. Dad can't cook like she can. Plus, he can barely keep a cactus alive."

                Akira's mother was owned her own flower shop, though she also worked with her husband in his business, and traveled fairly often to meet with distant clients. Akira was always a little less uptight when his mom was back home. It was good to know she'd be back. I knew Akira was close with her, though he never admitted how much he missed her when she was on travel.

                We helped Akira bring around wood and paper, setting up the fire together. Once we'd managed to get the flame steady, we set up some of the blankets near the fire pit and sat down in front of it.

                The warmth of the fire was comforting, the smoke thankfully blowing away from our faces. I looked up at the sky, where only a few cloud drifted past the stars.

                "It's a really nice night out," I said.

                "Be nicer with a bit of entertainment," Jack muttered.

                "You're not setting off fireworks at my house. We've been through this a million times," Akira said.

                "You're no fun," Jack said.

                "I'm safe," Akira corrected. "Besides if you set my house on fire with Silas inside right now, you'd have my dad, your dad, and Ray after you."

                "So basically I'd have the mafia after me," Jack said.

                "Probably. Aki, you sure your dad doesn't work with the mafia?" I said.

                Akira just sighed, because his dad's business definitely had a shady side to it. "Don't ask questions, Garrett."

                "Hey, you're right there with him," I said, nudging Jack. His dad was no doubt in some shady business too. But, hey, Mr. Riku and Mr. Waymire kept their kids out of that business, so I didn't judge their private matters.

                "That's fine. As long as it funds my firework experiments, my dad can be in any shady business he wants," Jack said dismissively. "Do we have smore stuff?"

                I pat my bag. "I bought some when I picking up food for Michigan today."

                "Our savior," Jack said in relief.

                I took the smores and snack stuff out, and Akira shifted through the wood to find suitable roasting sticks for us. We held our marshmallows over the embers, watching as Jack let his catch fire.

                "You're both boring people. Burnt marshmallows are good marshmallows," he said, waiting a few moments before the blowing out the fire. "Pass me the graham crackers."

                We settled back with our smores, eating them in comfortable silence. The sound of voices cut through that silence though, and we watched as Kaito, Silas, and Jill came outside in their bathing suits.

                "They better not be planning on being loud while we're trying to watch a movie," Akira said in annoyance.

                "Hey, do you plan on being loud while we're trying to watch our movie?" I called to them, wincing when Akira kicked me. "Ow, what, you wanted to know!"

                "Gonna bother you during the whole movie. It's what Ray would want," Silas said.

                "Would ray want me to make a bonfire out of his back porch?" Jack said.

                "He'd like to shove your head in that there fire," Silas said.

                "Smore to ease this tension?" I said, holding up my smore.

                Silas came over and took it out of my hands, heading back to his friends as he ate the rest of it. "Don't mind if I do."

                "Hey, I wasn't being serious!" I said, narrowing my eyes at him. "That was my smore."

                "You ate my food. Payback," he said.

                "Let's go already, Si," Jill said. She grabbed his arm, nearly causing him to drop the smore, and dragging him along, Kaito following them.

                "Almost made me lose my smore!" he argued, but allowed himself to be dragged anyways.

                "You seem to be quite talkative with Silas," Akira said, raising an eyebrow.

                I shrugged. "We ran into each other earlier when I was buying snacks."

                "Did you?" Akira said, and his tone informed me that he knew it was more than that. "Must have been pretty dry out. He had a bloody nose when he got here."

                I sighed. "He's got some enemies down in the south side, it seems. Not my business, but I was going to leave him stranded out there. I overheard him on the phone saying he was taking the bus home. I offered him a ride."

                "Garrett," Akira groaned. "You do realize that nice things can have bad consequences, right? You don't want to make enemies with anyone, but especially not anyone from the south side."

                "I didn't make enemies. We had a minor confrontation in the parking lot, and I got Silas to leave before it turned ugly," I said. "Besides, the main guy bugging Silas knew me from high school. Or, well, he knew my slut persona."

                "You're not a slut," Akira said, shaking his head. "That was such a stupid rumor. I can't believe people still drag it on."

                "No slut shaming here, pal! You fuck whoever you want," Jack said, slapping me on the back.

                "I've only ever slept with Roan!" I said. "But it's good to know if I decide to start sucking dick as a hobby, you won't call me Guzzling Garrett. I'll also have you know I turned down sex to hang out with you tonight."

                "Glad we're worth more to you than your boyfriend's dick," Akira said. "Look, back to the main point. Don't get involved in south side drama. Silas's business is Silas's business, not yours."

                "I can't just leave someone when I know they're in trouble," I said.

                "If I smack you hard enough, will you learn how to prioritize your own health and safety over others'?" Akira said.

                "Probably not, and I'd prefer if you didn't try," I said, scooting away from him.

                I made myself another smore, hoping Silas's dumbass enjoyed my delicious and perfectly toasted smore. You save a guy from getting in a parking lot fight and he eats your damn food. Can't trust anyone anymore, I guess.

                Once we were sick of smores, Akira setup the outdoor projector, and we shifted over to the makeshift beds we'd set up. Akira adjusted the volume and started up the movie, the three of us relaxing back as it started up.

                I could hear Silas and his friends faintly in the background, but they weren't being loud enough for me to bitch about, so I let it drop. Everyone should be allowed to have fun, as long as we weren't bugging each other. Besides, they could watch the movie from the pool. As long as they kept it down, it was a win-win for all of us.

                We watched as a killer slashed his way through teenager after teenager, Jack growing excited at all the special effects. When the movie ended, we watched Kaito lead his friends back into the house, all of them pretending they hadn't just happened to get out of the pool when the movie ended. Akira rolled his eyes and switched films.

                We watched movies until we could barely keep our eyes open anymore. Akira shut the film off and we tugged covers over ourselves as Akira sprayed the area down with mosquito repellent before crawling into his own makeshift bed.

                A light breeze and a hint of warmth from the dying fire eased me into a comfortable sleep.

                                                                                                ***

                I cracked my eyes open and sat up, looking around sleepily. It was still dark out, the faintest embers still glowing in the fire pit. My friends were fast asleep beside me, and the world was quiet.

                But then what had woken me up? I rubbed my eyes, vaguely recalling the sound of a door creaking. I paused sniffing the air and catching a faint trace of cigarette smoke.

                I pushed the covers off and crept off the cushions, careful not to wake Akira and Jack. I followed the scent as it got strong, leading around to the side of the house.

                Silas sat against the side of the house, cigarette dangling from his lips as he looked up at the sky. At the sound of my footsteps, he turned his head, his eyes defensive.

                He relaxed a little when he saw it was just me. "What do you want?"

                "Just curious who was sneaking out in the middle of the night. I heard the door," I said.

                "Ain't sneaking out. I'm old enough to leave as I please," Silas said.

                I sat down across from him. "You're my age, though, right? You're not old enough to buy cigarettes."

                He blew out the smoke, looking down at the cigarette held between his fingers. "I'm almost 18."

                "Almost 18 isn't actually 18. Besides, smoking is terrible for you," I said.

                "How many times do I have to tell you to mind your own?" he grumbled.

                "A lot more. I had family die of lung cancer from second hand smoke," I said. I looked up at the stars. "It's such a nice night out."

                "It's just like any other night," Silas said, looking unimpressed. "The sky's the sky. Nothing impressive about it."

                I dragged my gaze from the sky to his eyes. "How can you say that? You have all the stars in the universe surrounding you."

                He placed the cigarette back between his lips and looked up at the sky. "All the stars in the universe, huh? They don't look like much."

                "Nothing looks like much from a distance. But even just a glimpse is beautiful enough," I said. I'd always loved looking up at the stars. My parents used to lay outside on the back deck with me and point out all the constellations. My father would eagerly point to shooting stars, telling me to make a wish.

                Everything was just floating around a vast space and there was so much we didn't know, didn't understand, didn't get to see. But we got to see stars and meteor showers and phases of the moon and I thought it was all beautiful, even if it was just a sneak peak of something even more spectacular up close.

                I turned my attention back to Silas. "Okay, so if you don't think the night sky is beautiful, then what do you think is beautiful?"

                He seemed taken by surprise at the question. "Beautiful?"

                I nodded. "Yea, what do you think is beautiful?"

                Silas took a drag on his cigarette, thinking for a few moments before finally shrugging. "Don't know. Never gave much thought to it."

                That was...sad to hear, really. Imagine living your life without taking a moment out to find the beauty in something.

                "I hope you find something beautiful," I said.

                Silas shifted uncomfortably. "You talk too damn much."

                "It's a charm of mine," I said, and yawned. "Also a sleepy habit. Finish sneaking your cigarette and go to bed."

                "Tell anyone you saw me smokin' and I'll make sure no one ever finds your face beautiful," he threatened.

                "Look, your vices are your vices," I said, getting up and stretching. "Goodnight, Silas. Watch the sky. Maybe you'll see a shooting star."

                "I'll wish that you mind your own someday," he said.

                "Not likely, but always worth a shot," I said, grinning a little before heading back around to where my friends were sleeping.

                I got back onto my pile of cushions and blankets, getting warm and comfortable. I rolled onto my back, looking up at the sky. I almost wished I'd see a shooting star, so I could make a wish that Silas would see beauty in the world. There was so much ugliness in the world; everyone needed a break from it, even if it was just lying on the ground and looking at the sky.

                But my eyelids grew heavier and heavier. I could still smell that faintest hint of cigarette smoke, and disappointment nipped at me as I fell asleep, the stars in the sky staying firmly fixed in place, no wishes for the night.

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A.N.- Sorry for the update delay! I got stuck out of state without my laptop, but I'm back now so updates will resume back to the normal Sunday/Wednesday schedule. I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far!