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“Well, when you make flannel look this good, I think even those fancy designers should take notice.”
I slap his shoulder, but I can’t help feeling flattered. Designers would be one thing, but having Rhett take notice, it always feels special.
Rhett
Carl, Silas, and Buck all ride with us in my truck. I’m glad it’s not too far. I had an idea to ride the horses down, but I don’t want to leave them tied if we’re going to stick around for a while. It feels like it’s been too long since Sunny and I took a sunset ride together. I miss those quiet moments alone basking in the afterglow. Three guys in the back, it’s all a little too rowdy for my taste, but Sunny fits in like it’s her normal Friday night. I find myself thinking about her identity again, who she was before she came, whether this is the real personality peeking out or if she’s the reserved girl I know from our quiet moments together.
Earlier, Sunny asked how I would find the bonfire. I assured her it wouldn’t be a problem. It glows from the dunes a good hundred yards away. I pull off the highway, bumping in and out of the potholes on the rarely driven road. I park beside two other trucks. Carl jumps out first, letting out a whoop that feels uncharacteristic for my brother. I almost smile at the thought that I’ve done something right in his life. Sunny catches me and quirks her eyebrows like she needs to know she noticed me playing nice for once. I climb out before she makes a big deal of it.
Tide may be fully out, but the strong breeze carries the mist. I lick my lips, tasting the familiar salt and sea air. Nick sees me the second I step around the back of my truck. Arms over his head, scarves blowing in the wind, wearing a tunic and flowing cotton pants, he shouts my name. The guy looks more like a new age monk than a mechanic. I glance at Sunny for her reaction. I’m not disappointed. Pure disbelief, like Nick is an alien, something not tethered to the rules of this planet. In reality, she isn’t wrong. It’s something I’ve always admired about my friend, his ability to toss what’s expected of him to the wind and have zero regard for social norms. Nick is Nick, and no one in his life questions it anymore.
“I can’t believe you made it!” His ranting finally comes within earshot as he continues to draw near. “And you brought people.” He spots Carl and his guitar for the first time. “And music!”
Throwing an arm around Sunny’s shoulder, Nick lowers his voice to sound like they’re sharing a secret but not low enough to keep the rest of us from hearing it. “What’d you do with the real Rhett? Because… I’ll miss him… but if we get to keep this fun double, I’ll take a shift guarding the boring one.”
I shove him off Sunny while she giggles. “I said I was coming.”
“A month ago.” He lengthens each word out for emphasis. “I have waited out here for my best friend to finally poke out of his hole like those nerds in top hats wait around for the Punxsutawney Phil.”
“Who?” I glance at Carl, but he shrugs.
Nick flails his arms in frustration. “The groundhog!” Four bracelets jangle as he slaps his palm against his forehead. “I forgot, if it’s not a cow, you probably don’t know.”
Seems like an accurate assumption.
“Come on, enough of this. Let’s get this party going.” Behind him, Houston’s truck pulls in with the rest of the team, minus Getty. “This is shaping up nicely. I’ve got drinks in the ice chest, fireballs are soaking, and with everyone’s help, we will get Rhett to unwind his tightly wrapped psyche.”
I’m starting to remember why I avoid Nick’s bonfires.
Sunny
I don’t think I’ve stopped laughing since we arrived. Nick is like no one else I have ever met. Where Rhett is constant and steady, Nick is a ball pit. Fun, constantly moving, and you’re not really sure what you’re gonna find next. It’s fun to watch Rhett laugh though. Soda can in one hand, other one stuffed in his pocket, he’s content to listen to Nick rehash stories from high school.
The sea breeze keeps dragging strands of Nick’s hair across his face, interrupting his story about the time he convinced Rhett to help him move the school’s tractors to the fifty-yard line on the football field as a prank. Pressing his hands against his face, he scoops the hair back, wrapping a hair band around the mess of it. “We got all six tractors down there, and Rhett looked at me like it wasn’t a big deal.”
“It wasn’t,” Rhett says under his breath beside me before he takes a sip.
“That’s because I wasn’t done.” Nick speaks with his hands, and the grand finale to the story requires twice as much flourish. “I got cowboy over here to move the herd of cattle from the ag barn to the football field.”
“Still lame.” Rhett’s smile has only grown, as though he’s reliving this all over again.
“And it would have been, except that the number of cows matched the number of football players. I’d created masks for each cow and a huge banner that read, ‘team practice’. I was dating a girl who wrote for the newspaper.”
“One of the many girls you were dating at the time,” Rhett adds in.
Nick raises his glass like Rhett just toasted him. “We made front page.”
Rhett smirks. “Bayside Bovine Buffoons. It’s quite a headline, Nick.”
“Wait,” I set my hand on Rhett’s arm, “were you the buffoons or was it referring to the football team you were mocking?”
“No one knows.” Nick loops his arm around the girl next to him and pulls her close. But Rhett leans over to set the record straight.
“It was referring to us, but he doesn’t like that part of the story.”
“Did you two do this sort of thing a lot?” It’s hard for me to imagine Rhett as a prankster. He looks away for a second, a strange mixture of pride and embarrassment in his expression.
“We did,” Nick loops his other arm around the girl on his other side, “we were legends.”
