Something To Think About

It was sometime later. Gordie and the others were sat on the fence just outside Vern's house. It was almost pitch black and eerily silent. Teddy had just handed out cigarettes and right now the only light close to them was the light from five cigarettes. Gordie felt happy and that was strange. He looked at the faces around him and smiled broadly. He no longer felt like a fifth wheel. It was fun; in fact if he didn't have a lingering feeling of unease left over from his fight with Chris then this night would be just about perfect.

"Holy crap! It's almost midnight!" Sarah cried suddenly. She had used the small amount of light from her cigarette to light up her watch. "I gotta get home, my dad will be so mad." She hopped up from the fence.

"I should go too," Emma said regretfully.

"Here I'll walk you home," Teddy said gruffly as he stood up too.

Sarah smiled and reached out for Teddy's hand, which he gave her instantly although even in the dim light, Gordie could see he was blushing. They were a cute couple, Sarah was a good influence on Teddy Gordie noted. Sarah kept him calm, kept him sane. It was good to see.

"You want me to come too?" Vern asked.

Emma shook her head. "No it's okay. My house is only five minutes away. It's fine, really. I'll just tag along with Sarah and Teddy for a few minutes. You stay here with Gordie."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Emma leaned forward and gave Vern a quick kiss then she turned to Gordie.

"It was nice to talk to you again," she said then leaned forwards and hugged him.

"Nice to talk to you too," Gordie said returning the hug. "You too," he said to Sarah.

Sarah and Teddy had stepped away a few feet but now Sarah came back over and gave Gordie a quick hug. She kissed him on the cheek too, then turned and did the same to Vern.

"Bye Vern, bye Gordie," Sarah said. She waved then went back over and took up Teddy's hand again.

"Bye Verno," Emma said and affectionately ruffled his hair. "Bye Gordie."

"Bye guys, be back in fifteen," Teddy promised.

Gordie watched as the three of them walked off. Next to him Vern was sat thoughtfully smoking his cigarette. Gordie sat down again and smoked too. They sat in silence for about ten minutes. Then suddenly Vern stubbed out his cigarette and turned to Gordie with an unusually serious expression on his face.

"Gordie man, why are you here?"

"What do you mean?" Gordie asked.

"I mean why are you with us guys? We haven't seen you in forever and now…this. I'm not complaining, jus' that it's weird, you know?"

Gordie finished his cigarette. "I don't know, it just worked out this way."

"Yeah, but…you gots to be careful Gordie. You don't want to end up like us, shit you're smart Gordie; you got some real brains. If I had what you had I would be so far from here."

Gordie stared at his friend. "You saying I should leave?"

"No, not exactly. Just you got to be careful, that's all. Getting into trouble with us and shit like that, it's not right man" Vern spoke earnestly. It was clear he'd been thinking about this for some time now.

"Yeah well I can make my own decisions," Gordie said lightly.

"Can you?" Vern asked.

"Shit yeah, come on Verno."

"Well make one then. You got to choose man, you can go with your college courses or with us, there's no middle ground on this one."

Gordie looked away. It was almost scary. He had never ever heard Vern talk like this. Suddenly it became clear how much Vern had grown up since the days when they'd all been best friends. Vern was serious now, and so earnest. He believed what he was saying. He had given it some thought and now he was telling Gordie what he knew. *Why is everyone always trying to make my decisions for me?*  Gordie thought irritably. He was about to say something more but at that minute Teddy appeared and Vern shut up.

"Hey girls!" Teddy called. "Look what I got." He held up a six-pack of beer.

"Aw good job Teddy," Vern said and hopped up off the fence.

Gordie smiled slightly. "Where'd you get them?"

"The convenience store. Showed 'em my ID." Teddy smirked and threw something at Gordie.

It was an ID card and though it said 'Teddy Duchamp' the birth date had been tampered with and the photo was of someone else completely.

"Pretty smooth Teddy," Gordie said grinning. "But how on earth do you convince people that you're this guy. Shit you don't a single hair on your face and this guy looks like a fucking mountain man."

"Eat me raw Lachance. Anyway it worked didn't it?" Teddy said. He handed out beers and the three of them sat back down on the fence.

Gordie opened his beer slowly. He didn't drink that much. He didn't have a problem with it or anything, just that usually he was hanging out with Chris and since Chris didn't drink then he never did either. Chris was seventeen years old and he had never even tasted alcohol. Gordie knew that just the thought of alcohol sickened and scared Chris. Chris was terrified of turning out exactly like his father. In fact Chris's beliefs were so far implanted in Gordie's head that he too felt a little apprehensive even though there was no history of alcoholism in his own family.

"You okay Gordo?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," Gordie said and took a sip of beer. It was okay, no harm right? Right?