Disclaimer: Not mine.
I can remember sitting in the dark of my back yard, just turned eighteen, with my friends. We were strewn over the grass, in the heat of an August night, watching fireflies dance across the night and listening to the yells of the kids down the street who were still out playing. We had been talking about the rest of our lives, about a distant time when we would be twenty-five and where we might be. The general consensus was that we'd all be in Pikesville, still the best of friends and living within minutes of each other. Nothing was going to change.
"Remember graduation night?" I murmured, for it was quiet enough for them all to hear me. I heard different sounds of assent. I snorted as I remembered something. "Remember Brodie?" I laughed outright. There wasn't any need to go further, and everyone was already laughing, quietly, mostly to themselves, lost in the glory and warmth of remembrance. "Do you think this is how it's going to be? The rest of our lives, I mean."
"Brodie getting drunk off his ass? Hell yeah," Jimmy said, a laugh in his voice.
"No, us, jackass." Chris punched Jimmy in the arm.
"Why you..." Jimmy pounced on Chris and they tussled in the grass for a minute before Chris came out on top, straddling Jimmy.
"What the hell d'ya think you're doin'? Think you can beat me? Shit ain't that crazy, buddy."
"Get off." He shoved him and Chris rolled off.
"Don't look at me," Chris said as Jimmy glared at him. "You started it."
"Would the two of you shut the fuck up for once? God, you're like an old married couple. Sound like Johnboy's granny, Jimmy."
"Don't start with me, man, I'm warning you," Jimmy threatened.
"Whattaya gonna do? Smack the back of my hand with a ruler?" Rob countered.
"So, d'ya think it's gonna be like this?" I interrupted their petty fighting. They all stopped talking and I knew that this time they were actually thinking about the answer.
"It better be," Rob finally said, soft again.
"Yeah," I whispered, more to myself than them.
"Yeah, 'cept Johnboy here is gonna be some sorta lawyer or somethin'."
"Nah, president," Jimmy said.
I smiled slightly. "Yeah, right. Lay off it, guys. Probably gonna wind up like my gramps. Selling clothes and shit. You're the one's gonna be a lawyer, Chris."
"Hey, that pot you're smokin' must be real good, Johnboy. Can I have some?" Chris joked. I smiled again as Rob cut in.
"Man, he don't share that stuff. Dontcha know?" They all laughed.
"Damn straight," I said, giving in to their laughter. I let myself fall back and looked up at the sky. "You guys scared?"
Silence fell again. I felt kind of bad for killing the fun, yet again, but I wanted to know if they felt the same as me.
"Yeah," Chris said at long last.
"Shitless," is Jimmy's contribution.
Finally, from Rob, "Scared we're not gonna be best friends forever... yeah."