Fireworks

"Don't you just love the Fourth of July Matt?" Jeff asked as he and Shawn looked through the fireworks Hunter had gotten. Matt was running the grill while Hunter drank some beer and the girls were all inside talking. Because of the mass amount of mosquitoes that were attacking them all, they were staying in until it was dark and actually time to light off the fireworks. Jeff and Shawn though, they weren't going to let a little thing like daylight get in the way of them lighting off some stuff.

"Not when I'm with you," Matt replied honestly.

Jeff's face fell. "Why?"

"Because you're a total idiot with fireworks. Now get away from those! You're going to hurt someone with them."

"Am not," Jeff argued. "And I don't have to listen to you anyway. You're my dumb brother, not my boss." He stuck his tongue out childishly before going back to looking through the fireworks with Shawn.

Matt rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Jesus Christ…" He looked over at Hunter, who had already polished off one beer and was starting on another. "Why did you have to get so much stuff?"

Hunter took a moment to drink more beer and let out a loud burp. "Well I had to make sure we had a good show didn't we? It's not a true Forth of July celebration without a decent amount of fireworks."

"Maybe but you shouldn't have brought them out already. These two yahoos are going to end up in the emergency room by the end of the night."

"Well as long as it's not me I really don't care." Hunter sat down in the nearest lawn chair and propped his feet up on another chair near him. "Now make me my burger wench."

Matt glared at him. "Did you just call me a wench?"

"Yep. What are you going to do about it wench?"

Jeff and Shawn exchanged looks. It was quite clear that Hunter was going to get it. And that really was awesome to watch. They could watch that any day of the week. But if they stuck around and watched it now, there was no doubt in their mind that Matt would then go on to ruin the fun they wanted to have. And they couldn't have that. So, with a firm nod to the other, they each quietly gathered up some of the fireworks and snuck off to where Matt couldn't see them.

"What do you want to do first?" Shawn asked.

"Umm…give me a Roman candle," Jeff replied.

Shawn handed one over and then watched in shock as Jeff lit it and then held it up in the air with his own hand. "What are you doing?" he asked as he jumped back. "Are you insane?"

"What?" Jeff said innocently. "It's funner this way." He grinned as the first fireball came firing out. "I'm like an awesome fucking statue right now."

Shawn tilted his head to the side and just watched as Jeff fired the Roman candle towards the direction of the neighbor's yard (thank god they weren't out there or there would have been all kinds of problems). Instinct told him that wasn't very safe but when nothing happened to Jeff, he decided to give it a shot himself. He had Jeff light it for him since he was useless with lighters and then held it up like Jeff just did. First two fireballs that came out were perfectly normal. He figured he had this under control. But something went wrong during the third one and it ended up backfiring right in Shawn's face, temporarily blinding him and burning off his eyebrows. "ACKKKKKKKKKKK!"

"Holy SHIT!" Jeff yelled in surprised. He jumped back as Shawn dropped the candle and started running around blindly. "That was awesome!"

"What did you idiots do?" Matt yelled as he and Hunter came running to see what was going on. "Jeff! What did you guys do?"

"Nothing…" Jeff claimed innocently.

"Nothing?" Hunter said incredulously. "Dude, Shawn's running like a chicken with no head!"

"I'm blind!" Shawn screamed. "I'm blind I'm blind I'm-" he ran straight into a tree and knocked himself out cold. Jeff immediately started laughing but stopped himself when he saw the looks Matt and Hunter were giving him. "Uh oh…" He couldn't talk himself out of this one. So he ran for it, scooping up a thing of firecrackers as he went.

"Jeff get back here!" Matt yelled. He was chasing him down while Hunter checked on Shawn. "Get back here this INSTANT!"

"No!" Jeff yelled. "You're gonna hurt me!"

"No I'm not! I just want to know what the hell happened!"

Jeff didn't believe him and decided to act accordingly. He got the firecrackers in his hand lit and threw them back at Matt, who dove for cover before they went off. "Victory is mine!" Jeff yelled as he kept running. He put his fists up in his air and let out a whoop. "FREEEEEEEEEEDOMMMMMMM!"

…

From the inside, Stephanie and Beth were watching all of this unfold. Rebecca had gone to check on Shawn and Candice and Maria had gone to check on Matt. Beth almost went to chase after Jeff but decided it wasn't worth it. Not right now anyway.

"Your husband is an idiot," Stephanie stated.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I kind of have to pee."

"…To much info there."

"Yeah well, you asked." Stephanie shrugged and headed towards the bathroom. She would go and finish the food Matt was cooking herself once she was done. She was freaking starving and wasn't going to wait for him to recover in order to eat.