Mannie came again, a day before the next round of orders, keeping his promise to visit when he could. With him he brought a big bag of Thai food, which was not exactly warm when he arrived since the drive up from the city took so long, but after being nuked in the microwave everything was still acceptably editable. Corey and her mother definitely made wonderful food, but there was something novel about fast food, especially when it was not easily obtained like most other occasions. It made it all the better.

They spent the night watching movies, which mostly went talked over. Between Corey and Mannie, there was a lot of talk. Since Aden was often so quiet, it made his head spin a little trying to keep up. He kept his head in his food and let the two of them chat each other’s heads off, enjoying listening much more than actually trying to get a word in.

Later in the night, after moving out to a sandy part of the lake side to watch the stars, Mannie retrieved his second peace offering, two six packs of Corey’s favorite wine coolers. Aden helped Mannie get a fire started, and Corey popped bottles open for all three of them. The taste of them was sugar and sweet, like artificial orange beverage, but with a kick of warm on the swallow.

“I missed these stars. I forget how crazy bright they get out here,” Mannie said, poking at the fire to get it going as they all settled down. The flames helped to fend off the any late night chill trying to creep up on them. “Nice that it’s a clear night for once. They’ve been rare lately.”

Corey had glanced away from the sky at his comment, discreetly reaching for Aden’s hand and squeezing their fingers together. “The rain’s not that bad, Mannie.”

He screwed his face up and shook his head. “I’m not a fan. Rain makes me want to up and run away to somewhere warm and dry and spend the rest of my life there.”

“It’s your Mexican blood.”

Corey’s stifled snort turned into boisterous laughter as Mannie pulled out a thickly exaggerated, stereotypical Mexican accent with his reply. “Are you generalizing me, chiquita?”

When they all mellowed down from their laughter, Mannie directed his words to Aden, across the flames of the fire. “Speaking of runaways. You know they got flyers popping up in town with your face on them?”

Aden’s grin fell slightly. “What?”

“Mhm. Missing person.”

“But I’m not… missing.”

Mannie shrugged. “You leave and don’t tell people where you’re going, usually they assume you’re missing.”

“Shit.”

Corey managed to swallow down the mouthful she had almost spit out. “Wait, Aden what the fuck? Did you fucking… you didn’t just leave in the middle of the night like you almost did…” She trailed off, and Aden took a swig of his drink to avoid answering. Corey sighed with her exasperation. “Jesus Christ. Aden!”

Mannie had laughed. “That’s stone fucking cold.”

“I didn’t have a choice…” Aden offered, though the excuse was delivered weakly.

After a somber silence, Mannie posed the question that was already circling Aden’s mind. “What are you gonna do?”

Aden groaned, letting his head fall into his knees. “I don’t fucking know.” He had never even thought if his parents looking for him. He had been so caught up in running away from everything, he never considered the people he left behind and how they would react. It felt stupid now that it hadn’t occurred to him, but he was too consumed with ghosts and storms.