“My turn, my turn, my turn,” Raj chants, the whole way up the stairs to my apartment.

“Oh my god, Noah, get a hold of your fiancé,” I laugh, working the keys out of my pocket.

Noah doesn’t answer. He’s distracted, his thoughts still with the Shelby. He looks half-drunk, intoxicated, a distant, dreamy expression on his face. He's been bouncing on his feet, now and then abruptly lapsing into soft, giddy laughter.

He’s had plenty of time to calm down. He and Raj drove the Shelby back to Ketterbridge while the rest of us took Mel’s car, and they beat us here by almost twenty minutes. The two of them have been hanging out in the calm, cold spring night, the breeze against their faces. Noah’s smoked a cigarette, gotten plenty of air and time with his feet on the ground - and yet, here he is. Still like this.

I don’t think he's going to get over this night for a while.

Noah isn't the only one who can’t stop smiling. I'm feeling extremely relieved that the first half of the bachelor party went well. It was a great fucking time, in fact. We each went from relaxing on Mel’s car to tearing down the road in the Shelby, riding alongside Noah.

It wasn't until I took my ride with him that I saw how he felt, being in that car. He went from being wide-eyed and enraptured to practically shaking with excitement and slipping into bursts of wild, unstoppable laughter. His silver eyes were electric, blazing and sparking with ecstatic joy the whole time.

I actually kind of get it, now. The Shelby really does fly.

We were soaring, shredding the road, the seismic roar of the engine in our ears. Going so fast that the wind literally had me pinned to my seat. And Noah got that car to do unbelievable things, moves that would definitely have cost us the security deposit if anyone else had attempted them.

It was terrifying, breath-stealing - fun. So fucking fun.

No one had quite as much fun as Noah, though.

We’re all kind of tired, now, after burning through so much adrenaline - but Noah can barely hold still. He keeps closing his eyes, swaying slightly, like he's lovingly reliving everything in his mind. His long black hair is down around his shoulders, wild and fucked up from the wind.

He's a sight, right now.

“So,” Aiden says, looking over at Noah as I unlock my apartment. “How’d you like the Shelby, Noosh?”

I nearly drop my keys as Noah throws his head back and lets out a long, loud, obscene moan. It seems to bounce off of the hallway walls and go echoing down the stairs.

“Jesus, Noah!” I sputter, as Aiden, Ripley, and Raj burst into laughter. “My neighbors definitely heard that, dude!"

"So?"

"So? That was - pornographic!”

“That car is pornographic,” Noah says dreamily, leaning his head against Raj’s shoulder. “Actually - I think I might just go down there and look at it one more time-”

“No, man!” I insist, pushing the door of my apartment open. “It’s Raj’s turn, come on!”

“Yeah, it’s my turn!” Raj says eagerly. “My turn, my-”

“No, Raj, don’t start chanting again-”

“Too late,” Ripley tells me, and it is.

“My turn, my turn!” Raj leads the way into my apartment, looking around excitedly. “What are we d-?”

He stops, takes a deep breath as Aiden flips on the lights.

“It smells good in here,” Ripley says, stopping behind him. “Like ginger.”

“Yeah, and shoyu.” Raj closes his eyes, takes another deep inhale. “God, whatever that is, it’s making me homesick for the islands, brah. It smells like saimin.”

“It is saimin,” I answer, hanging up my jacket.

“What?” Raj turns to look at me, confused. “No, you can only really get that shit in Hawai’i, dude. They don’t make it on the mainland.”

“Yeah, we ordered the noodles and the flavoring from Hawai'i, since you were talking about missing it,” I explain, pointing to the kitchen. “Kent came over while we were out driving and cooked it, added the toppings and stuff. He said he hoped he timed it right - looks like he did. Still hot.”

Raj stares at me, then presses his fingers over his mouth. He turns swiftly and crosses to the kitchen, where the pot that Kent left us is still giving off hot, fragrant steam.

Raj takes a deep breath of it, and a huge smile spreads across his face. "Jamie, did you say you’ve got a policy against pornographic moans in your apartment, or-?”

“I did not, but it’s starting to feel like I need to implement one? I’m gonna start charging people fines.”

“There goes Aiden’s bank account,” Noah snickers, then ducks as Aiden swats at him.

“Oh-” Raj’s eyes have traveled further down my kitchen counter, and he rushes forward, picking up the colorful packages laid out there. “Li Hing Mui candy, Kakimochi cookies, Maui Chips - holy shit, it’s all my favorite snacks from home!”

He peers into the glass bowl at the end of the counter, then twists to look at me and Aiden, his dark brown eyes glowing with excitement.

“Is that Hurricane Popcorn?”

“Yeah, the popcorn is for the movie.” Aiden strides over to the living room, where he turns on my TV. “Hang on, lemme pull it up-”

Raj waits, clutching all of the snacks to his chest. He’s already beaming, but he nearly drops everything he’s holding when Aiden clicks on the movie we’re planning to watch.

“No way,” he laughs, shaking his head in disbelief. “I can never get you guys to watch Shakespeare with me!”

“Yeah, so here’s the plan.” I gesture to the couch, which Aiden and I already loaded up with comfy blankets. “We’re all gonna watch the movie together. Noah’s never seen a Shakespeare movie or play before, but he’s officially invited to commentate the whole thing.”

"Oh, Jesus," Raj laughs, as Noah cracks a tremendous grin.

“And every time Noosh says something we decide scores a level five or higher on a one-to-ten scale of ridiculousness,” Aiden continues, “Raj, you get to hug or snuggle anyone in the room.”

Raj’s eyes widen. “Every time?”

Aiden, Ripley, and I all look at each other, then turn back to Raj and nod.

“Yep,” Aiden says, with a deep, resigned sigh. “Every time.”

Raj puts down all of the snacks, then puts one hand on the countertop and leans into it. The other hand he places on his chest. He drops his head for a second, then looks up at all of us like he doesn’t know what to say.

We all smile back at him, then blink as he suddenly comes striding around the counter, heading right for us.

“No, Raj!” I laugh, dodging his open arms. “We haven’t started yet!”

“But - I’ve gotta fucking hug someone right now! Noah, c’mere-” Raj drags a struggling Noah into his arms, beaming brightly enough to light up the whole room. “Boys, this is perfect, I don’t even know what to say!”

Aiden and I share a victorious smile, and he ruffles my hair.

Noah looks at me and Aiden with pleading eyes. “Can we smoke, if I’m about to sit through a whole fuckin’ Shakespeare movie?”

Aiden shrugs his broad shoulders. “Ask Raj, it’s his party.”

“I do have blunt rolling materials ready to go,” I tell Raj. “In case you wanted to.”

“Fuck yeah, let’s do it.” Raj breaks into a huge grin. “That’ll only make Noah say stupider things, which means more hug opportunities for me.”

“Sweet,” Ripley says, slipping a joint out of his jacket pocket. “Anyone got some fire?”

Noah hands him a lighter, and Aiden crosses the living room to go push a window open. Ripley lights up, takes a long hit, and holds it as he passes the jay to me.

“Okay, so let’s get some bowls for the saimin,” I say through puffs of smoke, reaching over to hand the joint to Raj. “Then we can get the movie st-”

I break off sharply, staring at the joint as Raj moves to take it from my fingers. Raj and Noah follow my eyes to it, confused - and then, as one, we all whip around to stare at Ripley.

“What - Ripples!” Aiden sputters, his blue eyes widening as he reaches the same realization that we just did. “What the fuck, bro?”

Ripley breathes out a long stream of smoke, looking back at Aiden, all innocent. “What?”

“We don’t let you smoke our weed, man!” I protest, caught off-guard.

“Right.” Ripley tosses his green curls out of his eyes, smiles at me in his devious way. “That’s why I brought my own.”

“Punk ass kid!” Noah groans. “You know what we mean. We don’t let you smoke with us!”

Ripley narrows his eyes at Noah, arches a skeptical eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, we’re sure,” Aiden says firmly, coming up behind me. “Talk to us when you graduate high school. It’s only a couple of months away, anyways.”

“I mean - I was either gonna smoke this before I started painting tomorrow, or tonight with you guys.” Ripley looks around at all of us, then adds, in a hopeful voice - “I’d way rather have it with you guys.”

Noah, Raj, Aiden, and I all exchange a long look.

"Special occasion," Noah murmurs, with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I grumble, pressing my fingers over my eyes. “Okay, you know what? Tonight. Only tonight, and only because it’s Raj and Noah’s bachelor party.”

Ripley breaks into a giant grin, bounces on his feet. I make a face at him, then hand him back the jay, shaking my head.

Aiden follows me into the kitchen, wraps his arms around me as I reach up to get down some bowls and chopsticks for the noodles.

“Apparently everyone’s getting some kind of special treat tonight,” I tell him quietly, with a helpless shrug. “Even Ripples, now.”

“Seriously.” Aiden nuzzles his nose into my neck. “Is my special treat later, like - after everyone goes home?”

I twist to look at him over my shoulder, quirking an eyebrow. “Are you willing to pay the pornographic moan fee?”

“Yes,” Aiden says, so instantly that I let out a burst of laughter.

“I didn't even say how much it is! What if it’s like, five million dollars, or someth-?”

“I said what I said, Keane."

I smack his chest, suppressing a laugh, my cheeks burning. Aiden straightens up with a rumbling laugh, ruffles my hair again.

In the living room, Raj starts the movie, Noah pulls the ashtray closer, and Ripley drops to sit down on the rug in front of the couch. Aiden goes to turn off the lights, casting my apartment into a dim, cozy glow.

Noah throws himself back into the corner of the couch, stretches out his arms. The movement makes his tattooed snow leopard open its mouth in a fierce, silent roar. Ripley turns around and watches his design move, a satisfied smile on his face.

Raj, meanwhile, immediately mistakes Noah’s sprawled out positioning for an invitation. He drops back into Noah’s open arms with a contented sigh, and Noah lets out an oof of surprise, then a soft laugh.

He gently twists his fingers into Raj’s black curls, letting them slide over and around his engagement ring. Raj tips his head back to smile up at him.

“Romeo and Juliet, huh?” Ripley asks, relaxing back against the couch.

“We figured that would be the easiest one to follow,” I explain. “For those of us not fluent in Shakespeare, like Raj.”

“Oh, yeah?” Noah blows out a row of neat smoke rings. “Why’s that, Jamie?”

“Because, dude, we’re already familiar. We all had to read that play for English class.”

Noah turns his head to look at me, faintly puzzled. “That’s weird, I didn’t.”

“Yes you did, Noosh,” Aiden informs him. “Freshman year. We were in the same class. Not that we were exactly model students. We skipped it a lot."

Noah’s narrowed grey eyes show no hint of recognition. “We had an English class freshman year?”

“Yeah, like I said, not model students,” Aiden says beneath his breath, and Ripley snickers, letting out little bursts of smoke with his laughter.

Aiden and I hand out all the food, then get cozy together beneath some blankets on the couch. We pass around the jay as the spoken prologue of the movie comes to an end, and the actors stride into a busy marketplace. Capulets and Montagues begin to antagonize each other, an argument escalating until swords are drawn.

“Oh, damn,” says Noah, his eyebrows shooting up. “Came to a brawl that fast, huh?”

“Draw, if you be men!” cries the actor, brandishing his sword. “Gregory, remember thy swashing blow!”

“Aw, see, it’s all good,” Noah says, his stoned eyes blinking slowly. “Our boy Greg’s gonna get ‘em with the ol’ smashing blow.”

“Oh, Raj,” Ripley laughs. “You’re about to get so many snuggle opportunities, dude.”

“I know,” he sighs happily.

On the screen, the fight at the marketplace has spiraled out of control. All of the Capulets and Montagues are out in the streets, attacking each other with swords. Market stalls fall over, and women run away screaming, dragging their children. One of the Montagues cracks his face into the sharp corner of a wooden crate as he goes down. The prince of Verona has to come out to put a stop to it, giving a dramatic speech on horseback.

Noah watches with arched eyebrows, absorbed enough in what’s going on to stay quiet for a minute.

Raj looks up, sees Noah enjoying the movie, and breaks into a tiny, warm smile. He nestles himself deeper into Noah’s arms, and Noah sets his chin on the top of his head, his grey eyes still on the TV.

“Where is Romeo?” Lady Montague asks her husband, after the fight has been broken up. “Saw you him to-day? Right glad I am he was not at this fray.”

Noah blinks, then sits more upright. “Wait - what the fuck? Homeboy wasn’t even there? But all of his boys were, like-”

Noah’s eyes widen as the movie cuts to a shot of Romeo slowly strolling towards Lady Montague, completely oblivious to the situation, having completely missed the fight. He's holding a flower, gazing at it in a heartsick way, sighing deeply.

“Bro, are you for real?” Noah sounds flat-out astonished. “Everyone’s bleeding and fighting in the street, getting stabbed with swords and shit, the whole squad probably dead, family house brought to shame, the prince himself had to get off his ass to make a whole entire announcement about your stupidity-”

“Noah,” Ripley says, wiping his eyes and laughing.

“-nukes probably about to be launched next, I don’t know, and here comes this fucker, cruising in twenty minutes late, with a flower? May as well have rolled up with some Starbucks, Jesus Christ. Look alive, my guy! Back up your boys! The fuck you think this is?”

Aiden is shaking with silent laughter. “Noosh - please-”

“How can this fuckin’ nerd be the hero of the movie?” Noah asks, indignant. “Or - oh, is Romeo the bad guy? I always assumed he was the good guy, ‘cause he’s in the title.”

“Yo, best man, what was the system again?” Raj asks, nudging me with his toe. “Five or higher on the one-to-ten scale of ridiculousness? And I can snuggle whoever I want?”

“Yep,” I laugh, then blink in surprise as Raj catches my wrist, pulls me out of Aiden’s arms and into his.

“Thank you, dude,” he whispers, giving me a tight squeeze. “This is the best.”

Happy warmth spreads through me, rising a big smile on my face.

“You’re welcome, you’re welcome,” I answer, slapping at his arm. “Raj, that’s tight enough! I do need to breathe!”

He grins at me, then lets me go. I laugh as Aiden immediately takes me back, then nearly groan as I’m struck with the realization that I’m probably going to be handed back and forth like this throughout the whole movie.

It's all good, though. I’ve seen the look on Raj’s face, and I’ve decided that it’s worth it.