Saturday, very early morning

Noah was surprised by how entertained he was, going out with people he only just met. But aside from Julia, all of Layne’s friends—except Karen—turned out to be great company. Which was why he hadn’t been able to say no when they invited him for more fun once the club was closing.

Layne, Santino and Julia had taken him to Cedar Rock, a bright red rock with amazing view over the city just outside of town. They had walked, which lasted about an hour, and by the time they got there, the sun was about to rise. It was still dark, but a hint of sunlight was breaking the pitch-black sky in the distance.

Noah was used to Colin and his friends, who hardly ever drank, let alone go out to a club to let go for a few hours. They would usually gather in someone’s basement, the attic, the garden, or whichever part of someone’s property offered them enough space to hang out and… well, talk.

That was mainly all they did. On rare occasions they would ‘let go’ and play pool or card games. But really, his first night out with his new friends caused him to realize how much fun he had missed out on so far.

Noah wasn’t sure if the resentment for missing out, the alcohol, or the pressure to be liked by his new friends was the reason for him to agree, but when Santino pulled out weed from his pocket, he didn’t say no.

By the time the sun was peeking over the horizon, casting a warm orange glow over the town below them, Noah wasn’t just drunk, he was stoned as well. But he didn’t care; he felt happy.

“Remember how we used to slide down the hillside on cardboard boxes?” Santino asked Julia, nudging her as he gestured to his right.

“I mainly remember how you broke your wrist when we did that, and how you were scared shitless to tell your mom, so you hid it for days and eventually needed surgery to fix the bone by the time she discovered.”

Layne and Noah laughed when Santino flashed a goofy smile as Julia reminded him of the experience.

“So that’s what the scar’s from?” Layne asked, pulling Santino’s arm towards him while sliding up the sleeve. A scar on the side of his arm became visible. “He has told us about twelve different stories on how he got the scar,” Layne explained to Noah and Julia, who both chuckled.

“What kinda stories?”

“Shark bite, but we knew that was fake.”

Santino shrugged and Noah couldn’t stop laughing already, unsure if he even wanted to know more versions of the story.

“Bear attack,” Santino added.

“The seagulls were the wildest,” Layne mumbled, trying to hold back a laugh, “pretending like they attacked you for your ice-cream when you were a toddler.”

“All these stories, and it turns out he just fell from a rock,” Noah said once he recovered enough to speak.

Santino laughed, and Noah felt his stomach flip, and he wanted it to stop right away. But Santino’s laugh had proven to be enchanting. It was music to his ears and Noah couldn’t get enough of it.

“I have plenty of those stories to tell,” Julia said, laughing when Santino shook his head with big eyes. “Sonny was just really good at getting himself in trouble. He just never knew how to get himself out of it again.”

“Tell more stories,” Noah said, dying to hear Santino laugh again.

“Uhm,” Julia sucked in her breath, taking Santino in while lighting a cigarette. “Which one to pick?”

“Horses.”

“Horses?” Layne and Noah asked curiously.

“Oh!” Julia perked up excitedly, “Sonny and Frey wanted to go horseback riding. Because they had seen a movie with cowboys, and they wanted to be cowboys themselves. So, they asked, but they weren’t allowed to. Mom’s afraid of horses, and Sonny’s mom didn’t have time to take them. They went to the Higgard’s Ranch by themselves, climbed over the fence, and tried to climb onto a horse. But the horse freaked out, obviously, and it went crazy, setting of the other horses. They broke through a fence, damaged some shit on the ranch and Sonny and Frey just ran off and never told anyone it was them.”

Noah snorted, shaking his head in disbelief.

“So, nobody ever figured it out?” Layne asked with big eyes, “and why haven’t I heard these stories before?”

“Frey told Dad about it, years later. Dad figured it was best left unsaid.”

“I told Mom, also years later. She shared Peter’s opinion,” Santino said with a shrug, smirking when Layne gave him a soft push.

“So, Noah, any wild stories?” Santino asked when they had watched the sun rise in silence for a while.

“Really, no.” Noah shook his head, frowning, “I kinda had a boring life.”

“Wanna go horseback riding?” Layne asked, causing Santino and Julia to laugh. Noah chuckled in response, shaking his head.

“I’m good.”

“But seriously? Nothing? No I-was-a-stupid-child story?”

“I’m sorry to disappoint. I was a calm kid, and I haven’t been drunk much either, so no stories in that department either.”

“Don’t worry, hang out with Sonny, and you’ll soon have enough stories to tell,” Julia patted his arm, “I just allow him to take me on adventures every so often.”

Oh, Noah wouldn’t mind hanging out with him more often. If just to see him smile or hear him laugh. He was already whipped, and he hated everything about it.

“Did any of you ever get arrested or something?”

Julia and Layne both shook their head, Santino nodded and shrugged a shoulder.

“Why’d you get arrested?”

“Fighting,” he simply replied, again shrugging. “I got expelled from Davis High for fighting. We fought on school grounds, got expelled on the spot, and continued the fight the same night. Since we were on public grounds, we got arrested. Didn’t help that I was drunk and stoned. Mom was not  pleased.”

“You got expelled?” Noah frowned. Apparently, this wasn’t new to Layne, even though he hadn’t heard the other stories before.

“I’m surprised Cedar didn’t kick me to the curb yet, to be honest,” Santino joked, but neither Julia nor Layne seemed to think it was funny, which was why Noah felt like it wasn’t right to laugh over it. And really, he didn’t know enough to know if it was funny or not.

“Oh, don’t be uptight,” Santino said, nudging Julia, “I’m here, am I not?”

“You nearly got expelled for showing up in school just this week,” she replied, sending him a look like a mother would do. “Still wonder how you managed to get out of that one.”

“Why even were you that late?” Noah wondered, since before his arrival nobody had known where he was.

“I was in Italy. Family visit. We returned home late on Monday. He thought we had another few days, but Sienna asked why we weren’t going to school yet. I told school how Dad got the dates mixed up and they let me off the hook. Mr. Fredricks agreed with me that I had no possibility to fly back without Dad and therefor wasn’t at fault. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Well, for starters, how did he get the dates mixed up?”

“And why didn’t you tell your dad when school started?” Layne asked, though the smirk on his face said enough. He knew Santino probably didn’t care enough to correct his father.

“And what about your mom?” Noah asked, not missing the look the three of them gave him.

“Dad wasn’t with us. We stayed with family, and he showed up last weekend. By then there really wasn’t any point in correcting him. We were gonna be late anyway. Dad might have gotten the dates mixed up because I might have accidentally mentioned the wrong dates when he booked the trip,” Santino explained, but he didn’t smile over his own ‘joke’. Neither did Layne or Julia, who were both staring at the ground while Santino explained more. “My mom’s not with us anymore,” Santino eventually said, sniffing while he played with a twig he picked up from the ground. “I don’t know where she is. She just up and left a while ago.”

“Oh,” Noah lamely replied, suddenly understanding why the mood changed. “Sorry I asked.”

“You couldn’t know.”

When Noah looked up at Santino, he flashed him a small smile. One that was telling him he shouldn’t fuzz over the fact he brought it up.

One to simply reassure him it was fine.