I shrugged, “Dunno… maybe I saw tonight as a chance to say goodbye… I mean, I did kind of just diappear on you guys… never really got a chance to say goodbye… say thanks…”

He scoffed and blew out smoke, coughing slightly, “Thanks?! For what? For turning you into a little street fag hustler? For helping you get high time and time again? For dragging you girlie ass into gay bar after gay bar?”

I shrugged and chuckled slightly, “Yeah… we had a time… maybe not a great time, but it wasn’t all bad… I know none of us ever trusted or really cared about each other, but we were there for each other when no one else was… that’s gotta say something…”

We sat there for a while longer in silence, appreciating the mutual companionship we had, watching everyone as they started coming out of the water and heading back towards the fire.

Kevin stood up and offered his hand to me. I took it and he pulled me up.

“Well, while I will admit that I did care about you Shane, I’ll also say that I still care about you enough to tell you that I hope I never see you again…”

I nodded and looked at him. “Same here man…”

We walked back to the bonfire, I wished everyone a Merry Christmas, and then headed back towards my truck. I walked around from the back of the truck and almost screamed when I saw Bette sitting on the hood of the truck.

“Jesus Bette! What the fuck are you doing here?!”

Bette slid off the hood and walked up to me. “Just looking out for a friend… looking out for family…”

I looked down at my feet, kicked a rock, and then glanced up at her. “How long have you been here?”

She looked past me back at the bonfire on the beach. The guys all sitting around the fire, who had since collapsed back onto the sand and were drinking, smoking, and taking hits of blow.