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The sand was cold beneath Nathan's feet. Gritty where it stuck between his toes but smooth where it ran over the tops of his feet as he dug them deeper. Pete Irving was telling about the Camping Trip From Hell he just got back from over the three day weekend with his family. He had three younger siblings and his dad was the worst in the woods or something. Nathan wasn't really listening. He leaned back against the somewhat uncomfortable driftwood log and enjoyed the blaze of the bonfire keeping off the autumn chill on the wind. He had a good buzz going and sand to wriggle his toes in.
Out past the little protected cove they were in, the breaking waves glowed silver in the moonlight and a thousand thousand stars shone overhead. It was noisy here by the fire, but it was easy to imagine that they were the last people on Earth right now, the whole world and time stretching out before them.
"Right, Nathan?" Ryan Phearson nudged his shoulder.
"What?" Nathan blinked back in to the circle around the fire. Mostly seniors, a few juniors, and a handful of younger siblings trying to talk their way into the cooler Geoff McShaw was sitting on.
"I said, can't wait to get out of here," Ryan said easily. "College, a job in Bangor, just out, you know?"
"Yeah," Nathan agreed. God, getting out of Haven couldn't come soon enough. One year left of high school and they were done.
"Aw, do you have, like, an escape plan all written out?" Duke Crocker elbowed his way in on Nathan's other side with Bill McShaw and sat on the log so he could knock Nathan's other shoulder with his knee. "Do you have a checklist and your Ghostbusters lunchbox all packed up like in fourth grade?"
"Fuck off, Duke." Nathan shoved at his knee, annoyed that his pleasant bubble had been breached. Pete's story dropped at the interruption and the small knot Nathan was sitting with turned to the new entertainment.
"What? I'm just making friendly conversation," Duke said, his grin going wider when Stacey O'Leary giggled. She was wearing a skirt that definitely wouldn't be allowed in school, and Nathan jerked his eyes away from her legs, wishing Hannah had been able to sneak out so the two of them could sneak off.
"Just make sure any girls you meet don't see your sleeping bag. I don't think they'll buy the He-man mystique. You might be overselling yourself a bit there."
That was it, Nathan threw back the last of his beer and chucked the empty can at Duke's head, but the asshole, just laughed, the rest with them, and Nathan kind of hated all of them. It wasn't that Nathan was embarrassed -- they'd all known each other since they were kids, he knew all their embarrassing fourth grade tv-crushes, too -- it was just that Duke had to bring up Nathan's every chance he got.
"Jeez, Nathan, you don't have to be so sensitive," Duke prodded, knowing he was being every bit the shit.
"Whatever," Nathan said. "At least I'm smart enough to get into college."
"Ooh, low blow," Duke said, not sounding hurt at all, which just pissed Nathan off more.
But a shout at the other side of the fire cut off whatever sparkling wit he was going to say next. It took a second for the words to register into something coherent, but when they did, Nathan felt cold adrenaline flood his body.
"Cops!"
"Everyone freeze!" A line of flashlights quickly resolved itself into a line of uniforms, and fuck, Nathan's dad was with them.
"Come on, Nate!" Someone grabbed his jacket by the shoulder and hauled Nathan to his feet, and it wasn't till he was pushing after him through the mob of freaked out and fleeing teenagers that it sunk in that he was following Duke.
It was a bad, bad idea, probably as bad as letting his dad catch him drinking at an illegal bonfire, but it didn't stop Nathan from following when Duke, scrambling up a nearby slope, broke from the pack heading for their cars that were probably already staked out by the rest of the cops. He led Nathan back toward the shore, this one completely dark as soon as they were out of sight of the bonfire, and to a small alcove in the cliff face.
Nathan, still more buzzed than was probably smart for running around at night, knocked into Duke when they stopped. The other boy was warm and, as his eyes adjusted, Nathan could just make out the shape of his smile. They held still, listening, but it didn't sound like anyone had followed them. Nathan wasn't sure who made the first sound, but then they were both laughing in wild relief and it didn't matter.
"Oh, man, that was close," said Duke, leaning back against the curve of the sea cliff. Nathan slumped beside him, their shoulders pressed together in the small space.
"My dad would have killed me," Nathan agreed. "Thanks," he added.
"No problem," said Duke like it really wasn't. Nathan shook his head at how fast Duke changed sometimes from torturing him to helping him out. But shaking his head made him dizzy, so he leaned more against Duke's shoulder for balance. He was warm and solid, and Nathan remembered when they were kids, both of them curling up in the woods in his He-man sleeping bag and telling each other increasingly outrageous stories to explain all the nighttime noises that were really what ruined Nathan's plan to run away from home. That and Duke ate most of Nathan's snacks.
They were about the same height, and Duke didn't move away from Nathan. Neither one of them spoke. From their little alcove, all they could sea was the sea. Without the bright light of the bonfire, the whole wide world and time stretching to the dark horizon seemed a whole lot scarier.
"So." Nathan swallowed. "What's your plan? You know, instead of college?"
Duke hummed a little, head tilting back and forth. "Go off and seek my fortune," he said jokingly, but Nathan knew it wasn't really a joke. As much as his dad was a nightmare to live with, being Chief of Police, Duke's was worse. Everyone knew it, but no one ever said anything about it.
"You gonna go be a pirate?" he asked, playing along instead of asking what he wanted to, which was if Duke would ever come back.
"Arr, me matey," Duke said, and they both cracked up again. When they settled, they ended up sitting on the sand, and somehow, like when they were kids, Duke's arm ended up around Nathan's shoulders. That was the thing about Duke. Even when he was being an absolute shit to Nathan he was always touching him. It was annoying as hell, and Nathan hated it. Except when he didn't, because there was that time he didn't feel anything at all, and he had this recurring nightmare that he would wake up and his sense of touch would be gone again. And right now, when Duke wasn't being an asshole, it was nice, kept off the cold for a little while. Nathan half-expected it to turn into one of Duke's pranks, but after a few minutes he relaxed. That was the other thing about Duke. He was a jerk at school, but sometimes when they were alone it was like none of that mattered.
"I want to go see China, you know? Check out Hong Kong," Duke said after a minute.
"Yeah?" said Nathan, and since they didn't have anything else to talk about, he asked, "Where else?"
Duke had a whole list. Nathan refrained from making a crack about him having a checklist because he was better than Duke and he didn't want to start a fight. That was the whole reason, not because sitting here with him again, like they did when they were kids, filled in the hole of a missing friendship or anything. Nathan didn't think about it too much, and let Duke's voice push back the dark horizon.
A little bubble of peace settled between them as they waited out the night. Nathan would have to sneak back home later, but he didn't dare leave until the cops had rounded everyone to take back to the station and that would take hours. Duke didn't seem inclined to leave either, so Nathan held onto the moment as long as he could, tired seeping in, only kept awake by the cold on the side of his body not pressed to Duke. Nathan knew better than to expect anything other than the usual smack talk when they went back to the real world. The constant push and pull was what they had now, and Nathan didn't really want to be friends with the Duke he knew at school. Maybe later, after high school was over, and they both got away from Haven, maybe, wherever Nathan ended up after college, maybe he'd run into Duke and it could be different.