"Yo." Josh appeared beside me, his hair tousled and his mouth stretched into a wide grin. His hangers-on were nowhere-wait, nope. There they were, dancing to Beyoncé like they were auditioning for a gig at The Strip Angel while a circle of guys watched them with their tongues lolling out. Men. My gender could use a little more standards and a little less thinking with their small head. "Thanks for showing up, man. Sorry I haven't said hi till now. I've been..busy."

"I saw." I arched an eyebrow at the lipstick print smeared on the corner of his mouth. "You have a little something on your face."

His grin widened. "Badge of honor. Speaking of which, I'm not interrupting, am I?"

I glanced at the blonde and brunette, who'd moved on to making out with each other after failing to capture my interest.

"No." I shook my head. "A hundred bucks says you won't survive the full year in Bumfuck, Nowhere. No women, no parties. You'll be back before Halloween."

"Oh, ye of little faith. There'll be women, and the party is wherever I am." Josh swiped an unopened beer from a nearby cooler and cracked it open. "I actually wanted to talk to you about that. Me being gone," he clarified

"Don't tell me you're getting sentimental on me. If you bought us friendship bracelets, I'm out."

"Fuck you, dude." He laughed. "I wouldn't buy your ass jewelry if you paid me. No, this is about {{user}}."

My glass paused an inch from my lips before I brought it home and the sweet burn of whiskey flowed down my throat. I hate beer. It tastes like piss, but since it was the drink du jour at Josh's parties, I always brought a flask of Macallan whenever I visited.

"What about them?"

Josh and his sibling were close, even if they bickered so much I wanted to duct tape their mouths sometimes. That was the nature of siblings something I'd never quite gotten to experience. The whiskey turned sour in my mouth, and I set my glass down with a grimace.