The next afternoon Evan was over at Matt's house again. It was Tiffany's graduation party.

Matt had scheduled a couple local bands to play, including his own band The Meanwhile. There was much grilling and socializing, and the Nelson's backyard was crowded with neighbors, family and friends. Matt's family held several of these events each summer, due to their enormous tract of property and their children's popularity.

A death metal band called Moth Corpse opened the festivities.

"WE ARE THE SONS OF THE CHILDREN," roared the singer while the band clanged and thrashed behind him on the deck. The sound was a soupy, muddled, earsplitting mess.

The audience, which consisted mostly of Tiffany's friends and friends of Matt's parents, gave scattered applause when the first song was over. There were a few college aged kids hanging about, but Evan noticed there were fewer and fewer of them every year now.

"This is just as weird for us as it is for you," the Moth Corpse singer told the audience with a hint of apology. He was a hulking greaseball everyone called Socky.

"Why's his name Socky?" Evan asked Matt as Moth Corpse launched into their second song.

"His last name's Sockowski," explained Matt. "I needed an opener. They've been together like a week."

He shrugged.

Matt Nelson was slight and short with thick hipster glasses and an earring. Girls thought he was cute. They said he looked like Rivers Cuomo, or Skrillex with his hair cut. He was half-Armenian, his mother a second-generation immigrant.

After Moth Corpse played their brief set, The Meanwhile took to the stage to peddle their off-key, affected blend of indie and electronica. Matt sang and played keyboards, Rob was on bass and their other buddies Brendan and Derek played drums and guitar. Matt and Derek attempted falsetto harmonies and everyone pretended to like it. The songs were slow and meandering and there was near-constant feedback from the monitors. A palpable sense of relief settled over the audience once Matt announced their final song.

Once the show was finished and the grills were shut up and the food wrapped and put away and the parents and high schoolers dispersed, Evan sat with his inner circle of friends around the smoldering remnants of the night's bonfire. It was just Evan, Matt, Rob Van Gilder and Brian Dinkins.

Though Evan, Matt, Brian and Rob had all run in similar social groups since 6th grade, once high school had ended they'd found themselves hanging with each other more and more.

None of them had gone off to college, and for the most part all their other friends had. Evan was going to Schoolcraft while Rob and Matt both attended Oakland Community College and played in The Meanwhile. Brian was unemployed and living with his divorced mother. He drank a lot and hated talking about the future.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The four of them hung out at local band shows around the Metro area, particularly in Canton and Livonia. They saw movies at the MJR in Brighton and loitered at Twelve Oaks in Novi. They took walks through the bike trails in town and they pilfered booze from Rob's mom or Brian's mom or Matt's parents and they drank it in Matt's backyard. The previous spring all of them had turned 21, and tonight they'd bought their own booze.

This is the first time I've been here for a bonfire since the night Jason killed himself, Evan realized.

He didn't bring this up to his friends. Mentioning Jason only seemed to make everyone uncomfortable.

Brian Dinkins was obese, blonde and boisterous, and already quite drunk off a fifth of Captain's. There was also cherry Smirnoff and Jagermeister and a two liter of Coke for a chaser. Evan liked Captain's best, but Brian had commandeered the bottle and everyone knew not to get in Brian's way when it came to him and his liquor. Evan didn't feel much like drinking tonight anyway.

"I'm telling you guys," Brian exclaimed. "Rub and tug! We can go get a massage and they'll jerk you off for like twenty dollars at that new Chinese place in town! I swear to fucking God!"

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Earlier, fuckin' Socky was telling me."

"They give you handjobs at a fucking Fortuna Inn?"

"Not Fortuna Inn. The spa. It's called Lotus or whatever. Socky said his uncle went there last week and got a fuckin' handjob. For real. They've got a couple women there and you pay 60 an hour and they give happy endings in the back for anyone who knows how to ask for them. Table shower if you want it, fuckin' sauna, everything. You get a massage and a handjob, any time of the day. Rub and tug."

"I think Socky's a fucking retard," said Matt. "Besides, if I want a handjob I'm just going to the strip club."

"How would you know what you can get at a strip club?" said Rob.

"Dude, everyone knows you can get handjobs at strip clubs," said Matt. "You gotta be discreet about it, but you can get damn near anything you want."

"Strip club's more expensive, anyway," said Brian, tilting the Captain's back again and letting out a belch. "Plus, no guaranteed Asians."

"I heard Lily Trent's working at the Blue now," said Rob. "In Ypsi."

Evan snapped to attention.

"Wait, Lily Trent as in Marty Trent's younger sister?"

The Trents had lived in Evan's neighborhood for most of his grade school years. They'd moved to Brighton when he was a sophomore. He'd known Lily since she was in elementary school. They rode the bus together for years. Everyone at the fire was acquainted with Lily in some way. She'd been a grade below them.

"Yeah, man, I heard about it a couple weeks ago," said Rob. "She's working at the Deja Blue. As a dancer."

"Wait, wait, wait," said Brian. "You're telling me I can see Lily Trent NAKED, TONIGHT?"

"Yes," said Rob. "For fifteen dollars."

Brian spread his arms to the black sky and threw his head back.

"Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me," he sang, woefully out of tune. It was not his birthday.

"Was she hot?" Matt asked. "I remember the name but not the face."

Rob shrugged.

"She was cute, I guess. Decent face, pretty good body."

"So we're going to the Blue to see Lily, then," said Brian. "I always fuckin' said, man, if anyone I know is ever in porn, or working as a stripper—I'm fuckin' seein' that shit, man!"

"I'd go," said Rob.

"I'd go," said Matt.

Brian pointed at Evan. "Fifteen to get in. You in?"

Evan swallowed.

If he went, this would be his first time in a strip club. It would be his first time seeing a woman naked in the flesh. But hell if he was going to tell his friends that.

"Sure," Evan said. "I'm down."

Rob snorted.

"You're down. He's down, guys."

"Can you drive?" Brian asked.

"Yeah."

Brian was happy.

"Right, go to the Blue, see Lily Trent's bare ass, then we get a rub and tug on our way back," he declared.

The four of them walked up the hill to Evan's Civic.