Come On Over (28 page)

Marcel
has supplied speakers, with someone's phone docked into them―Dominic
can't remember whose―and while the group does have a designated gathering
place at Marcel's dorm these days, everyone agreed that tonight, setting up by
the art building felt more appropriate, considering. With the lampposts along
the path lit and illuminating the darkness around them, the grassy slope by the
pond is a rather perfect setting, the water reflecting the light the same way
as the string lights found at their usual spot―even from across the pond,
the tiny specks of yellow are visible, woven through the trees outside the dorm
building. It goes well with the fireflies drifting through the air.

"I
think a toast is in order," Jemma says over the music, prompting Marcel to
slightly turn down the volume. Jemma raises her bottle, standing on her knees
and eyeing the group. Kim and
Carly
are on her right,
Marcel leaning against a lamppost with the docking station within reach, and
Annie, Dominic, and Killian are on
Jemma's
left,
silent as they just interrupted their conversation in favor of giving her their
full attention. Isaac is sitting with his knees pulled up and splayed, Shanti
sitting between them and leaning with her back against his chest, both of them
waiting patiently as well. Jemma takes a deep breath.

"I'm
not good at speeches," she starts off, with such pointed exaggeration that
a ripple of laughter runs through the group. "But I am pretty good at
drinking, and I think I've done enough of that tonight to pretend I'm not
making an ass of myself. That said, I just wanted to say that these past couple
of months have been awesome, we've all done an awesome job, and I'm proud of
us. I love you guys."

She
raises her bottle further, prompting the others to do the same with their own
drinks, and a collective
cheers
is
heard, along with some random remarks on just how spot-on that modest speech
was.

"We
are young, and we are alive," Annie exclaims, raising her drink as the
others take a sip. "I'll drink to that."

"Really?"
Dominic says, lowering his can of beer from his mouth. "That's it? The
lamest of all the lame clichés, that's what you're going with?"

Annie
punches him in the arm, perhaps a little harder than if she were sober, but
Dominic just grins.

"It's
true, though," Annie insists. "And I'm feeling pretty good right now,
so don't you dare harsh my vibe."

She
points at him warningly, and Dominic raises his eyebrows in an expression of
complete innocence.

"I
would never," he says, taking a sip of beer, and Annie seems content with
that answer. He turns to Killian, on his other side, and is met by a pair of
dark green eyes already trained on his face. He frowns.

"What?"
he says, with a small huff of laughter.

"Nothing,"
Killian says, completely nonchalant. "I'm just staring at you."

Dominic
narrows his eyes.

"Anyone
else could make that sound romantic, you know," he says, and Killian
raises his eyebrows.

"Oh,
you want romance?" he says dryly. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but
that's not gonna happen. All you're getting from me is ambiguous compliments
and creepy staring."

Dominic
smiles, vaguely wondering if maybe he finds Killian even more endearing when
he's drunk.

"I'll
take it," he says, and while Killian can try all he wants to seem
unaffected, his little smirk is more fond than mean, and he does nothing but
reciprocate when Dominic leans in and kisses it away.

The
chatter and music starts back up properly, going on for a few minutes, before
Annie speaks up, effectively interrupting once again.

"Wait,
wait," she says, as though suddenly thinking of something amazing, and she
holds her hands up, bottle of cider securely clutched in one of them. The loud
talking dies down. "I have a joke."

Shanti
raises her eyebrows, as does almost everyone else.

"You
have a joke?" she asks dubiously, speaking for the group, and Annie nods.

"I
have a joke," she says confidently. "Just hear me out."

Dominic
and Killian glance at each other, before turning their attention back to Annie,
who takes a deep breath, eyes closed.

"Okay,"
she says, opening her eyes and making sure that she has everyone's undivided
attention. "How many surrealists does it take to screw in a light
bulb?"

It's
obvious that she's trying her very best to come off as sober and articulate,
failing rather miserably, and she watches her friends expectantly as they frown
in thought. After a few seconds, they all give up, shaking their heads and
shrugging, and Annie smiles conspiringly.

"A
fish," she says. It takes several seconds of silence before anyone reacts,
and said reaction comes in the form of a collective, loud groan of realization.
Dominic tilts his head back in exasperation.

"Okay,"
he says, reaching out and snatching the bottle out of Annie's grip. "No
more drinks for you."

"Oh,
come on!" Annie says indignantly, her protests drowned out by the groans
of her friends, as well as the surreptitiously raised volume of the music,
courtesy of Marcel. "That was golden."

"Why
do I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't get it?" Isaac murmurs, barely
loudly enough for Dominic to hear. Dominic turns to his left and quickly
realizes that the comment clearly wasn't meant for him anyway, because he sees
Shanti smile over her shoulder at Isaac and his slightly confounded expression.

"I'll
explain later," she says, smoothing her fingers over his lower arms as
they lay folded across her chest. Isaac smiles, nodding.

"Right,"
he says, and Dominic politely looks away when the two of them move in for a
kiss, trying not to smile too much himself at the prospect of his friend being
so happy.

The
night draws on, and Marcel, Jemma, and Kim take it upon themselves to take a
swim in the pond. It's a rather hilarious display, the three of them
immediately emerging from the water in various states of undress and disgust at
how
not
appropriate this particular
body of water is for leisurely swimming in, and Dominic watches from a safe
distance, Annie sitting beside him. Killian and Isaac are discussing some
obscure sci-fi movie they both like, and Shanti is talking to
Carly
, the two of them laughing mercilessly at their
friends' distress as they try to quickly dry off the gross pond-water and get
some more clothes back on.

"You
guys better keep in touch, or I swear to god," Annie says, as she and
Dominic breach the subject of him leaving to travel and work abroad, in a
couple of months. "And I mean properly, like old-school, with postcards
and shit,
wish you were here
, and all
that crap."

"Don't
worry," Dominic says, tugging her into a hug. "We will."

"Promise?"
Annie says against his shoulder, and Dominic smiles.

"Promise,"
he says, glancing over at Killian, before turning back to his friend.
"It'll be all obnoxious and shit, about how awesome and warm it is, and
how much sex we're having. It'll be great."

Annie
hums in approval, and true to his word, Dominic makes sure that that's exactly
what the old-school postcard she gets several months later says. With a
Cambodian landscape on the front, and the back scribbled and signed by both
Killian and Dominic, there's the added, sincere message of
Wish you were here.