It was midday by the time the small green car came speeding down the dirt road towards the cabin. It screeched to a halt out by the front door.

Graham tossed the final ball up and down in his hand. "Is that Devynn and Brian?" he asked Cass. They headed back to the front where the car was waiting. Most of the others had already gone ahead to greet the two men stepping out of the car. Only Gio hung back and Graham moved to stand with him.

"I didn't realize how close you all were," Gio commented.

"Most of us have been friends since middle school, some of us since kindergarten." Graham settled onto one of the steps leading up to the front porch. The wood was well cared for but he still avoided running his hands along it in case a splinter decided to make an appearance. As if none of the trees all around them could do that.

Gio joined him, much less hesitant to sit down than Graham. "You're all from Pennsylvania, right?" The others around the car got louder as a few boxes of food were pulled out of the car. Phoebe and Moira went running by to bring what smelled like cold pizza inside.

"Most of us. I think Brian was actually from Michigan and he met Cass on a trip. It was some weird frat bonding experience and Brian was their airport shuttle driver. Cass invited him along and the rest is history. He's a pretty cool guy," Graham explained.

The shaggy blonde haired boy of the two new people dropped down on the step below Graham. He threw his arms across Graham's legs and smiled up at him. "Glad to know you think I'm so great, champ." He leaned over and held out a hand to Gio. "Hey, Brian."

Gio shook his hand cautiously. "Gio, good to meet you."

After a long pause, Graham shoved Brian off. "What took you losers so long? Go chasing after ghosts again?"

"Actually, we didn't," Brian grumbled as he ducted his white shirt off. His heavy boots scuffed at the ground while he readjusted his seat. "But I'll tell you something right now, these woods are not okay man."

Graham raised an eyebrow and looked at Gio with a smile. "This guy always has some crazy story. Once, he swore he fought off a bear. What've you got this time, bud?" He leaned back against the railing post. It was unlikely he'd be able to make out half of what Brian said. The man could have given up his goals to be a kindergarten teacher to be an auctioneer. It had been a few years since Graham had talked to him face to face. Normally, they exchanged texts and Graham could easily keep up with Brian's fumbling fingers.

"First off, I did fight a bear," Brian started. "Second, we saw something out there and it was for sure real. Devynn was driving along and I remember thinking that I wanted a pop, so I reached back behind my seat to grab one. When I was turning back around I saw a deer off in between the trees."

"You think seeing a deer in the woods is weird?" Gio asked.

Brian rolled his eyes at the interruption. "It wasn't that it was just walking around, the thing stood up." Before Graham could get a word in to mock him, Brian continued. "It stood up and was as tall as a bear standing on its back legs."

"Bears again, Brian? Why do you always have to bring bears into your crazy stories?"Phoebe asked as she went by them again on her way out of the house. She went by a minute later with her arms full of soda bottles.

"It's not a crazy story and there wasn't a bear," Brian called after her. "Phoebe!" He leaned over Graham again to shout after her.

"Could you get off?" Graham asked dryly.

"You used to like me in your lap," Brian muttered, but he stood up anyway. The door swing closed behind him only to slam open again when Amy went running out.

Graham dodged to the side to avoid getting trampled. "Maybe we should move before the food stampede gets us killed," Graham suggested. He pulled Gio to his feet and they stepped out of the way. "You wave a little pizza in front of them and they turn into animals."

"So, you and that Brian guy? He doesn't look like your type." Gio looked him up and down slowly. It wasn't the first time he'd looked at someone from the group of them like that. This was the first time he'd done it so openly.

"I look like I have a type?" Graham held his arms out as if inviting a closer look. By now, his clothes were coated in a fine layer of dirt from their game. Even his hair was packed with dusty dry dirt. The only almost clean patches were where sweat had made lines down his skin. He let Gio fumbled with his words for a minute before pushing his shoulder lightly. "Brian and I hooked up for a while, but you're right, not my type. Right now, my type is pepperoni."

They shared a laugh before falling the rest of the crowd inside. Everyone had gathered around the kitchen counter where plates and cups were being piled up. Both the oven and microwave were on and going in cycles as Nora tossed in food to reheat.

Scarlet had tossed herself onto the back of the second man in the car, Devynn. She was pointing him around the room like directing a horse. Their next target was Graham and in moments she was trying to nudge him with her foot. "Hey, hey, bonfire tonight? Yeah?"

Graham raised his eyebrow and shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Is that ok to do here?" he asked Cass as he went by.

"Yeah, in the fire pit," he said.

"The neighbors won't get pissed?" Graham asked.

"The only neighbor is that weirdo across the lake who comes up here to do photography," Nora called out having caught the edge of their conversation. She pointed at the window that faced the lake with her green oven mitt. "He never comes over here unless the sun looks better on our side of the lake. He's not going to come over for some noise."

"Sounds like party time," Mike called out loudly, pulling Phoebe to dance despite the lack of music.

It didn't look like Phoebe minded very much.

"Food first guys, we're not drinking on empty stomachs," Nora told them. "I am not dealing with puke. Maya, is this everything?"

The last person from the car walked in carrying a precarious stack of cardboard boxes full of bread. Her thick glasses had been knocked askew from trying to balance them. "This is the last of it, sorry. I was worried it wouldn't be enough," Maya called out from behind the boxes.

Brian managed to fix her glasses as he took the boxes. "Just blame me, I could eat an entire pizza by myself." He winked at her.

"You did eat an entire pizza by yourself," Devynn pointed out. The sauce stains on the sleeve of Brian's shirt confirmed the accusations. "If I had tried to do that, Maya would have pushed me out of the car."

"You're ridiculous," Maya grumbled, her cheeks dark red. "I couldn't have pushed you out, you were driving." She managed to push her way into the kitchen and out of reach of his teasing. Brian was by the stove and leaned in to speak softly to her.

A plate of pepperoni pizza and spicy chicken wings was shoved into Graham's hands. Phoebe juggled with her own plate for a moment to pass him a beer. "That's new," she whispered, jutting her chin at the cozy duo in the kitchen.

Graham shook his head. "Not so much."

"And you said nothing?" Phoebe asked. "Gio, do you see this blasphemy?" She looped her free hand through Gio's arm. "Withholding vital information from me. It's like we aren't even friends." She sidestepped Graham's reaching hand and moved towards the back door.

"Are you seriously going to pout about this?" Graham called after her. There was no answer. He knew she'd be plying him with drinks all night to catch up on anything he was holding back.