All I have to say about this is that they drink beer, not wine.

***

There it was again, Tom thought. That national anthem-sounding knock at his front door. And while it made more sense that particular day, he was still impressed.

He answered the door, and there was Macey. Her hair was in a braid down her back, and she was wearing a white tank top and cutoff denim shorts. When he looked at her face, though, she seemed hesitant, almost regretful.

"I'm realizing now you may not want to come, so feel free to say no," She said, "but as you may know, it's the Fourth of July, which is our Independence Day. A couple of us are just hanging out at my house, and we're going to barbeque and shoot fireworks later, and I wanted to know if you wanted to join us."

She expected him to think it over, but he almost immediately replied, "Sure. I'll come."

She grinned. "Great!"

As a former Marine, he knew how much this holiday probably meant to her, so he wasn't about to turn down her invitation.

She began explaining that she didn't live very far, and she'd walk him over to her house if he wanted, and he agreed.

And a few minutes later, they were.

"Why wouldn't I want to come?" He asked, looking over at her.

"You're not American," She told him. "We're not celebrating y'all's independence. I don't know how people not from here feel about celebrating it, and I didn't even think about that until I knocked on your door."

"It would be kind of silly if I moved to your country, then rejected your culture," He mused. "I don't want to miss out on certain things simply because I'm not an American."

They arrived at her house, and she led him around to the backyard.

***

It had been a few hours, and slowly, the sun had started setting. Everyone in Macey's backyard were various forms of buzzed or drunk, as they had been sipping on beer all night (except for Bianca, who had gone inside before everything started and fixed herself a margarita).

It was that time of day where the sun had mostly set, save for a little bit of light. Everything was still visible, but it wasn't as bright as it had been just a few hours before.

Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, and Chris Spradlin (Kassius Ohno) had pulled out some sparklers and were trying to figure out how to use them, while Candice LeRae and Shayna Baszler were a few feet away, making comments on how drunk and stupid the guys were.

Everyone had already eaten, and they were simply waiting for it to get dark enough to set off the fireworks. Tom looked around at everybody, but his eyes landed on Macey. Bianca had been sitting with her for most of the night, but she and her husband were somewhere else, and she was now by herself. She had a small smile on her face, and he noticed that her face seemed... wet.

He frowned. No one else was really paying attention to her, or him, for that matter. He stood up and walked over to her, taking the seat that was once occupied by Bianca.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, and she looked over at him. She seemed surprised by the question, but she brought a hand to her face, and she realized she'd been crying.

"Oh." She shrugged. "Sorry. I was just, um, thinking."

"About what?"

Normally, she would've hesitated, or not even told him, but for whatever reason (it was probably the alcohol), she decided to be honest with him.

"It's just... ten years ago, I never would have imagined that I'd be doing this, you know?" She gestured at the party around her. "We moved around a lot, so I never had many friends. And we didn't have a lot of money, so we most definitely wouldn't have had a grill, or even fireworks. I didn't even know until I went into the Marines that this was something you did on the Fourth of July: fireworks, barbeque, get drunk with your friends."

She paused.

"I didn't even realize I'd been crying, but they were happy tears, I promise," She assured him. "I'm doing everything I'd ever dreamed of doing, and a whole lot more, too. I've just never had a chance to just, like, think about it. I know you don't believe in God or whatever, but I really feel blessed."

Suddenly, there was a yelp from across the yard. Tom and Macey looked over to see Johnny shaking his hand vigorously, while Candice and Shayna laughed at him.

"Thanks for listening, by the way," She said, and he brought his attention back to her. "I know I talk a lot, and you don't really talk all that much, but you're a hell of a listener. We're a perfect pair." She took a deep breath and stood up. "Now, I'm going to be a good hostess and check on everyone."

He watched as she walked away, and he replayed her words in his mind.

"We're a perfect pair."

She was right, and he couldn't stop thinking about it.