The Fourth of July was never a big deal at the group home. Most years a few of us would find the window with the best view and watch for fireworks. And that fourth was no exception. I was not expecting anything to happen. Again Jack was up before I was. The man had more energy that morning than I think I've ever had in my entire life. He was bouncing around, drinking coffee and making toaster waffles. I took a seat at the bar.
"Morning, Baby girl." I grunted in response. A few minutes later he sat a plate with two waffles on it in front of me as well as a glass of milk. Then he started rummaging through the cupboards.
"So due to very poor planning on my part we have no syrup for our waffles. We do have peanut butter if you want to try that?" I shrugged and he handed me the jar of peanut and a knife. I spread peanut butter on one of my waffles.
"Mm. That's not bad."
"Yeah?" I nodded, "Pass the jar." I did and he began spreading liberal amounts of peanut butter on his waffles.
"Mm." He hummed after taking his first bite, "That is surprisingly good." We ate in silence after that.
"I'm going to get a shower." I told him and headed down the hall.
"Okay. I have to run a couple errands so I'm gonna head out, but I'll be back soon."
"M'kay." I replied and walked into my room to find clean clothes. After I had chosen an outfit for the day I walked into the bathroom. I took a shower, dried my my hair and put my make up on. Then I turned on some music and decided to do laundry. I gathered up all the dirty laundry and managed to drop most of it before I reached the staircase leading to the basement so I collected it with my feet and kicked it down the stairs.
I was in the midst of folding all the clean laundry when Jack got home. I was folding it onto my bed and sorting as I did so.
"Baby girl?" He called as he walked in.
"My room." I replied and kept folding.
"Hey. Wow." He said as he saw the piles of laundry on my bed. "You've been busy."
"Well I only had one clean shirt this morning so . . ."
"Did do my laundry too?" He asked as I pulled one of his shirts from the basket.
"Yeah. But I really don't mind doing laundry here because doing laundry for two is lot easier than doing laundry for sixteen."
"I can imagine." He wrapped his arm around me and kissed the side of my head, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He walked out of my room. I finished folding the laundry, put mine away and carried Jack's to his room. I walked out to the kitchen where I found Jack on the phone.
"I only have two. Well duh. You tripped and fell on it remember?" Jack groaned in annoyance. "Fiiiiine. You owe me a drink. And more than just the bud light tonight." Then he laughed. "Yeah. See you tonight." And then hung up.
"What's happening tonight?" I asked to ease my curiosity.
"It's the fourth."
"So?" Jack's jaw dropped.
"So? It's the Fourth of July. Fireworks, barbecue, beach. I guess you probably didn't do that, but every year that we're home me, Alex, Lisa and Rian meet up at the beach. We build a fire, I bring my acoustic, we watch the fireworks. It's our tradition." Traditions. Such a strange and foreign idea. I smiled.
"How come Zack doesn't come?"
"He would, but he lives in Hawaii."
"Oh."
"So we'll head over about eight, that way you can go for a swim if you want, but right now I have to go track down a folding lawn chair because we've only got two as do Alex and Lisa which is usually fine, but this year we've added another person," he pointed at me," to the group so we need another chair." Then he wrapped his arm around me, kissed my forehead and left.
   He was back an hour later with a folding lawn chair. After that we ate lunch and watched a movie. And before we knew it it was time to leave. I changed into my swimsuit, pulled my peach colored sundress over it and slipped on my once white flip flops. I met Jack by the door.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Yes." I replied with a salute before giggling.
"Weirdo." Jack said with a smile as he walked out the door with his acoustic. I followed and locked the door behind me. Jack loaded the chairs into the car and we were off.
     The beach, surprisingly, was empty aside from Alex, Lisa and Rian. Alex and Lisa were in the water and Rian was sitting in a lawn chair beside a small fire. Jack set up the other chairs and took a beer from the  cooler by Rian's  feet before sitting down.
"I'm gonna go in the water for a bit." I told Jack while stripping off my dress.
"Ok." I walked into the water and just stood there letting it splash my legs. Alex swam toward me.
"Hey kiddo."
"Hi."
"Are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna come in?" I smiled and took a few steps forward. Alex rolled his eyes. Lisa joined us.
"Hey." She said while taking Alex's hand in hers.
"Hi."
"I need a drink." She kissed Alex's cheek and walked past me to the beach. I washed her go and the next thing I knew Alex grabbed and threw me over his shoulder. I shrieked.
"Put me down." I pounded on his back, which was ineffective, as he took me further out.
"No." He laughed. I giggled.
"Jack!" I yelled. He looked in my direction. I waved my arms, "Help!" He looked back at Rian, said something and then stood, stripped his shirt off and ran towards Alex and I.
"Hah! You're screwed." I said to Alex.
"Huh? Why?" He glanced behind him. "Oh shit." He walked until the water almost reached his shoulders and then stopped.
"Leave my baby girl alone." Jack said as he got closer.
"No!" Alex said.
"Save me!" Alex screamed like a girl, Jack laughed and the next thing I knew I was beneath the water and inhaling large amounts of it. I panicked and tried to get to the surface, but the fact that I can't swim caused me to just flail around. Just before I passed out I caught a glimpse of Jack.
   I woke up coughing up water. Jack was on one side of me, Rian was on the other and Alex was kneeling by my feet with Lisa standing behind him. My chest and my throat hurt.
"Thank god." Jack said and pulled into his chest. I tapped his arm.
"Need air."
"Oh right." I sat up and looked at Alex while rubbing at the pain in my chest. He looked very upset.
"Sorry I dropped you. It never even occurred to me that you don't know how to swim."
"It's okay. You didn't know." He frowned and nodded. I looked back at Jack. "Can I have a drink please." He stood and walked over to the cooler. He came back with a bottle of water. I opened it and took a few small sips.
    After that we sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows. The guys took turns telling stories about the various tours they'd been on. It was fun to learn more about them. Then Lisa told us about a few different Fourth of Julys she'd experienced as a kid. When she finished all eyes were on me.
"Have any Fourth stories you want to share?" Lisa asked. I thought for a minute.
"Yeah. When I was eleven there were only seven of us including Allison, the woman who owns the group home. So she decided it might be fun to  go to the nearest park and watch the city's fireworks display. She even bought a few special snacks for the occasion and some sparklers. So we get there, get the blankets all set up and wait for the fireworks. She got out the snacks and opened them. One of which was a bag of pretzels. One of the younger kids who must've been about six or seven got hold of the bag and began eating them by the handfuls. About ten minutes later she crawled over to Allison to tell her she didn't feel good. She opened her mouth to speak and puked in Allison's lap. We had to go back just as the fireworks started. That was the only time we went to see the fireworks. We tried the next year, but a bunch of the kids got sick so we couldn't."
"Wow." Rian said. I laughed and nodded.
"Yeah. When I was six I fell off out of a tree and broke my wrist and we spent like four hours in the emergency room. We missed the fireworks, but the next night Dad found a bunch of videos of fireworks for us and we did our own Fifth of July celebration. I don't actually remember it happening but Mom accidentally got a video of me falling out of the tree and they both used to tell the story every year after that." I got lost in memories are of my parents. I only left my thoughts when Jack stood up.
"So before anything else I have an announcement." Alex said, "Yesterday I got a call from Gavin," their manager from the record company I found out after,"We're going back on tour. The second week of September." There was much excitement at this.
"Does Zack know?" Rian asked.
"Yeah I called him earlier." Rian nodded.
"What about Anna?" Jack asked.
"Gavin said it's up to you whether or not she comes." Jack nodded. The talk turned to set lists and destinations until Jack said,
"I'm gonna grab my acoustic." He came back a few seconds later with his acoustic and started tuning it.
"C-" Alex started but Jack cut him off.
"I already picked a song to play. However I don't know all the words so I need some help." He looked at me. And I said something really intelligent like,
"Uh . . . sure." He smiled and started playing. I immediately recognized the song. We started singing at the same time.
"Let it go. Let it roll right off your shoulders, don't you know. The hardest part is over. Let it in. Let your clarity define you in the end. We will only just remember how it feels." When we reached the bridge Jack dropped out and it was just me.
"All of my regret will wash away somehow. But I can not forget the way I feel right now." I expected him to join again for the last chorus. But he didn't. I finalized the song on my own and they all clapped. I blushed, but I think it went unnoticed.
"That was beautiful." Lisa said.
"Thanks."
"Any requests?" Jack asked.
"How about Weightless?" Lisa suggested. Jack nodded and started playing. Alex cleared his throat and began singing.
    Shortly free that the fireworks started. It was almost one by the time we got home. But that was by far the best Fourth of July I'd had in a long time.