Miscommunication (boyxboy)

Chapter Twenty

~ Cole ~

The thick smell of burning hickory and dry leaves immediately assaulted Cole's senses as he stepped out of the car, pack of Marlboro in hand. On the driver's side of the Corvette, James greeted the same fate with a delighted grin.

"Don't you just love a bonfire?" James beamed.

Cole rolled his eyes at his friend and shoved a hand into his jacket pocket in search of his lighter. On either side of him, hoards of students were crossing the carpark to gather in the quad where the bonfire was being held.

A boisterous clump of football players jostling one another two cars down validated Cole's decision to make James drive. There was no way he was letting his baby get scratched up in the swell of roudy, young adults in full swing of losing all sensibility.

Cole dug out his lighter and his cigarette flared to life. Taking a slow drag, he leaned back against the hood of the Corvette.

James turned in his step up on the sidewalk. "You coming?"

"Kingpin," Cole said pointedly, "if you think for one second I'm going to step foot into that writhing, sweaty crowd of drunken no-nothings, you are dead mistaken."

James laughed. "C'mon, man. It's a bonfire. It's meant to be fun."

Cole exhaled, a trail of smoke whispering in the crisp night air. "Nothing about this is fun."

"So, your plan is to stand here all night and smoke?"

"I may sit too."

"You're impossible."

"And you're a hopeless dreamer."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

"Only when you're friends with me."

James laughed. "C'mon, man. Piper is waiting for us."

Cole took another drag. He raised an eyebrow as the smoke drifted from his lips. "Us, or you?"

James sent him a knowing look. "Us. As in, you and me. Now, let's go."

"I'm good here."

"Cole."

"Kingpin."

"Alright." James held his hands up in a defeated gesture and began to walk away. "I guess I'll just have to tell Piper, Adam and Leo that you didn't want to-"

"Hold up." Cole pushed himself off the car's hood, cigarette poised halfway in the air to his mouth. "Adam's here?"

The edge of James' mouth curled upwards slightly. "Piper texted me five minutes ago. They're waiting in the quad." He shrugged then. "Not that it matters. You clearly have better things to do than hang out with a bunch of us low-"

"Hold on, I'm coming." Cole's cigarette was snuffed out beneath his boot and the pack returned to the inside of his jacket. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he took three long strides to meet James on the sidewalk.

His friend smiled as Cole reached him before turning to face the brownstone buildings. Together they began to make their way down the path towards the centre of campus.

Friday night on a college campus was vibrant but this was complete mayhem. As Cole and James ventured onwards, the scene before them stretched out to reveal hundreds of students pouring into the quad from all angles.

Food trucks lined the sidewalk, plastic tables had been set up across the lawn, and a row of tents had been constructed for hired carnival games, and right in the centre of the quad, a great stack of kindling had been piled as high as a one storey building.