The Minutes We Have

chapter fourteen

"That is not how you start a fire!" 

"Yes, it is!" 

"No, stop piling so much wood on it!" 

When Roman wouldn't listen, I got out of my chair and bent down beside the fire pit. We had built it from fieldstone we had found and it was ruggedly beautiful. I began pulling out chunks of wood that Roman had piled on top of the poor fire that had been snuffed out. 

"Jordyn!" He whined. 

"Fire needs oxygen," I said, "You have to build a teepee." I began rearranging the wood to emphasize my words. "Give me that," I demanded of Roman and snatched the fire started out of his hand. 

"Hey! You could at least be nice about it," He snarked.

"You haven't been listening for the last ten minutes that I've been yelling at you," I replied, briefly glancing at him. I lit the firestarter and set it beneath the wood. "Watch and learn."

He scoffed, "I bet it won't even--" 

The fire quickly started. Tiny orange flames crept up the dry wood.

"You were saying?" I rose an eyebrow, crossing my arms. 

"Whatever," He stood up, "I still could have got the fire started." 

"You got the fire started!" Julian's voice called out and I turned to see him coming across the lawn with Finley on his heels. He had multiple bags of marshmallows in his arms and boxes of graham crackers. "How'd you do it?" He asked his twin. 

"I actually started it," I butted in and Roman glowered at me. 

"Oh," Julian said, dumping what was in his arms onto the little table we had set up, "Ready to roast some marshmallows?" 

I sat back down in my chair, curling my legs underneath myself. "It's got to burn down some or you'll just light your marshmallow on fire." 

"Awe but that's the best way to eat them!" Julian told me, grinning from ear to ear, "Let 'em burn for a few seconds, blow it out, and enjoy the crispy goodness!" 

I rolled my eyes but smiled. I briefly glanced into the sky. It was getting dark, the sun had set behind the mountain about twenty minutes ago, and tiny stars came out to play in the inky sky. Soon, the milky way would be visible, and the ever-presence of the moon. 

Despite it being dusk, it was still incredibly warm. There was a gentle evening breeze and it didn't draw goosebumps from my skin. I savored the summer night because they were my favorite. I felt like summer had its own soul, and that's why I kept falling in love all over again. 

Julian and Roman had settled in the lawn chairs arranged around the fire pit. Except Roman wasn't having the best of luck because it didn't seem to matter where he sat, the smoke would billow in his face. He had coughed, moved to a different chair, and had the same thing happen. 

I laughed at him. 

Mikeal had come down to join us and he chuckled when Roman kept moving to avoid the smoke and having no such luck. At least the bugs wouldn't bother him. 

Suddenly, I heard the rev of a motorcycle. 

I would have passed it off if I hadn't known that not many people in town owned a motorcycle. I didn't really know why but I had noticed it. Everyone either had cars or jeeps. There was another rev of a motorcycle and then I heard it getting closer. 

I turned my head just in time to catch a glimpse of a single headlight pulling into the driveway. My head whipped around to my brothers, "Is that...?" I trailed off.