I Can Lift A Car // WTM

Chapter 16: Drunk In The Woods

A log fire crackled in the night, spitting embers into the cold December air. Rory, Nicholas, Kevin and Quinn sat on the ground around it, enjoying each others' company and the warmth of the fire on their skin. It was Christmas Eve and they had all gotten together for a bonfire, although the bonfire had ended up as simply a small get-together around an equally small fire somewhere in the middle of the woods. Still, Rory was enjoying it. Curled up against Nick, and listening to the voices of who had come to be her closest friends, and as they talked and laughed, she found herself to be deeply and utterly content. She glanced up at Nick, seeing his dimples as they shone just as brightly as the fire that reflected in his wire rims; her heart fluttered with adoration and giddy attraction. Unable to contain it, she tilted her head up to kiss his jawline quickly. Surprised, he looked down at her, smile widening.

"I really, really like you, Nicholas."

"I really, really like you too, Rory Bennett."

Rory thought her heart couldn't possibly hold anymore sentiment, yet here Nick was, causing it to swell further as he spouted words seemingly meant for the sole purpose of exciting the butterflies in her stomach. They had become pretty much a permanent fixture now, but Rory was learning to live with them.

Kevin smoked a joint across from the pair, casting a red glow across his face as he blew a trail of smoke from his mouth, letting it cloud in the air. His guitar lay next to him in the leaves as he sat, talking to the other three.

Rory wasn't really hearing what was being said. Rather, she was enjoying the moment, watching and listening to the cadence of their voices as a peculiar feeling settled inside her, almost like nostalgia, but for the present. She knew this era of her life was coming to an end, and knew it was uncertain when she would have a moment so perfect like this again with people she loved so dearly. It was special and Rory did not want to taint it, so she sat still, soaking it in.

She heard Nick say something to Kevin about playing another song and she straightened up, pulling back from his chest so as to let him sing properly.

Kevin began and Nick followed. Rory thought she could never cease to love hearing his voice, she thought it was incredibly beautiful.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Rory fell in love with the song. It was a new one, she had not heard him play it with the boys or at Avalanche before, but she connected with it instantaneously; it seemed to embody precisely what she was feeling at that moment.

"Oh, Anna Su-un" Nick sang, and Rory thought that had she been standing up, her knees might have buckled. He looked beautiful as he sang, his eyes closed and a smile adorning his lips. The fire was the only source of light, casting a warm glow over him, lending him the appearance of emitting an angelic glow against the surrounding inky night. Stars shown down from the heavens just for him as he sang, harvesting their divinity in his voice.

...What do you know this house is falling apart,
What can I say this house is falling apart.
We got no money but we got our hearts.
We're gonna rattle this ghost town...

As the song came to an end, Rory wished it would never stop. She met Quinn's eyes, which were just as stunned and amazed as her own.

"Did you write that?" She asked Nicholas.

"Yeah," He breathed, smiling.

"It was beautiful. I mean, it was- I felt it. It felt like now, it felt like being young and inevitable and bursting with potential and hope and limitlessness."

Kevin whistled lowly, "I think you just put it into some scarily accurate words."

Nick nodded, "I wrote it about exactly that. Right now, we're living these unmarked, unconfined, undetermined lives that we can, in theory, do anything with. But it's coming to an end, and I want to remember how it feels right now. The song is that, it's to remember this feeling, this life. It makes it infinite."

"It was beautiful." Rory said again.

"It was," Quinn agreed. "You guys are going to be big one day."

Kevin laughed.

"Really, you are. But promise me you won't forget me, won't forget us?"

"I promise," Kevin told her.

"Me too," Nick whispered in Rory's ear. "I could never forget someone as ineffable as you."

As her heart swelled again, and she felt once more a sense of uncontainable euphoria, she kissed him on the lips, cherishing their minty taste and soft touch against her own.

The moment, however ephemeral, was perfection. Rory thought that even if this came to an end, she would be okay, because she had felt it, had lived it. For that, she would be forever grateful.

And in that moment, they were infinity.