Free Bird - Morgan Wallen

Three

"We gotta shotgun some shit tonight baby!" He laughs loudly. "You haven't done that since last year!"

"Okay okay okay!" She gives in. "Fine!"

"Attagirl!" He gives her a playful smack on the ass.

"I need a smoke!" She shouts, holding her purse up to him, pointing outside. "Be right back." She picks up her beer and heads outside. She grabs her pack of Lucky Strike Cigarettes and lights one.

"Crazy to see you out here." A familiar voice says behind her. "Thought you'd out grow partyin'."

She turns and sees Morgan. "Some things never change." She shrugs. "What're you doing out here?"

"Hardy invited me, said it was a party I couldn't miss."

"Every year they do this. Last year it was either Buds with Buds or Hawaiian, I can't remember."

"Is that my shirt?" He asks, ignoring her last sentence. "You kept that?" She looks at his matching sleeveless flannel and smiles.

"Yeah, been waitin' for the Redneck night. Hey, I'm glad you're here." She admits, taking her hat off to brush her hair out of her face, replacing the cowboy hat back on her head.

"Me too." He says, his eyes following her wavy hair down to her chest.

Her phone starts ringing. "Hardy? Wha- wait slow down- sh-"

"That drunk bastard." He shakes his head with that goofy little smile of his.

"Shut the fuck up and just say it!" She laughs. "Shots? Shots! Okay!" She pockets her phone and grabs Morgan's hand. "Shots!"

"I don't know, darlin'."

"You're gonna stay out here like some creep? That's not the Morgan Wallen I know. You're the life of the party, darlin!" He rolls his eyes and lets her lead him back into the house.

"You guys found each other!" Hardy shouts, a pocketknife in his hand. "You ready, baby?" He hands Dani another Natural Light Seltzer after stabbing a hole in the bottom of the can.

The two best friends race each other, Dani surprisingly winning. She throws the empty can down and cheers, throwing her hands in the air. "Take that bitch!" She laughs, hugging him. "Shots?" The same dark haired boy from earlier has a line of shot glasses, filling a couple up with a light brown liquid, she doesn't question what it is. "Morgan!" She hands one to him and Hardy, keeping one for herself. "Bottoms up!" The three cheer and drink simultaneously, the clank of glass against granite echos over the talking and music playing. She turns to Hardy and watches him walk off with some girl, shaking her head. "Morgan, here." His hand is filled with a beer. "Don't be so uptight, it's the summer!"

He chuckles as he unscrews the twist top and licks his lips. He missed her, he truly missed her and didn't realize it until he saw her again. She grabs her own long neck and nudges him outside to the deserted patio. He's glad that she's loosened up with alcohol. If she was still sober, they probably wouldn't have talked to each other. "So how's college?"

"Real good. I'm gonna to be a lawyer." She nods. "I live with Hardy a few streets over, so it's fun. How about you? I heard that one song on the radio the other day." She's still talking pretty loud, but hey, she's drunk.

"Really?" His cheeks are pink as he takes a swig of the beer in his hand.

"It was so pretty. It made me miss high school." He nods, his eyes trained on her lips. "Things were so much easier in high school, Y'know? Like I didn't have to study and we were together just hangin' out by the river, ugh." She looks down at her drink. "And when things ended, it just-"