Good food, good booze, good company, and good music. These, along with the bonfire itself, were the ingredients to a great bonfire with the family. My mom, brother, sister, father, and a few close family friends all came together for this one. Luffy promised he would behave himself with the food, but a part of me still worried he was going to be a little too much. We had a Bluetooth speaker playing music and everybody brought something for a barbecue. The best part of all was the s'mores we had for the end of the night.
But first, it was time to reconnect. There were some people I hadn't really spoken with in all this time, and it was long overdue. I flitted around, visiting one person to the next when suddenly, I heard Luffy beckoning me over to him. He put out his hand, with a huge sunshine grin on his face.
"Come on, M'! Dance with me!" He said, offering me his hand. I hesitated for a moment and he didn't wait for another second, snatching my hands and twirling me around in front of the bonfire. I couldn't help but laugh. I laughed and danced and jaunted along, hand in hand with the biggest knucklehead I knew. By the time the song was over, a bunch of my friends had joined into the fray, hopping along with the music.
When the next song came on, Luffy slipped away while I kept dancing with my friends. I was grateful to get some time with them, mouthing a thank you as he backed up to the grill, giving me a wink.
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"Are you ready for some food, Lou?"
"You betcha'! Fill 'er up!" Luffy said with a grin. After stuffing his plate, he moved to go sit down at a table, still making sure to face Misaki as she danced with her friends.
"I can't believe you got her to dance!" Misaki's mom said, sitting next to him. He looked at her with food chipmunking in his cheeks.
"What do you mean? Misaki loves to dance!" He said, a little muffled by the food, pondering why her mom would say that.
"Well... maybe she was just too afraid to dance before. Too worried what others would think."
Luffy's brow furrowed. He didn't want to go telling someone about their daughter, but Misaki was never worried about such a silly thing. Not on his ship at least. At that moment, Misaki threw her head back and laughed into the sky. Her smile was big and over the top, making Luffy's heart skip a beat. "There it is." He muttered.
"There is what?"
"Oh nothing." He said, feeling her eyes on him. That mother was relentless. Her eyebrows hiked up and she continued to stare at him until he finally sighed. "That right there. That's the real her."
"Ah." Her mother responded. Luffy took a bite of food — a little too big of one. He really hoped he wouldn't have to elaborate too much, but knew he probably didn't say enough.
"She hasn't been herself for a while." He said, swallowing his bite.
"No, she hasn't."
"But there she is! She's right there." A smile curled on Luffy's lips.
"So you knew her before." She said, plainly. It wasn't a question. It was a statement.
"For a while, yeah." He said. Something shifted in her eyes before she smiled at him.
"You know, you've got one Hell of a smile."
"Hm?" Luffy looked at her, tilting his head questioningly, making her laugh. He took another bite of food.
"You got that tilt from my daughter." She said, laughing. Luffy snickered at her.
"I like you... what do I call you?"
"It's Jean. But you can call me whatever you want."
"M'kay Momma J." Luffy said, stuffing his mouth with another bite, making her laugh.
"I'll take it" She said.
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I couldn't help but have fun as I danced. It had been so long since I had just let go. I noticed Luffy and my mom sitting with each other. Earlier, I would have been worried about what they were saying but as of that moment, I was a little tipsy. I shot them both a smile and waved at them to join us. Luffy pointed at his plate and waved at me to join him instead. I jogged up to them.
"Somebody from this table has to dance with me."
"I think you should sit and eat something first." Luffy said, his mouth full of food. I rolled my eyes.
"I actually agree. I've got my famous burgers!" Mom said, her eyebrows hiking up.
"Shit, I love those." I admitted.
"I didn't hear about any famous burgers! I want one!" Luffy whined.
We both laughed at Luffy and my mom excused herself to go get us some food. I sat down next to him and leaned against him a little as he ate. I knew better than to get in his way while he was eating. He grunted and ate to his hearts content as I relaxed and looked at the bonfire.
"You aren't mad I was alone with her, are you?"
"I'm not." I sighed.
"You sure?" He nudged me, his voice muffled by his food.
"Let's just have fun tonight." I said, smiling at him. He swallowed his last bite of food and grinned at me. "Do you want a drink?"
"I'm good!"
"More for me then." I said as I snatched another bottle from the cooler.
"Who are you? Zoro?" He said, snickering.
"Aye. I'm not that bad!" I laughed as I took a swig.
"You're gonna be so drunk."
"Nuh-uhh." I said as I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, pulling me in so he could kiss me on the cheek. I blushed and looked down at my lap as my mom came back with the burgers.
"Awwwee. You guys are cute together."
"Is that the famous burger?!" Luffy said, leaning forward excitedly.
"That's right!" My mom said, setting one down for each of us. I waited with bated breath for him to take his first bite.
"Thank you for the meal!" He said as he chomped down. His eyes shot open and a look of pure joy crossed over his face.
"Good?" I chuckled.
"Mhmmm!" He said, stuffing another bite into his mouth.
"Nobody makes a burger like Momma."
"Mmmm! Mhmmm!" Luffy hummed out a thank you tone, unable to speak with all the food in his mouth. My mom smiled that grin that she does when she is about to 'stir the pot' and create drama.
"Em knows how to make it."
"MMMMMM!!!!" Luffy whined as he looked at me, offended as could be. He angrily chewed the rest of his food and swallowed before continuing. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU NEVER MADE IT FOR US!!!" I laughed. I couldn't help it. He just looked so offended over not getting to eat the burger sooner.
"Momma makes it better than me if that helps!"
"It DOES NOT HELP." He said angrily before laughing. "At least I know I can have it again!" He leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Sanji will be so mad when you make this. It's delicious!"
—
It had been quite the night. Luffy met my brother and sister too, but there really wasn't much to say, mostly because whenever they would ask anything too specific, I would whisk Luffy away to either dance or have a drink. My evasive maneuvers were something to marvel at for sure. Though, there were drawbacks.
We all continued about our night, singing and dancing and having a good time. Some of us had too good of a time. That person being me. Between the evasion tactics and some drinking games, let's just say I got got drank under the table. It was a Hell of a party. My father was also the riot of the night. A soft spoken German man getting a little to drunk off of wine made for some entertainment. By the time all was said and done, I was singing sea shanties to people as a farewell. Oh yeah. I was that drunk.