“She’s coming?”

“Yup,” said Seth as he set his phone on the tan-suede couch he leaned against the foot of. Andrew and Jessica sat behind him, entwined together on the couch. Seth didn’t care. He’d accepted his closest two friends having a thing for each other. The bottle of whiskey sat empty on the kitchen counter two rooms over, but a hundred of Seth’s fight money and Jessica’s fake ID had bought them another, better bottle of whiskey and a thirty-rack of Tecate.

Andrew’s mom, a blond-haired, blue-eyed, and tan California trophy wife who actually cared more about her children more than her tennis practice, walked through the living room. She looked at the drinks in their hands. “Electrolyte packets are in the pantry. You know my rules.”

Seth raised his beer. “Clean up what you fuck up.”

“Mhm.” She passed over to the kitchen as Seth took another drink.

“Jameson? Your friends are a bad influence, Andrew,” she shouted.

“Hey, that was free,” Andrew shouted back. “The other is more respectable.”

“I suppose Johnnie will pass, but if you guys really wanted whiskey, you should have gone after the wet bar downstairs.”

“Isn’t dad saving that one?”

“His boss gave him a better one this week, don’t you remember?” Andrew’s mom appeared back around the corner with a very large and very full glass of wine in her hand.

Andrew shook his head. She waved a hand. “Oh, well, the damage of drinking mid-shelf whiskey has been done. At least you didn’t bring Budweiser into my home.”

“Mom, you know Seth and I better than that,” said Andrew with a false tone of shock in his voice.

“Uh-huh, no, I remember when we allowed you our house as a safe place to drink, and the two of you somehow already had means of getting ahold of alcohol, and… let’s see… Blue Ribbon was it?” She blanched.

“That was once,” said Andrew.

“Mhm.” She crossed the living room again and started walking up the stairs. “Your sister has to be up early tomorrow, please keep the noise about two levels below an agitated Dachsund.” She disappeared upstairs.

Jessica twisted to look better at Andrew. “Your parents seem way the hell cooler than mine.”

Andrew shrugged. “They learned with my two older sisters there’s too much trouble in our genes and it’s better to not try and lock us down.”

“Can I smoke in here?”

“No, but you can on the deck.”

“I have enough to share.”

Andrew shook his head. “Season starts soon, I really can’t get into that habit right now.”

“Seth?”

Seth shook his head.

“No, you need it, Seth.”

Seth looked back at Jessica. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

“Come on.” She stepped off the couch and walked towards the back door. Seth stood up, more than a little tipsy, and followed her. His phone buzzed with a text from Claire.

Ten minutes away.

Seth stepped into the cool air of the early fall night with Jessica as she produced and lighted a blunt. She took a deep pull from it before she passed it to Seth. He accepted it, taking a much smaller puff, and coughed. Jessica grinned as she took it back. “Don’t smoke much, huh?”

Seth shook his head and leaned against the dark wooden railings surrounding the second-story deck. Andrew was far enough out from the city that you could still see a lot of the stars. Nothing crazy like out at the lake-house, but enough to maintain the magical air of a night outdoors.

“Seriously, Seth, you are you holding up? You were a different person in that cage.”

Seth shrugged. “I-” He looked off across the scattered houses in the countryside neighborhood. “Fighting is how I deal with my anger.”

“I know that much, but that was something else… Or am I off-base you just have that much to deal with?”

“Sometimes. You know I was bullied really badly in junior high.”

“Didn’t stop me from being friends with you.”

“Yeah, and I’m thankful. But it doesn’t change the fact it put a lot of anger deep down inside me. Every time I fight I let a little bit more of it out, and maybe some day it will all be gone. But sometimes… Sometimes it gets added to and I feel like I’m starting the process all over again. Tonight was one of those times.”

“I’m sorry. Here.” She gave him the blunt.

Seth took another drag, this time resisting the urge to cough as he handed it back. He could feel warmth beginning to spread in his chest, almost replacing the void, and he could feel his still-tense muscles relaxing. He sighed. “And you know that I beat Jayson at Grand Island a bit over two months ago. I dislocated his elbow. I thought the shit between him and I was over. Then I saw him here, with Madeline…” He trailed off. The void was already too suppressed to surge at his thoughts. Maybe he needed to smoke more.

Jessica rested her hand on his arm as she took another long pull. “I know it’s rough. But Andrew and I are here for you. Madeline is a shitty, shitty person. I’m guessing she knew about you and Jayson?”

Seth nodded. “She’s just a bitch.” He was definitely high now, and any trace of the void was undetectable. He knew that smoking every day would be a bad idea while doing his black tab selection, but maybe he should get some from Jessica for when things got bad.

“Yeah. What about you and Emma? You going to fix that?”

Seth shook his head. “I don’t think I can. I’m going to homecoming with the girl who’s coming over in a bit, and that got out somehow and Emma just thinks I’m like Madeline and just fucking around with whoever.”

“That’s not you.” Jessica tilted her head. “If it was, we would have fucked at least once by now.”

“Stop it.”

“I’m just saying. You got hot like a year after you got into martial arts, and I’ve always been hot.”

“We’re not all nymphomaniacs like you.”

“Are you slut-shaming me?” She said, grinning.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

She took another pull. “You want more? I’m about to finish this.”

Seth shook his head. “I’m plenty good. Want to see something cool?” Without waiting for her to respond, he vaulted cleanly onto the railing of the deck and sat down facing her.

“Um, sure?”

Fuck Hunter-33. Seth gripped his flesh augment and popped it off. Jessica’s eyes bulged. “I wasn’t ready for that.”

Seth held it out to her, offering. The fleshy tendrils waved in the air.

“Those are so cool!” She took his augment without a second thought, looking closely as the tendrils waved. “What the hell even is this?”

“Uh… A really advanced prosthetic. Here. Set it down.”

Jessica squatted and placed it on the deck. Seth concentrated and made it hop.

“Holy shit!” She exclaimed.

The door opened and Andrew walked out. “What- Oh, god, not this again. Fucking hell.” He immediately vanished back into the house. Jessica looked from the door to the hopping augment and up to Seth. “He knew about this?”

Seth shrugged. “I signed a non-disclosure agreement, but screw it. I don’t like keeping secrets from my friends.”

“Hell of a secret. Who gave this to you?”

Seth laughed, gripping the railing to keep from falling off. “A wizard.”

“No, seriously.”

Seth raised his eyebrows. “You see a fake leg hopping on its own, but a wizard is too much?”

The door opened again and Seth’s eyes widened. Claire stood there, her jaw already almost to the floor at the hopping augment. “Hi, Seth,” she managed.

“Hey. Hold on.” Seth hopped down and slid his pant leg over the augment. He could feel the tendrils reaching up and attaching themselves to him even as he walked over to Claire.

“What was that?”

Seth ran his hands through his hair. Three was a lot of people. He and Claire were close, but he hadn’t had plans to tell her about this. Still, he wasn’t about to try to lie to her. He felt the sharp wedge of sobriety pressing into his mind. “I have a lot of explaining to do for both of you, I guess.”

“You’re missing a leg?”

“Well, not a whole one. Just half of one.”

“Are you high?”

Seth nodded.

She shook her head. “I can’t believe…” She grinned. “That you would hold out on me.”

Jessica stood up. “I have more. Sorry. Hi. I’m Jessica.”

“Claire.” Claire shook he hand. “You keep a lot of girls around, Seth.” She smirked at him before she turned to Jessica. “Yeah, I could go for some.” The two ducked back into the house.

Seth looked down at his leg. “I gotta not take you off like that again.” After re-attaching it, he started into the house, but stopped with one foot through the doorway as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Seth gritted his teeth and stepped the rest of the way through the sliding glass door, closing and locking it behind him. Not tonight. Tonight he was done with all that. If someone was watching him, let them.