Who: Zeke and Luke Where: the pier, then Zeke's house When: just before dusk, Wednesday, 11/15
It was cold as hell, but somehow that wasn’t bothering Zeke this fine Wednesday afternoon. He was off from work early and at loose ends, so he’d left the shop and randomly stopped in a liquor store and snagged a bottle of Bulleit’s bourbon. Not something he’d done enough to not be slightly shocked at the price of the bottle, but what the hell? He was in an amazing mood today and wanted to get all warm, fuzzy, happy drunk, or maybe just sloshed. He arrived at the pier after a brisk walk, jacket, sweatshirt and jeans insulating him reasonably well against the chill. There were plenty of restaurants, shops and bars around, and he should probably put some food in his stomach, but somehow he wasn’t in the mood to be confined in a booth somewhere. Also they probably wouldn’t let him bring his booze in, so fuck ‘em.
He found a spot overlooking the water, because boats were always fun to watch, and cracked the seal on his bourbon. Taking a swig, he sighed contentedly. He couldn’t have explained why he was so freaking happy today, but he was. Why not go with it?
Luke was lucky enough to still have plenty of work to do, even heading into the colder months of the year. Work had taken him into the evening, and when he'd finished up, he met a couple of friends at one of the sports bars near the marina and had a couple beers. The alcohol warmed him enough that he wasn't overly concerned about the chill in the air once he bid them goodbye and started walking along the pier to where he'd parked his car. With his hands in his jacket pockets, Luke was thinking about what he needed to do at home before winter really kicked in, but his thoughts were derailed by the sight of Zeke Miller up ahead drinking what looked to be a bottle of hard liquor. Nice.
Without giving it much thought, Luke approached Zeke and stopped beside him. "You know there's a thousand dollar fine for drinking in public without a permit," Luke told him with a mild smirk.
Surprisingly, Zeke’s first feeling upon seeing Luke wasn’t one of irritation, rather a random spurt of happiness. What the hell. He grinned, bottle still held loosely in one hand, hazel eyes locking to blue ones. With his free hand, he held up one finger to make his point. “Within 200 feet of a posted sign, or after havin’ been warned by a police officer,” he said. “Neither of these situations apply.” The word situations came out a little tangled up, but that was okay. “I don’t see any police ‘round here.” He was still staring at Luke, making no attempts to pull his gaze away, a lopsided smile on his lips. “Tell you what. I’ll share it with you and we can split the fine, what d’you say?” Seemed like a genius idea to him.
Luke chuckled and glanced over his shoulder. There were people wandering about but no cops. And honestly, Luke didn't think the cops in this town would bother them anyway, given all the other bullshit they had to deal with. "You must be wasted already," Luke said, though he wasn't judging. After a moment of hesitation he sat down next to Zeke and reached out to take the bottle so he could take a sip. He had already had a couple of beers, so he knew he couldn't go overboard if he was driving home. But it felt like that kind of day... the 'fuck it' kind where he could do whatever he wanted for once.
Zeke felt like being a little bit irresponsible, himself. He was trucking along every day doing his best: running a shop, making sure his moms didn’t need anything, dealing with being a damned snake creature once a month. Sometimes you needed to cut loose. “Not that wasted,” he said, willingly giving the bottle over when Luke reached for it. “Not as bad as you were at the Anchor that night.” Mentioning that made him remember ten bucks. Fuck. Even that wasn’t enough to get him down today. Without realizing it, he was leaning slightly in Luke’s direction, just enough that their shoulders touched.
Luke shrugged and took a drink from the bottle. He didn't care that Zeke's lips had already been on it. Luke had shared drinks with other men before, especially when he'd been deployed. The alcohol was strong and Luke grimaced a bit as he lifted it to search the label. "Keep on drinkin' this and you'll be as wasted as I was the other night." He could barely remember what happened after playing pool. Obviously Zeke had driven him home, which was weird. He felt like he ought to thank him, but surely he'd already done so, right? It might be awkward if he did it again. Luke took another pull from the bottle and offered it back to Zeke. "Good stuff though."
“I might save some for later,” Zeke said of the liquor. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever drank an entire bottle of anything at one time; usually he liked to keep his wits about him. Mostly. “But hey, who knows?” Tonight it felt like anything was possible, and he wished he knew why that was. It was easier to get overwhelmed and/or feel despairing about his current life path, but hey, he’d take it. Taking the bottle back when it was offered, Zeke took another long swig. “Hey, you ever play any basketball these days?” It seemed like a random question, but he had a reason for it. Back in high school, he and Luke had constantly been trying to best each other at everything, particularly football and basketball, it seemed.
He had gone through bottles of liquor before. Generally not anything too hard, as he didn’t have a death wish, but some days were harder to deal with than others. He wasn’t judging Zeke, that was for damn sure. Stretching his legs out in front of him, Luke stared out at the water, finding it a bit peaceful and relaxing, despite the company. Or maybe because of the company, he didn’t really know. And he didn’t feel like thinking about it too much. Zeke’s question drew Luke’s attention again. “Uh, yeah, sometimes. We’ve got a hoop over our garage. It’s stress relief from time to time. Haven’t played an actual game in awhile though. Why?”
“I live over on Barrens Road, near the woods,” Zeke said. “Put up a hoop across the street the other day to give me somethin’ to do to burn off some energy. I get tired of going running sometimes.” There were days when he felt like he might fly out of his own skin, and he wasn’t sure if it was being a werecreature or simply being restless. There were so many things he wasn’t sure how to interpret anymore. “You should come by. Ever play b-ball and drink at the same time? It’s awesome.” And if anyone had told him he’d be inviting Luke Bradford over to his house, he would’ve said there was about as much chance of that as there was of him winning the $80 million powerball lotto.
“B-ball,” Luke said with a snicker. “I’m sure I have… drank and played basketball at the same time. Not sure I’ve ever been drunk doing it, but there’s a first time for everything.” He shrugged, feeling non-committal about the whole thing but not necessarily saying no. “It’s going to be a bit too cold to be out doing that shit soon. Then what are you going to do?” He sounded amused, but not in a snarky way. He wasn’t in the mood for that today, apparently.
“You making fun of my word choice?” Zeke asked, poking Luke with his elbow. “B-ball. B-ball.” Evidently he was in the mood to be irritating today, although he felt mellow about that too. “Guess when it snows I’m gonna have to find an indoor activity.” That struck him funny, because he knew what he was thinking, and he chuckled. Indoor activity was a different kind of way to phrase that. Heh. “Not too cold today though. Running around warms you up.” He didn’t have many neighbors to bother either. There was somebody living to one side of him, but the other side was just woods.
“Yup, I am,” Luke shot back, though not with malice. “Plenty of indoor gyms if you want to keep playing b-ball through the snow.” It was good exercise, at least. Games were fun, but one on one could be just as entertaining. His brows drew together as he studied Zeke. “You’re pretty focused on basketball right now. Do you want to go actually go play basketball?” Maybe Zeke was just drunk and talking about whatever came to mind first, which was actually kind of funny.
"We could," Zeke said. He'd just suggested it, after all. No time like the present. "I don't live far, and we're both still capable of driving." He paused, an idea coming to mind. "Got a wager for you. If I beat you, I don't have to pay that last ten bucks. If you beat me, I'll pay you twenty." Sounded like a fair plan to him. All he had to do was lay off the bottle until the game was over. Surely he wouldn't lose twice in a row, and if he did? Well, he'd earned the extra penalty, right?
Luke laughed. "Yeah, I like that deal." Especially since it seemed like Zeke was kind of drunk? "I'll never say no to taking more of your money." He glanced down at the bottle of liquor and then cocked a brow. "Are you sure you can drive?" Zeke didn't seem drunk drunk, but sometimes even a buzz could be dangerous behind the wheel. Luke didn't want to risk Zeke hurting himself for a game of basketball. Which was... both weird and not weird.
What was wrong with him today? Zeke realized he was looking at Luke with something almost like fondness, and abruptly he used his free hand to scrub over his face, as if he could shake it off if he tried hard enough. “I’m good. I’ll keep the windows down. Brisk air wakes you up.” Then he was up from his seat and fishing for his keys, telling Luke to follow him to his house. Maybe on the short drive over he’d get himself together. As he drove he blasted the radio and kept both front windows down, feeling the cool air wash over his short hair and stubbled cheeks. The weird thing was that he wasn’t drunk, at least not the kind of drunk that would provoke him to want to be around Luke. He supposed there were times one simply had to go with whatever happened and maybe this was one of them.
His end of the street was deserted once they arrived, as usual, and he didn’t anticipate bothering anyone with the echoing slam of the basketball on the pavement. He’d picked this place for its solitude, after all. He pulled into the driveway, leaving plenty of room for Luke to pull in behind him. He had a floodlight that would illuminate the goal and part of the front yard, and that should be good enough. Getting out of the car, bottle in hand-- for later, of course-- he said, “Let me cut on the lights and grab the ball.” It was cold as balls, but they’d warm up soon enough.
This was definitely a strange turn of events for Luke. He couldn't remember the last time he had done anything with Zeke Miller that wasn't... well, bickering. They weren't exactly friends. But Zeke had driven him home the other night when Luke had had too much to drink, and fuck it, he could be mature, right? Water under the bridge and all that. So he followed Zeke home and parked along the curb in front of the house. He wasn't exactly dressed for basketball, and it was chilly, but whatever, it wasn't like they were going to have a real game. This was likely to be just a shoot and score kind of thing, rather than the kind of game where they'd both get knocked down a lot. Besides, it would be fun to beat Zeke at something more than pool. "Sounds good," Luke told him, walking up the driveway. "You ought to leave that bottle out here in case we need it to keep us warm."