Neil Edward Bernhart (neilbernhart) wrote in the_quarantined, @ 2010-02-01 12:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | neil bernhart, rating: pg-13, status: complete |
[February Flashback]
Who: Neil Bernhart
What: Drinking on the rooftops
Where: Bernhart Residence, 16005 Audrey Street, Omaha, Nebraska
When: May 2005
Beard Status: Nonexistent
Rating: Maybe PG-13 for language.
Status: Complete
"Tory is pregnant."
"Whaaat?"
"TORY. IS. PREGNANT!"
"Whaaaaaaaaat?"
"TORY. IS - Damn it, Neil, you little shit."
"Do I know you?"
"NEIL!!! THE NEIGHBORS ARE TURNING THEIR LIGHTS ON!"
"Well they are nosy. And you are screaming."
"Fucker. Which window did you climb out of?"
"Mine." Pause. "...wait, are you going to hit me? I'm a minor, Matt! I have a rape whistle!" Neil did not have a rape whistle. And he was barely a minor anymore. He was a month away from graduating high school. He already had a student loan application in the works to pay for college. And he'd been sexually active for nearly two years, so according to Guy Code, definitely not a minor. But sometimes it helped to remind Matt that he was still seventeen.
It gave Neil the chance to punch first if necessary. He seriously hated being the one rolling off the porch roof into the bushes below. They weren't plush, forgiving bushes. They jabbed.
Neil could vaguely track Matt as he moved through the house to the second floor, snorting merrily when his older brother tripped over Manticore, the family dog that everybody just called Manny. Except Neil, of course. Neil knew that dog really was a nasty beast of legend, with three rows of shark teeth hidden behind his unassuming dog smile.
"I thought life would be different," Matt said, ducking through Neil's bedroom window a lot easier than Neil had. Matt was shorter, but he was also stockier. Proportionate? Was that the word? Eh, he was buzzed. Didn't matter. Neil still looked better in plaid, proportionate or not.
"I think that was your first mistake."
They settled into silence stretched out on the porch roof, Matt's arms folded over his chest, Neil's behind his head. As far as an Omaha evening went, this one was pretty decent. The sky was dark, clear, and punched intermittently with stars. The moon was obnoxiously bright and pouring directly into crabby old Mr. Winchester's bedroom window. Crickets were chirping, the breeze was warm, and Neil felt happy. Content with how idyllic everything was, even though it made him restless at the same time.
"Is that coffee?"
"Is it ever coffee?"
Matt grunted, taking the thermos from behind Neil's head. Neil looked over at his brother, abandoning the sky viewing to instead watch Matt pause, sip, sputter, then chug. Another smile.
"Jesus," Matt wheezed, passing the thermos back over. "I thought Tim was teaching you to make moonshine, not antifreeze."
"Antifreeze would smell better."
"...true."
And then Neil stood up, taking a mouthful of fresh-squeezed moonshine as he precariously traveled over to the garage slope of the roof. A little maneuvering was required, but he managed to get up, teetering a bit once he walked all the way up to the true pinnacle of their roof. The view was better during the day, but without his mother waving a broom at him and demanding he come down immediately, Neil wasn't complaining.
"So what are you doing about Tory?" Neil asked, stretching his arms out at his sides to keep his balance. It wasn't smart, but he started walking the tightrope tip of the roof.
"...what? Neil, what the fuck?"
"Hey, you brought it up. So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know. I can't deal with this. I mean, I don't even know if it's mine. We broke up for a while, remember?"
"For a week, Matt."
"Yeah, well I don't know what she did."
"Yes you do. You freaked out and broke up with her, not the other way around. She probably cried the whole week until Justin kicked your teeth in and made you see reason. Moron."
"Neil, you're a kid. You don't get how this will change everything."
"Fine," Neil said, his right foot crossing his left to settle on the very edge of rooftop, the actual toe of his Converse hanging over empty air. He extended the thermos over the edge, then let it drop. Looked like a mean tumble. "You don't want things to change? Then get up here. We'll jump, simple as that."
"Neil, shut the fuck up."
"I'm serious. You can't deal with what your life will be in nine months, so maybe you shouldn't get that far. Get up here. I'll drag you myself."
"Fuck." And then Matt was climbing to get up onto the high slope of rooftop. "Neil, this isn't funny."
"Yeah, neither is doubting Tory."
"Neil."
"She's a good girl, Matt. And maybe her genes will take over completely to beat your ugly features out of this kid."
Matt sat down, so Neil followed suit, his knees bent so his shoes gave him some traction against the shingles. "You weren't really going to jump, right?"
Neil wasn't drunk enough, but that was probably the only thing that stopped him. "Of course not. I've got shit still to do with my life."
"Like?"
"Well, for starters, I need to totally rub it in Justin's face when I'm the best man at your wedding and he isn't."
"Neil, I'm not getting married."
"Yeah you are."
"...yeah, I am..."
"Don't freak out."
"Okay."
"In five years, our lives are going to be fucking perfect, man. Just wait."