Page 64 of Class Clown

“Probably good to have a handy food source if things get dicey up there,” he replied, turning his own roasting stick much faster and closer to the coals than I was. “A quick snort and you’re good for a few hours.”

I laughed. “You roast marshmallows too quickly, Dominic James Crawford,” I joked, using his full name to place some safe distance between us.

“I don’t wait for a marshmallow to cook perfectly, and I only eat s’mores the way that nature intended, with a graham and a chocolate bar.”

I watched his marshmallow burst into flame. He lifted his stick, blew it out, smiled at the black crust that had formed, and moved away to assemble it.

“That, sir, was a calamity,” I called over my shoulder.

He waved it in the air. “Perfection.”

I smiled to myself, grateful to be back on light-hearted footing, and continued turning mine, slow and steady, the brown beginning to look superior to all other attempts I’d made in my life – and I’d made some doozies.

“Looks amazing, Rubes.” Cole’s voice sounded from my left and I looked to see him coming across the fire to my side. “A Jenkins specialty.”

“You want it? I’ll make myself another,” I offered.

He shook his head. “That marshmallow is a ten. No way I’m taking such a superb specimen from you. I’ve already had one.” He did a quick look around and landed on Nico’s back. “Ah, I see Nico has burnt and ruined his already. I keep offering to teach him, but he’s unwilling to learn.”

“I’m unwilling to spend the rest of my time on earth twirling a marshmallow,” Nico corrected as he joined us.

Cole slapped his back. “You’re an okay person, Nico, but you’ll never reach transcendence until you allow yourself to go on this journey.” Nico and I laughed and Cole added. “There are no short and easy paths to long and lasting happiness.”

“Wise words, little brother.” I stood, my perfect marshmallow ready for its debut on the cover of Food Magazine, and walked past Nico to the refreshment table.

“Thosearewise words,” I heard Nico say. “Have you taken them to heart?”

Cole chuckled. “Absolutely not.”

Amused, I enjoyed listening to their banter as I put my mallow into a bowl of crunched up peanut butter cups until it was coated, and then used two fudge-striped cookies to squish it into a sandwich.

I took a large bite and made my way back to where Cole and Nico were still harassing each other.

“What is that creation?” Cole asked. “It looks amazing.”

“It looks like diabetes,” Nico smirked.

I nodded. “Totally worth it.” I held it up for Cole to examine. “I think this is my best one ever. If I lapse into a sugar coma overnight, please let Mom know that I do secretly love tofu, and tell Dad that I never learned to shoot a gun.”

“You don’t know how to shoot?” Both Cole and Nico verbally shot out the sentence, which caused several heads to turn our way.

Rather than answer, I stuffed another bite in my mouth and shrugged.

“How do you call yourself a Jenkins?” Cole gaped at me. “I’ve seen you shoot, I know I have.”

I shook my head and spoke around the gooey delight. “Maybe a bb gun, but never anything else.”

“I think you broke his mind,” Nico teased, mostly looking at Cole who was clearly flabbergasted.

I licked marshmallow off my lips. “Looks like you were scared of me as a kid for no reason, Nico.”

At that Cole cracked up and Nico gave me a look. “I wasn’t scared of you.”

I nodded. “Yep,” I said, rotating my dessert to find another perfect bite. “I’ve figured it out. See, forever I thought you had a serious aversion to me. I couldn’t figure out why. I’m great.” I looked up to see both of them watching me. I cleared my throat and nodded slowly. “I said, I’m great.”

“Totally,” Cole hurried to answer with a smirk.

“So, obviously, I couldn’t be the issue. You told me you were shy, which might be true. You did seem to be sort of stunted emotionally.” Cole snorted out a laugh and Nico rolled his eyes. “But then this whole swoony guitar showcase made me rethink it. You were singing along, so obviously you have emotional depth. Which means, and boys, here we come full circle . . . I terrified you with my gloriousness and possible shooting skills.”

---