"Shit man, this is so weird." Brian looked at his lit cigar with apprehension and around at the crowd of circus goers.
David's face twisted, "Yeah, but you wanted this. I did this for you."
"No, I hear that, but I'm just saying its hard to wrap my head around my family being okay with this for even a minute."
"You gave me crap, not 10 minutes ago, for not changing things permanently! "
"I know! I'm just saying its weird, you can't blame me for taking a minute since things changed. This is just different."
David smirked, "I see. So you would have... what? Made this normal?"
"I don't know, maybe? I guess I just feel self-conscious because I know I should be getting in trouble for this... even though I know we won't." Brian reasoned.
"I don't want you guys to feel that way. I wanted to share the experience with you but letting you remember how things were is putting a damper on the night."
"No, its not that big of a deal I guess," Brian awkwardly put the cigar to his mouth and drew in the smoke; his eyes darted across the crowd seeming to expect his parents to appear at any second and start yelling. "See, its okay."
David rolled his eyes and let out a light groan. "See, its easy to judge, but not so easy to solve!" David said with a slight harshness to let Brian know he had been a jerk. "Gimme a second." David stepped away from Brian to the nearest trash bin and mumbled. "Brian, me, and Sam are a pack a day cigarette smokers until we wake up in our beds. Until then, smoking is completely normal for us as far as anyone is concerned, but cigars aren't normal for us and feel like something new and special. Sam will enjoy a cigar with us tonight, when he returns." David tossed Sam's and his empty beer cups in the garbage barrel while hoping he said the right things to make his friends enjoy the evening. The woman said the ring worked off intent, David hoped she was right.
David returned to Brian and he seemed more excited and less nervous than a moment ago, distracted by the sights and sounds around him rather than what he's doing. "Should we go on the rides next?" Brian had been wanting to do nothing but ride the rides all evening. The couple bantered and planned what to do upon Sam's return and a few minutes later Sam walked up smoking a cigarette.
The trio had a celebratory beer and Sam also enjoyed a cigar as David had foretold; they continued their merrymaking but the carnival was closing at just 10pm at which point David said they were open until 1am tonight and their party continued to get more intoxicated as the evening progressed. David uttered a "We aren't going to get sick, and we will all get home safely." in a brief moment of clarity.
They piled into Brian's beater of a car, and Brian said, "I'm not sure I can drive guys."
"You're totally sober and can drive safe." David retorted passing out almost as soon as he sat down in the passenger seat.
Sam was in the back and cranked the window down to let the smoke from his cigarette out.
David awoke to the guys shaking him, Brian had been pulled over. "But I said..." He didn't know what he said, it was all a fog. "The cop is gonna disappear." David muttered putting his head back down ready to fall back asleep.
"Oh my God! No! David! What does that even mean? That's a person!" Sam said, more animated than usual but back to his anxious self.
Brian was terrified, he didn't want a ticket on his record, and was harshly whispering to David to fix it as the cop walked up asking for his license and registration.
"You boys know curfew for those under 18 is 11pm? It's almost 2am!" the cop reprimanded...
Brian, being the only sober one recalled David's stupid wording and was angry that David thought he was a jerk for pointing out how stupid it was... 'tonight' stops at midnight and 'at the carnival' stops when they leave the parking lot if not the gate... They aren't assumed to be adults anymore... Currently they are at best, way past curfew, and given David and Sam's intoxication, delinquents.
David flew forward and addressed the officer, "Hey, you're not a cop, Sam's the cop, you're just a gay stripper in a cheap cop uniform."
"God Damnit!" Sam called as he jumped out from the back of the car.
"Caught me, but say, I had you going right?" the former cop said with a lisp and a giggle as he handed back Brian's documentation.
Brian immediately burst out laughing and David leaned back and fell back asleep. Sam immediately took control of the situation, now wearing a cop uniform, trained in all the gear he was wearing, familiar with how to operate the car, and knowledgeable in the procedure to follow with the suddenly displaced stripper standing next to him. "Brian, David, Get home now!" He said with a force Brian was unfamiliar with. "I'm sorry sir," he addressed the former cop with compassion. "If you could just get into the back of my vehicle I'll take you wherever you need to go."
Brian looked over to David when he managed to stop laughing; who was already back asleep. Brian made it home after barely waking David up to drop him off.