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Shane’s nineteenth birthday was a quiet affair, that September. Cody had gone out bar-hopping for his own nineteenth, finally legal and not having to try to pass off his shitty fake ID or go to dive-bars that he knew wouldn’t card him. He’d gone on a bender for an entire weekend, drunk and high and having a grand old time. Shane, however, just wanted to go camping.

Jerry had rented them some cabins, probably to spare everyone the torture of listening to Shane and Laney humping in a tent all weekend.

And so Cody found himself in the woods, snorting a decent-sized pile of cocaine off the rickety wooden table in the tiny bunkie.

“Take it easy,” Jenna said, popping a valium. “You know they don’t party anymore."

Shane’s girl had OD’d last Christmas, and Shane had gone cold turkey after that. He still drank a bit, and consumed more hash than any human being should be able to burn through, but neither Cody nor Jenna had seen Shane touch a pill once, since then. And they’d been around for a good chunk of the summer.

Jenna’s mom owned a hair salon not far from Jerry’s place, and after watching Laney cut everyone’s hair one night – Cody had to admit, it was the nicest haircut he’d ever had – she suggested Laney go in, meet Jenna's mom, maybe work there part-time. Laney had warmed up to Jenna considerably, after that.

Her mom, Judith, was a nice lady. She always wore aquamarine eyeliner and walked with a limp from a bad car accident a few years before. That was where Jenna had picked up the oxy habit, all her mom’s painkillers lying around for close to eighteen months while she got back on her feet.

Judith took to Laney immediately, although everyone did, really. Laney was the exact opposite of Shane in every way – she was outgoing and funny and a great conversationalist. She could be a bit prickly, but with her tiny body and stunning face it was charming, endearing. Nothing like Shane’s morose, broody vibes. She was like too-bright sunshine, burning your retinas, and probably the only thing that could have ever penetrated Shane’s black cloud.

Business picked right up at the salon, with appointments starting to book out weeks in advance. Cody couldn’t tell if it was Laney’s skill or personality that people were so eager to show up for, but either way Judith was delighted.

Cody loved Jenna, he really did. But sometimes he caught himself looking at Laney, the corner of her lip sucked into her teeth when was concentrating on someone’s hair, and he knew exactly why Shane was so bent out of shape over her. He was pretty sure he was a little in love with her himself.

There was a much bigger male clientele coming around the salon, which she handled with ease and grace and just enough bite to keep them all on the hook without daring to push their luck. She was an artist with her hands, creating beautiful haircuts that sharpened round faces, softened angular jaws, and distracted from too-big foreheads and ears that stuck out too far.

Artistry must have run in the family, because her little brother had a whole crew of people, apparently from his school, that were designing strange mobile jack-in-the-box looking crates to move some sculptures out of Jerry’s workshop. They were being shipped to a private residence in New York and Cody got the feeling that Dustin had made quite a bit of money at it, somehow.

“It’s fine,” Cody said to Jenna, wiping his nose and offering her the straw. She declined.

They walked outside hand in hand, Jerry tossing steaks and asparagus on a grill, Dustin curled up by the grate of the campfire with a sketchpad. Shane and Laney were in shorts and hoodies, feet bare and tossing a volleyball over a net they’d erected in the sand by the water. And Jenna was staring at them.

It was hard for Cody, sometimes, the way Jenna looked at Shane. The way everyone looked at Shane. There was clearly a part of her that was always going to pine for him. Cody tried not to let it bother him, but sometimes his jealousy – especially fueled by cocaine – reared its ugly head.

“Can we play?” he asked, as Shane spiked the ball into the sand out of Laney’s reach.

“Sure,” Shane said. “Guys against girls?”

“Nah, that’s no fair,” Laney whined. “Cody, you be on my team.”

Shane’s nostrils flared, his habitual possessive streak always roiling just below the surface, but he sighed and tossed the ball to Jenna who joined him on his side of the net.

Jenna tossed the ball up in the air and lobbed it at Laney, who bumped it back to her. Jenna one-handed it back over the net to Cody, who spiked it hard at Shane’s head, the ball bouncing off his raised arm and out of bounds.

“Point,” Cody said.

Shane glared at him, picking up the ball and tossing it underhand to Laney for her serve.

She served overhand and Jenna bounced it back into their court, Cody jumping up for a spike again, but Shane was ready this time and volleyed it back. Cody lunged for it and lost his balance, falling face first in the sand.

“Point,” Shane said.

Laney reached out a hand to help him up but he waved her off, hopping back up, shrugging off his hoodie and tossing it to the side. Jerry and Dustin were watching with interest as he threw the ball to Shane with such force that he stumbled backwards.

Jenna and Laney exchanged glances as Laney picked up the ball and served again, to Jenna this time. She volleyed it back to Laney, clearly trying to dissipate the competitive tension, but Cody intercepted and snapped it to Shane, who threw out an arm to clear it out of the way, the ball bouncing off him and straight at Dustin.

“Hey!” Dustin shouted, dropping his notepad.

“Okay, boys, I think that’s enough,” Laney said.

“We’re not done,” Cody said, glaring at Shane.

Laney rolled her eyes. “While you’re both wonderful specimens of the male sex, I think it best if we call this a tie. Nobody needs to know who the volleyball champion of the world is.”

Jenna tittered, and the girls walked towards the fire pit, plunking down in the uncomfortable striped woven camping chairs with aluminum legs, brushing the sand off their feet and grumbling to each other.

Cody blew out a long breath, as did Shane.

“Sorry,” Shane mumbled.

“Same,” Cody said. “Got a bit carried away, you know how it is…” he tapped his nose.

Shane’s eyes turned cold and hard. “I’m not going to tell you what to do on your own time, Cody, but you keep that shit away from Laney or we’ll have a real problem. You feel me?”

Cody nodded. “I know, I would never…”

Shane’s face softened a bit. “You should watch it with Jenna, too… We were getting a bit heavy into the junk, before we…”

“Don’t worry about my girlfriend,” Cody bit out. “I got it. Okay?”

“Cody, it’s not like that… You don’t know what it feels like, to watch the girl you love…” he trailed off, his voice laced with pain.

Jenna was right. Cody had taken too much, and he was too amped for this conversation. He wanted to hit Shane, even though he knew Shane was just being nice, just looking out for him…

“I’m gonna take a walk,” Cody said.

“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” Jerry said, eyeballing them.

“A short one, then!” he snapped, and stalked off into the woods.

Ten minutes later his heart rate had slowed, and he’d calmed himself down enough to head back to the cabin. The sun was setting, the cool September air settling around him like a chilled blanket and as he got back to the little campsite, he saw Dustin and Laney folding up the camping chairs. Jerry was placing the steaks onto a plate and covering it with tin foil.

“Go help ‘em set the table,” Jerry said, nodding at the main cabin, the one Jerry and Dustin were staying in with the big kitchen table and the old TV with a surprisingly well-stocked Nintendo 64 gaming system.

Cody headed inside, pushed open the door, and froze.

Their heads whipped around, Jenna’s hands on Shane’s chest, Shane’s hands on her wrists, clearly pushing her away.

Jenna stepped awkwardly away from Shane, glancing nervously between him and Cody. Shane looked pissed.

“Cody, man – ”

“Don’t bother,” Cody spat. “I know it wasn’t you.”

He stared at Jenna, his heart cracking in half, and he blinked rapidly to keep from embarrassing himself by crying. “Why?” he asked.

“Cody… I didn’t… it’s not like that, okay? I just wanted to – ”

“Just wanted to what, Jenna? Get some closure with a goodbye kiss?” His voice was harsh, and mean. “Or beg him to take you back? Are you that fucking desperate that you’d let him bag you on the side? You know he’ll never leave that girl… You’re cool with being his sloppy side piece?”

“Hey!” Shane said, stepping towards Cody. “Don’t fucking talk to her like that, okay?”

“Oh, that’s RICH coming from YOU!” he shouted. “ She is nothing to me, Cody,” he mimicked. “ I don’t even see them, their faces…”

Jenna’s face crumpled, tears leaking out of her eyes, and Cody knew he should stop but he couldn’t. “I get that you’re supposed to pretend that every broad you bag means something, but she doesn’t.”

Shane looked like he’d been kicked in the gut, and Jenna covered her mouth as a sob escaped her lips.

“I think that’s enough,” said a quiet voice behind him.

It was Jerry. “You need to leave, son.” He clamped a hand down on his shoulder and steered him out the door. “Now. Go to your bunkie and sleep it off, and you can drive home in the morning.”

“I’ll drive home now,” he said, trying to storm away, but Jerry clotheslined him by the back of his shirt.

“Oh, no you won't,” he said. “You’re high as a fucking kite and worked up real good. You’ll go sleep it off, and you’ll be leavin’ in the morning. I reckon it’ll be before dawn, once the shame kicks in and you done realize you fucked up real good.”

Laney had appeared and put an arm around Jenna who was shaking with silent tears.

“Just go,” Shane said, staring right through him.

Cody stormed off to the bunkie, kicking the embers of the fire pit, coals scattering along the ground in the dark.

Jerry was right. He left before dawn the next morning, a pit in his stomach and a hole in his heart.