Song of the Fireflies by J. A. Redmerski

shit, that’s it. Don’t come back here or I’ll beat the fuck out of you.”
    “Whatever, man,” he said and pushed himself to his feet. “At least give me my car keys.”
    I looked over my shoulder at Bray and she went into the living room, coming back seconds later with his keys in her hand. Mitchell reached out for them, but I took them from her instead and pushed her carefully behind me.
    “Don’t go near her ever again. Not for anything.”
    I dropped the keys in his hand.
    “Yeah, fuck you,” he said casually and turned and walked toward his car.
    “I’m so sorry,” Bray said after I shut the front door.
    She stepped up to me, clasping her fingers gently around my hands at my sides.
    “I did not expect it to go down like that,” I said, looking toward the wall, thinking about Mitchell.
    “He’ll come around,” she said. “He’s just not right in the head.”
    “I know.”
    Bray helped me pack up all of Mitchell’s things, which wasn’t much, just boxes of his clothes and movies and CDs. Thankfully, the only furniture in the apartment that was his was a small TV stand and a bar stool from Dickey’s Bar and Grill that he bought at an auction after Dickey’s closed down. We carried everything outside and set it near the front door instead of on the sidewalk. I didn’t want anything to get stolen or rained on.
    But two days came and went, and Mitchell never came back to get it.

Chapter Seven
Bray
    Elias took the falling-out with Mitchell really hard the first few days. It was only to be expected, since they had known each other even longer than
we
had known each other. Despite everything, Elias knew that it wasn’t his fault, and he wasn’t going to sit around and blame himself. Mitchell had brought this all on himself. Eventually, Elias went from feeling bad about what happened to indifferent.
    He still had me, after all.
    By Friday night, we were debating whether to go to the river or not, because Mitchell would almost definitely be there.
    “I say we go, Elias. Don’t let him ruin our good time.”
    Elias kissed me on the forehead and squeezed me around the waist as I sat straddled on his lap.
    “OK. We’ll go. Just stay away from him, all right?”
    I draped my arms around his neck and then kissed his lips. “I’ll be too busy with you to worry about him,” I said suggestively.
    Elias smiled and squeezed my butt in his hands. “How did we get like this?” he asked, studying my face and my lips.
    “It was inevitable,” I said in a quiet voice. My fingers touched the contours of his cheekbones and probed him as if he were a beautiful¸ delicate statue. He hadn’t shaved in a while, but I found the growing stubble sexy on him.
    “Do you remember our first kiss?” he asked, smiling at me.
    “Of course I do,” I said. “The first night we met.”
    He shook his head and his hands slid up my back.
    “No, I mean the first
real
kiss.”
    I swallowed hard. On the inside I was screaming as another memory infected my thoughts in that moment, but on the outside, I looked as blissful as he did.
    “Yes. I remember,” I said distantly.
    Elias’ blue eyes softened, not sensing the turmoil going on inside of me. I was thankful for that.
    “I’ve always wondered about that day,” he said. “When you asked me to kiss you, did you really just want to practice? Be honest.”
    I swallowed again and my hands began to shake. I steadied them, interlacing my fingers around the back of his neck. The memory of our first kiss was one of my most cherished. I would never forget it. But the other, more solemn memory that always came with it nowadays was what I couldn’t bear.
    “I did want to practice,” I answered, hiding the pain in my heart. “But it was just an excuse. I really just wanted you to kiss me.”
    Elias’s smile widened. And then he touched his lips to mine, slowly brushing the tip of his tongue between them. I wilted in his arms.
    He made love to me that morning before we