The interior of the party store was bright. Rows of different chips, and candies sat perpendicular to a line of refrigerators, all brightly lit.  PBR ,  Miller Lite , and  bud light all sat next to each other, and the highbrow stuff a little further away. 

They circled around before...

"I like him"  Imogen Howe yelled in Alan's ear. The music loud enough that you couldn't have normal conversations. 

"He's nice, brings out a different side of you"

Alan wanted to say something like "Yeah, but you should seem him when he's drunk." 

But he didn't just smiled and danced. Nodding...

He’d surprise Aaron, just like the old days. Bust into the party. What’s up! He was halfway done with the tall boy. 

He played some pop playlist out of a small Bluetooth speaker. “Tonight’s gunna be a good night.” Played out of it. 

He laughed in his head, he hadn’t heard that...

Alan was washed with anxiety. His face reddened and he felt like his heart beat was in his throat. 
He had two options, one was tell Aaron where he was, in some ways it was likely the only place to go. Or just not say a word, and pretend his...

His mom was happy to have him back. She wanted to see more of him. She was torn though. She would tell her friends at the Zumba class.

"Its nice to have him back, but I just hope he finds his thing though."

"Just enjoy this time, boys always leave home so...

In the parking lot they pulled up,  Imogen Howe had already changed the sign "Party today, open late.".

"Wow man it hasn't started yet?" Jack said.

"No, not yet, but Imogen needs help, its what I've been doing you know." 

"But I uh, my image man, you don't go to parties early."

"Man...

"I was thinking of making lasagna, you know your favorite. I know you have that dance thing tonight, so I'll make it earlier."

The words felt like a just a noise. 

All Alan could he was "Jack is here.".

He pulled the car into the lot of a tire shop. The guys...

Alan was listening to a podcast about relationships.

"In some ways if you stay in a bad relationship just for their like hapiness, your kind of killing yourself."

"Yeah, totally agree." The other podcaster responded.

Alan nodded he never thought of it that way. Not that he really had a relationship before, he...

Before the call Alan thought about what he was going to say. Okay yeah just listen, then like bring it up "you remember  Imogen Howe ? I think I am in love with her."

"Like nothing has happened but we hugged a few times, and it felt different like. You know...

"Its not like they care about the flavor... They just want the same old shit you know."

"Yeah, I mean its crazy though still they fire you for that."

"I know man, and its like they called me the head chef, let me do something, let me innovate you know."

"Yeah, man I...