Faster We Burn

of a quintessential American town. It was a development with houses that all had the exact same-sized lawns and evenly-spaced trees. I’d lived in a lot of places, but definitely none like this. This was a place with snowblowers and riding lawnmowers and potted shrubs and white fences. It was so…clean.
    There were at least six cars parked in the driveway and in front of the house, so I had to park on the street in front, partially blocking the neighbor’s driveway.
    I unwrapped the casserole dish from the towels, grabbed the bag with my hostess/suck up gift and walked up to the front door. There was a flag shaped like a turkey hanging from the eaves of the porch. Wow. They were those kind of people. The kind of people who had boxes of decorations for every holiday, even the holidays that weren’t really holidays. Like President’s Day. Katie hadn’t mentioned that.
    I rang the doorbell and crossed my fingers that Katie would answer. I heard pounding footsteps, which probably meant she was trying to beat someone else to the door. Smart girl.
    “Hey,” I said, giving her what I hoped was a confident smile.
    “Did you do something to your hair?” She said after staring at me for a full thirty seconds.
    “Yeah, I actually brushed it today.” This was partially true. I’d also put some gel in it to make it behave.
    “You look, wow.” She blinked, but didn’t move to let me in. She didn’t look so bad herself. I didn’t know anyone who could pull off pink jeans with a white sweater, but she could. Behind her I could hear the hum of people talking and laughing. Panic tried to claw its way into my brain, but I pushed it back. There was no need to panic.
    I held out the brie. “I come bearing gifts. Do you, um, think I could come in?”
    She blinked again and shook her head, as if to clear it.
    “Um, yeah. Come on in.”
    “Thanks.” I stepped over the threshold, but she grabbed my arm and leaned to whisper in my ear.
    “Are you sure about this?”
    “Now isn’t really the time to be asking me that, sweetheart,” I said.
    “I know, but—” I stepped around her. No, I hadn’t spent the two-hour-drive-in-the-car-practicing-for-this time for nothing. We were doing this.
    “I’m here, Katie. It’s too late now.”
    She nodded and dived in front of me so she could make the introductions. I followed in her wake and tried not to drop the casserole dish. I also tried not to watch her ass as she walked away.
    At least I didn’t drop the dish.
    Her voice made me look up and realize I was in the kitchen and everyone was staring at me.
    “Mom, Dad, this is Stryker Grant,” Katie said as I walked behind her and set the casserole dish down on the already-crowded counter. Katie had her mom’s wide eyes, but that was about the only similarity they shared. Katie was very much her father’s daughter, except for the fact that he was about as tall as Zack.
    “Mr. and Mrs. Hallman, thank you so much for inviting me. I really appreciate it.” I set the bag with a bottle of wine and a bunch of flowers down so I could hold out my hand for her father, who was standing closer to me. He was the first one to unfreeze from his shock. Yeah, I’d expected that, and I was used to it.
    “It’s nice to meet you, Stryker. Please, call me Glenn.” He gave me a firm shake. Maybe a little too firm. I let go and looked at Katie’s Mom.
    “Mom?” Katie said. For a second, I thought she was going to snap her fingers in front of her mom’s face.
    “You’re Stryker?” Mrs. Hallman said, her eyes flitting from my eyebrow ring, to my lip ring and to my earring.
    “You have a beautiful home,” I said, picking up the gifts. “I brought you some wine, and this,” I said taking out the flowers.
    “Uh, thank you, they’re beautiful.” She took them but didn’t stop looking at me. She finally shook my hand, but it was limp and she let go as quickly as she could. Ah, so that was how it was going to be. This would be interesting.
    “I also brought a little something. It’s a baked brie. I tried to keep it warm on the way over, but it might need to sit in the oven for a few minutes to warm up.
    “Right this way,” Katie said, glaring at her mother and grabbing the casserole dish. This was also a house with two ovens, apparently, because there was a turkey in one, but the bottom oven was unoccupied.
    “I knew she was going to do this,” she whispered as she set the oven and shoved the dish in.
    “It’s okay,” I