I sat across from him

I sat across from him as he cut the foil off the wine bottle with one of those combination knives/corkscrews.

“How’d you get all this stuff up here?” I asked.

“Ryan. He snuck the picnic basket up here when he disappeared.”

“Ahhhh.” I looked around at the plates and silverware and glasses. It was pretty damn nice for a picnic basket. I probably would have gone with plastic plates and cutlery. “Did you buy this?”

“No, it’s Ryan’s parents’. He kind of borrowed it for me.”

“Kind of?”

“Ahh, they never use it.”

Derek pulled out the cork, then poured us each a glass. He clinked his against mine.

“To you… and to your brilliant future as a world-famous journalist.”

“And to your brilliant future as a world-famous rock star.”

“I’ll drink to that,” he said, and we both took a sip.

I had only tasted wine at a wedding before, and I was expecting not to like it – but I did. It was a lot sweeter and mellower than the sour stuff at my cousin’s reception, and a hundred times better than the crappy beer