Before the Fire Read Online Free

the black sofa, his mum’s feet on the hot-pink rug, drinking a cup of tea, a fag in one
hand.
    ‘You all right, man?’ Mac asked, beckoning Stick towards the kitchen.
    Stick shrugged, took the half-bottle of vodka out of his back pocket and waggled it at Mac.
    ‘Don’t mind if I do.’ Mac cracked the top and took a long swig. Stick did the same and felt the sting down his throat and across his chest. Mac’s kitchen was about as big
as the one at Stick’s, except Mac’s had a hatch in the wall so you could look through into the living room where Mrs McKinley was still frowning at her phone.
    ‘You packed then?’ Stick asked.
    ‘Ma did it.’
    Stick raised his eyebrows, and Mac snorted. ‘You never think more than five minutes ahead, Iain,’ he said, mimicking his ma; then, in his own voice, ‘There’s like
first-aid kits and I don’t even know what in there.’ He took another drink, placed both coconuts on the draining board and took a knife out of the drawer. ‘Do you know birds
sunbathe topless in Spain?’ He gave an exaggerated sigh. ‘It’s, like, compulsory.’
    Stick reached around Mac and took one of the coconuts, threw it up and caught it, rough and dry against his palm. ‘Your ma’s all right then,’ he said. ‘About you
going?’
    Mac started moving his knife across the remaining coconut. ‘Yours kicking off?’
    ‘She’s back doing that thing with the plugs.’
    Mac pulled a face. ‘She’ll be all right,’ he said. ‘Seriously, she’ll be fine. You worry too much, man.’
    Stick looked through the hatch at Mac’s ma. The sun was directly on her, lighting up the edges of her hair – the same pale blonde as Mac’s. He took a swig of vodka. ‘And
my dad’s on my case, like it’s any of his fucking business what I do with my life. “You’ve got to have a plan, Kieran. You’re nearly eighteen, you need to think about
the future.” Mac, you can’t cut it like that.’
    ‘Well, how the fuck else do they get them in half? Come on, I need a drum roll.’
    Stick tapped his fingers on the top of the fridge.
    ‘Ladies and gentlemen.’ Mac raised his voice. ‘You are about to witness something never seen before.’ He took the second coconut from Stick and laid it next to the first
on the draining board, then lifted the knife in both hands, the handle level with his eyes. ‘I will create not one but two sets of beautiful squeezable titties from these ugly, brown, hairy
fruit.’
    ‘Nut.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘It’s a nut, and I’m not wearing them if that’s your big plan.’
    Mac screwed up his forehead until his pale eyebrows almost met and brought the knife down hard. A coconut ricocheted away and the blade clashed against the draining board.
    ‘Fucking hell.’ He held out the knife towards Stick. ‘Shitty tools.’
    Stick laughed. ‘You going to pull Lainey then?’
    Mac grinned. ‘If she’s lucky.’
    ‘If you’re lucky.’
    ‘I’m a catch, man.’ Mac retrieved the coconut and went back to his sawing, his whole body wobbling with the effort of it.
    ‘You’re a chubber,’ Stick said.
    Mac grabbed his stomach with both hands. ‘The ladies love it! Plus I am going to look hot once I’ve sorted these fuckers out.’
    Stick drank vodka and listened to the
scratch scratch scratch
of the blade.
    ‘He’s all right, your dad,’ Mac said. ‘Least he tries.’
    Stick put the bottle down and started opening and closing the cupboard doors. ‘You need something heavy,’ he said, pulling out a bowl that looked like it was made from stone, or
concrete. Weighed a ton. ‘You need to whack it with something heavy.’
    Mac stepped out of the way. ‘Don’t wreck anything.’
    Stick held the bowl in both hands and brought it down with a thud on one of the coconuts. The whole kitchen shook.
    ‘Iain?’ Mrs McKinley shouted through.
    Mac pulled a face. ‘It’s under control,’ he shouted back.
    Stick slammed the bowl down again. Everything in the cupboards