[b]Winnebago, in the woods, Upstate[/b]: 

“Felix, surely you’re not serious? I mean, truly? In here, while we’re working with highly unstable chemicals? Right next to one another?’ ‘Fuck you Damien, pirate, do what I want,” the two had been on each other’s nerves for the past four hours, and it seemed as though things were about to come to blows as the door of the Winnebago crept open. “Do you bloody see this?” Damien demanded of Ken, pointing to the, well, currently indisposed member of their party as the newcomer leaned over him, checking the Wal Mart thermometers placed in some of the heated beakers on the rack. “It’ll fall off if you leave it exposed to these chemicals too long, Felix,” along with a gulp and the audible zipping of pants this was the only response he received, however. “I made tea, Damien. I’ll watch the burners, go get some air,’ ‘thanks, man,’ ‘tea? This is ‘Murica, you fuckin’ limies,’ ‘shut the fuck up, Felix. You need to go wash your shit with soap and water. Vigorously,’ ‘man, that’s what I’ve been trying to do this whole time,’ ‘lotion is not the same thing as soap you fuckin’ deviant, and git’ me a gerd damn beer while you’re there,”. 

The last phrase was a joke aimed at Felix’s drunken hillbilly uncle, Bowe Brown, with whom they had stayed in Georgia, and who had never quite mastered the English language. Or perhaps he was simply too drunk at any given time to speak coherently, either way he was known locally as the single worst electrician to have ever lived, and spent the majority of his time drinking domestic pisswater and playing Call of Duty until he passed out, and the finesse with which Ken could manage an impersonation of uncle Bowe always managed to evoke a hearty laugh from anyone who had the misfortune of having met uncle Bowe, besides Felix. This was no exception. “Why are you even here, Felix? Don’t you have a job?” this question, as soon as it was posed by Damien, brought the two other people in the trailer to an awkward silence. “Fuck you, Andrew,” was all Felix spoke in reply before getting up and walking out, presumably to go wash the toxic chemicals from his flesh. “Dude, Damien. Harsh,’ ‘Well, it’s true! Why is he here, Ken?’ ‘Because, you blithering idiot, you’re leaving at the end of the week, remember?”. 

Awkward silences were all too common among the three friends turned illicit business partners these days, and in the face of Damien’s imminent departure things had only gotten worse, more frustrated and less, well, fun then it had all been in the beginning. “You’re his best friend, Damien. He’s pissed off that your leaving after things were just getting back on track, and he doesn’t know how to handle abandonment well so he acts like a fuckin’ fool,’ ‘Well, it’s not as if I promised to stay here forever! I’m not his fucking wife Ken, surely he’s learned by now that people come and people go, that’s how life is,’ ‘Damien, your still obsessed with Violet. Frankly, I’m pretty sure your madly in love with Lina, who is a hooker I pay to sleep with you, and I’d guess when you go back home you’ll still be talking about her for the rest of the fuckin’ decade. It really surprise you that Felix is having a hard time letting you go?’ ‘Well, he fucking shouldn’t be, Ken. I’m not sleeping with him, now am I?’ ‘Damien. Felix doesn’t give a fuck about the girls he sleeps with, pretty sure he’s gay myself. He does care about his friends, though,”. 

Only then did either of them notice one of the beakers had become too hot, and the profuse bubbling this heat had prompted was threatening a chemical spill two feet away from them. “Fuck,” Damien and Ken announced to no one in particular at once, and as the issue was corrected Damien found it an apt time to change the subject. “So, Ken, this job you’re working. Going to be able to pull it off with two guys?’ ‘Yeah, think we’ll manage. I’m more concerned with how much purity’s going to drop with him as the most qualified lab assistant we’ve got. I mean, it’ll drop with me taking over as our chemist, it’s not as if this is my strong suit, but I’ll manage. When I’m sleeping, though? Not sure I trust him to keep from blowing the place up while I’m out. Maybe we’ll bring in a guy to take over as lab assistant, plenty of starving college students looking to live above their means while making a quick buck,’ ‘Yeah, I’m sure you’ll love that, mister OCD. Don’t touch that, do prod that, why aren’t you pouring that already? Felix is the only person I know who might be able to stand learning your system, you controlling fuckin’ twat,”. 

This brought both to a hearty bit of laughter before things grew quiet once more, each lost in their own thoughts for a time. “Go talk to him, Damien. I get that you’re done with this, but you’ll both feel better about the whole thing later if you spend some time together now,’ ‘Yeah, sure, you’re probably right. Don’t let anything overheat, burner seven’s been acting up lately. Need to replace it…,” he mumbled to himself as he stood, making his way past Ken despite the narrowness of the Winnebago’s hallway, before stepping out into the twilight, closing the door behind him. Felix was sitting twenty or so feet from the Winnebago having a smoke, staring off into the sunset. “It’ll be done soon, right? Gotta get ready to start packing it all up,” an exaggerated drag led to an equally overdramatic exhale, displaying just how uninterested Felix was in the packing of meth. “Sure, it’ll be over soon, man,” removing his lab coat and gas mask Damien took his seat by his friend, finding a couple unopened beers next to their lawn chairs, along with a few empties and a bottle opener. Cracking them both open he handed one to Felix, and after a silent cheers and the clinking of glass on glass, they both guzzled the elixir, greedily.