23 | 𝐺𝑒𝑡 𝑅𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑

"I don't get it," I said bluntly.

"You're not supposed to," my mom replied, flipping a page in her novel. "Pride and Prejudice is a timely piece of literature which illustrates the importance of love." Her exaggeration dims to a low grumbling utter, "something, you have yet to experience--"

"Damn, one day you decide to change your whole hobby and the next thing you know, you're talking like Shakespeare," I noted with a roll of my eyes. I fixed a few granola bars into my bag before hauling the mini backpack over my shoulder blades.

"I am not," she snapped with a chuckle, leaning closer to the pages. She was like a lost puppy moments prior, spinning in timeless circles before finally curling up on the sofa with clumps of blankets at her legs. "Where are you off to?"

"Vulpine Union," I muttered, walking to the door and doing a sweeping glance towards the mirror. "We're going to a nature reserve. We're planting trees and--"

"I didn't know you were in a club." She laughed and then added knowingly, "is Sullivan in it?"

"Oh, you know me so well," I quipped with a few hearty chortles. I brushed the loose tufts of hair behind my ears, the majority of my caramel locks were tucked in a high pony, tied into a singular pink elastic. I wore the typical white-gray fitted jeans with baby pink sneakers and a pink crewneck. Pearl earrings popped out of the holes of my ears to match also.

When I heard a resounding honk outside of the house, I peeked through the window to see Sullivan's topless green BMW Z4 Roadster parked at the curb and inside was seated Penelope, Jay, and Kayla.

My heart stopped and I could feel it lodged in my throat like a shower plug. My mom's voice faded, but I could hear what she was trying to say. She pulled up closer to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You'll be okay."

She knew about the whole Kayla and Liv situation, because what daughter wouldn't I be? My mom liked the gossip and I needed to talk to someone other than Keiona, Jay, and Victor.

"I should get going," I murmured tightly, sucking in the air and exhaling with minimal head nods as I pushed forward after giving my mom a gentle hug and kiss on the cheek.

When the front door shut behind me, I hastened my steps and glanced at all the options of seats, which just so happened to be next to Kayla. Penelope sat in the passenger side giving directions to Sullivan who didn't bother looking my way when I approached the car.

I placed my hand on the car door and drew closer to me, though it didn't budge and only made a sound that caused everyone to turn to me.

"Just hop in," Sullivan brushed off, looking back at his phone which was tied up above the radio as a GPS. I internally scowled as Kayla squirmed closer to Jay, attempting to decipher a nonexistent hallucination before shaking his head as if there was a fly by his ear.

I threw my leg over the door and stumbled in, falling atop Kayla and Jay as my sneaker tripped over where the window should be. Penelope swung around to see me toppled over on Kayla's lap. "You alright?"

"Better than ever," I mumbled into her legging clad knee before hauling myself up and shifting as far away from the girl as I could be, even if that meant flat up against the door.

Sullivan nodded one last time at the demonstration of the GPS directions before switching gears and rolling down the block. Kayla turned to me quickly and I didn't return the expression of pity. "Riyah--" she started in a low whisper.

"Not now," I gritted through my teeth.

"But--"

I said no, Goddammit. I'm not even worried about that right now, in fact, I am focused entirely on Victor. Well, no, not exactly. I'm focused on what he said, mixed with lessons and thoughts about San Francisco.

"No," I concluded, seeing Sullivan's eyes in the rearview mirror. "I mean it, Kayla. Not now."

She slouched back into her seat at a loss, throwing her head back ever so slightly and mumbling, "I understand."

I knew how much she was sorry, but at the same time, I didn't. I wouldn't even consider Kayla and I to be in a fight, but what I did know was that she went against girl code and that was enough to need a break from her and our friendship. Then, with a clear head, preferably when Sullivan is my boyfriend, I could assess our friendship need be.

Jay convulsed forward and stamped his hands on either side of his ears, blocking out the sound. He situated his forehead on his kneecaps as he heightened the pressure over his ears. Moments later, he rose his head and said, "sorry, I can tell this is gonna be a long day."

"Tell me about it," I voiced.

Penelope looked over her shoulder at the both of us, but held longer eye contact with Jay. She mouthed incoherently, "are you okay?"

Jaydon smiled briefly in reply and my heart beat slowly for them. He nodded and mouthed, "yeah, I'll be okay."

This is cute shit, man! I feel single.

I wondered why I couldn't have that with Sullivan. The guy sitting right across from me. And all I wanted was for him to just turn to me, ask if I was alright quietly so I can assure him I was, but no, the best I got of a relationship is a fake boyfriend who wants to fuck me every two seconds... not ideal, but I wasn't opposed to life alongside Victor Vislocky.

"We're here," Sullivan sang, situating the car in a spot and of course it had to be the spot beside a metallic jeep with a rather annoyed Victor positioned up against it. His arm wrapped over his chest and a cigarette sat on his bottom lip.

Huh, that was new.

As we all emptied from the car, everyone surpassed Victor, and he could care less, but I stopped in front of him and he instantly fleeted his eyes up my body in response.

I gestured to the cigarette in his hand. "Is it cliche for me to tell you that's not good for you."

"Very," he noted, tapping the ember against the side mirror of Sullivan's car before tossing it to the ground and smushing the bud beneath his sneaker. My head jutted towards a smudge of cigarette ash that pressed against Sullivan's car.

"Did you always smoke cigarettes or--"

"Was I always Jewish?" he concluded, chuckling to himself. "Don't worry," he mused, "my mouth shouldn't be that bad, but you can always have a taste test later--"

My shoulder fell into his side as I watched him stumble with my purposeful act. He rolled his eyes, leveling his footing as he said, "you're getting a lil' too comfortable with me. I don't like it," he teased.

"Hi, everyone!" Clem greeted, waving a hand. He introduced one of the park rangers. "This is Wyatt, he works for this reserve."

"Hello, thank you all for coming," he beamed. He reminded me those guys at high school who act like a know-it-all. He had the nerdy appearance and wavy blonde hair that gelled to one side more than the other. "We're gonna separate you guys into partners." He pointed and mumbled, "you two--you two--you two--and there you go. You two."

I glanced around.

Fuck! Shit. No. No. We're seventeen! I know who I want to work with! God, no.

It had already been to late and we all divulged into different pairings, Victor gave me the death glare as he walked away beside Sullivan, and as for me, I walked off with Kayla when Wyatt instructed us to go to dirt trails.

We grabbed the necessities as directed and began to tread up the pathway, using the trash pickers to grab at disregarded belongings that we then stuffed into the plastic bags curled in our knuckles. Kayla turned to me with a lighthearted grin, "so, maybe we do need to talk now--"

She believed in fate. I didn't.

"Kayla," I warned.

"Come on, you don't even have to respond," she started, "just lemme talk." There was a long pause before she added anything, nothing but the wrinkling plastic bags and bottle crunching sounds through the forest on either side of us. There was distant chatter and music from the rest of the club members planting trees and picking up trash elsewhere.

I would've loved to see Sullivan and Victor doing their jobs, planting trees with the park ranger, Wyatt, and club leader, Clemont.

Kayla sighed with a shake of her head. "Yeah, we were making out, but I mean it when I say we weren't going to do anything more--"

"That's a lie," I retorted. "I know that."

"Please, Riyah," she begged. "I've been so jealous lately of you and Victor and it wasn't supposed to be out of revenge, but he was convenient. We never meant anything we've done before--"

"What?" I snapped, pivoting on my heel agonizingly unhurried, my fist clenched the handle of the trash picker as the tongs clapped on either side of a water bottle.

Kayla shrunk below my stare. "Sully and I slept together before... only three times--"

"Three times?" I shrieked, bowing my head and squeezing my eyes shut, the water inside of them curling. "How did I not know?"

Kayla's eyes softened. "I knew you liked him and I didn't want to tell you."

"Well." I pursed my lips, shaking my head timorously. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, "But, I promise that we were only benefits, nothing else. I know you want him and I don't. He's not even that good, I took his virginity--"

I swallowed thickly. "When did this start?"

"It was the night you went home with Victor," she murmured, "but I didn't know you went home with him until I went to your mom to tell her what I did--"

"My mom fucking knew?" I cried out, tossing the water bottle into the trash aggressively in my hand and strutting up the pathway.

"I couldn't tell my mom!" she yelled, trailing behind me. "And I sure as hell couldn't tell you because I knew you'd react this way," she pleaded stressfully. "Riyah, please believe me!"

"Just stop talking to me," I concluded firmly, the tears cascading my cheek warmly. "Stop following me!" I yelled, noticing she was hurrying to my side.

"I can't! We have to pick up trash--"

I scowled down at her as we hauled our feet up the inclining hill. "And only if you could fit in this garbage bag, I'd throw you in too."

I'm proud of myself despite everything.

I am no longer trying to get my crush, but now I'm trying to get my crush from my best friend. Something I'd never thought I'd do in a million years. Two can play at this game, Kayla. That was cringy, but it's the effort.

I'd like to think that after our conversation, it was awkward silence while we did our service for the reserve, but I was in fact, oddly comfortable. Too comfortable in havoc than I should be, and that should've scared me about myself, but I knew what I wanted, I have for a long while. I wasn't going to be 'shy-Mia' anymore, but badass, just like Victor said. Though, I should've had a few lessons before I did what I did once the community service was up and Kayla and I retreated back to the camp.

Victor's jeans were splattered with dirt stains and his black t-shirt fitted him, emphasizing every contour of muscle down his rippled chest. Victor was naturally fit, but Sullivan was muscular in the football player sense. His arms were bigger and bulgier whereas Victor's were leaner and tighter, glowing in the sun's hue. I would say that his complexion was adorned by the light, but if anything the sun was adorned by him.

Sullivan had a similar tone of skin to mine, albino, and the sun wasn't as forgiving, more-so blinding and reflective.

"You guys can all go to the slushy shop a few down," Clemont told us, smiling giddily.

Wyatt nodded as he lifted up a bit of cash. "On us, enjoy!"

We all chorused a series of 'thank you's' as we left, walking down the sidewalk in an army, or mean girl stance, as one would. I surpassed Victor and appeared by Sullivan's side. Kayla was on the opposing side of his figure, though the girl in-between us didn't seem to notice.

"So," I began positively, receiving a keen glare from Kayla's direction, which I gratefully ignored. "Did you enjoy yourself, Liv?" I pressed, emphasizing the nickname that I'd never used in front of him before.

My breath caught in my throat, but he didn't look my way. Instead, a girl's voice occupied the air. "I had a lot of fun!" she beamed. "It was great."

I looked over my shoulder and saw the familiar blonde hair with an ombre of aqua green at the tips. None other than Olivia Marshall.

Shit. I should've thought that through.

"That's great," I mused, looking over subtly to the guy trembling with silent laughter, Victor. I slowed my pace and aligned my steps with Oliva Marshall and the girl beside her. "I don't think we've met."

With a hesitant smile, she said, "yeah, you're Azariah, right? My name's Patricia," she introduced.

I felt a tad awkward. Not because she was more stereotypically masculine, but I just expected a deeper voice to match the features and clothing that she wore, but other than that, she seemed super nice. "Pretty, you can call me Riyah."

"You can call me Patty," she told me, looking down at the ground swiftly in what looked like regret. I glanced over to Olivia who nudged Patty, gesturing with her friend as if they could exchange words with just a look in their eyes, but Patty said no, whatever the question was.

"Is something wrong?" I pressed as the people ahead of us carried on with their personal conversation whilst we walked to the slushy place.

She shrugged then muttered, "you can call me Patty, but I prefer going by a different name." She lowered her tone, "but of course you don't have to--"

"What's the name?" I chuckled, leaning in closer to her.

"It's a family name, but uh-- Rowan."

"Rowan it is," I sang sweetly. "Row or just Rowan?" I quirked a brow as she shrugged, but it must've not been enough since Olivia nudged Rowan once more.

"And?" Olivia continued.

Rowan lowered her gaze again. "I prefer 'he, him' pronouns, but obviously you don't have to, it's still new and--"

"Whatever you prefer," I told Rowan, "and if I slip up, forgive me, I'll correct myself, always," I assured him with a few curt nods that Rowan smiled appreciatively at.

When we arrived at Frank's Slushy Palace, which wasn't the most appealing name for a slushy store, we instantly gathered by the drinks machine and grabbed the medium sized cups.

Victor purposefully collided into my side and I looked up at him to see his head beckoning to the door. I nodded and after handing my Sprite flavored slushy to the nearest person to get paid for with the cash that Wyatt gave us, I headed out after him.

"What's up?" I implored, but he was fishing in his pocket, popping out a cigarette and lighter, he slipped it into his mouth, raising his hand to cup around the bud as he lit it up.

"I hate everyone in there," he grumbled.

"What are you? Five?" I quipped, knowing that he'd said that to me once before. He rolled his eyes, laughing quietly to himself as he drew closer to the ground with his knees to his chest and yanked on my hand. He brought me down gently to him on the sidewalk.

We sat with our backs up against the slushy store outside, heads resting against the cool brick while he exhaled a lingering cloud of smoke.

"It smells," I noted, gesturing to the cigarette. With my eyes trained on his hand, he lowered the wand to the sidewalk and squashed it between his fingertips before tossing it. "Now that's littering," I teased, but my chuckles got cut off the second that he looked at me, not like he was mad, but something much stronger that made me hold his gaze in return.

His eyes flickered over me before he shifted his body to face straight out onto the view of the highway. "Try again with Corbett."

My head snapped to the glass door of Frank's Slushy Palace, but it was closed and all our, or my, friends were stuffed inside the white tiled walls and blue interior. "I'll try, but how do I even start a conversation?"

He was staring at my lips with his chin tilted up at the sky, the back of his head pressed against the bricks. When he met my eyes, he lectured, "Easy. You fucking go up to him and you ask him out."

"No," I turned down. "I'm already seeing him while working on our English project--"

"That's different from a date," he concluded just as the door swung open and the jingling bell followed. Penelope was walking out, her cute red ponytail bouncing with each step. She wore her burgundy tights and an ivory denim skirt. She kneeled down, holding out two slushy cups to the two of us.

"Thank you so much," I murmured, taking a strip from the blue plastic straw, and feeling the tingling sweet and sour flavor of Sprite and carbonation.

Victor took his drink and smiled, bluntly checking her out. "Thanks..." His tone trailed as he waited for a name.

"Penny," she greeted.

He echoed, "Penny." Giving a nod and scanning over her body once more, stopping right at the deep v of her black tank from bending over, partially hugged by a crocheted sweater.

"I just want to say," she started, ignoring his roaming eyes as he popped up a knee and laid his forearm upon it. "You guys make such a cute couple."

I jumped, nodding my head happily. "Thank you--" I shot him a hard look, widening my eyes.

Remove your eyes, bitch! She's onto us!

He snapped at me, but more-so angry. Penny gave one last wave, standing up, "we'll be inside sitting for a while, feel free to join us."

After my goodbyes, I returned to him stubbornly drinking his slushy. "Damn," he breathed, looking at the cup. "This is good. What flavor did you get?"

"Umm... Sprite?"

"Can I try?" he asked and I nodded in reply, but he tilted his cup towards me, the straw by my mouth. I mimicked the same with my hand and at the same time, we both leaned forward and drank from the straw closest towards us. His tasted like a mix between coffee and mocha.

I nodded my head. "I like yours."

"Like yours too," he mumbled, taking a sip of his. "So, back to what I was saying. Just drive the guy insane. Act hard to get, be fucking bold. I think he's into it," he finished, taking another sip as the cars built up in front of us at a red light.

"What are you into?" I wondered pitchily, dancing my fingers on my jeans.

A laugh rifled through him. "You're kidding me, right? Fuck me," he groaned, chuckling to himself. "Rhy, you drive me fucking insane with these stupid questions."

"It wasn't stupid," I contradicted.

"Really?" he interrogated.

Fuck. He looks hot right now. Why am I turned on? Shit.

I crossed my arms after lowering my drink to stand beside my thigh as I childishly retorted, "what is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he brushed off, taking a sip of his drink.

"Did I tell you?" I wondered aloud, interrupting my original question, but he only wrinkled a brow at my nonexistent, and newer question. "Kayla and I are now competing for Sullivan after she slept with him three times and took his virginity a few weeks ago."

"Fucking told you he was a virgin," he quipped.

"Well, when did you lose your virginity?" I impulsively asked. Victor could tell that the second it left my lips I regretted it, but he just seemed amused.

"Fifteen," he responded.

"Fuck," I cursed under my breath. "I mean this is a not-offer-way, but I just want to get railed, y'know?"

Shit. I should not have said that. I need a filter.

"I mean in a--"

"Fuck me," he groaned again, but way hotter. Abort mission, that was too hot. His chest raised and lowered in a slower consistency. "Rhy, you will be the death of me."

I giggled lightly, leaning forward and sipping from his slushy straw. "I know."

Did I just see him subtly fix his jeans... and why do I feel like smiling giddily? That can't be good, but what is good, is that slushy.

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