A Lantern's Light | A TMF Fanfic

Chapter Seven | Jacket For A Friend

The music club's pianist and drummer continued to lie with one another in peace. That was until a loud call of disapproval from the pianist's stepsister echoed through the air, causing a disturbance.

"Jake! No! You are not doing that!" Hailey scolded, the sudden volume causing Zander to sit up.

"The simp isn't doing what?" he asked, softly rubbing one of his eyes, them having gotten used to being closed.

Hands to her hips, rolling her eyes, Hailey complained, "Jake's sticking to his wanting to swim in the lake thing."

Lightly grimacing at Zander, Jake spoke, "You know, I'm not sure if I like how you're just starting to call me a simp in substitute of my actual name."

"Hush, simp," Zander yawned, hand drawing from his eye to over his mouth. Jake let out a few discontented grumbles at Zander's comment, making the purple-haired boy feel guilty. "Okay, sorry," Zander meekly apologised, "But you're joking, right? You're not actually gonna try to swim in the lake."

A confused look taking the singer's face, Jake cocked his head, "What do you mean? I'm not joking."

"You don't even have a swimsuit!" Zander exclaimed, throwing his arm out to gesture at the boy's clothes.

"So? I can get my clothes wet."

A look taking the club's guitarist, Milly pumped her fists up into the air, excited, "I want to swim in the lake too!"

Hailey, drawing her hand to her temple, disappointed, groaned, "Oh, great. The movement is spreading."

Sean, who had been relatively silent for the time being, was now looking at his phone, and began to speak, "Okay, Jake and Milly. I don't think you realize how bad of an idea this is. It's fifty-eight degrees out right now," looking down to the two teenagers' outfits he then added on, "Plus you don't have a change of clothes with you right now. You're going to be wet the entire hike back."

Stumbling and leaning down to take off her shoes, Milly simply shrugged, "Eh, who cares? That's a future me problem."

"Yeah, and this is a sunny area. The water will feel warmer than that," Jake justified, adding on to his friend's claim.

Zander -- who had been searching through his phone -- got up beside Luke and started walking towards Jake. "Okay, Jake, this is an objectively bad idea," gesturing down to his phone, Zander explained, "I looked it up, and I'm pretty sure being in water this cold for an extended period of time can result in cold shock and hypothermia."

"Aw. It almost sounds like you care about me," Jake cooed.

Taken aback by the sudden shift in tone, Zander confusedly asked, "What?"

Taking his hand on its side, and next to his mouth to increase his volume, Jake started to shout, "Guys! Zander cares about me!"

Feeling his cheeks heat up, Zander yelled, "What?! No! Just-" Zander then started to sputter, being at a loss for words.

Taking advantage of Zander's lack of speech, Jake continued to tease, "But seriously, it is nice to hear you care about me this much."

Voice cracking, Zander harshly growled, "Shut. Up."

Hand pointing up, forming a small finger gun, Jake joked, "Hey, you are also technically single right now, right?"

Face further heating up from embarrassment, Zander grumbled, not taking much humor, "That's it! You know what? Go into cold shock. I don't care!"

Zander then turned around, storming off back to Luke, Hailey then followed, taking his place next to Jake.

Gaze trailing to Zander, and then smirkingly turning to Jake, Hailey pointed out, "You realize Luke and Zander have been 'single' for just about an hour now, and you've already flirted with both of them."