My Once Upon A Time

Chapter Eight : Late night drives

" Let me take away your pain

Take a hit and take my hand

You haven't had fun in a while"

Song: Late night drive by Yo Trane

"I knew you would eventually come.", Persius smirked from the passenger seat.

Dylan, who's driving, scoffed at us.

"Where are we going though?", I asked. Still kind of worried for sneaking out this late.

"Is the princess scared?" Jake mocked, "Don't worry, you have your 3 musketeers to protect you."

I rolled my eyes; I honestly don't know how I'm going to keep up with Jake's humor.

"Just a place we used to go when we were little to escape life." Dylan replied to my question.

"Let's make the road trip fun." Jake suggested and blasted rap songs.

In my opinion, I'm not much of a fan of rap, but it goes with the moment right now.

I took a deep breath, I shall put a pin on Madi but right now, I have these goofballs belting out the wrong lyrics. I smiled at them and hoped they never grow up.

Suddenly, eyes felt droopy and I stifled a yawn. With my mind at peace, I can finally relax and enter the world of dreams with rap music in the background. I can forget about Madi, about my feelings, about everything and just exhale.

I don't know how long I slept but when I woke up, we were surrounded with trees and a lake. The car was empty but the doors were open. I sat back up, hand on my neck trying to relieve the pain. I got out of the car and saw the boys sitting on the bank skipping stones.

The air surrounding me felt fresh with the wind rusting the trees. I walked towards them quietly, scared to intervene the peace built around them. The crunching sound of gravel beneath my feet gave away my presence but the boys didn't bother look back.

"It is so peaceful isn't it?" Dylan sighed as he stared at the view, "This is our place to escape."

We all sat on the ground, just admiring the view. There is something beautiful in the silence when you're with people who you're comfortable with. And it lingers for a while, especially in the end, when you look at them and realize how much you love them.

There wasn't any talking the whole time. We just sat, basking in each other's presence. There were a few tear too, mostly by me, screams by Persius, skipping rocks angrily by Dylan. That moment was needed to just let go.

"That felt good.", Persius replied, as he stretched his arms.

"Skye, do you want to talk about your baggage?", Jack asked quietly.

"I looked at him in astonishment and replied, "That's okay, I felt better after crying."

"Have you?", Jack stared at me as if he was trying to know what was on my mind.

I do want to talk, don't get me wrong. The crying only made me feel worse, but I felt ashamed enough to be crying in front of people let alone talking about my jealousy.

Persius looked at me and giving me a space to talk. He knew I was clearly bothered by my problems

"Our secrets stays here.", said Persius, crossing his heart.

I looked at Jack for reassurance. He nodded while crossing his heart. Dylan stopped skipping rocks and turned towards me with his hearts crossed. They make me feel safe.

I took a deep breath and said, "It's just about me feelings. It's stupid."

"If the problem made you feel worse, it's not stupid.", Dylan stated.

"I'm just ashamed that I feel a bit jealous and suspicious.", I mutters and looked down.

I lay down on the ground, looking at the cloudy dark sky and the rest followed.

"I want to stargaze in the outskirts of this city, where it's all peace and quiet and you can clearly see heaven. As one day, the stars would put these city lights in shame.", I blurted out quietly.

Everyone was quiet, waiting for me to spill my feelings and I knew I couldn't back out of it anymore.

"Back when we were kids, everyone envied this particular duo. They were inseparable and everyone wanted to be their best friend. They had each other's backs, encouraged one another. Their bond seemed as though God originally created them as sisters but mistakenly gave them different mothers." I started.

"One day, at summer camp, they had a big fight and no one knew why. Everyone tried to get them to make up, but they wouldn't budge. Everyone tried to poke their nose into it, but that made Tasha snapped. We all thought to give them a day to cool off and they would be friends again, but the next day, both viewed each other as enemies. Since that day onwards, they hated each other. And now", I couldn't ever hear myself finish it.

"And now, they are friendlier to each other and you're scared because she might dump you for her ex inseparable old friend.", Dylan pointed out something I left open in the air.

"Yah.", I sighed, trying to hold back tears.

"You want to be happy for Madi who's maybe patching up with her long-lost bestie but in your mind you want to know what game Tasha's playing. Of course, you can't tell that to Madi otherwise she will freak out so you swallow your feelings and thoughts, just so Madi can be comfortable.", Dylan said, as a matter of fact.

My jaw dropped. How does he know this much? Can he read minds or am I too vulnerable and wear my heart on my sleeves?

"I know darling, I know.", Dylan drawled.

"He is really good with understanding feelings and silences." Persius explained, "It's creepy yet beautiful."

"I don't know what to do. Could you help me Dylan?", I asked.

"Could you say it louder? I don't think I heard you over your sorrows.", Dylan said, cupping his ears.

I looked at him and started to hit him on his arm, everyone laughed.

"Okay, okay. I will help." Dylan said, rubbing his arm from the pain. "Jeez, you didn't have to hit me so hard for that."

"At least, I got your attention.", I said innocently.

"If you wanted my attention so bad, you could have just said so.", Dylan smirked, as he tried to put an arm around me. I smacked his arm away and he just laughed.

"The only solution to this problem is to talk to her.", Dylan said easily.

"You know that could go wrong in many ways.", I muttered.

"But if she's your real friend, she won't ever leave you.", Dylan reassured.

"Why does it have to be talking?" I said annoyedly, "I hate confrontations."

"Persius is afraid of that too." Dylan laughed." He always make us run around the bush that never has a point."

"I know it's scary in that moment, but think no bond could run deeper than emotions.", Persius stated.

"Hey, it's all quiet here. Where is Jack?", I asked after a while, looking around and found him sleeping leaning on the tires of the car.

"For the first time, he didn't pass out because of alcohol.", Persius replied.

"It's getting late, we've got school tomorrow." Dylan ushered us while Persius carried Jack into the car.

Back home, I thought a lot about friendship. You never know when it happens, whether by being there for a stranger or hating the same person or by hellos. Because, when the right friendship starts, no matter what obstacle it faces, there is still a long way to go. And the best friendships happen unexpectedly.