Diary of a teenage b**** | ✔

Thirty

The night was illuminated by the stars and the moon, and the city lights in the near distance painting the dark sky like a blank canvas; it was a sight for sore eyes

''Wow'' Susan said voicing my thoughts exactly, making the three hour hike to the top of the mountain all that much more worth it

Keegan wasted no time and threw blankets onto the ground, dropping down knees first in a very ungraceful manner onto the spread out material, Wren followed next and then Luke.

Tully came to my side, wrapping her left arm around my shoulder, rocking both me and her side to side, nearly knocking me off balance, whilst humming some incoherent song that only she might have known the lyrics to

''You okay?'' she suddenly asked, genuine concern lilting her voice

I turned to her, discombobulated at her obvious concern

''Yeah, why?'' I asked

''You've just been quiet tonight'' she murmured looping her other arm around me, so that she could squeeze me with all her might, I barely noticed that I was being squeezed to death, as I was now distracted by the fact that I hadn't even been aware that I appeared to be quiet this evening

And it wasn't as if I had anything to be quiet about, I assumed I was just being normal, which was precisely why this was news to my ears

''Yeah, I'm totally fine'' I answered by way of assurance, flashing her a crooked smile

She dropped her arms from around me, only to nudge me, silently prodding me for information that I didn't think I had

''You sure?'' she asked, double checking to be thorough

''sure as I'll ever be'' I said nodding enthusiastically, hoping my frantic nodding would serve as the assurance Tully so desperately needed, - which had fortunately turned out to be adequate for the task of assuring Tully, because she dropped it straight after that, just nudging me one more time, before making her way to the blankets

I took in my surroundings, including everyone sprawled out on the blankets, phone flashlights had been turned on so that they could open the mini bar/backpack Uriah had deemed a necessity when going on a late afternoon to night hike

Luke was looking at me, and I feared that if I were going to stand on my own for much longer, Luke might feel compelled to join me, and that was attention I didn't need, so I made my way to everyone hastily

I felt Luke's eyes follow me, and once he saw that I was approaching everyone he cleared a space for me, to sit in-between his legs

The irony

I didn't want to sit by him right now, not when Wren was here, so I pretended not to notice his evident attempt at getting me to sit by him, and instead went to go sit next to a safer bet; Susan, making sure to avoid everyone's gazes, mostly Keegan, afraid of what I'd see there

''By the time you get that open, everyone would have already died of thirst'' Keegan remarked sarcastically on Uriah's inability to get a bottle of vodka open after at least 5 minutes of constant struggling on his end

Luke held out his hand mid-air to Uriah offering help with the bottle

''I got this'' Uriah said to him, holding the bottle tighter to his side, as if he were afraid someone might take it from him

''I know you got it, but just let me help'' Luke added, a light smile playing at his lips

''Hey, leave this to me, shouldn't you be focusing on your matching bikinis for the swim team?'' Uriah asked impertinently