Drowning til I can breathe again

01 • New York & Brunch

A couple weeks before the incident.

NYU, a college for lovers of most of New York's scenery, multicultural environment, vibrant energy and the festivals/events that come with it is where 6 competitive friends intended to stay. All friends from a similar background, including me (Michael) coincidentally chose the college of our dreams to start off their future, a path that was abruptly interrupted today- December 15th, the start of winter break.
"So are you sure your parents are going to let us use their beach house Gianna?" Chris asked, checking his reflection on his phone as we held onto our suitcases in the frosty winter weather. We impatiently waited outside for the ride to come pick us up.
See, Gianna's father didn't know there was going to be boys and alcohol at the beach house.. things went left.
"Yes chris, if you must know they will. Don't stress about it." Gianna replied in annoyance.
"Hey, hey, hey relax shorty. I'm just making sure because last time you said we could do something at your parents place- they called the cops." Chris said defensively, putting one hand in the air as his eyes still stayed glued to his phone.
"Oh yeah i remember that." i chimed in as i bursted out laughing.
Gianna rolled her eyes, standing there with her arms crossed before she unexpectedly grabbing his phone out of his hand. She waved it around just to annoy him.
laughter abruptedvas he licked his lips and smiled sarcastically.
"Give me my phone back Gianna, im not playing."
And just like that, their weekly bickering finally began.

"Here y'all go again." said destiny as she clung onto me. It was like she was afraid of the cold. I chuckled lightly as she shivered dramatically, only because she wanted me to pull her closer. Maybe it was because i was the only one smart enough to wear a thick jacket in the winter or maybe it was because she was tired of playing games with me.
"Whens your dads damn limo picking us up?" Destiny asked impatiently. Was it normal that we used limos instead of taxis?
"When it comes it'll come des! Nobody told you not to wear a jacket." shouted Gianna in between her continuous argument with chris.
"New York fashion ain't the same as the fashion in florida, alright?"
"You're not wearing one yourself!" Destiny continued, waving her off. She looked up at me and smiled.
"Thanks for keeping me warm." She said and i smiled back giving her an awkward head nod. Really dude? A nod? I quickly avoided another awkward encounter by turning to Jax the one who referred to himself as the "lone wolf."
I tapped on his shoulder several times before he pointed to his headphones and smiled. It was obviously sarcasm.
He warned us before not to talk to him when he's listening to music, but we still did it anyway.
I continued to tap on his shoulder until he couldn't resist the temptation to take them off.
He sucked his teeth and turned around.
"What do you want Michael?" It was purely irritation, which i found humorous.
"Where's camari?"
He looked at destiny and then at me smirking as he saw her holding onto me, closely.
"You seriously made me stop my music because you can't find your girl? You always seem to know where she is bud."
Nice one jackass. He knew I had feelings for Destiny for a while now, she knew as well but it was strange saying it aloud.
Destiny looked at me uncomfortably, maybe she thought it was true- that camari was my girl and that made me uncomfortable as well. Sure.. camari was beautiful, smart and a close friend of mine but i think i'll stick to one girl in the group at a time.
I scratched the back of my head and continued with the conversation. "shut up man. You're always chatting.. Anyway, do you know or not?"
His smile grew wide "Yeah, she said she went to get her- nevermind she's back." He pointed to her as she walked down the stairs of the main building.
Gianna and Chris immediately stopped arguing when they saw camari glance over to them. She was like the "leader" of our dysfunctional group, being the only one with common sense most of the time. She has been since we first started hanging out in primary school.
"Were you guys arguing again?" she asked as she walked over to gianna and chris. Gianna still had chris's phone in her hand and chris apparently had her bag over his shoulder. I mean, it was pretty obvious.
"I thought you were supposed to be the smart one." Chris said, holding giannas bag in the palm of his hand as he put his hand on his hip and posed.
"Now, when's this damn limo gonna come?"He said, imitating what i'd assume to be a girl.
"Chris you're just different." Destiny said, laughing with her head buried in
my chest. The heat from her laughter, to my chest brought an unexpected smile to my face. Chris looked at her and playfully rolled his eyes.
"Just because i'm asian doesn't mean i'm the smartest." she replied, copying his pose more dramatically. We all watched in amusement as they stood there like sculptures that were horribly sculpted.
Chris began to stumble as giannas bag became too heavy for him to carry.
"What's in here.." Chris asked as he caught his balance and attempted to look in her bag. He was honestly asking for gianna to go off on him.
"Chris give it back, that's dolce and gabbana!" she yelled in horror. Her voice brought unwanted attention to us.
We all laughed as Gianna attempted to swing at him, chasing him around like they were playing tag... Now this is when we pretend not to know them.
"And these are Jordan 11's. Scuff em and i'll step on your 'dolce and gabbana' i promise." She knew he'd do it so she backed up.
We waited only a few more minutes until the limo came, swerving around the corner as if it were uncontrollable. We all looked at each other and then at Gianna, hoping this isn't the guy her father hired to drive us for an hour and change.
He looked too old to be driving, period.
Gianna smiled nervously and went towards his window, adjusting her hair and holding her bag in one hand as she cleared her throat to speak.
"Err- Gianna Petrov?" He asked very sternly. He looked at the rest of us as we stared at G.
She quickly frowned and nodded. Showing him her I.D.
The driver got out slowly and held the door open, Destiny rushed in before everyone, making the limo rock as she jumped in. "Careful kid! I don't want a mess in here." The driver said in annoyance.
"So much for a rocky start." Camari said, following after Destiny.
"You're deadass corny." Michael said as he waited for Gianna to get in after directing him on how to carry her luggage.
"Aren't you supposed to be destroying your eardrums ?" i asked as i noticed he could actually hear us. But he just ignored me and chuckled as he got in.
"Aren't you supposed to be cuddled up with camari right about now?" he made a few kissing sounds and laughed.
I chose to ignore him on that one.
-
We arrived around 9 in the morning to the petrov mansion, aka Gianna's house. She wasn't the only wealthy one though; all of our parents were successful for something, hence why i said we all came from similar backgrounds. Gianna's father is the owner of several real estate agencies in major parts of New York along with many other things, while her mother is the main CEO of google, which means they make more than your average person per year. But to be completely honest her house was the largest and most beautiful compared to the rest of ours, it was well built in the center of the hills. The platinum front gates opened up slowly as gianna waved to the security camera smiling harder than a kid at a candy store. We drove past the gates and into the center of the victorian mansion. We all looked at the towering figure with admiration.
"Your house gets even more beautiful everytime we come here." Camari said as she stared out the window.
"It always looks good, doesn't it!." she replied almost arrogantly. She got like that when she knew what the person was saying was true.
Okay so i know i said we were going to Orlando Florida but since it was Giannas beach house and we wouldn't be back until christmas eve we had to come to her main house where all of our parents waited for a "Family Brunch."
"We're here!" Gianna exclaimed as the driver pulled up to the large front doors. We all winced from the high pitch in her voice.
"No shit sherlock. We kind of noticed when the front gates opened for us." Jax said as he put his headphones around his neck. It was hard to avoid laughing at his stupid remarks.
"She's just excited to be home Jax." Camari said defensively. Gianna smiled and put her arm over camaris shoulder. They constantly did that for each other
"At Least someone gets it." she replied, batting her eyelashes at michael.