Currents

Eight ~ Vodka

Eight ~ Vodka

At least Mia liked me. In fact, she liked me enough to extend an invitation to meet her friendship group, and it relieved me to discover they were more similar to her than Brent.

"Yo, Mia Tortilla! What took you bitches so long?"

We'd barely set foot on the beach when, out of the dusk light, a tall guy bounded towards us. Mia managed to murmur a name to me—which I missed due to its hurried delivery—before the boy swept her into a hug, liquid sloshing out of the can in his right hand as he planted a rough kiss to her cheek.

I smiled at their apparent bond, but no more than three seconds later, he'd knocked Mia to one side and focused his eyes on me.

"Rosie, right?"

"Rosalie."

"Nice to meet you, Rosie." He bent to press a kiss to each cheek. "I'm Austin."

"How come I only got one kiss?" Mia pouted, gazing up at Austin with a playful sulk on her face.

"'Cause that's how they do things in Britain, Torts." He shrugged, then took a swig from the can.

"Favouritism." She smirked. "Or opportunism, whichever way you wanna look at it."

"Hey," he said, holding his hands in the air. I stepped to the side, away from the elevated can. "I know we've got this undeniable sexual chemistry between us, but I've given you plenty of opportunities to address it and you insist on turning me down for some inexplicable reason."

I watched the exchange with amusement. They seemed close, yet it appeared nothing had happened between them. How could so few young people live in such a small town without anything sexual occurring? I struggled to think of two single friends in my own social circle who hadn't hooked up at some point.

Mia led me down the beach and, as we neared the rest of her friends, eyes turned to land on us. After introducing me, she reeled off everyone else's names. I'd normally relish being the centre of attention, but here I felt self-conscious, desperate for them to like me. Desperate to turn this summer around.

At the far side of the group stood Brent. We made awkward eye contact before he looked away and lifted his can of Diet Coke to his lips. Perhaps this would be even more uncomfortable than I first feared. If so, I needed alcohol in my system.

As Mia sorted me out with a drink, the boy beside me offered a friendly smile and repeated his name as Tariq.

"How are you liking Camberley?" he asked.

I paused before answering. These people lived here, and I didn't want to insult their hometown. Besides, there was nothing specifically wrong with Camberley—it was a beautiful place—but it lacked a lot of what I was used to.

"It's lovely," I said. "Just quite different to London."

Austin joined the circle, swinging his arm around Mia's shoulder. "You're polite. It's boring as fuck here."

"Are you calling us boring company?" Mia challenged him, tilting her head upwards to capture his reaction.

Her friend grinned, squeezing her shoulder. "Not at all. You lot are the only things that keep me sane. Of course, there are always ways you could be more fun, Mia Tortilla..."

The lads chuckled, but Mia rolled her eyes and ducked out from under Austin's arm. "You're a pig," she said. "And you're not making a good impression on our new friend."

"I can only be myself." Austin shrugged. "What's the point in being someone I'm not? She's gonna find out what we're all really like at some stage, isn't that right, Rosie?"