Loving Alice

2.3: Blair's POV

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The sun had started to set and nearly half of the contents of the coolers had been emptied, opened, and drank. Callie and John had settled into lawn chairs in the corner while Ally and Suzie talked to them from inside the pool, cuddled up onto one of the floaties. Mike and Bonnie had been talking pretty much all night and Sarah had left an hour or so ago claiming she was "too old and too tired" to keep partying. Alice and I had settled onto the colorful unicorn some time after she had left, joining in on the conversations around us every so often. In this moment, looking up at the faded sky of purple and red, I felt at home. As I broke my gaze and looked around at the faces of all of my closest friends that had become my family over the years I couldn't help but feel a strong desire to cancel the tour and just stay here. I shook my head trying to clear the thoughts but the alcohol infused paranoia already had my head spinning.

"The fireworks should start soon, I think we'll be able to see them from here." Alice whispered in my ear, her arms still wrapped tightly around me

I smiled slightly taking her hand in mine "I'm excited, I love fireworks."

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" Alice asked playing with a loose strand of my hair

I rolled my eyes, it's like she can read my mind sometimes "I'm just sad to be leaving for the whole summer, I'm gonna miss everyone."

"Don't worry too much baby, just try to enjoy tonight and we'll worry about everything else tomorrow." She said as her grip tightened around me

Just as she finished her sentence a loud boom gained everyone's attention as we all looked over watching blue and green explode in the night sky.

"Happy Fourth of fucking July!" Mike screamed before throwing Bonnie over his shoulder much to her dismay

She started laughing and hitting his back but it was far too late as he jumped in the pool taking her with him. The water rippled with slight waves as the splash from their entry soaked everyone within five feet of the pool causing everyone to start yelling.

"What the fuck Mike!" Callie half yelled between laughter as she wiped her face

He had emerged with a toothy grin looking over at Callie but before he even had the chance to respond, Bonnie sneak attacked him from behind dunking him under the water once again.

Callie burst out laughing as he came back up "Pay backs a bitch, you get him Bonnie!"

Bonnie grinned at him and he just rolled his eyes before splashing her causing them to get into a full out water war. Alice and I cuddled up closer turning our attention back to the beautiful scene of fireworks on full display in the sky. Once the fireworks were over and everyone had changed into warmer clothes we gathered around the fire pit in order to make s'mores. The boys had wasted no time and had already made enough s'mores for everyone else before making their own.

"Bro what the fuck, your marshmallow looks like fucking charcoal." John laughed looking over at Mike whose marshmallow quite literally had been burnt to a crisp

Mike rolled his eyes sliding it between two graham crackers a piece of chocolate "I like them like this thank you very much."

"Someone's defensive." Bonnie joked nudging his shoulder slightly causing him to blush

John laughed and sat down next to Callie "Damn if I didn't know any better I'd think you two were dating."

Mike sent him a look but Bonnie replied before he could say anything "Were not but I think he's pretty great, minus the whole liking burnt marshmallows thing."

"Yeah that would be deal breaker for me too." Callie teased causing Mike's face to flush even more than it already had

"Damn Mike you were so close, who knew marshmallows would be your downfall." Ally laughed

Mike rolled his eyes "You guys suck."

"You know that's a lie, you love us." Suzie grinned

We spent the next hour talking and laughing until everyone started to head out. Luckily Callie and Ally were sober so they had agreed to give everyone else a ride home.

As everyone was getting ready to go I went over to Callie and pulled her into a tight hug "I'm gonna miss you so much."

She hugged back tightly, seeming just as sad as I was that this would be the last time we'd see each other before I left for tour "I'm gonna miss you too, who the hell am I supposed to annoy while you're gone?"

"I mean you were doing a pretty good job at annoying Mike." I chuckled as we both pulled back smiling at eachother

She rolled her eyes "Yeah but it's not the same, I'm really going to miss you Blair."

"Hey it'll be okay, I promise I'll call you all the time and you'll be the first person I see when I get back." I said hoping to cheer her up even a little

She smiled slightly "You promise?"

"I promise." I laughed as John came over wrapping his arm around Callie

"Unfortunately if we don't leave in the next five minutes I think Suzie's mom is going to have a conniption." John stated seeming irritated by our drunk friends he had been trying to wrangle for the past ten minutes

Alice and I quickly helped them get everyone around and I received more hugs than I think I've ever gotten from my friends in a lifetime by the time everyone was loaded up into the cars. Once they had pulled away I couldn't help but acknowledge the feeling in the pit of my stomach that had been there since I realized we were a week from leaving. I had tried not to show it considering that Alice was nervous enough already.

"You okay baby?" Alice asked wrapping her arms around me from behind

I nodded smiling weakly "I will be."

I knew it would nearly kill me to be away from almost everyone and everything I've come to know and love for the rest of the summer. Knowing that I'd have Alice was the only thing holding me together. We had everything packed and ready to go in the car so we'd have no problem catching our flight tomorrow at ten. We'd be flying into the city and only have a few hours to get settled into the hotel before the big reveal tomorrow night. My manager, Taylor Guild, has been contacting me about it relentlessly and would be meeting us as soon as we got off the plane to run through everything one last time. I had never met her but I could already tell she was almost as anal as I was about planning considering how many times we had run through everything. The reveal is taking place at BookCon and Taylor had it taking place in the biggest meeting hall of the convention. It would be streamed online to millions and the realization of that hadn't fully hit me until now. Tomorrow was going to change everything and that terrified me more than it ever had before.