The music club's pianist and drummer continued to lie with one another in peace. That was until a loud call of disapproval from the pianist's stepsister echoed through the air, causing a disturbance.
"Jake! No! You are not doing that!" Hailey scolded, the sudden volume causing Zander to sit up.
"The simp isn't doing what?" he asked, softly rubbing one of his eyes, them having gotten used to being closed.
Hands to her hips, rolling her eyes, Hailey complained, "Jake's sticking to his wanting to swim in the lake thing."
Lightly grimacing at Zander, Jake spoke, "You know, I'm not sure if I like how you're just starting to call me a simp in substitute of my actual name."
"Hush, simp," Zander yawned, hand drawing from his eye to over his mouth. Jake let out a few discontented grumbles at Zander's comment, making the purple-haired boy feel guilty. "Okay, sorry," Zander meekly apologised, "But you're joking, right? You're not actually gonna try to swim in the lake."
A confused look taking the singer's face, Jake cocked his head, "What do you mean? I'm not joking."
"You don't even have a swimsuit!" Zander exclaimed, throwing his arm out to gesture at the boy's clothes.
"So? I can get my clothes wet."
A look taking the club's guitarist, Milly pumped her fists up into the air, excited, "I want to swim in the lake too!"
Hailey, drawing her hand to her temple, disappointed, groaned, "Oh, great. The movement is spreading."
Sean, who had been relatively silent for the time being, was now looking at his phone, and began to speak, "Okay, Jake and Milly. I don't think you realize how bad of an idea this is. It's fifty-eight degrees out right now," looking down to the two teenagers' outfits he then added on, "Plus you don't have a change of clothes with you right now. You're going to be wet the entire hike back."
Stumbling and leaning down to take off her shoes, Milly simply shrugged, "Eh, who cares? That's a future me problem."
"Yeah, and this is a sunny area. The water will feel warmer than that," Jake justified, adding on to his friend's claim.
Zander -- who had been searching through his phone -- got up beside Luke and started walking towards Jake. "Okay, Jake, this is an objectively bad idea," gesturing down to his phone, Zander explained, "I looked it up, and I'm pretty sure being in water this cold for an extended period of time can result in cold shock and hypothermia."
"Aw. It almost sounds like you care about me," Jake cooed.
Taken aback by the sudden shift in tone, Zander confusedly asked, "What?"
Taking his hand on its side, and next to his mouth to increase his volume, Jake started to shout, "Guys! Zander cares about me!"
Feeling his cheeks heat up, Zander yelled, "What?! No! Just-" Zander then started to sputter, being at a loss for words.
Taking advantage of Zander's lack of speech, Jake continued to tease, "But seriously, it is nice to hear you care about me this much."
Voice cracking, Zander harshly growled, "Shut. Up."
Hand pointing up, forming a small finger gun, Jake joked, "Hey, you are also technically single right now, right?"
Face further heating up from embarrassment, Zander grumbled, not taking much humor, "That's it! You know what? Go into cold shock. I don't care!"
Zander then turned around, storming off back to Luke, Hailey then followed, taking his place next to Jake.
Gaze trailing to Zander, and then smirkingly turning to Jake, Hailey pointed out, "You realize Luke and Zander have been 'single' for just about an hour now, and you've already flirted with both of them."
Jake began to chuckle at himself, "Yeah, I guess I kind of have," turning a head to Hailey, Jake then asked, "So are you really not gonna try to stop us?"
Letting out a long and deep sigh, Hailey shrugged her shoulders, "I'm strongly discouraging you, but it's your guys' funeral."
"Cool, thanks, Hails!" Jake beamed, then running off to Milly, grabbing her arm and running off over to a heightened part near the lake's edge.
Sean, looked over to the teal-haired girl, "Hailey, I thought you were meant to be the responsible one."
"Hey, those two are the ones about to jump into the lake," Hailey eye-rolled.
"Yeah, and you're the one letting them."
"I don't see you doing anything either," Hailey chuckled.
"Hey!" Sean laughed, "That little devil is persistent!"
Jumping up and down, Milly yelled out, "Guys! We're gonna jump in!" then pointing down to the lake.
"Anyone else feel like joining last minute?" Jake asked out to the club.
"No, I think two freezing club members on the walk home will be enough," Hailey laughed.
"Okay, then!" Jake beamed, then turning away.
Hailey couldn't help finding herself, handle to temple, giggling at her friend's ridiculousness, watching the two child-like club members turn, preparing themselves for the water.
~
Encased in a path of tall evergreens, the music club members paced back to their campsite, two specific shivering members trying to hurry everyone along.
"I told you guys it was a bad idea," Hailey sighed to Jake and Milly.
"Well, how were we meant to know it was going to be that cold?!" Jake yelled.
"Um, hello?!" Zander yelled out, "Maybe because I told you temperatures that low can cause literal cold shock?!"
With a smirk, Jake retorted, "Whatever. I still just think that meant that you care about me." Jake's comment only lead Zander to scoff. Rubbing his arms up and down, Jake asked, "Does anyone have a dry jacket they can give me? It's not fair that Milly gets one and I don't."
As soon as Jake and Milly had gone into the water -- and right after came out freezing -- Milly had asked Sean if she could borrow his jacket on the walk back, her wet one only making her colder, and he agreed.
"Against everyone's advice, you choose to go into the freezing body of water. You have to deal with the consequences now, Jake," Hailey proclaimed, her voice emanating a leaderly quality it tended to take on at times, "We don't have any jackets for you."
"You have a jacket," Jake commented, tapping Hailey's shoulder, gesturing to the clothing, "And you're wearing a sweatshirt under it too."
"I'm not giving you my jacket, Jake," Hailey sighed, "I'm smaller than you anyway. It probably wouldn't fit you."
"It looks pretty baggy on you," Jake chuckled.
Turning her head back to the singer, Hailey laughed, "I'm not giving it to you."
"Okay, fine," Jake concurred, holding a light-hearted smile.
As the club continued walking, Hailey found Jake closer to her side, rather than behind. As she gazed over at the oak-eyed boy, she couldn't help but feel like every movement he made just further implied his cold nature.
"Ugh, fine," Hailey suddenly scoffed, "You win. Here," she announced, removing the jacket off her back.
As Jake got handed the jacket Milly laughed, "He didn't even say anything, Hailey! I think he had let it go."
"It was the way he was acting!" Hailey argued, "He felt all guilt-trippy."
"Well, I'm not complaining," Jake smiled, sliding the jacket over his arms, "Thank you, Hailey."
Face slightly grimacing, Zander jumped in, "Can we stop it with this, and just head back to the site?"
"Fine by me," Hailey mumbled.
"Hey, maybe when we get back, while the fire is getting ready, we could try to get a game of cornhole started!" Milly brightly suggested, "Your dad brought the set, right Hailey?"
"Yeah, he did," Hailey answered, "The thing is kinda small and crappy, but a game could be fun."
"Yes!" Milly excitedly exclaimed under her breath.
"Oh yeah. I forgot we had that," Zander mused. Then remembering the game, Zander faltered, "Right, that thing is really crappy. I think we broke one of the legs off of it a couple of years ago when playing. It puts it at a slant."
"Hey, that'll just be a fun additional challenge!" Milly beamed optimistically.
"Well, when we get back I'll go get that from my dad, and you guys can play. I think I'll hang back at the fire though."
"Boo," Milly said, cupping her hand to the side of her mouth for effect, "You should join us! That way we're in even teams of three."
"Hey, if you're just looking for a sixth player I'm sure Bethany would be happy to join."
"Or if you're looking for an even four, I would be happy to sit out," Zander grumbled.
Putting a hand to the purple-eyed boy's shoulder, Luke enjoined sweetly smiling, "Come on, Zander! I think it could be really fun!"
Blushing, Zander leaned against Luke's side, "Fine, I guess I can play."
"So wait, did you two get back together or something?" Milly asked, "Because for two friends you guys seem really close."
"What?! No!" Zander suddenly shot, quickly moving himself off from Luke, "He still has... um..." Zander faltered losing his words, "Ugh! I don't know how much time is left! But we're not together yet!" Feeling embarrassed Zander stormed ahead, so he was far in front of everyone else.
A few chuckles coming from some club members at the incident, no one made a further deal of the incident, and instead, continuing walking back, to the end of their trail.
~
Now back at the campsite, with a lit match, glowing orange with an indigo blue at its core, Hailey set fire to a few pyramid-laid logs that she had bought just earlier that day. Through the fire, on her opposing side, she saw Jake, who had been staying back, watching her build the fire as everyone else got cornhole set up.
"Jake! We're dividing into teams!" Milly yelled out so Jake, on the opposite side of the site, could hear, "Do you wanna come over?"
"Oh, um, I'm good!" Jake stumbled, "I'm fine playing with anyone!"
Hailey looked over to Milly, to see everyone dividing into different teams, Bethany being one of the added players. As soon as she heard about the game she eagerly started following them. The ebony-eyed girl then turned her head back to Jake, ready to make some comment about the game, but it soon slipped from her mind as she noticed what Jake wore.
"Are you still wearing my jacket?" she deadpanned, "I thought you got changed. I assumed you left it behind in our tent."
"Hey, you never asked me to give it back," Jake quipped, slyly pointing a finger, "Plus it's really comfortable."
"If you want a nice jacket then why don't you wear your precious thrifting jacket that you refuse to shut up about?" Hailey teased.
"Well, I didn't bring that. I didn't want it to get dirty or something," Jake explained, "But I do have something else I can put on if you really want yours back. Plus, I'm dry now, so I'm not nearly as cold."
Hailey wasn't quite sure why, but she ended up feeling apathy towards the jacket, and just shrugged her shoulders, "No, it's fine. You can wear it. It's not like I really need it."
At first, expecting to have to give the jacket back, Jake's surprise delayed his response, but once he caught up, he brightly smiled, "Thanks, Hailey!"
Feeling embarrassed at making eye contact, Hailey looked to the ground, "No problem."
Using his thumb to point out to the rest of the club, Jake proclaimed, "Hey, uh, I think I'm actually gonna go stand out there. Imagine picking teams can't take too long."
"Cool, I hope you guys have fun," Hailey wished with a smile.
"It's still not too late if you wanna join."
"Oh..." Hailey uttered, looking out at the game, "Um, well, Bethany is playing now, and I don't want to be the one to make things unfair by one team having an extra player."
Taking a few seconds, Jake seemingly contemplated arguing back, but he just agreed, "Okay. Make sure to root for me," he smirked, shooting a small finger gun.
Hailey lightly laughed as Jake walked off to the game, leaving her behind with the flickering flames before her.
~
Okay- it's been a bit. I already talked about this in the small announcement I made, but if I had known I would've been taking this long of a break, I would've made a whole announcement chapter to make it clear rather than just briefly mentioning it in the last A/N. But I'm back now :D And I don't plan on taking another almost two months to upload the next chapter lol
But I do think the break, even though it may have been annoying, was good in the long run for this story. I was just really starting to dislike writing it, but now I have motivation and inspiration for it :> Plus, also having Realities to work on is nice, so that will be a good balance. But because I do have the two stories I'm working on, uploads may not be super frequent here still (not that they were that frequent even before the break -_-)
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed :D