.₊꒰ 🪓 ꒱:⩩┆( 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙬𝙣 )⊹.*
𝐹𝑂𝑈𝑅. ☠︎︎ 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙭
⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━━━━━━━ 𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑶𝑩𝑺𝑬𝑹𝑽𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑳𝑶𝑫𝑮𝑬 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑳𝑬𝑻𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑹𝒀𝑶𝑵𝑬 𝑰𝑵, 𝑴𝑨𝑹𝑳𝑶𝑾𝑬 𝑯𝑨𝑻𝑬𝑫 𝑰𝑻 𝑨𝑳𝑳. She hated it from the family photos to the feeling of being unwelcome. Particles of dust roamed through the air, causing the lodge's aroma to be dirty. Removing her jacket, Marlowe draped it over her forearm, too lazy to put it in the bag that she had left by the door. She would probably need it later on, and carrying it was less of a hassle. One more glance at the door, and she sighed. Emily still wasn't here. Neither was Mike and Jess. She was sure something went down.
"Home sweet home," Josh announced to the group, spreading his arms out wide as part of the presentation.
"Sweet is not the word I'd use," Matt grumbled as he eyed off the room that was mostly decorated with cool tones, placing down both his and Emily's luggage.
Marlowe assumed that most of the bags that Matt had been carrying were Emily's. But, she couldn't shake off the thoughts that were bugging her about what happened. She was sure she'd find out sooner or later.
"Oh, my gosh. It's SO good to be inside. Even if it's still kind of freezing in here," Ashley spoke up, her voice poised with excitement as she rubbed her hands together to create friction despite her fingerless gloves. Marlowe's eyes rolled as she looked over at her backpack, longing for her headphones. But, she supposed she would look semi-rude if she ignored them all.
Taking a seat on one of the sofas, Marlowe laid her jacket over her knees, "this place barely looks any different."
"Yeah... nobody's been up here," Josh responded, busy observing the fireplace only to see there was no firewood in the vicinity. Marlowe brushed some of the dust particles that fell against her striped sweater, observing the ornament that floated above the group. Anytime that she looked at it, it gave her chills. There was something... odd about it. She couldn't quite explain it. Maybe she was paranoid, or maybe she just found it hideous.
"Even with all of the police coming in and out?" Ashley questioned, responding to Josh as her eyes took in every inch of the lodge.
"Not a lot of action up here lately," Chris mumbled as he stuck by Ashley's side.
Even before the prank a year ago, Marlowe had felt a strong dislike toward the redhead. Nobody knew why. If she remembered correctly, it was over some stupid argument. She couldn't remember what it was about, but her brain had at least remembered the hatred that was deserved. If Marlowe couldn't remember it, she was sure she could run to Emily to ask. They told each other everything. But, Marlowe did have a habit of hiding secrets regarding Emily's ex, Mike Munroe.
She hated to admit it, but then again, it was nothing more, nothing less. A small crush was all it was, at least Marlowe had convinced her that that was all it was. She would get over it sooner or later. But there was always something about Mike whenever he looked at her. It wasn't normal, and it continued to reel her. She just wished that he would tell her the words that were hiding behind his eyes.
Speak of the devil, and he shall arrive. Mike wandered through the door, arms raised like a kind, while Jessica followed closely behind with a bright smile on her face. "What's up, party people!" Mike announced, his usual cocky smile plastered on his face.
Jealousy. Marlowe could feel it bubbling inside, and she forced herself to look away from the pair.
"Heeey!" Jessica waved, hips swaying as she walked into the main room.A long pause followed between the group. Marlowe's eyes wandered toward Matt, whose jaw clenched. His aura was tense, angry even. She sighed, already knowing what would probably unfold.
"Make yourself at home, bro." Josh greeted the two, gesturing to the others.
"Will do."
Mike pointed at him with finger guns before laying his eyes on Marlowe. A small wave followed by a small smile. And there was still that look in his eyes. It bothered her, but she raised her hand and waved once before setting it back in her lap.
"Yeah. Come on in." Matt stood from his seat on the sofa. He started to walk toward Mike, completely hostile. Marlowe shook her head. Boys. "Take a load off. Have whatever you want. You just take whatever you want anyways, right?"
"That's enough, Matt," Marlowe attempted to intervene. She was ignored.
Confusion was apparent on Mike's face. He had absolutely no clue what he had done. He raised his arms in defense, taking a small step back from the hostile situation. "Woah, easy there cowboy."
"What the hell were you doing with Em out on the trail, huh?" Matt questioned. He stepped forward into the step that Mike had taken back.
"What?"
"I saw you and Em. Through the telescope."
Marlowe slapped her hand to her forehead before rubbing her face. That girl Em... boy, could she be a pain in the ass. However, there was nothing wrong if it was a simple hello. Then again... she didn't have the entire story. It was possible that something else may have gone down.
"Before? We just ran into each other. It's been a while so we hugged and I said hello. Is that against the law?" Mike defended himself, watching closely as Matt began to back down.
"Right... yeah..." He rubbed the back of his neck, stepping away from Mike as an awkward silence fell among the group. They had certainly made things quite awkward. "Duh. Sorry, it's just been kind of a long day. I overreacted."
Mike understood and nodded his head, "Nah, man. Don't even worry 'bout it."
"We cool?"
"Yeah. Yeah, totally." Mike nodded.
Just as Marlowe had shifted her eyes from the two boys, her eyes landed on Emily as she walked through the doorway. There was no hesitation in tossing her jacket to the couch as she ran to Em, her arms wrapping tightly around the girl's designer jacket.
"It's so good to see you, Lo," Emily sighed into Marlowe's shoulder, spinning the shorter girl around for a brief moment. It had only been a week since they had last seen each other, but the bond between them would never change... or at least Marlowe hoped it wouldn't with the secrets she had been keeping from her. As long as they remained hidden, everything would be okay.
Emily pulled from the hug and grimaced at the sight of Mike and Jessica making out on the sofa where Marlowe had just been, her jacket situated beneath Jessica's rear. "Oh, my god. That is so gross."
"Em-" Marlowe began, stretching her arm out to prevent Emily from pursuing further. Maybe the group's return to the lodge was never going to work out.
"Seriously... can she be any more obvious?" Emily's laugh filled the air, poisoned with venom. "No one wants in on your territory, honey."
Since Mike had dumped Emily, later moving on to Jessica, the trio between Mike, Emily, and Marlowe had split. Although, Marlowe had chosen to remain best friends with Emily while still remaining close friends with Jessica. She managed to find the balance with the occasional snarky comment from either of them about the other.
If Marlowe thought that Matt and Mike's argument was bad enough, she stood by the doorway running her hands over her face as she prepared for another argument. She was almost a hundred percent positive that this one would be worse.
"Excuse me, did you say something?" Jessica moved away from Mike, standing up to move closer to Emily. Mike simply sat back on the sofa, watching as his ex and his current girlfriend argued. He pinched the bridge of his nose, having a feeling that this would have happened sooner or later.
"Oh, did you not hear me? Or was your sluttiness too loud?"
"Sounds like someone's bitter she didn't make the cut." Jess fired.
Emily's eyes rolled at the comment, "yeah. It's all a big cattle call with that dreamboat. Congrats, you're top cow."
"Cut's real deep calling Miss Homecoming a cow." Jessica faked her hurt, frowning mockingly as she made her way to stand in Emily's face.
Matt quickly attempted to diffuse the situation, something he had gotten used to as though it was part of the package of being Emily's boyfriend, "Em, come on-"
"No. Shut up, Matt."
"Yeah, stay out of it, you dumb oaf," Jess pointed at Matt.
The boy stepped back and looked at the floorboards, staying somewhat close to Emily. Marlowe couldn't help but feel for him. He was so used to getting treated like shit, and yet he still stayed by her side. In a way, so did she.
"Hey, watch it!" Emily warned.
"Oh, so you're the only one who can put him down? No one else can play with your toys-"
"STOP! Just fucking stop already!" Marlowe erupted, her chest rising and falling. The entirety of the group now had their eyes on her. The girl obsessed with 60s music and dressing like she was in the 80s was usually calm, and not once, had any of them seen her so mad. "We didn't come here to fight, okay? We didn't come to call people a cow or put people down for just wanting to calm someone down. We came here for Josh. And Hannah. And Beth. You are all acting like fucking children, but this isn't about you, or me. It's about Josh. So, could you both just quit it and get along for a couple of fucking days? Is that so hard? Or do you need a babysitter?"
Everyone remained silent, watching as breathing slowed and her fists unclenched. Everything about her was tense.
"Lo is right. This is not why we came here. This... This is not what I wanted. If we can't get along for ten minutes then maybe we need a little bit of a break, right? Mike - why don't you check out the guest cabin? The one I told you about." Josh suggested, and Mike accepted.
"Yeah. Yeah, alright," he stood from the sofa, facing Jessica, "want to go do that?"
"Any place without that whore."
"It's right up the trail." Josh reminded the couple, watching as they walked out of the lodge holding hands.
Matt sighed, "phew. Glad that's over."
"Where's my bag?" Emily immediately began to heat up again, turning to Matt who was yet again confused. "My bag! The... the little bag with the pink pattern! The one I got on Rodeo! MATT. I need my BAG."
"Oh, my god, Em. Maybe you just forgot it-"
"Do you seriously think I'd forget my bag? Even Marlowe knows I would never leave that bag behind, Matt. You must have left it down by the cable car station," Emily insisted while Matt grunted, not really wishing to have to walk all the way back the way they had come. "Come on, hun. We'll be back soon."
"And then we can get warm?" Matt asked.
Emily placed a finger on his chest and smile seductively, "very warm."
Marlowe paused, her face pulling back in disgust before making sounds of fake barfing. Emily stuck her tongue out at her before wandering out of the lodge alongside Matt.
Well, that was quite the awful start.
⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━ '' - «🕸»‧₊˚𓍯 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚
╰┈➤ this chapters a lil bit boring imo. BUT NEXT CHAPTER IS FINALLY WHEN THE DRAMA ACTUALLY STARTS IM SO EXCITED. i finally get to kill people off without mercy past this point.