Ophelia woke everyone up at 10 am the next morning, after being awake herself since 8 am. She hadn't slept much, having had trouble falling asleep, but that wasn't exactly out of the usual for her. The sun was shining and the temperature outside was exceptionally hot, so she knew that it was the perfect day for them to go down to the lake. There was some grumbles of discontent as she nearly dragged them from their beds, but no one protested too hard.

Ophelia forced everyone to eat cereal or at least a piece of toast before they started their day. While sitting around the dining table, half asleep, they could hear Tyler emerge from his room and go to the bathroom. Afterwards, he went back to his room and closed the door once more.

"Anybody have the wifi password?" Nadia questioned, scrolling futilely through her phone. They didn't get any service up in the mountains, so without wifi she'd have no way to stay in touch with anyone.

"Oh yeah, I meant to ask yesterday." Ophelia nodded, pulling her own phone out and opening up to the settings. There, she found that there wasn't even any options for wifi. She furrowed her brows. "Does this place have wifi?"

"It definitely used to, when we were here in college." Amory noted, pulling his own phone out to check as well. Nothing.

"I told Vallie's father to get rid of it." Tyler entered the dining room and began speaking without any pleasantries. Caspar noted that he too appeared to be sneaky, listening in and moving around quietly. He hadn't even heard him open the bedroom door again. "It's so beautiful up here, we need to be unplugged, you know?"

"That's all very lovely, but what if I get any important e-mail from work or need to reach my family?" Nadia raised her brows.

"Landline." Tyler pointed towards the living room. "Or, if any of you have Verizon for your phone plan, you'll get service out here." They all shook their heads, leaving him to shrug. "And if you need to check your e-mail that bad, there's a desktop computer in our bedroom. I'll give you the password."

Something about the way he said 'you' showed that he meant he would give Nadia and only Nadia the password. She had no intention of going into that room, at least not until Vallie was back, so she simply nodded and made no attempt to get said password. Tyler glanced around the table for a few moments longer, his gaze holding longer on all three of the guys in a way that could only be described as resentment. He then turned and left without another word.

After the group was finished eating, Ophelia and Marc packed a series of sandwiches with the lunch meat and cheese they had brought, then grabbed two bags of chips as well. Ophelia used the cooler she had brought and emptied into the fridge to fill with ice packs and wine coolers, then around noon they made their way down to the lake.

There was a small, winding path through the woods that led to a clearing in front of the lake. There was a small bit of sand, making a makeshift beach, then a dock. It wasn't a very large space, but Vallie said many people didn't know it was there, so it granted them privacy. Out on the expanse of the water, they could see a few boats in the distance. Otherwise, they were completely alone.

The group took their time laying out beach towels or setting their coolers in the shade. Then, the girls were stepping out of their jean shorts—or, in Ophelia's case, jean overalls—whilst the boys pulled off their shirts. Ophelia was strict about each of them applying sunscreen, even if there were trees to provide shade. No one wanted to get burnt and be miserable right at the start of their trip.

Amory was the first in the water. After Ophelia decided he was sufficiently lathered in sunscreen, he ran and jumped from the dock into the blue-green waves. The water was pretty calm that day, and it wasn't too windy. The tip of his head broke the surface, a smile etched on his face, as he looked back at his friends on the shore.

"How is it?" Lou called out, not because she had any intention of getting in, but because she knew he was waiting for someone to ask.

"Fucking cold, honestly." Amory shouted back as he treaded the water.

"Don't make it sound so enticing." Marc rolled his eyes lightly, though an undeniable grin was on his face.

Marc, Ophelia, and Nadia made the next steps to get into the water, though they chose to go in from the shore, rather than the dock. Ophelia paused for a moment, glancing back at Lou and Caspar.

"You guys coming?" She cocked her head to the side.

Lou was at an impasse. She had no desire to get in the water, to get her hair wet, to splash about. She also didn't want to be left up on the shore with just Caspar, though. She'd never thought of herself as a cowardly person, but the nerves she felt every time she was in his presence made her think otherwise. She was so scared to be alone with him, to talk about the night of Vallie's wedding. She chewed on her lip for a moment before shaking her head and beginning to dig through her bag.

"I'm just going to lay out for a bit." She called back, feeling her headphones and her phone in her bag. Maybe then she'd be safe from both the water and the conversation.

"Same." Caspar nodded, holding up his book in explanation.

Ophelia nodded in understanding before jogging towards the water.

Lou settled herself down on a beach towel whilst Caspar sat down on his own, next to her. He opened his book to the page he had left off on, but found himself glancing at Lou before he began to read. She was scrolling through her music index, her headphones held in her hands while she picked a song.

"We haven't really had a chance to talk since getting here." Caspar cleared his throat and closed his book, marking his spot with his thumb. "How have you been?"

Lou hated that question, and yet everyone kept asking her it. She knew that was to be expected after so long apart, but she wished desperately that she wouldn't have to answer it anymore. The worst part, she knew, was that she couldn't hide from Caspar, no matter how much she might like to. It seemed he had some super power, one that allowed him to open Lou up with little more than a look.

"I've been good." Lou nodded, the lie tasting sour in her mouth. "Portland's great, I love it there." Another lie.

Lou wasn't sure if there was a perfect place for her out there, but if there was, she wasn't sure that it was Portland. It was rainy, and the city was deemed to be one of the most liberal in the country whilst ignoring the massive problems of homelessness and addiction there. Not to mention, it was the holy land of hipsters, and Lou hated their style.

"Really? I can't see you being a Portland girl." Caspar crinkled his nose and smiled lightly. He had never been, but he'd read books set there. Lou always struck him as the hardworking protagonist in a big city like New York. Sometimes he had to remind himself that his friends were real people, and not words on a page.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lou sat up and furrowed her brows, trying to decipher if she should be offended.

"I don't know, honestly." Caspar laughed lightly and looked away, but when he looked back she was eyeing him. She seemed almost embarrassed to be caught, and he wished desperately that he could shake her and tell her she could look as long as she liked. Forever, really.

A light blush covered Lou's cheeks as she focused her attention on her knees. She wished desperately that she could be a mysterious type of girl, the kind that was hard to read and was always surprising people. Perhaps to some she was that girl, but not to him. And that was fucking terrifying.

They spent the next hour talking, and Lou forgot about her music entirely. They never breeched the topic of their last night together, and it seemed they both were fine with that. Lou realized that perhaps they didn't need to run from each other any longer. Perhaps they could put that night behind them and continue on as things once were.

Out in the water, the four others had just finished their second game of chicken. Marc was on Amory's shoulders, and Ophelia was on Nadia's shoulder. Marc and Amory had a height advantage, but Nadia was strong and hated losing. The first game the boys had won quite quickly, seeing as Marc only needed to tickle Ophelia's sides to send her toppling backwards. The second game Nadia played dirty, jabbing Amory in the side before kicking at his feet under the water to send him falling back.

"That wasn't fair!" Amory emerged with laughter, finding that a significant amount of water had gone up his nose.

"Life isn't fair." Nadia bit back before blowing the boy a kiss. "We can have a rematch, though, if that's what your ego needs."

Marc and Ophelia stood back as Nadia and Amory went head to head bickering. Ophelia eyed the man beside her warily, before they both broke off into fits of laughter. They knew that they were thinking the same thing; Nadia and Amory's sexual tension could be cut with a knife. At least some things never changed.

"I'd suggest we form our own team, but they might put us in the hospital." Marc joked, nudging Ophelia with his elbow.

"Hey, then we'd actually be able to see Vallie!" Ophelia laughed back. She swam a few paces away from Amory and Nadia before beginning to float on her back, staring up at the sky. Marc joined her.

"Yeah, what's up with that anyways?" He paused. "I mean, she couldn't have texted us herself?"

"That would mean confrontation." Ophelia pointed out with a shrug. "I'd hoped she'd gotten over that by now, but clearly she hasn't. I'm more worried about the fact that Tyler won't just leave, you know? I mean they live in town, why not just head home and come back with Vallie?"

Marc didn't answer, because he didn't really want to say his suspicions aloud. He got a vaguely racist vibe from Tyler, not one that he could back up with any solid support, but a vibe all the same. They were 6 people of color and Tyler seemed territorial, so if he had to guess, he assumed Tyler wanted to keep an eye on them. It was not a new experience for him, unfortunately.

"I don't really want to think about them, if I'm honest." Marc shut his eyes as the sun came out from behind a cloud. He felt the rays warm his skin. "I want this trip to be as stress free as possible."

Ophelia hummed at that, then glanced over at the boy beside her. He looked so peaceful, which was rare for him. With the sun shining on his face and his eyes closed, she couldn't see the dark circles that now seemed to be permanent fixtures, or the cracks in his lips from biting at them so constantly. This is how he should look always, she thought. Marc deserved only good things. She just wished he saw that, too.

Ophelia reached out her hand and grabbed one of Marc's, startling him only slightly. They laced their fingers together, then each shut their eyes and began to float in silence. They were a tether to one another, both metaphorically and physically. Ophelia wouldn't ever let him drown, if she could help it.

Once Nadia and Amory realized that they had been abandoned and their game was over, they climbed up onto the sandy shore. Nadia kept her toes in the water as she pulled her knees up to her chest. She rested her head against them as she turned to look at Amory. He was playing idly in the sand, picking up clumps and dropping them back down.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, trying to read his face. She was good at reading people, but not Amory. He had a wall up around her, one that she could see, and she never could figure out why. His guard seemed to be down around each of the others, why couldn't it be around her?

"Honestly?" Amory glanced over at her. "Writing. Sometimes I catch myself narrating in my head, trying to figure out how I would put a moment I'm living in into words. Does that make sense?"

It didn't. Nadia had never thought about how to explain a moment, she had simply lived in it. Nadia didn't tell him that, though. She simply nodded her head before asking her next question.

"This novel you're writing, are any of the characters based off of me?" She had a coy, flirty smile on her lips. She wasn't being serious, but she wanted to see what he would say.

Amory stiffened slightly. He hadn't told any of the others that in some way, they all had inspired parts of the characters in his book. They weren't outright copies by any means, but he couldn't help but write what he knew. He pursed his lips, feeling as if he'd been caught, before leaning into their teasing, light dynamic.

"Oh yeah, I have a competitive she-devil enchantress, named her Madia Habri and everything."

Nadia laughed at his stupid joke before pushing him lightly with her hand. "You're so stupid."

Amory felt a certain warmth from where she touched him, as if her palm alone could burn him. He couldn't let himself fall into this, there was no point in it. Nadia could never be a pointless hookup, they had too much history for that, but she also could never be his everything. Their lives existed on different planes, they could never be more than passing ships. They would never be a fairytale.

As the day went on, they ate their lunch before pulling out the wine coolers. Amory had some, too, once he'd found out they were only 3% alcohol and didn't taste awful. Though Caspar still abstained.

They varied between tossing around a football Amory had brought from the cabin, lying out, and spending time in the water. Once it finally hit 4 pm, they were all sufficiently exhausted from the sun and ready to head back. None of them voiced their concerns about having to spend another night with Tyler.

---

aren't they so cute?? This is my way of coping because as I'm writing this, there is literal snow in my yard. yuck.

I hope you guys have enjoyed thus far :)) Let me know if I'm hitting the mark with your characters, or if there's any changes I need to make!