They arrived back at the cabin, tired and sun kissed, and were met with the sight of Tyler pulling out the grill from the shed. He looked up as they approached, his eyes straining against the sunlight, before pulling his lips into a tight line.

"I'm grilling out for everyone tonight." He announced it firmly, like it wasn't an offer or a suggestion. It should have been a kind gesture, but in his weird stiff way he seemed to even ruin that.

No one responded to him beyond a quiet "thanks." They simply went inside and took turns using the two showers. Ophelia and Nadia went first, leaving Lou and Amory to rest in their room. Neither of them wanted to sit on the bed, considering Amory was still wet with lake water and Lou felt gross simply from her hours outside, so instead they sat side by side on the floor.

"You seem calmer." Amory noted after a few silent moments, eyeing the girl beside him while her eyes were trained on the TV. He meant it, too. Prior to today, he could practically feel the stress radiating off of her, could see the tension pulling heaving in her bones, even if she didn't want to admit it. 

Lou simply hummed in response, not wanting to say aloud why there was a change in her behavior. Lou didn't consider herself a particularly secretive person, she just didn't want to reveal the things about herself that caused her such stress. She was supposed to be put together, cool calm and collected, and if she admitted to anything otherwise, she may just crack.

"I know you don't want to talk about it," Amory paused, getting a bit comfier beside her. His shoulder brushed against hers as he scooted down, making them eye level. "But if you ever decide you want to, I hope you know I'm here."

Lou furrowed her brows and finally looked into his eyes, because she wasn't exactly sure what he meant. "Talk about what?"

Amory could think of a million responses to that question: Topher, Caspar, school, this vacation, life. He had first noticed the change in Lou around Caspar at Vallie's wedding, once Nadia pointed it out to him, and it was something that had stuck with him ever since. It was odd at first, he thought, as if none of them could ever cross the line from friendship to something more. He had always held himself back, so he assumed the others would want to do the same. The more he thought about it, though, they made sense together, and he really just wanted her to be happy.

"Anything. Everything." Amory shrugged. 

Lou studied him for a moment, before nodding and retraining her eyes towards the TV. She realized that maybe she wasn't as hard to read as she had hoped.

Upstairs, Caspar and Marc also did not get in their beds. This had less to do with not wanting to dirty their linen, and more to do with logistics of it; if Caspar climbed up in that bed, he would fall asleep rather than climbing back down. When Caspar sat on the floor, Marc joined him. They were both sitting with their legs crossed, facing each other.

"Do you think Tyler is going to make any sides, or are we just going to be having hamburgers and hot dogs tonight?" Marc wondered aloud, his mind drifting to cooking as it often did.

"Probably not, you buy anything we could have with it?" Caspar replied, brushing his hair out of his eyes. His parents often told him it was too long, but he liked it this way. 

"I could probably throw together a salad." Marc suggested, thinking through his list of ingredients in his head. "Think it would offend him if I stepped in?"

"Who fucking cares." Caspar shrugged, leaning back on his palms. "Anything to save us from clogged arteries."

Marc smiled at this, a big, toothy smile. Him and Caspar were never particularly close in college, not any closer than he was with the others. They never hung out or talked one on one for long periods of time, but this felt easy. Marc felt warm in his presence, probably because he knew that Caspar had no expectations of him. Marc knew that he could have come here and announced he had abandoned law to be a stripper, and while everyone else had some big reaction, Caspar just would have hummed and returned to his book. He liked that about him.

They were quiet for a few moments, but not in an awkward kind of way. Caspar eventually leaned over and pulled his book from his bag, figuring he could get a few more pages in before it was his turn in the shower. 

"What are you reading?" Marc questioned, craning his neck to see the front page. Caspar paused his reading and held the book up for him to see. Marc read the title aloud with a small snort. "Gone Girl?"

It wasn't that the book itself was a funny read, but rather that he couldn't picture Caspar reading it for pleasure. He imagined that Caspar was perpetually reading classics, as if anything modern didn't fit him. 

"It was on their book shelf out there." Caspar shrugged. "I brought a couple different books, but I finished the one that I was initially reading yesterday. I never read this or saw the movie when it came out, so now seemed like a good time."

That made more sense to Marc. He hummed in response, the conversation dying out once more. They sat in peaceful silence for around 10 more minutes, Marc nearly drifting off to sleep sitting up, before Ophelia and Nadia returned to the room. They were fully dressed, having brought their clothes to the bathroom with them, and their wet hair was lightly soaking their shirts.

"Alright, whose up next?" Nadia asked as she plopped down on her bed, lightly scrunching and drying her hair with a towel. "I won't judge you two if you claim the showers before Lou and Amory realize we're out."

"Go ahead." Caspar looked up from his book at Marc, jerking his chin towards the door. "I'm going to read some more, let Amory and Lou know one of them can go."

Marc didn't argue, because he wanted to shower quickly so that he could get started on his salad. He knocked on Lou and Amory's door, letting them know one of them could take the shower upstairs, before heading towards the one downstairs.

Ophelia and Nadia left Caspar alone to read in silence. They went outside, hair still damp, and sat on the porch swing. Tyler was grilling in the backyard, a plate of hamburgers and hotdogs already piling up on the side. He glanced up at them for a moment, then returned to his work.

The sun was finally starting to set, painting the sky in gorgeous shades of purple, orange, and yellow behind the outline of the trees and mountains. Ophelia sighed at the site, feeling at peace, as she kicked her legs back and forth to push the swing.

"Do you ever miss it? College, I mean?" Ophelia pulled her eyes from the sunset, letting her gaze linger on Nadia.

"Is it bad if I say no?" Nadia responded, almost sheepishly. She was always a bit softer with Ophelia, probably due to their year as roommates in the freshman dorm. There was no bite with her, no sass, just calm. Even when they were pushing one another, trying to bring out the best in each other, it never went too far. 

Ophelia thought for a minute, before shaking her head. "No, I don't think it's bad. I mean, you're living your dreams in fucking Geneva. Why would you ever miss Pennsylvania?"

Nadia smiled lightly and didn't point out that that wasn't what she meant. She didn't miss college, per say, because she had finally gotten to the place that she had been working towards for so many years. That's not to say she didn't miss them, sometimes. The time was gone, and she didn't want to go back to it, but that didn't mean she didn't miss the people who had helped her get to where she was now.

"Do you miss college?" Nadia returned the question.

"I think I miss when things were easier." Ophelia answered quickly, as if she had already long since thought out the answer. "I miss being able to wake up and immediately tell you about whatever dream I had, or being able to walk three steps down the hall to see Vallie and Lou. I miss being able to see Amory play football in person and not on TV, or being  able to bug Caspar at the library when he was trying to read. I miss Marc not being so busy and stressed all the time, too."

"Marc was always busy and stressed." Nadia laughed, though her chest felt tight. Ophelia's words had hit her in the gut, pushing memories in her brain that she hadn't thought about in years.

"Yeah, but, now it's different." Ophelia's voice was soft as she stared at her lap. Was she really the only one who could see the change in him? Did no one else want to scream at his plight?

Nadia was going to respond, going to tell Ophelia that she knew it was different and that she was worried about Marc, too, but she didn't get the chance. Tyler interrupted their talk by calling out to them from the yard. 

"Foods done!" He had a large smile on his face, one that they weren't sure they had ever seen directed at them. They had seen him laugh and smile at his wedding, sure, but they were more accustomed to his brooding, angry demeanor. "I think I'm going to get a fire started, you ladies want to go get the others?" 

Ophelia and Nadia responded with nothing more than a nod, then stood and went to the sliding glass door. Amory and Caspar were now in the shower, while Marc was preparing a salad and Lou sat quietly on the couch. She was scrolling through her phone, though the other girls knew that she couldn't be doing much with their lack of service.

"Tyler says dinners done." Nadia gestured out back. "I think he wants to eat around a fire."

Lou couldn't help herself when she groaned and cast her phone aside. Ophelia giggled at this, feeling the girl's disdain herself. She thought back to their time in college, when she had been so eager and willing to give Tyler a chance, and now that seemed to be all gone. She wanted desperately to give him the benefit of the doubt, for Vallie's sake, but she couldn't help the pit of anxiety and anger that seemed to slither in her stomach whenever she was in his presence.

"I made a salad." Marc gestured towards the large bowl of greens on the counter. "I guess, just uh, grab a plate and then we can head out there."

"How rude do you think it would be if we just took our food and went inside?" Lou posed, raising an eyebrow as she stood and grabbed a plate. She piled a scoop of the salad onto her plate, then added dressing, before waiting for the others.

Ophelia responded 'way too rude,' at the same time that Nadia said 'who fucking cares?' Both girls paused and looked at each other before erupting into a fit of laughter. They each got their plate of salad, then grabbed a wine cooler from the fridge, before heading outside. Marc held two plates in his hands, one for himself and one for Tyler, and had a bottle rested in the crook of his bent elbow.

Tyler was around the fire pit, stoking the flames and adding kindling to get it going. His head shot up as the others piled out. Marc raised Tyler's plate when they made eye contact, signaling that he had got him one, and Tyler simply nodded in responded.

On one side of the grill there were two plates stacked with hamburgers and hot dogs, and on the other side there were sealed plastic bags of buns. No one had thought to grab the condiments, so Ophelia sat her plate down and went inside to grab them. When she returned, Caspar and Amory were with her, carrying plates of their own as well as bags of chips. 

Everyone made their plates before taking seats in the plastic fold out chairs around the fire. It was quiet, but not in the peaceful way that Marc and Caspar had been quiet earlier. No, this was more tense. More awkward. It was clear that no one knew what to say, no one knew how to act normally with Tyler in their presence.

"So, Moore," Tyler paused, swallowing a bite of his hamburger. Amory didn't like that he was calling him by his last name, but he gave him his attention anyways. "Hows this season looking for you guys?"

Amory knew that there was probably something snide laced in those words, as if no matter what response he gave, Tyler would just end up bashing his team. Marc shot him a look, clearly sensing the tension brewing, and Amory stepped down. Marc and Lou were good at that, keeping him calm. At one time, Vallie had been good at it, too. It seemed that ever since she met Tyler, though, she'd lost that power. Amory rationalized with himself that if she was foolish enough to marry an asshole guy that she barely knew, then she probably shouldn't be someone he should listen to.

Rather than feeding into him, Amory simply shrugged and picked at his salad. He heard Tyler huff, but he chose to ignore that, too.

"So." Marc cleared his throat, wanting to move past territory that could start a fight. "Vallie's here tomorrow, then?"

"That's what she said." Tyler shrugged, keeping his eyes on his plate. He wasn't eating his salad, but rather pushing it around with the fork they had provided him.

None of them liked that response. None of them would have liked any response aside from an enthusiastic 'yes.' He sounded too unsure, too nonchalant. Why would he suggest that she would say something that wouldn't be true?

They finished their food, still feeling as if they couldn't breathe around Tyler despite being out in the open air. Once they were done, Ophelia and Lou took their turn on dishes and gathered everyone's plates and silverware for them. Tyler went to bed not long after, not bothering to wrap up the remaining hamburgers and hot dogs or put anything away, so Amory and Nadia begrudgingly did so. 

After everything was settled, they all returned outside to the fire, adding a few more logs to keep it going. It was dark now, and stars littered the sky unobstructed by city smog or clouds. They talked idly, feeling more free to relax despite the blanket of darkness and woods surrounding them.

"Vallie will be here tomorrow." Amory sighed aloud, to no one really but himself. He leaned over and stole Nadia's bottle from her hand, taking a swig of the fruity liquid before letting her steal it back. He didn't really want to drink it, he just liked the way she'd pretend to get annoyed at him.

As the night went on, some of them got progressively drunker, some of them didn't. Ophelia moved from her own fold out chair when she got cold, sitting in Nadia's lap and cuddling close for warmth. Amory and Marc arm wrestled over their arm wrests, and Marc just laughed each time Amory beat him. When Lou decided to head in for bed first and stumbled along the way, Caspar was quick to help her inside and get her safely into bed, before returning to his own bed upstairs. 

They all slowly called it a night, one by one retreating to bed until nothing was left but the glowing embers of the nearly dead fire. Some of them dreamed, some of them didn't, but they all hoped that Vallie would be there when they awoke.

---

heyyyy how are we doing :))

so I've been thinking a lot about how they all became friends, and I thought I would do a breakdown explanation because I don't plan on writing a chapter on it. I imagine that Ophelia and Nadia were paired as freshman year roommates and Lou and Vallie were paired as well, all in the same dorm. I imagine Vallie and Ophelia became friends from being on the same floor, which eventually pulled all four of them together. 

I think that Marc and Caspar were on the same dorm floor, and I think Amory would have been paired with someone on the football team. I think Amory might have gone to Marc for help with some introductory class, a friendship bloomed, and they chose to be roommates in an apartment their sophomore year. I imagine that Marc knew Nadia from class, which eventually connected the four girls to the two guys.

FINALLY. I think Caspar and Vallie became friends, whether it be from a shared class or just from being in the same dorm building. I think Caspar was probably last to join the friend group, being so closed off, but he started to have a little crush on Vallie sophomore year and brought him around and he just really opened up and embraced their small group of friends. The crush fell away, but Vallie and Caspar still remained close friends.

That is my thought process as I write them and look back on how they grew close. Someone mentioned being curious about how they became friends, and this is how I imagine it! They were all in the same dorm building, and different relationships pulled them all together.

Anyways, how's everyone doing? I think this a nice little soft chapter, pretty minimal on the Tyler action. Vallie's back tomorrow ;)

I may start updating chapters whenever I have the next chapter prewritten, rather than staying on a specific schedule, but if I do that I might be updating a lot more frequently. Is that annoying? What do you guys think?