Much of the first day was spent lounging around in the living room, each of them too tired to make the walk to the lake. Ophelia and Lou passed the time by playing cards on the living room floor while Amory and Marc half-watched their game and half-watched the movie that was playing on the TV. Caspar sat on the couch upstairs in the other living room, reading by lamplight. Tyler was outside for all of this, going back and forth between the shed and the front yard, occasionally splitting firewood.

When it hit 5 pm, Marc busied himself in the kitchen. He had made Caspar stop at a grocery store in town, which was only about a 20 minute drive down the mountain. He didn't plan to cook elaborate meals for everyone every night, but the first night felt like a special occasion. When it came to his cooking, he was still a little like the guy he was in college. He wanted to show it off.

Ophelia stood for the first time and stretched her legs, both she and Lou tired of every card game they had run through. Ophelia excused herself and joined Marc in the kitchen, smiling widely at him as he prepped.

"Need any help, chef?" Ophelia questioned, resting her hip on the counter and crossing her arms.

Marc looked up at her in shock, like he had been so focused that he hadn't even heard her come in. He preferred to do the cooking alone, truthfully, but Ophelia had such kind eyes and looked so eager to help that he couldn't turn her down. He nodded his head slowly, then gestured to the bag of potatoes on the end of the counter.

"Sure, you want to start peeling those for me?"

"On it." Ophelia saluted him, then got to work.

It didn't take more than 10 minutes for Marc to realize the mistake he had made. For starters, Ophelia seemed to miss the vegetable peeler in the drawer and had begun peeling the potatoes with a knife, which of course led to misshapen potatoes and a nicked thumb.

"Alright, let's get you off of potatoes." Marc laughed lightly after securing a bandaid around her thumb. "Um, how about..." He thought for a moment, trying to figure out where she could do the least amount of damage. He was going to ask her to trim the asparagus and get it prepped to go in the oven, but then he thought better of asking her to handle knives. "Well, what are you usually good at in the kitchen?"

"Honestly?" Ophelia raised her eyebrows. "Um. Well, nothing. I once burnt pasta."

"You..." Marc paused, genuine concern and shock on his face. "You burnt pasta? How... How do you even do that?"

"Well, I guess I didn't put enough water in the pot, and I also forgot about it, so when I remembered all the water had boiled off and the pasta was just kind of blackened and stuck to the pot. Had to throw the whole thing out."

Marc was looking at her like she was crazed, his eyebrows raised and his eyes wide. He stuttered for a couple seconds, thinking that she might just be a hazard to even have in the kitchen with him.

"Well." Marc said after a moment, once he regained his composure. "Drinks it is then. Uh, I'll give you my recipe cards, and you can pick one and use some of the alcohol I brought."

Ophelia laughed at this but nodded, knowing that if Marc were a little less kind than she surely would have been pushed out entirely. She didn't care much about cooking or preparing a meal for everyone, but she did want to spend time with Marc, so she was glad he was still finding tasks for her to complete.

After going around and asking the others what sounded good to them, Ophelia got to work. Nadia had at some point woken up and joined Amory and Lou in the living room. Lou asked for a martini, Nadia asked for a whiskey sour, and Amory and Caspar both politely declined. Marc told her to just make two of whatever she wanted, and he would have the second. Ophelia considered going outside and asking what Tyler wanted, but he seemed like more of a beer guy, so she left it alone.

Ophelia found that Marc's recipe cards were a lot more confusing and had a lot more steps than she had anticipated for cocktails. Like, for example, she didn't understand why she had to get fresh ice after shaking the whiskey sour, so she didn't. For her and Marc she chose a tequila sunrise, and at that point she got a little lax on the measuring.

After passing out the drinks to the others, she placed her and Marc's drinks on the counter and set to watching him work. He appeared to be making steaks on the stove, which seemed odd to Ophelia because she was certain the Wrights had a grill. Still, she didn't complain, because whatever he was doing smelled really good.

Marc paused for a brief moment to take a sip of the drink Ophelia had sat down for him. He coughed immediately after swallowing, finding the overwhelming taste of tequila invading his taste buds. Okay, he thought, shouldn't have put her on drinks either.

Ophelia bit back her laughter as she watched him sputter. "That bad?"

"No, no, it's really good." Marc strained, then begun to plot a distraction so he could add more orange juice. Ophelia knew he was lying, but she was touched nonetheless that he would lie to spare her feelings.

In the living room, Nadia sat on the couch, Amory sat on the loveseat, and Lou remained on the floor. They weren't talking much at first, mostly because Lou found it much harder to put on a fake smile around Nadia than she had in college. While the girl at never been her favorite person, being around her now felt especially hard when she bore witness to all the girl had accomplished. Lou sipped quietly on her martini, finding that Ophelia had added far too much dry vermouth.

"We should play a drinking game." Nadia posed after a couple of painful moments.

"Amory's not drinking, though." Lou's words came out a bit more harshly than she had intended, but she tried to play it off with another sip from her glass.

"He can play with water or soda or something." Nadia shrugged, before craning her neck to call towards the stairs. "Cas, get down here! We're playing a drinking game!"

"Just let me finish this chapter!" Caspar called back, though each of them knew he probably would not be joining in even after he finished the chapter.

Nadia and Amory joined Lou in a semicircle on the floor. Amory used his bottle of water, mainly joining in to give them something to do.

"Should we..." Nadia trailed off, casting an eye out the sliding doors. It had begun to get dark, but Tyler still hadn't come in. One glance back at Amory told her no, she should not ask Tyler to join. "Alright, never mind. What're we playing?"

"Nothing with cards." Lou stipulated. She had spent all afternoon playing card games, she couldn't handle anymore.

That took a significant amount of drinking games out of the running. Bullshit and King's Cup were both out. They also didn't have the space or the energy to play something like flip cup, so their options were limited.

"Truth or drink." Nadia settled on, her tone of voice letting the others know that it was a decision rather than a suggestion. Amory and Lou glanced at each other skeptically, which Nadia caught. 

Lou hated truth or dare. Detested it, even. Now, Nadia was expecting her to play without even the cushion of being able to choose dare? She wanted to argue, but her mind was blank of any other game for them to play. If this was going to happen, she decided she would simply lie if she had to.

"Come on, it'll be fun! A good way for us to catch up on all we've missed. I'll go first; Lou, are you still with Topher?"

Lou sputtered at the question, thankful she hadn't been mid-sip when it was asked. Only Caspar and Amory knew the answer to that question. Caspar had obviously found out at Vallie's wedding, with his unrelenting way of breaking down her walls without even really having to try. Amory found out during their fifth year, but not for a couple of months, when he finally asked her why he was never around anymore.

"Uh, no." Lou answered honestly, feeling a bit sick at just the mention of his name. He was one of many reminders that she was a failure; she didn't have the perfect partner, she didn't graduate 'on time,' she didn't have a perfect career. None of this was something she wanted to be thinking about.

"Oh, that's a shame." Nadia replied, her voice filled with genuine sympathy. She had no way of knowing the spiral taking place in Lou's brain. "He was always so cute."

"Lou can do better, anyways." Amory offered a small smile to Lou, only a bit better at reading her. It was hard to get into her head, but he could still tell that question rattled her.

"True, he did seem pretty boring." Nadia hummed absently, then reverted her attention back too Lou. "Your turn."

"Uh, okay." Lou tried to shake thoughts of Topher from her mind, focusing her attention on Amory instead. Right before she asked her question, she saw Tyler enter through the sliding glass doors. "Would the Lions have been your first choice, if it were up to you?"

Amory laughed at this, his eyes crinkling and his head shaking. Rather than answer, he twisted off the lid to his water bottle and took a gulp. Of course he wouldn't have chosen the Lions. It was nice, because he was from Michigan and all, but he probably would have picked a team that actually had a chance at even making it to the playoffs.

"Of course he wouldn't have chosen the Lions." Tyler interjected with a cruel laugh. He was sweaty, and stood above them with his hands on his hips. "You two probably don't know this, but the Lions fucking suck."

Both Lou and Nadia didn't like the way he said 'you two.' As if, because they were women, they would have no idea about football. Lou of course didn't, but that had little to do with her anatomy and more to do with her finding the sport pretty boring. Nadia knew about football, having entered various fantasy leagues when she was still in the states because she liked both sports and winning. Nadia narrowed her eyes at the man before deciding to belittle him right back.

"What team is it you play for, again?" Nadia cocked her head to the side, widening her eyes and setting her face to a look of faux-innocence. Amory tore his eyes from Tyler just long enough to glance at Nadia, and he swore in that moment he could have kissed her.

Tyler didn't like this, clearly. His snarky expression dropped to one of annoyance and anger. Amory didn't like the way he was looking at Nadia then, his eyes sharp and jaw tense. Tyler spared one glance at Amory, then rather than responding he turned and sulked off towards the master bedroom. He grumbled the entire way, whispering something under his breath that none of them could quite make out.

"I fucking hate that guy." Amory said under his breath, shaking his head. He swiped Nadia's drink from her hand, deciding the brownish yellow color of the liquid looked less intimidating then Lou's clear martini. After taking a sip, he sputtered. "How do you guys drink this shit?"

Nadia and Lou shared a glance, both knowing that their drinks were especially strong because of Ophelia's heavy hand. Rather then share that fact though, Nadia simply laughed and stole her drink back. They continued the game on, not mentioning Tyler again and slowly growing more and more drunk as Ophelia made them more drinks.

Their questions got less tame as the alcohol settled into their bloodstream, and Amory was just along for the ride as he remained sober. Nadia prodded at the two, always asking more personal questions and watching them squirm. Things like Lou, have you ever had a crush on anyone in the group? and Amory, are you secretly in love with Vallie? They both answered no, of course, but only one of them was telling the truth.

Caspar never joined them, but they never bothered him to again. Upstairs, once he had finished the chapter of his book, he cast it aside and rubbed his eyes. He truly did consider joining them, but soberly playing a truth-telling drinking game wasn't exactly his idea of a fun pass time. The only thing that was pulling him towards it was Lou and Amory.

In the time since graduation, Caspar had come to a realization about himself. He had a big, hopeful heart, which was crazy to think for someone who was so very closed off. When he thought about it, he knew he could attribute it to his childhood. The first 12 years of his life were spent bouncing between foster homes, opening his arms and hoping someone would just love and accept him. That eventually did come, which was more than a lot of foster kids could say, but that hope for others to love him never really faded.

His big, hopeful heart is what made him briefly look at Vallie in a different light. He could remember the way during sophomore year he put more effort into spending time with her, listening for her light, angelic, laugh and smiling when she smiled. Those feelings he held for Vallie and that desire to be around her is what led him to befriending the others, though, so even though nothing romantic came of the little crush and the feelings eventually died away, he was grateful for it.

Other times, his big, hopeful heart didn't do him as many favors. It was the same heart that pulled him toward Amory, though he knew he was straight, and made him over analyze ever text about books and every shared glance. It was what made him so nervous when him and Marc briefly touched hands over the speaker of his car. It was what had him hung up on Lou for so many years now.

The thing with Lou felt different than the others, though, so he didn't like lumping it in with his other little crushes. If he was a boy standing with open arms then Lou was a girl with her back to him, sending glances his way every little bit to keep him from giving up entirely. Every time he had thought that they'd come close to something, there she was turning her back again. It drove him mad in a way he wasn't sure he could put into words, but he had a feeling the likes of Shakespeare and Tennyson probably at some point had.

Rather than sulking over the girl downstairs, he got up and stretched his legs then glanced around. He peered over down the steps, assuring the coast was clear, before he began riffling through the living room. It was a bad habit, he knew, one that filled him with shame, but it had at one point been something he did for survival. Now, snooping and stealing were just second nature to him, and he couldn't afford the type of therapy that could get him to stop.

Caspar slid his finger along the shelves on the wall, finding dust there. He wondered how long it had been since the Wrights had last been here. Vallie had always made it seem like her father would come once a month to mow the gross or clean up the place, and the entire family would take several little trips every summer.

He was perceptive, though, and he picked up on many things that were different about the cabin since he had last been there. There were photos of Vallie and Tyler framed and scattered about, and decorations that he couldn't fathom her parents would buy. They had always seemed so content to leave the cabin in all its 70s glory, so he couldn't see them wasting money on the John Deere poster hanging on the wall. Plus, there was an Xbox plugged into the TV upstairs. This told him that perhaps the home had become more Vallie and Tyler's than her parent's.

Caspar snooped through the various games for a moment, though he had no interest in playing them. He then made his way over to one of the end tables, noticing that it had a drawer. That interested him. He slid open the drawer, then immediately regretted it.

Inside was a couple miscellaneous scraps of paper, some coasters, and a revolver. His eyes widened, wondering why on earth her family would have a firearm just lying around. Before he could shut the door and join the others downstairs, he heard a cough behind him. Shit. He hadn't even heard anyone come upstairs. He normally was so good at not being caught.

"Looking for something?" Tyler was standing with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"Nope." Caspar shut the door and brushed past Tyler, feigning complete indifference. He was used to the Tyler's of the world, the ones who fed off of any little reaction. He wasn't going to give him that.

Tyler appeared to gape at him for a moment, before huffing and carrying on to the bathroom. Evidently, someone was occupying the one downstairs. Once out of site, Caspar was quick to bound down the steps and join the others. He considered the implications of the gun, wondering if it Vallie's father's or Tyler's. He then began to wonder if it was even that weird at all. They were in the woods in the middle of nowhere, minutes from a surely republican town whose inhabitants were probably always armed. Was it really that big of a deal?

"Cas!" Nadia giggled. She was drunk, clearly.

Caspar plopped down on the couch rather than joining the other three on the floor. Their game carried on for a few more minutes, and luckily they never asked him to join, before Marc was calling from the kitchen that dinner was ready. He served them steaks with a red wine reduction, mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus. Each plate was set perfectly, as if they were being served at a real 5-star restaurant.

Each of them only needed to take one bite before they were gushing to Marc about how amazing it was, who simply told them it would not have been possible without his sous-chef, Ophelia. Ophelia, Lou, and Nadia were all decently drunk throughout dinner. This led to Ophelia and Nadia speaking endlessly, about anything and everything that came to their mind, and Caspar soon found that in their presence, he wasn't as concerned.

Tyler never joined them, despite the fact that Marc had made him a plate. After dinner, Amory and Caspar did the dishes and cleaned up. Marc placed Tyler's plate in the refrigerator with a note labeled with his name. Despite the buzz the girls had going on, their day of traveling had left them all ready for bed much earlier than expected.

As Amory trailed off to sleep, the wall of pillows nudging into him, he thought of Vallie. In two days he could see her, and ream her out for abandoning them, then hug her and tell her just how much he missed her. That's what he planned to think of each time he was faced with Tyler.

---

OKAY. This chapter is so much longer than I intended. But I think I did my best job at showcasing everyone in this chapter!

Any thoughts, concerns, worries?

I'd also like to use this time to get on my soap box and complain when games of truth or dare are used as plot points to get characters to reveal their deepest darkest secrets. Like, it annoys me every time. Why don't they just lie???? For that reason, Lou was used in this chapter to showcase that ability. I hope you enjoyed.