Yours Truly

Chapter 18

Here's to our first month together and here's to many more months to come. I love you to pieces. Always.

Yours truly,
Carina

---

"Road trip to the beach? You know damn well that I'm down," Desi exclaims enthusiastically, giving Carina a high-five. A rather loud and rough high-five. Carina shakes her hand out in slight pain. Desi is so aggressive when she doesn't mean to be and she doesn't want to find out just how aggressive she is when she means to be. Carina unconsciously sidesteps a bit closer to Lily's side.

Right now, all five of the girls are waiting outside of the school in the student parking lot. It's Monday today and normally that's Carina's least favorite day of the week, but it went surprisingly well. There was a substitute in English this morning and since they normally substitutes don't give two shits about the class as long as no one dies, Lily pulled her chair up beside Carina and they talked for the entire period. And any time spent with Lily was time well spent.

And the rest of her classes went well too. The students and teachers weren't being loud and annoying for once, which made class enjoyable and it passed by quickly. Before she knew it, school was over.

"I second that!" Naomi grins. "I cannot believe that we've all known each other for a while now and we have yet to have spent an entire weekend together. This is so long overdue.

"I agree," Amanda chimes in happily. She's standing smack-dab in between Desi and Naomi and Carina tries to fight against the smile creeping up on her face from seeing her best friend's head not even reach their shoulders. Amanda is just so little and precious and she must be protected at all costs.

Carina opens her arms, reaching out to her. Amanda smiles as she walks into them before hugging her tightly. Carina's known Amanda practically her entire life and she's never once let her down in any way. She continues to be the best friend she could ever ask for.

Sure, since Lily came into Carina's life and Trevor came into Amanda's life, they haven't spent nearly as much time together as they used to, but that was okay. They didn't need to constantly hang out to still be the best of friends. Hell, they've spent enough time together before in the past to last them an entire lifetime. But they were both happy and that's all that matters.

"Alrighty!" Lily claps her hand once. "So who's car are we taking?"

"We can take mine," Amanda offers, still hugging Carina tightly. "It's probably the most spacious out of all of ours and I never minded driving long-distances either."

"You're the real MVP, dude," Carina smiles before releasing her from their hug.

"Y'all best behave while we're in the car, ya hear?," Amanda states sternly. But "stern" and "Amanda" just don't mix.

-

*8:20 A.M*

"Are we there yet?" Carina asks, sticking her head in between the driver and passenger seats where Amanda and Desi are sitting.

"Not yet, Carina," Amanda answers her politely. Just like a real mom.

Lily chuckles when she sees the adorable frown on Carina's face. "Baby, we've only been on the road for like 20 minutes."

Carina's frown grows even deeper and she slumps back down in her seat, crossing her arms. "I want to be there now."

Lily pats her thigh comfortingly. "I know you do, love, but we'll be there soon. Take a nap and it'll help pass the time."

Carina lets out an aggravated huff of air before adjusting her body to cuddle against Lily's side and she places her arm across her stomach. "I can't fall asleep when I'm excited about something."