That Summer Feeling: SUMMER 4EVER [H.S.]

42. Not the Same As It Was

S'mores will never fail to make me nostalgic. It wasn't even a treat I had in my childhood often but something about the warm gooeyness and the comforting sweetness with the act of making it around a fire makes you feel like you're young-er again. Maybe it was also the timeless combination of chocolate, cinnamon, and marshmallow that resulted in a sugar rush and the way your fingers get all sticky that brought the feeling to the surface.

And I guess the feeling is mutual because a few minutes after everyone took the first bite of their s'more, we started diving into the past, mainly about this summer, and reflected as the flames in the electrical fireplace of the living room dwindled and accompanied us.

"Zayn, spit that out!" Gigi suddenly yells, disrupting the short moment of peace that blanketed us as we all rested on the couch in front of the heat of the fire.

"Huh?" Zayn, who now has a shaved head dyed with a wash of sky blue, held his half-bitten s'more in his tatted hands, slowly chewing it as we all stop to stare at Gigi with confusion.

"You're allergic to cinnamon, aren't you?"

"Oh," Zayn's head slightly drops forward as he chuckles, shaking his head as we start to recall the infamous prank the boys played on us last summer where Zayn had a fake allergic reaction to the cinnamon in our dessert.

"You're still mad about that, aren't you?" He adds, glancing at Gigi with a small smile.

She smiles a little but doesn't look at him while we all laugh, trying her best not to give in to the multiple tiny kisses he pressed on her cheek. "I passed out because of it!"

"Despite that, I reckon it's still the best prank ever done," Louis chimes in, a bit of chocolate smudged on the corner of his lips as he smiles brightly.

"No," Zoey immediately argues, "the bear one took its place. Rightfully so."

"I second that," Bella laughs.

"Yeah, we got all of you guys good," I add then lightly nudge my elbow into Harry's side. "Especially him."

Harry stops chewing and looks at me while everyone laughs at the memory of what happened last night. He swallows and shakes his head at me. "Hey, I was trying to protect everyone."

"Mate, you tackled poor Jere in your knickers." Zayn fails to say without snickering. "Who were you protecting exactly?"

Harry rolls his eyes and finishes the rest of his s'more in one bite, continuing to shake his head as the group exchanges a laugh after various jokes were made about what he had done last night.

"I'll remember this the next time a bear comes and attacks us," I hear Harry murmur as he reaches forward to grab his mug full of hot chocolate.

I pout as I lean my head on his shoulder and wrap my free hand around his forearm. "Don't listen to them. You were our hero out there."

He chuckles beside me. His lips plant a brief kiss on the top of my head before he takes a long sip of his drink.

"I still think you should join the NFL or something," Jerry says with a small shrug. "That tackle was insane, bro."

"I would argue that our prank was the best," Niall motions to him and the three other boys with accents. When no one instantly knows what he's referring to, he sighs. "Surprising everyone at dinner on our first night here? We showed up at the restaurant and made Liam cry. Come on, it was a wholesome prank!"

"I didn't cry," Liam quickly says.

"Please, you sobbed through the damn tablecloth," Louis laughs.

"I thought he would never stop crying," Zayn hides his laughter with his hand over his mouth.