STORM

-forty-

According to Google, it was the last day of summer. Which meant fall and colder weather would soon be approaching. It only felt right to end the summer all together, so they decided to have a big picnic in the park. It was a Saturday and the sky had blessed them with sunny weather.

They'd all brought something to eat. Personally, Storm had brought some strawberry cheesecake she'd baked. It was pretty tasty in her humble opinion. To compliment it, she had some strawberry lemonade as well, also homemade.

Eiji and Joey were coupled up together next to Gabriella and Storm. Public displays of affection weren't Eiji's thing, but he didn't protest Joey's arm around his waist, at least. Near them, Ziv lay with his head on Thalia's lap, feeding her some cucumbers. Then there was Echo, who'd invited Alana as well and was resting her head on Alana's shoulder. At the start of the summer, they'd all been single. Love had apparently been in the air this summer.

"I'm pretty sure she can feed herself," Gabriella teased her best friend.

"Fuck off, loser," Ziv retorted, sticking his tongue out.

Thalia patted his cheek. "So mature, babe."

He grinned. "I think it's your time to feed me now."

"Feed yourself," Thalia said with a wicked smile.

Ziv gasped dramatically, a hand in mock offense on his chest. "Betrayal."

Tuning out their conversation, Storm switched her focus back to her girlfriend. She was sitting with her legs crossed, eating some of the cheesecake that Storm had made and sipping on the strawberry lemonade between bites. Storm started running her hand through her girlfriend's hair, getting a sudden idea.

"Can I braid your hair?" She asked. Gabriella nodded in response, mid-chew. Her next question was directed to the entirety of the group. "Anybody have a hair tie?"

Alana perked up, holding one out, which Storm took gratefully. "Here you go."

"Thank you very much."

Beginning the process, Storm started on one side, planning on using half of her hair to do two braids that connected in the center to form a singular one. They talked and ate as Storm braided. It didn't take too long and when she was done, Storm put some daisies in the braid. She couldn't help but admire how gorgeous Gabriella was with her dusty pink dress and matching pink makeup. The braid and her jewelry complimented the look.

"It's done," Storm announced.

The others took a look at it and complimented both Storm and Gabriella, saying it was adorable. She found her phone in her purse, pulling it out so she could take a picture of it for both herself to keep and for Gabriella to see.

"I love it," Gabriella said when she saw the picture, kissing Storm on the cheek.

While it was an adjustment for Joey to see his sister and best friend together, to Storm, it seemed like he was warming up to the idea of them together. The fact that he was with Joey might have helped as well.

A large part of the picnic was spent reminiscing about old memories, as well as catching Alana up on the important things that happened when she was gone. Storm did her best on avoiding memories that were too centered around her relationships with Alana and Echo to not to make it any more awkward. Their friend group had too many tangled-up relationships and crushes. Regardless of Storm avoiding it, the topic was eventually brought up.