Paper Flowers (Pretty Plastic People) ★

049. On the Outside

A/N: Paper Houses Always Burn trailer above!! Any predictions based on it?

049. On the Outside

It's almost easy to pretend things have gone back to normal after that.

We're a happy little group of nine again. Sure, we don't all get along individually—I still hate Taylor and Celia so much it makes my insides squirm like a bucket of worms—but on the outside we look relaxed. Happy. Like any other group of teenagers on a beach vacation.

Part of this is because Taylor keeps to himself. Almost every morning, by the time I get downstairs, the couch is empty. His tasseled throw blanket is folded, unwrinkled, and draped over the arm. Then someone tells me he's either at the beach or going for a jog. He stays out of our way. It makes me wonder why he's even here to begin with.

He avoids Celia even more than I do, going so far as to leave a room the second she walks in. It makes me wonder what happened between them. My curiosity isn't invested interest—more like clamoring for the latest gossip. Wanting all the juicy details. And since talking to them about it would make it seem like I actually care, I don't ask.

While Taylor and Celia aren't the immediate problem, other things are. Spencer. Allison. I worry about them so much my shoulders become permanently tense and even one of Liam's expert massages can't ease away the soreness.

It's the Monday starting our second week of vacation—six days since I arrived at the house. Taylor breaks routine by helping Nathan and Brynn make breakfast in the kitchen. Watching his large, careful hands chop up fruit is too much for me, so I slip out onto the deck and fall into a pool chair. Then I shut my eyes, feeling heat on my lids, and figure I'll settle in for a nice long nap.

"Erika?"

The pool chair squishes under Allison's weight as she sits down next to me. "Can we talk?"

I crack open an eye. Under the rosy hue of my sunglass lenses, her cheeks look even more flushed than usual. Her lips are parted and her eyes are wide—urgent.

Sitting up, I ask, "What's up?

"I don't think I want to stay here anymore."

"What?"

She pulls her floral beach wrap tighter. "Every day finding my birth parents becomes more and more important. It's the most important thing in my life right now. Not roasting marshmallows at a bonfire or movie nights or getting a tan on the beach."

"But this is our last summer all together." I rip off my sunglasses, dropping them on the glass table beside me. "We're never going to all be in the same place again."

"You don't know that. Anyway, it might be a good thing. All nine of us together—it gets kind of intense. We don't all like each other that much."

"But Allison—"

"I've decided." She crosses her arms, the way she used to as a kid when she was being extra stubborn. No, I'm not eating my green beans. I refuse to leave until you say I won the board game.

"What about Taylor? You're the reason he's staying here. You can't just ditch us and leave us to deal with him."

"You're right, it would be unfair. He can come with me."

"You and Taylor alone? Tracking down two people it might take years to find? Come on, Allison."

"I'm serious."