Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
｡･:*:･★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
KATIE TOOK CHARGE ALMOST AS SOON AS WE GOT OUT THE CAR, constantly asking Freddie for help with directions, although it seemed like she just wanted to rub his attention in my face. Well, mine and Effy's. As much as she invited us, it seemed like she had more of a love-hate relationship with us, part of her wanting to be friends with us and part of her wanting to be the top dog of the group. She rushed off, the rest of us carrying all the bags, dragging along behind her. Emily and Naomi were next to her laughing and joking, the boys hanging back with us a little before rushing ahead to gossip. That left me, Effy and Pandora at the back, holding hands as we lagged behind. As Effy tossed us all beers, my phone began ringing, and when I didn't answer the first time, it rang again. "Who is it? Mum?" Effy asked curiously, checking her phone in case there was a problem or something. "No, not mum. One sec." I said, pulling away from the group, waving them off so they wouldn't hang back to listen.
"Hello, babes." Cook's voice sounded soft as I answered the phone, not his usually obnoxious behaviour. "Hey, James. You okay?" I asked, and he began coughing as if to cover up his quiet voice and uncharacteristic behaviour. "Yeah. Oi, listen, can I ask you something?" I mumbled a yes as I wondered what he wanted, worried he wanted an invite to the party. As much as I thought he should come, apparently, everyone else disagreed. "Are we friends?" He asked, and my heart almost broke for him, knowing he probably felt fucking abandoned and hurt, just like he said only last night at the club. "Of course we are James, don't go getting all soft on me though." I laughed and he giggled lightly, although it seemed ingenuine. "Cookie..." I said, and he laughed it off, "Don't worry about me, alright Sweetheart? I get it." He said, making a kissy noise down the phone before hanging up, just as the group reached our perfect spot for the night.
We slumped our bags against the tree and spaced them around our little wooded area, setting up camp, handing out beers and messing around. The group began chasing each other, playing tag as if we were kids, and admittedly, it was fun. We all spread out, hiding from Freddie, who was it. I thought I'd found the perfect spot, but it was too good to be true; I didn't even hear Freddie creep up behind me until he grabbed my waist, turning me around and pinning me against the tree I was hiding behind. "Freddie!" I hissed and he held a finger to my lips, shushing me before leaning in, connecting our lips in a wild kiss. What I didn't realise, at least until it was too late, was Effy peering from behind the tree beside me, watching every touch of our lips, every small moan as Freddie bit my lips or sucked my neck. As Freddie pulled back from me, whispering "Tag," in my ear, I spotted my sister's leather jacket sticking out from beside the tree, no time to say anything to Freddie as he rushed off laughing, probably expecting me to chase him.
"You can come out now, Effy," I said, and for a second she didn't move, her leather jacket disappearing further behind the tree, before finally giving up, knowing I'd seen her spying. "What are you doing?" I asked her, and she shrugged, flashing me her signature Effy smile. "Hiding. Like you, right? Hiding your relationship with Freddie. You must really like him." I rolled my eyes at her words, running a hand through my hair. "I like Freddie, and I'm pretty sure you've known that for a while. And yes, I know you like him too, so don't bother denying it. I didn't want to hurt you, which is why I kept it quiet, I mean we aren't even official yet, but I really like him. And since you were with Cook I guess I didn't think you'd mind. It seemed like you only wanted him cause I did." I said, and she laughed, the kind of laugh that made me nervous. "Great. That's great. Happy for you. Except for one thing. I'm not giving up. At all. You know that I broke up with Cook today. Do you wanna know why?" My eyes widened as I knew exactly what she was gonna say, yet a part of me prayed she wouldn't. "I wanted to be with Freddie. I had a whole plan to go see him, I was ready to make my move, and then I saw you and him coming out of your room this morning. He's a good fuck, right?" She sounded pissed, and I couldn't believe my ears, sighing as I went to walk away, not wanting to deal with this today. I went to walk away from her, heading back to the group in a shitty mood, but she pulled me back, not quite done. "I want him, Rory. And we all know how that goes." She said, a smug smirk on her face as she winked at me, the anger inside me building up. My own sister just couldn't let me be happy. Just like I predicted from the very beginning, I knew she'd try to take Freddie. It was her speciality. She smiled as she walked off, whistling as she went, clearly happy with herself, leaving me in shock.
I slowly made my way back to our little campsite, everyone still giggling and gossiping, the game of tag clearly over - which was probably my fault. Katie had begun trying to set up the instant and easy barbeque sets she'd bought from Tesco, watching the coal light quickly as she placed the sausages on the metal rack. Naomi and Emily stood beside her giggling, whilst Freddie and JJ continued laughing around, trying to involve Thomas who seemed disinterested. Pandora was sulking around, slumping down against the tree, looking kind of upset. Maybe something was wrong with her and Thomas since he didn't seem in the best mood either.
"You alright Panda?" I asked as I sat down on the blanket in front of her, crossing my legs and getting comfortable as she spoke. "Yeah! Fine! I mean, relationships just can't stay the same, can they? Can't always be lovely and lush and not full of weird silences all the time. People can't always be perfect cos that's not real, is it? It's not real cos things change. Don't they?" Effy settled down beside us, jacket in her hand, throwing me a glance before smiling sweetly at Pandora. "Yeah. They do. But you can tell me. If something's up, I can help you." Effy said, and she sounded sincere, yet she threw me a confused glance, probably wondering if I knew what Pandora was on about. But I didn't, or at least Pandora hadn't said anything to me, which meant that for probably the first time ever, Panda was hiding something from both of us. And despite Effy's attempt to get the information out of her, Pandora shut her down, keeping this secret like it would kill her if she told us. "Everything's great. I love Thomas, he loves me, everything's just, tickety-flippin-boo!" Pandora said, but her face gave it away. Something wasn't right. Maybe it was about her and Cook, maybe she felt bad. Who knows. Effy gave up trying, moving on. "Okay. If you say so. Look what I found." Effy's face broke out into a massive grin as she laid her jacket on the ground, revealing a shit ton of shrooms. "Holy shit." I mumbled as Effy giggled away, "No way! Are those funny ones?" Pandora asked, and Effy nodded excitedly, just as Katie came over.
"What are you doing?" She asked, clearly not impressed, but Effy was too excited to care. "Found some shrooms. Want some?" She raised her eyebrow at Katie who stood cross-armed in front of us, about to have a fit. "No! How d'you know they're not poisonous? I don't want you ruining my party by, like, vomming blood! And this isn't supposed to be that kind of party, Eff. It's just drinks and sausages. No mushrooms!" While she was talking, her voice gradually getting louder and louder, she attracted the attention of Freddie, who immediately stood up and made his way over. "Woah, mushrooms? Who's got mushrooms?" Effy smirked at both Katie and me as she scooted over, tapping the spot beside her for Freddie to sit down. Freddie sat down beside her, the pair of them eating a few mushrooms as the others gathered around, Naomi and Emily sitting down and joining in too. "Come on, Panda. Live a little." Effy said as Thomas sat down beside her, making Pandora smile. "No, thanks! Love is our drug!" She said, but Thomas was reaching for the mushrooms, shaking his head to himself. "Sometimes you need a little more sugar in your bowl, though. C'est vrai ca, ma jolie?" Freddie looked almost alarmed as Thomas spoke, quickly eating the mushroom, as Pandora awkwardly smiled, taking the mushroom from Effy's hand. "Fine." She said, chewing on the mushroom and pulling ridiculous faces at everyone. "Minging!" She said, downing some beer to take the taste away, the group all laughing at her. Katie had stormed off and headed over to the barbeque, pissed off and not happy being alone.
"Not partaking?" Freddie asked, and Effy rolled her eyes. "Shrooms aren't really for me, I had a bad trip and I guess I don't fancy doing it again," I said, but Effy wasn't having it, despite knowing just how fucked up I was last time. "Come on Rory, I thought you were a big girl. Freddie and I are going to get so fucked, right Freds?" She asked, and Freddie nodded, although he looked a bit apprehensive, feeling like something was off. "Well, enjoy, I guess," I said, before walking over to the barbeque where Katie was, leaving the group to their madness. To be honest, I just wanted us all to have a nice calm day with some beers and food, a simple drug-free camping trip. But with our group, I guess it wasn't very likely that would ever happen.
