Disease

“We should’ve dressed up.” Olivia said as us girls agreed. The boys are still busy with the barbeque as we gathered on the table gossiping.

“I didn’t bring something formal.” Erica replied.

“Too bad.” Natasha replied, “So, girls... Let’s talk about tomorrow’s activities. For sure everyone would be tired again early in the morning so what are we going to do?”

“I was thinking if we should go camping.” Nikita replied, “I’ve always wanted to try it.”

“How about tonight?” Elora said, “We can sleep here in the yacht. Here on the deck. We’ll just clean up and we’ll set something here.”

“Wouldn’t it be too cold?” I answered.

“We’ll be sleeping with the guys. It won’t be cold.”

I scowled as the rest of the girls giggled, Nikita blushing, and Erica just having the same bored expression that she has.

“How about mosquitos?”

“We’ll just spray some repellent before sleeping.”

It looks like we don’t have any more complaints so the girls agreed as Elora finally shared the news to the boys and all of them agreed. Sebastian and Jaden then returned back to get the rest of our necessities along with Natasha and Erica.

A few minutes later the boys are finally done cooking and us girls are done with the side dishes. I noticed some of the group members pairing up seating next to each other as we had dinner. Jaden is seated beside Natasha next to her is Erica then Vince with his best friend Theo and Olivia at the other end. On our side of the table the couple is at the far-right side. I was seated beside Elora next to Aspen, Sebastian and Nikita.

Looks like the whole game worked even without us not intentionally trying to pair each other up on purpose. Well I may say it worked for them but in my case it didn’t. Although Aspen is seated beside me right now he still isn’t speaking to me unlike the rest of the group who are finally getting to know each other better. Not that I’m complaining. I’m fine with it. I didn’t plan on looking for someone to date during summer vacation anyway. Maybe I just felt left out that’s all.

I was busy chewing when I heard a glass clicking. I looked up to see Logan standing with his glass raised.

“I want to make a toast.” he said as the rest of us took our glass, “To the best summer vacation!”

Everyone was quiet at first until finally Natasha spoke first, “To friendship!”

“To romance!” Elora added.

“To having fun!” Sebastian said.

“To making memories!” Nikita replied.

“To getting out of the city life.” Erica answered.

“To new beginnings!” Vince said.

“To our youth!” Theo replied.

“To adventure!” I finally added.

We all looked at Aspen when he still doesn’t share his toast. He looked at us for a few seconds before letting out a heavy breath raising his glass.

“To life.”

After dinner we first cleared out the table and made a makeshift dance floor in the middle as Olivia played the music, Sebastian being the party animal mixed drinks for the rest of us. We enjoyed the booze and danced the rest of the night. I was with the other girls as Natasha and Jaden are openly teasing each other. Her back pressed on Jaden’s front swaying on the music while Vince and Erica are alone on the corner just talking, and Logan and Elora who has her arms wrapped around his neck are stuck in their own little world slow dancing despite the loud beat of the music.

When I needed to breathe after dancing for almost half an hour I walked to the front of the deck. I leaned back to the railings, closing my eyes and looking up feeling the cold breeze kiss my skin as the alcohol slowly consumed my system.

When I opened my eyes I saw the stars shining brightly. I smiled appreciating the beauty around me as I felt someone’s presence beside me. I crane my neck to the side to see Aspen quietly drinking his beer. As if feeling my gaze our eyes met as he nodded at me in acknowledgement. I don’t know if it’s because of the liquid courage but I immediately walked towards his direction to ask him about why he is acting that way towards me almost failing as I stumbled forward. A familiar scent then hit my nostrils and as I looked up I saw Aspen looking at me with his usual creased brows holding my arm standing me in place. I stared making him look confused than he already was but it wasn’t his expression that caught my attention this time rather the shadow behind him making me forget about my frustrations towards him. There was what looked like a man standing on the shore. I squinted trying to look more carefully but because of my drunk state I couldn’t be sure if I was having illusions.

“Myla are you okay?”

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“What?” he asked now looking over his shoulder.

“There was a man there.” I pointed, almost stumbling again as Aspen helped me up.

“No there is no man there Myra. You’re drunk.”

I nodded, “I know.”

“At least you know.”

Aspen helped me find a seat as he talked to Logan who was dancing with my best friend to finally stop the party so we can all rest for the night. Those who can still stand cleared everything and laid out comforters, blankets, and pillows. When everything was ready we finally slept for the night not knowing what would happen the next day.

I groaned, stretching my arms as I felt my head ache. I looked around me and almost most of the gang were already up. It was just me, Jaden and Olivia who was actually cuddling, and Theo that were left. I tried to stand up, almost falling back to the sheets but eventually made it. I looked around looking for the rest of the gang but I couldn’t see them. I went to the lower deck to go find them and there I saw the couple cooking along with Aspen who was just standing in the corner drinking an orange juice.

“Good morning.” I greeted them blushing as I remembered my encounter with Aspen last night.

“Good morning!” Elora greeted.

“Where are the others?”

“Went back to the cabin to change.”

I nodded as I joined them for breakfast, “Did they already eat?”

“Yeah they’ve been up since earlier.”

I blushed more knowing how embarrassing it is to oversleep, “I see.”

I just quietly ate the waffle that they prepared ignoring Aspen’s presence because I don’t want to embarrass myself further. I saw him looking at me but I didn’t want to make eye contact and pretended that he wasn’t there as the couple flirted over breakfast in front of me.

A few minutes later the rest of the gang finally woke up. It was Olivia who was the first to wake up after me and I noticed how she acted so skittish. I just tried to contain my laughter on the inside as my best friend tried to interrogate her. Looks like Elora didn’t notice what I saw this morning. It was not my story to tell. I’ll just let Olivia admit to us what happened between her and Theo last night.

When we were done with our breakfast we returned to the cabin with the rest of the gang who Elora said are already preparing for the camping later. When we arrived, I saw Natasha along with Erica and Vince watching a movie. Sebastian and Nikita are nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s the two?” Elora asked my unspoken question.

Erica shrugged, “Nikita wanted to take a walk around since she wasn’t able to explore much yesterday and Sebastian accompanied her.”

The rest of us girls looked at us meaningfully, all fully knowing what the others were referring to before finally giggling at each other.

We stayed in the living room chatting and watching TV. Everyone was feeling lazy today after the continuous partying since the other day so we stayed here rooted in our seats waiting for the time that we’d go outside to prepare our tents. After all, everything is already packed and just waiting to be set up.

“Are we seriously just going to sit here all day?” Natasha said as everyone nodded in agreement.

“Yes.” Erica replied.

Natasha placed her hands on both sides of her hips, “Well we should at least spend it outdoors like you know fishing or bird watching.”

Everyone shrugged agreeing to her. We, after all, are here to spend some time outdoors.

Seeing our reaction, she clapped her hand, “Okay, let’s go.”

Everyone groaned including myself but eventually followed her. She after all was like the unspoken leader representing the girl being the most active in extracurricular in university. My best friend is just an honorary leader being the girlfriend of the ‘male’ leader of the group.

“Hey, Jaden! Get up.” Natasha said, slapping the back of his head, “Stop using your phone. How do you even get a signal here?”

“Ouch.” he said rubbing the back of his head, “We have a television obviously we’d have cellular phones working. Logan is rich af I won’t be surprised they have their own cell tower here.”

Logan who was just standing beside me chuckled, “No we don’t have one but we do have reception sometimes when the weather is good. Most of the time we don’t. We’re lucky the TV is working.”

“See.”

Natasha rolled her eyes, “Doesn’t matter. Let’s go. What are you even looking at anyway?”

Jaden turned off his phone before standing up now towering over Natasha who looked slightly taken aback with the height difference, “Nothing just sickos running around the city right now. Looks like Myla wasn’t the only one who encountered crazy people the other day.”

I don’t know why but I felt something strange in my gut when he said that.

“What an odd coincidence.” Elora replied.

An odd one indeed.