1.20 After the Storm

"Dina, come on. Look at me." David tells me, pulling my arms away from my face. My elbow hurt. I must've hit it somewhere when I stumbled out of the haunted house, just right after kissing him and shoving him forcefully to the side to fight off my embarrassment. I grip my spinning head. I want to run away from him, but my weak legs won't let me. So now I'm stuck in this position, trying to save the rest of my dignity.

"You know it's only going to get awkward if you act awkward," David says, attempting to meet my eyes again. I look further down. I don't know what to tell him. Frankly, I don't even remember why I did that. Kiss him, I mean.

"L--let go of me," I tell him weakly. Heaving, I feel my stomach churn. Acid rises up my throat, and I turn towards the side. But David pulls me back.

"Oh no. You're going to run away from me again," David says, keeping a tight grip on my wrist.

"We need to talk about this."

"David, I am about to vomit right now, so unless you want it all over you--" I murmur.

Cringing, the bastard lets go of me so suddenly that I had to steady myself on the wall behind us as I empty the contents of my stomach. Ugh. I am never getting on any form of transportation involving water ever again.

"That better be from the swaying and not from the kiss," David comments as he examines the ground before me. I really want to give him the meanest look that I can, but I still can't face him, so I glare at the ground instead.

"Kiss?" Ari's voice makes both of us jump. We turn to look at her, horrified. She looks sort of happy and shocked at the same time.

"Miss!" I yell way too loudly. "We missed lunch. I'm hungry. Let's go eat."

Ari's expression turns to confusion as I grab her arm. "But..we just ate," she utters as I drag her towards the food stand near us, my steps getting faster by the second. I don't look back, not even to check if David has followed us.

The vendor casts us an inquiring look as we reach him, "Two hotdogs, please."

"Okay. Coming right up," he complies.

"Dina, did something happen between you and David?" Ari asks me, her voice quieter than usual. I look at her. There's something in her eyes, one that I can't place, some kind of sadness with a little bit of regret. I want to ask her what's wrong. But that would lead to more questions from her, and I am determined to keep what happened between David and me a secret. That is if I can also find the courage to face David and somehow threaten him not to tell his other friends about what happened.

"Here, two hotdogs for you." the vendor announces, handing Ari and me our food. I stare at the thing in my hand, my stomach threatening to turn upside down. I'm not really hungry. I'm still reeling from nausea. But I needed an excuse to get away from David, so I brought Ari here.

"Hey, ladies!" Brad shouts, coming into view in front of us. He's soaking wet.

"Remember how we couldn't decide which ride to go to first? We picked randomly from the suggestions we made, and well..." Ari explains, gesturing at Brad's form. Big fat globs of water drip from his torso into the ground as he hurriedly makes his way over to us.

"But you're not wet." I point out to her.

"That's 'cause I told them I was on my period and couldn't possibly go." Ari proudly says, "It's the greatest excuse that I have at my disposal when it comes to dealing with these guys. The first time I used it, we were thirteen. They hurt themselves, scrambling away from me. Seb even managed to hit himself in the face."

I look at her with newfound respect, playing the scenario in my head. Good for her. It couldn't have been easy, being the only girl in your closest circle of friends.

"Yo, where's Dave?" Brad asks as soon as he reaches us.

Before Ari could answer, I thrust my hotdog at Brad. "It's yours." Honestly, I'm also wondering where David went. Just a little. But I don't want Brad asking about him. It will lead to more questions that I don't want to answer.

I push the hotdog closer to Brad, and he looks at me warily. "I'm scared. Why are you being nice?" he says. His smudged eyes moved from me to Ari. What? Did he think I poisoned it or something? I roll my eyes at him.

"Hey, you refusing my hotdog?" the vendor suddenly hollers behind us, looking insulted.

"No, of course not, man," Brad reassures the man, grabbing the hotdog from my hand. He bites into it forcefully, facing the vendor as a show of faith. "So, where's Dave?" he asks us again, mouth full.

Ari turns to me, the mysterious look back in her eyes. But it disappears more quickly than before, and she's back to her cheerful self again. "We lost him," she tells Brad.

"Oh, man," Brad says. "I have something to tell him, and it can't wait."

"What is it?" Ari asks him.

"No way. I'm not telling you." Brad answers.

"Agh, come on. You two are always keeping secrets away from the rest of us. It's not fair." Ari complains.

I stand there, staring at their easy exchange. I wonder what it feels like to be close to so many people like this. Maisie is not the only person I hung out with in childhood, but she's the only one who I got close to enough to still be my friend until now. I sigh. Maybe not for long, though. She's still not answering my letters. Compared to us, these guys seem to have decided to be there for each other forever. A kind of stability that I'm beginning to think I'm not meant to have.

"Ari, what's your phone number?" Ari rouses me from my thoughts.

"Huh? I--I don't have one." I stutter.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't have a phone." I clarify, somewhat uncomfortable. I know what comes next—the exaggerated disbelief at someone who has the nerve to go without a phone these days.

Ari gasps dramatically, "Don't tell me you're a time traveler from another century?"

I laugh at that. Ari is at least creative with her reaction.

"No way she's that cool." Brad quips, immediately ruining my mood. I cast him a glare, and he balks with a smirk. "Sorry. Thank you for the hotdog. I'm going to find David now."

Ari turns to me, ignoring Brad's departure, "But, Dina, if you don't have a phone, how do you contact your parents? Your friends?"

"I don't have friends." I tell her, then hesitantly adds, "Well, I have one friend. We're not talking right now, though. I send her and my parents letters instead of text messages." I turn away, embarrassed. I don't know why I just shared that with her.

"I would love that too!" she exclaims so loudly, it scared the wits out of me. "Oh please, can we be pen pals? I've always wanted one. Can we? Please, please, please."

I laugh again at how hyper this girl can be. Her early wistfulness seems to have been completely forgotten.

"Okay, okay. Settle down. I'll be your pen pal." I tell her.

"Yay! That is so great. You can write me first thing once we get to the hotel. You can slip it under my door or something, and I'll pretend to be surprised about it." Ari chatters.

I do not miss how ridiculous that suggestion is, but my mind gets stuck on one thing. "Wait... hotel?"

"Yes. Where do you think we're staying? I'm supposed to show you where it is. Come on."