like a railroad

005

We arrived at the glorious place called Target and hopped out, closing the car and locking it. We grabbed a cart and shoveled food and drinks into it as we went. We went to check out and Avani payed for it all because it was her idea. Except for the chocolate croissants because Aaron felt bad.

We hoped back into the car playing 'Diet Mountain Dew' by Lan. I reversed the car out of the spot, and pulled away from the magical land of Target.

I pulled into the parking lot outside the park and was pleasantly surprised to see that not many people were there. We grabbed the reusable, 'Save The Planet' tote bags that were full of food and out drinks.

We sat down next to the big oak tree in the far right corner near the skate park so that we could see the kids doing their tricks.

We laid out the classic red and white picnic blanket and put the food down on top. Chocolate croissants for Aaron, a crate of lemonade, a chocolate iced purple cake, sammys, and a fruit salad.

"Ella!" A voice yelled in my direction. I may dislike him, but I know his voice, that was him. I turned to see Vinnie Hacker holding his skateboard, running up the hill with Jordan Huxhold and Troy Zarbruh following close behind. They stopped next to us and Troy bent down to dap Aaron up, and steal a strawberry.

"Whatcha doin?" He asked, clearly making small talk, which made no sense to me considering the fact that he was the one who came over to me. Troy had lost interest in our conversation and was now taking photos of Avani for her insta like a good little boy. Jordan was picking up wildflowers somewhere with Aaron. "Nothing much, do you need something?" I got straight to the point because I figured he needed something.

"No... I just wanted to talk to you." He said, clearly offended by the fact that I thought he needed a reason to talk to me. "Oh, ok." I said, slightly embarrassed by my sudden and mildly rude accusation. "Do you wanna hang out this Friday? I want to be friends again El." His voice was drenched in guilt. I didn't know why though, he never did anything wrong, I was the one that pushed him away.

"Totally, I'll be there around 5?" I suggested, hoping that he wouldn't ask for an earlier time because I had a management meeting and didn't want to seem like I was making up excuses. "Um no." He said smirking as if I had made a joke. "I'll pick you up at 5 though." He said, as if I should have known he wouldn't let me drive. I mean maybe I should have, he never let me drive back when we were friends 2 years ago.

I laughed and smiled, wanting to sound as sincere as possible. "Of course, now leave me alone so that I can hang out with my friends." I said sarcastically. He laughed and yelled out, "Come on Jordan, you too I guess Troy." He said making a silly face.

They walked back down the hill and as soon as I sat down, they ambushed me with the question, "Did he ask you out?" They asked. We sounded like some cheesy middle school relationship, but I answered them anyway. "No, I mean yes, but like no. He asked me out in a friend way." I cleared up my stuttering sentence. "El he likes you, how the heck did he ask you out in a 'friend' way?" She asked in a sisterly tone. "Woah, woah, woah. He does NOT like me." I probably sounded insanely stupid, because he obviously did, but I was in denial, and didn't want to admit it.

"Ella he literally does, don't be stupid." Aaron said, judging my lack of self awareness. "Fine, lets just say he does, what should I do to let him down easy." I asked. "I mean, I wouldn't want to shatter his ego." I said, pointing out the obvious flaw in rejecting him. "Your silly." Avani said, looking down at her phone, and swishing the air around my face with her hands.

"True, but what did I do now?" I asked looking at her questioningly with a small smile. "You DO like him." She said pointing it out like it was obvious.

"THANK YOU... someone had to take the elephant out of the room!" Aaron yelled, throwing his hands up in the air, and letting out a deep exhale. He laid down in his back and looked up at the clouds, that floated through the sky seamlessly.

I followed in his lead, and laid down on my back looking up at the fluffy clouds. They were in extreme contrast to the bright blue sky with their bright white appearance and it made the sky look like a painting.

Avani laid down with her head on my lap and smiled, playing with her rings as she looked up.

About an hour later, we packed up the left over food and separating it all between us. I put the picnic blanket in the crook of my arm, and we walked out of the park, over to my car. We got in and Aaron plugged in his phone, playing the song 'Cherry' by Harry Styles.

I drove to Avani's house and let her out outside the gate, because she wanted to check the mailbox. She waved goodbye, before letting the gates close and we drove off.

Aaron and I took the food inside and put it away. I was bored so I went on Instagram and went through my dms, answering a few fans as I went along.