Little Girl Blue - 𝐖𝐋𝐖

𝐈. Philia- Sixteen

"And I'll pick you up at 11?" She was rubbing her hands along her jeans, eyeing the group of individuals crowded around the bonfire.

She was being hesitant—before we left, on the drive over, and now once she parked I was being held an extra five minutes, answering all the questions I've already been asked.

"...And don't do anything crazy either. I think that guy over there is about to jump in the water," She points to a man with his shirt already off, "We don't need you getting sick." She pauses to look elsewhere, "And that girl with the glasses is smoking a joint!" She quickly rolls up the window and places her hand on the gear.

I smirk, "Jane what are you doing? We're young. I know you don't remember what that's like but you've should've expected this... and a little bit of weed."

She glares over at me, foot on break, hands on wheel ready to back up. "I'm glad you think I'm joking. I'm not dealing with you high."

"But I get to deal with you drunk?"

Her jaw clenches, the squint of her eye causing me to shift under her gaze. One glance out the window and I spotted Gideon and his tall stature, plucking at a guitar.

Jane expels a large breath, "We've talked about that already."

"And yet you still don't trust me to make my own decisions."

"It's not like that Florence I—I just..." She runs her hands across the wheel, knuckles tight with locked elbows. "I don't want anything to happen to you, okay? I want you to have fun, really. Just promise me you'll be smart." Her voice softened. I could tell she was trying to comprise.

Shaking my head, "I didn't mean to bring up the drinking."

She sighed, "But you did. And I'm now seeing that maybe that affected you more than I thought. It was inappropriate, you shouldn't have seen me that way. But don't ever use it against me when it comes to how I feel about you. I'm trying to protect you, can't you see that?"

I could. I really could, in fact I believe it was her who couldn't. But at some point there's a line between protective and possessive. Jane was one to ride both evenly and comfortably, "Sometimes how you feel interjects with what I do. You realize that, don't you?"

She stares at me awhile longer, "I don't." I can tell she's disappointed at her misunderstanding. Looking back at it now that may have been by choice. I was naive, she knew that. The less I knew about how controlling she was the more leverage she had. She didn't like feeling like I was out of her grip, and she certainly ignored the fact that she was suffocating me by doing so.

Still, I understood. I left her no crumbs to chew off of, I went out of my own way to hide from her.

"But I will try to." She swallowed, parking the car and unlocking the door. "Have fun. Be safe."

I looked at her, "Jane," I called out. Her expression was dull, bored almost.

"Just be safe, please." Her hand found my arm, giving it a firm squeeze.

"I will. Thank you."

When I shut the door I saw Harper waiting by a tree. The sun shining against her polished dark skin, "Hey!" She tucked her phone into her back pocket and rushed me into a hug. "I'm so glad you made it!"

I inhaled, tightly folding my arms together, "Yeah, thanks for inviting me."

"Come on I want you to meet everybody!" Again I was dragged by the hand. My shoes getting tangling with the sticks and sand until we came to an abrupt stop at the fire. Gathered around was a young group of early twenty-somethings. Gideon with his guitar (it had a missing string and every song he played you could tell, though he didn't seem to mind), the girl Jane pointed out was short and positioned on a towel. Her eyes swung low, most of the night she rambled on and lost focus. The guy in the lake had come back after complaining it had been too cold, Levi or Liam—I couldn't remember. And had taken a seat near the fire with a beer cradled in his shaking palm. There were others, scattered about the hidden beach front, drinking, hosting a small game of volleyball, flipping patties on a tiny grill sitting close to the ground.