nine thousand miles | cazzie

three

When I first stepped out of the hotel, I was happy I did. The air was chill and there were cute shops surrounding the place. Bakeries, cafes, clothes shops... so different compared to back at home.

"Aren't you glad you stepped out?" Erika asked, standing next to me, admiring her surroundings. "Yeah..." I whispered, putting my hands in my jacket pocket.

"Alright so I'm thinking... we walk around for a bit... then we can go shopping... maybe go to the beach? There's a museum here too..." Quinn started to ramble before Casey stopped her. "Shut up. They have a haunted house somewhere around the corner," Casey said and she started to walk.

"A haunted house?" Erika asked in confusion and Casey smirked. "Well, not an actual one. It's near some theme park here. I heard it's crazy scary," Casey said and my face dropped. "Awww... look who's scared," Casey said in a baby voice, making me roll my eyes. "I'm not scared. Just don't know why we gotta do that on our very first day," I replied.

"Actually... Quinn and I were thinking of checking out that bakery over there," Erika said, pointing to her left. Quinn looked at her in confusion and Erika stared back before Quinn's face turned into a sudden realisation. "Oh right! Right, we were going to go there. Anyway, you two kids have fun!" Quinn exclaimed.

"Wait, why can't we all just go to the bakery?" I asked and Erika and Quinn side-eyed each other. "Uhhh... we looked at the website just now. They only have a table for two," Erika told me. "But... it's a bakery. Why would you even need a table-"

"Ok bye!" They exclaimed at the same time, running away from us. I sighed in defeat. I knew this was all part of Erika's little 'Project Cazzie' thing and it looked like she had gotten Quinn involved as well. I slowly turned around to see Casey smirking at me.

"What?" I asked and she moved closer to me. "It's either haunted house with me or all alone in the room. You choose nerd," She said and I sighed. "Fine. Let's go to your lame haunted house."

Casey did a little jump in excitement before we both started walking. "Why are you so interested to go to a haunted house anyways?" I asked and she shrugged. "I like scary things. Scary movies. Ever since I was little," She replied and I nodded. "Isn't it weird that we literally met like 3 days ago at a party and now we're in a completely different country?" She told me and I pursed my lips.

"You're just not gonna talk to me?" She asked me and I gathered the courage to look at her. In all honesty, I felt my entire body melt every time I looked at her. "I don't know it's just... our lives are so different. I'm surprised you even wanna talk to me," I told her and she kept quiet for a while. "Aren't you used to it though? Guys drooling all over you."

"That doesn't mean anything. And the guys at our school are kinda pathetic so..."

She laughed. "Well it's the same for you right? You seem to attract every one in your path," I told her and she smirked. "Even you?" She asked and I rolled my eyes to cover the blush forming on my face. "That stewardess on the plane? She was willing to risk her job just so she could shove her tongue down your throat," I reminded her. "It's about the way you present yourself. Confidence is sexy," She whispered to me.

"Anyways I don't even like her. Just needed to release my angst somehow after you... you know... made it awkward."

"Yeah... about that I'm really sorry."

"Eh don't worry about it. You don't have to explain yourself."

We stared into each others' eyes for a while. "You were right..." She whispered, still looking into my eyes. "We aren't friends."

I cleared my throat and looked away. "So yeah... you don't need to get into detail about... anything..." She mumbled and I nodded. Her phone buzzed and I saw that she had a message from her mum. She opened it and I saw her face fall a little while reading it.