all the stars

~ six ~

We ended up staying at the water park until it was good and dark out. Much longer than what I had anticipated, but fun nonetheless.

I waved goodbye to Hayleigh as she rolled out of the driveway, on her way home now since I was her last stop. Macey was spending the night with her, so that wasn't a problem.

I walked up our front steps and opened the front door with my key and saw Allegra on the couch drinking what looked to be another kale smoothie in her silk robe and daily face mask. I swear I love food, I really do, but Allegras smoothies? The things are nasty! I'd rather starve to death before I drank one of those. And that's saying a lot.

I glanced at the screen of the TV in front of her, illuminating her face, to find she was watching runway re-runs. Again. For probably the millionth time of her life. She's obsessed with getting down her 'model walk'. Apparently it has to be perfect; good posture, heels with enough height, no swinging your arms, one foot directly in front of the other. There is just way too much stuff to simply think about while walking of all things. I'm good. I'll settle for the average life. Just like I always have I guess.

"Where've you been?" Allegra asked, not even a hint of pure curiosity in her voice as her eyes stayed glued to the TV.

"Um, you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you, so I'm just gonna stick with not telling you." I say simply, closing the door and plopping onto the couch a few feet away from her. Her eyes finally left the TV as she scanned me up and down, taking in my wet hair and bathing suit peeking out from under my shirt.

"Interesting. Was it a water gun fight with a bunch of nerds, or did some cool kids prank you by making you think they wanted to hang out with you, but instead stuck you side of a diving tank and took turns making shots."

I rolled my eyes at her dramatic evaluation and decided to tell her. "Well, you were halfway correct. A bunch of cool kids invited me to go to the water park with them earlier after I went grocery shopping this morning."

The blank look on Allegras face turned to one of hysteria as she started to laugh so hard I was afraid her face mask would fall off.

"You're kidding, right? That would take a miracle, especially for you. I would need to see it to believe it." She continued to laugh and she wiped away a pretend tear.

"No, I'm not kidding. I was even invited to a party with them last night and didn't get back home until you were already asleep." I was halfway annoyed, but I'm used to her little faith in my social life, so I try to never let it bother me too much.

"Oh, Asteria," She said, shaking her head."The day anything like that happens the world will stop spinning, all the stars will disintegrate, the sun will freeze over, and humankind will cease to exist." With that, she got up, shut off the TV, slurped up the rest of her smoothie, and walked up the stairs to her room.

She's always got to have a dramatic exit.

I walked over to the kitchen and opened up the fridge to see that all of my perfectly organized containers had already been rifled through by hands who were attached to hungry and impatient stomachs. I groaned. My hard work never seems to go anywhere useful.

I grabbed the jar of pickles I just got earlier and listened to the satisfying 'pop' the lid makes the first time you take it off. I don't know why, but it sounds so satisfying. I plucked out one of the green little things most people might think is an alien from another planet. Sure, they look weird, but they taste sooo good. I ate the first one pretty quickly and then grabbed out another and put the jar back. I continued to eat it as I walked up stairs and into my room to brush out my messy pool hair.

I changed into a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top as I brushed my hair back and braided it. I glanced into my vanity mirror as I moisturized my face and put on some chapstick. After removing my earrings, I pulled the blankets back on my bed and jumped in.

I scrolled through my instagram for a few minutes and found the pictures Hayleigh took of all of us earlier. Tyrone falling off the wake board, Xander being pushed into the pool by a little kid, Macey's face of horror going down the deepest water slide with Alison, the photo finish video of me and Hayleigh finally getting our water slide race in (and not that its important, but I did win by ten seconds). Anyways, then I saw the last pic. Duke flexing and a crowd of girls behind him stared, not trying to hide it at all. I just rolled my eyes.

He was seemingly pretty nice by the looks of him, and girls drool over him, but how could you ever be with a guy so cocky? It's obnoxious! I don't need a brother to know that much.

Why did he want to talk to me earlier, anyway? Did he actually want to, or just to tease me for being 'jealous' of Alison?

"Ughhh." I clicked off my phone and rolled over. I shut off the lamp and closed my eyes, trying to get him off my mind. He can't be on it. It can never happen and it never should happen. Not after what happened to me. Men can't be trusted.

I huffed as I curled up under my blankets, shoving my headphones on my head to lead me away to the musical world, one where Duke did not exist for me.