Candy Flip

Chapter Ten

Lucy followed Emilia, Elia, Sean and Chris down to the shoreline where the river started shallow and ended deep. Wyatt had rolled his eyes, urged everyone not to believe anything that came out of Olivia's mouth and stalked up the hill and away from the riverside.

Lucy felt sad that he had left and wondered where he went to. She also couldn't stop thinking about what Olivia said, wondering if it was true that they had hooked up last night. Olivia sat on the other side of the area on the sloping hill beside Savannah, the brown-haired girl whose name was Christina and a boy named Gabriel. They were rolling a joint in casual discussion.

"God, Olivia is such an attention whore," Elia muttered silently.

"Did Wyatt actually get with her last night?" Emilia questioned with furrowed eyebrows. She glanced at Sean who shrugged and Elia who shook her head in doubt.

"You know how it's been ever since he stopped fucking her. She'll never stop loving him no matter how much he tells her he doesn't want her. And when it comes to Olivia, either she can have him or nobody else can," Chris said.

Emilia and Elia glanced at Lucy who turned away, her cheeks reddening. She didn't want Olivia to stand in her way of her pursuit for Wyatt but judging from the rest of the people, Wyatt had no intentions of being with her, which made it easy for Lucy.

Emilia, Elia and Lucy watched as Sean and Chris wrestled each other whilst ankle-deep in the river water, laughing and trying to shove each other in. Emilia took a drag from a newly constructed joint and blew out the smoke idly. She offered the joint to Lucy who took it and inhaled deeply, feeling the light headedness build up once more. Elia was right that smoking had settled her stomach and cleared her head from any aches.

By the time the sun began setting, a bright orange glow settled over the riverbank, allowing the golden sand to become full with tree shadows. She sat in a circle with Emilia, Elia, Sean and Chris feeling like a fifth wheel and hoping against hope that Wyatt would show up again. Her head was filled with smoke and the music from the speakers drifted through her body, giving her small rushes of excitement. She sipped at her beer watching the river gently lap against the sand in gentle waves.

Olivia and Savannah were demonstrating a way of taking a shot of tequila that involved a funnel and two people Lucy hadn't met sat beside the fire making smores.

Despite Wyatt's lack of presence, a sense of being carefree pulsed through Lucy and a lightness took her, making her look at anything and see beauty. She felt relaxed and like she had nothing to worry about... Before she realized she needed to pee. She tried to hide it for a second, but then paranoia overwhelmed her and she decided that she couldn't take it any longer.

"I'll be right back, I'm gonna go pee in the forest," she said nonchalantly as she stood up and stalked off and up the sloped hill.

She walked a good distance away and turned into a thick patch of trees, searching for the perfect shielding place to sit down. When she was done, she started forward to return to her group of friends feeling relieved. As she made her way back to the top of the hill she heard the sound of a familiar song drifting through the trees. Lucy could tell that it wasn't coming from down near the riverside, and rather was coming from the place where the organic parking lot was.

Eager to explore and curious to the music's source she turned back and made her way through the trees which eventually opened up into the soily area surrounded by parked cars. Lucy stopped when she saw that Wyatt's Clio was still parked beside Emilia's car.

She searched the area, the music blaring from somewhere close and her eyes found a familiar blonde head peeping through a patch of trees across the lot.