𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 • Miguel Cazarez Mora

VIII: HATE

"What do you mean, you hate racing games?" Miguel asked Tatum.

"The chairs shake and throw me around all over the place, it's painful!" Tatum replied.

"Don't be a pussy, Tay," Tristan said. Tatum rolled her eyes, before getting in the seat next to Miguel.

"I'm gonna beat you," she said.

"No, you're not."

Miguel was right. Tatum didn't beat him. She wasn't even close. She rolled her eyes before getting out of the chair. "I let you win," she said to Miguel as they walked away from the racing game to join the others, but they couldn't find them.

"Where are they?" Miguel asked.

"Well, obviously I don't know," Tatum replied. They wandered around the arcade for a while. It was big, filled with a mix of retro and modern games.

They finally found them gathered around an air hockey table, Tristan and Mason thing in a seemingly intense game. Tristan was focused, until he noticed Miguel and Tatum walking over. "Who won?" He asked, letting his guard down for one second and Mason scored the winning point.

Tristan turned to Mason, glaring at him as everyone laughed. "Miguel won, but only because I let him," Tatum said.

"Sore loser," Tristan joked.

"So are you," Tatum rolled her eyes.

The day went by fast, Tatum spent most of her time on the old arcade games, which she was pretty terrible at. Everyone would poke fun at her when she failed the game quickly, to which she'd flip them off.

After the arcade, they decided to head to the beach, the same one that they'd went to a few days ago. Tristan was the one that suggested it. "What is it with you and the beach?" Brady asked.

"I don't know," Tristan said, "I just like it, you know? It's peaceful. Plus, barely anyone ever comes here."

Tatum was sat in between Miguel and Mason, looking up at the sunset. She realised that this would be the last time she'd get to see the sunset with them for a while. Miguel could see she was upset, so he intertwined their fingers and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Mason nudged Tristan, who was sat next to him, and pointed at the pair.

Mason and Tristan watched with a smile and Tatum looked her her feet and Miguel looked at their hands, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles.

"I'm gonna miss you guys," Tatum said.

"We'll miss you too," Maddy replied.

Tatum felt silly for being so upset. She knew she really wasn't gonna be gone too long, maybe one to three months. It's not like she was leaving them forever, and she knew she'd speak to them everyday.

She suddenly felt arms lifting her from the ground in burdel style, looking up to see Tristan. She was confused as to how he was picking her up, considering he was barely taller than her.

Before she could say anything, she was dunked into the water. She swam up quickly, spitting water out and shaking her hair in an attempt to dry it. "What the hell, Tristan!"

"Sorry, I need to piss you off at least one more time before you leave," he says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, you were successful. And now I'm freezing," Tatum complained, before being attacked with hugs by the group.

Despite being soaked and freezing, she felt warm inside. She knew that, no matter how far away she was, no matter how long she was away, these people would always be her best friends.