ONLY ANGEL | JJ MAYBANK

SIXTEEN... gold rush

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

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It hit Collins all at once.

There had been a slight delay, but in the end, Collins felt the high wash over her like high tide and she was suddenly swallowed whole. It felt like everything was all sunshine and rainbows, every problem that had ever been weighing on her dissipated into a flume of smoke and was lifted off her. It was incredible, it was euphoric, it was everything Collins had never imagined was even possible to feel in her whole entire life.

It was also the last thing that Kie and Sarah probably needed to deal with that night.

"Oh my God, guys!" Collins gasped out of the blue, startling the two girls by the panic in her voice.

"What, Collins?" Kie asked, panicked, looking around but seeing nothing but darkness around them since the sun had set. Usually she found the sound of ocean waves calming, but knowing that she was stuck on this vessel until morning with her ex-best friend made her antsy with anticipation for blessed freedom. On top of that, suddenly having to babysit a stoned Collins whose virgin lungs had never experienced cannabis before wasn't at the top of her list of how she would've liked to spend her night but she was the one who told her to do it, so what could she do?

"We forgot to get the plugs from JJ! We're stuck here now. Stranded! Adrift!" Collins exclaimed with wide eyes, apparently sustaining some memory loss from the THC. Kie and Sarah simultaneously threw their heads back and released concurrent sighs.

"JJ took the plugs on purpose, remember Collins? We're supposed to be stranded here." Sarah explained with simple words for her better understanding.

There was a brief moment of pause from the brown haired girl as her eyes moved around like she was in deep thought, even though how they came to end up where they were was as shallow as a kiddie pool. "Ohhh, you're right. I'm supposed to be the buffer. Have I been doing a good job?"

Her complete and utter innocence in that instance was what kept Kie and Sarah from expressing any sort of frustration with her. She couldn't help that she was stoned out of her mind and didn't know any better. She wasn't the one who left them stuck together and forced to address their conflicts with each other. Being snippy with her wouldn't make a difference anyway, nothing was going to spoil her high.

"Yeah." Kie answered with tight lips. "You're doing great." They hadn't physically assaulted one another so that was a success? Little victories.

A wide smile stretched across Collins's face in pure joy. "Yayyy, that makes me so happy!" Weak smiles reached Kie and Sarah's face at how effortlessly her delight had come. Each girl was equally taken aback when an arm was thrown around the shoulders and Collins was pulling them towards her into hugs that were damn near close to chokeholds around their necks. "Isn't this so nice? I've always wanted girl friends. Not like- girl friends as in girlfriends, but like, girls that are friends, you know?"

Wrenching Collins's arm away from her to allow her the breathing space she needed, Kie managed to send her a stiff nod in response. "Sure, Collins." Although, she didn't really know, because her best friends were mainly boys and Sarah being her only prior girl friend had been reason enough to steer her away from any more. Collins was the exception.

"I just, it's always been hard for me to make friends. I've always been too quiet, or too weird so no one's ever invited me to a sleepover before." Collins swallowed dryly, but didn't let the lack of moisture in her mouth bother her one bit. Instead, she continued with her confession while holding the two other girls close to her like they were her closest confidants. Nevermind that Sarah was practically a total stranger to her and Kie wasn't really good with sharing feelings, Collins was getting personal. "Girls could be so mean sometimes. They used to leave me out on purpose because they said my dad smelled bad like old beer, therefore so did I. It wasn't my fault that he liked to drink and that he sometimes drank too much. But maybe I did smell bad because I lived with him, but they still treated me the same after he was gone."