Housemates

The Chase (pun intended)

Arianne

I blindly follow him to the back of the boat where there is more shade. He tells me to sit down and goes to get something. When he gets back he has a bottle of pills in his hand. 

Am I going to get drugged by my friends dad?

"Here this helps with the dizziness," he hands me two pills.

"Are you sure I'm not going to pass out?"

"Trust me I knew someone who'd always get dizzy, this shit works" he chucked.

I give in and swallow one pill. I can't help but feel awkward. It's so silent between us and there's nothing to say. I don't even want to say anything.

Lana's lucky. Even though he's not her biological father, he sure seems like a sweet guy who genuinely cares for her.

It's funny because I tried relating with her on how we both don't know our real fathers but at least she has Haze.

As I take the second pill, I notice a slight twitch in Haze's jaw, a barely perceptible movement. I glance at him curiously, and for a moment, the sunlight catches a faded scar on his jawline. It's a fleeting detail, overshadowed by the concern in his eyes as he hands me the water bottle. "You need to stay hydrated as well," he says.

"What's up with the scar?" I asked him.

Haze casually traces it, "this old thing? It's from years ago"

I nodded agreeably before getting up to go back where the others are. Luckily when I do I find everyone chilling in the seats looking exhausted from swimming.

"Where were you?" Lana asks me as I sit next to her.

"Got dizzy, your dad helped" I shrugged.

"Okay so i think we should bring out the cake right now," Tessa whispers to us.

Amy nods agreeably and Aaron who's sitting across from us gets the hint and nods as well.

"Alright I'll go get the cake ready," I tell them. "You dj," I point at Aaron. "And Lana come with me so it's not suspicious"

we both get up.

"Hey where are you guys going?" Chase asks.

Well fuck.

"The dips finished, gonna get us some refills and make mojitos," Lana lies saving us.

She walks to the table where the snacks are and grabs the dips and cups.

Chase goes back to chatting with Aaron and Tessa.

We quickly take out the cake and put some candles on them. I wait for Aaron to play the song we agreed on for Chases so I could walk out.

Once I heard it Lana and I walked in and Chase's face said it all. His eyes lit up once he figured out what was going on and his smile was reaching to the ends of his teeth. All of us, in union, started singing happy birthday trying our best not to laugh from how awful we sound.