•| Nefarious |•

17

"You guys are getting on my nerves." Tyler yelled out to Aiden and Ashlyn while we all walked down the stairs. We were currently on our way to our next class, after last night everyone was exhausted and thrilled because of the jeep.

"How are we supposed to "celebrate" when you're ruining the good mood with awkwardness?" Taylor spoke up for her brother, "What he means is that both of you seem a bit tense there's about ten before class, how about you guys talk things out and we'll go grab some snacks?"

Taylor quickly rushed everyone back down the steps and behind the railing. "Hey I thought we were-", Taylor quickly threw her hand over my mouth making me be quiet. "Shhh I just want to see what's gonna happen." She whispered as she peaked behind the wall.

"Well I'm getting snacks, anyone want to come with?" I whispered to the group. Tyler shrugged and nodded as we both walked down the steps and made it to the hallway. "How's your thigh?" He asked, I honestly forgot about the scratch since it was so long ago.

"Well the marks completely gone somehow, I'm surprised it didn't leave a scar but I'm all good. How are you from last night?" I looked up at his face to see what he was feeling.

"I would be lying if I said I'm alright, when you went back out for Aiden I thought you would get hurt..." he whispered at the end of his sentence.

Usually when it's just me and Tyler he doesn't hold back his true feelings and just lets them flow out like a river. "I would be lying too, everything happened so quickly and with Ashlyn and Aiden getting hurt I almost regretted it all...but in the end we got the jeep so I guess it was worth it."

We made it to the vending machines, I was about to put some money in when Tyler put his hand up . "I got it don't worry.", he said putting in 5 dollars. I smiled at him reaching down and grabbing my snack, opening it up I gave him a chip.

"Thank you... for this and for last night. You really did a lot for the whole group and for me." I looked at his face and saw what looked to be a small smile but my eyes could just be tricking me, the placebo effect, but I'm not sure.

We made it back to the group, "What did we miss?" I whispered to them and Taylor said she'd catch me up later. "...Let's just both try our best, I guess." I heard Ashlyn say from upstairs and hold out her hand to Aiden.

"Wow, that was cringy." Tyler said crossing his arms, Taylor quickly jabbed him in the side making Ashlyn yell, "I can hear you guys."

We all sat down on Ashlyn's couches in her living room gloomy, we finished our midterms and didn't do the best on them. "I'm pretty sure I failed that midterm." Taylor held her face into her hands sulking from her performance.

"Tell me about it, I didn't even get to the back page." I rested my head back against the couch running a hand down my face. "Oh yeah, my parents are coming back tomorrow." Aiden perked up. "Really?" Taylor asked him, "Yeah along with Ben's family. It'll be his little sister's birthday in a week, I think." Which Ben nodded at.

"Oh, they're coming back? They never told me." Ashlyn dad walked in with a laundry basket in his hands, "You talk to them?" Ashlyn asked her dad. "Yeah, a bit, to give them updates on how Aiden and Ben are doing."

"Hmm...should we have a barbecue?" He asked the group, "What...?" Ashlyn was confused on why he asked. "I'll be a rare chance for all of us parents to get to know each other, y'know? We could have a big bbq in the graveyard and also celebrate Ben's sister's birthday, if they don't already have plans."

"Sure! We can asked!" Aiden jumped up and down in his seat. "What about you, Tyler and Taylor? Y/n? Logan?" Her dad turned to use getting our approval.

"I'm sure my grandparents would like to come. They're big bbq fans themselves." Logan smiled, "We'll ask." Tyler said referring to him and his sisters. "I bet my dad would love to come and meet new people." I said to him. "Great! Oh! You kids should probably leave soon, it's already 5 almost." Ashlyn's dad looked down onto his watch.

"Ah right..." Ashlyn said. "You sure you don't want me to take you?" "It's not too far of a walk, plus the jeep doesn't have enough seats for everyone." Ashlyn said. It made me think about when we got the jeep and how everyone fit, clearly someone was put into the trunk since we all couldn't fit into the seats.

"Well actually I made a small upgrade to the jeep.
"This is not ideal." Tyler was stuck in the far back with me and Taylor next to him all squished together. "But at least it works haha." Ashlyn's dad drove us to the arcade where we decided we'll celebrate our victory.

"You kids have fun! Call me if you need anything!" Ashlyn's dad dropped us off at the front doors, "We will." She responded to him as he drove off.

"The arcades fun and all, but are you sure you'll be okay Ashlyn." I asked her in concern putting my hands into my pockets. "We're supposed to be celebrating and reliving some stress. I don't want you to be uncomfortable the whole time..." I looked to her.

"Yeah, these are pretty great at canceling out noise. I should be fine." She pulled her headphones closer to her ears. "Plus, I've never been to an arcade, so I'm kinda curious." "Me too." Logan agreed with her.

We all walked in looking around at all the games, air hockey, motorcycle and even gun games scattered the room all with bright colors and loud lights. It was pretty empty which was nice because it meant we got the whole place to ourselves for the most part. "I bet I can beat you."  Aiden told Ashlyn pointing to the DDR machines. "How much?" She asked him giving him a slight smile, I swore I saw him blush a little.

"Oh! Oh! I'm good at DDR too!" Taylor said, "Yeah I'm pretty good at it myself, I bet I can beat you!" I told her as we ran to the machine. We all danced away, I laughed trying to beat Taylor but she was pretty good at the game. In the end Ashlyn and Taylor won while me and Aiden lost.

Taylor and Tyler competed in a basketball competition with Tyler winning. Ashlyn and Tyler competed against each other in air hockey, Logan got hit in the face with the disk. Logan and Ben went against each other in a gun game with Logan winning, and then Ben did a how hard can you punch and got the jackpot.

Little did we know someone who wasn't welcomed just walked in.