MIRRORBALL ; QUINN HUGHES

Nine

start to feel and it feels the same

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚maybe someday ; the cure

TATE

"IT'S SO good to see you, Tate." Luca smiled at me widely, his dark hair ruffled as he sat beside me on the lounge.

I returned the smile, only mine being dimmer. "Yeah, you too. The summers are long."

"Too long." Luca nudged me. "What have you been doing?"

The flash of Quinn came to haunt me, reminding me that it wasn't a nightmare. Quinn had been making it clear at avoiding me, not even looking at me when he put breakfast on my plate.

"Oh, not much." I nodded, hearing the chatter of our surrounding friends. "You just kind of go in the water all day."

"Sounds like fun to me." Luca shot me a small smile, brown eyes staring at me. "So, are you coming to the bonfire tonight?"

I glanced down at the glass I had been clutching, tapping my fingernails along it. "Oh, I'm not sure. I didn't really plan on it."

"Oh, come on." Luca pouted. "It'll be fun. We're all going. You're just supposed to sit in bed all night?"

I chuckled lightly, knowing Luca would be the one to convince me to go. "That's not too bad, I like my bed."

Luca scoffed with a playful roll of his eyes. "You're the life of the party, Tate. I've only got a week here, let's make the most of it, yeah?"

"You're gonna be the death of me, Fantilli." I sighed, watching the proud grin spread across his thin lights. The sight of victory plastered over his features.

"Love you too." Luca slung his arm around me, pulling me into his chest.

I truly didn't know how Luca roped me into wanting to go the bonfire. Luke had been hyping it up for two weeks and at first, it seemed like the most uninteresting thing on earth.

But now, here I was throwing a button up over my loose dress. The thought of being surrounded by a bunch of drunken strangers was the least of my worries.

I was more concerned about having to see Quinn all night. No matter where he was, my eyes always seemed to spot him.

"I am so happy you're coming." Luke happily sighed, walking beside me as the gravel beneath our sneakers crushed.

The walk to the secluded beach was short, making the walking distance easy.

"Yeah, yeah." I waved him off, wrapping my arms around myself at the gusts of wind. "At least we're close enough, I have my escape plan ready."

Luke narrowed his light eyes at me, nearly scolding me. "Can you let yourself have fun, Tay?"

"I am." I argued, knowing I'd probably act like I had a stick up my ass the whole night. It was impossible not to.

"Sure." Luke muttered, kicking up sand as we walked onto the beach.

The music was loud, the bass traveling straight to the waves as the fire was tall, streams of orange seemingly touching the stars.