Age of zombies

[41] Campfire confessions

The night was cold, but the campfire crackled warmly as we huddled around it, the flames casting flickering shadows across our faces. The day had been long, and after stuffing ourselves with deer meat, we all felt a little more relaxed. With the drying rack hanging nearby and the fire warming our bones, the tension in the group eased a bit. Tonight, we weren't survivors in the middle of a zombie apocalypse—we were just a bunch of people trying to distract ourselves from the harsh reality.

Yabe was sitting close to me, her eyes reflecting the firelight as she pulled her knees up to her chest. Daisy leaned back against a log, looking unusually relaxed, while Ethan and Liza lounged across from us, both clearly enjoying the rare moment of comfort.

"I've got an idea," Ethan said suddenly, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. "Let's make this interesting. How about we all share the most embarrassing or cringe story from our past?"

Daisy raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. "Seriously? What are we, a bunch of high schoolers?"

Liza smirked, nudging Ethan with her elbow. "Yeah, you trying to get some blackmail material or something?"

Ethan held up his hands in defense. "Come on, it's not like we've got anything better to do. We might as well laugh at ourselves while we still can."

I shrugged, figuring it couldn't hurt. "Alright, fine. But if we're doing this, we're going all in. No holding back."

Daisy snorted, clearly amused. "Sure, let's see who's got the worst cringe story."

We all looked around at each other, waiting for someone to go first. Yabe, shy as she was, hesitated before finally speaking up.

"I'll... I'll go first," she said quietly, her voice a little shaky but determined. "But don't laugh too much, okay?"

We all nodded, trying to look serious, though the anticipation was clear.

"So," Yabe began, looking down at her hands, "when I was in middle school, I had a huge crush on this guy in my class. He was really popular, and I was, well... not."

Liza grinned. "Ooh, middle school crushes. Always a recipe for disaster."

Yabe blushed, but continued. "Anyway, I wanted to impress him, so I decided to write him a love letter. But I didn't just write a normal letter. No, I wrote a whole damn poem about how much I liked him."

Ethan stifled a laugh, but Yabe shot him a look and kept going.

"I was super shy, so I couldn't give it to him directly. Instead, I slipped the poem into his locker, thinking he'd read it and be, like, super impressed. Well... turns out he found the letter during lunch, read it out loud to all his friends, and made fun of me for it in front of everyone."

"Oh no," I groaned, feeling secondhand embarrassment. "That's brutal."

Yabe winced, clearly still feeling the sting. "It was the most humiliating day of my life. I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear."

Liza burst out laughing, unable to hold it in anymore. "You wrote a poem? That's so cute, but also so painful."

Yabe gave a shy smile, shaking her head. "Yeah, it was pretty cringe."

"Well," Daisy said, leaning forward, "at least you had the guts to write something. I've got one that's way more embarrassing."

We all turned to Daisy, surprised she was actually getting into this. She smirked, taking a deep breath.

"When I was about thirteen, I was at this big family reunion at my grandparents' farm. You know, the kind where all the cousins you barely know show up, and there's a ton of food, and it's just chaos? Anyway, I decided I wanted to show off and impress everyone by riding one of the horses. Thing is, I didn't actually know how to ride a horse yet."