Into My Own

Twenty-Three

"What do you guys wanna do?" Blake asked as her dad drove away, horses in tow.

"Eat!" Oakley cheered.

Blake turned to Kellan and I with raised eyebrows.

I shrugged. "Why not."

Kellan nodded his consent.

"What should we get?"

"Tacos!" Oakley exclaimed, not even giving us a chance to get a word in edgewise.

We walked in a line towards one of the many food trucks that lined the streets. The wait was excruciatingly long, but we tried to be patient to satisfy Oakley.

"I'm sooo hungry!" Blake whined for the fifth time in ten minutes.

"Me too..." Kellan joined in.

I really wasn't, so I held my tongue.

Finally, we got our turn to order. The amount of food my friends purchased was astonishing. The rate at which they consumed it all was just plain amazing. They didn't even wait to sit down before digging in.

I, on the other hand, ordered a small taco and an iced tea.

"Here, Coda, try this." Oakley demanded, shoving a piece of taco at my face.

"No, I'm good." I moved her hand away.

"You need to start eating," she admonished.

"Oakley, I'm not hungry."

"Coda! You've lost twenty pounds! You can't keep saying that!" She exclaimed.

As hard as they tried to hide it, I could tell that Blake and Kellan were listening intently. My face turned beet red.

I shot Oakley a glare and took a vicious bite of my own taco.

The rest of the meal was silent. I felt like it was my job to break it.

"Kellan, can I wear your hat for the rest of the day?" I still hadn't taken it off for fear of my huge hair.

"Sure," he grinned, seeming relieved.

I wasn't usually one for cowboy hats, but this one was definitely growing on me.

His own blonde hair had an imprint from where the hat usually sat, though it looked good on him.

"I'm stuffed," Blake commented, leaning back in her seat.

"Same." Oakley sighed. "It's hot."

"Y'know, you don't have to wear the western shirt the whole day," Blake shrugged.

Oakley turned to me. "Wanna come to my car with me?"

"Sure." I stood up.

"We might as well come too," Blake decided.

The four of us made our way through the crowds to Oakley's car. We took off our western shirts to reveal our tank tops while Kellan stood by awkwardly and Blake fiddled with her phone.

"I'm pretty done with this hair too." Oakley said, pulling off her hat and running a brush through her slightly tangled curls. She quickly put it up in a pony tail and added a cloth headband.