Maroon Socks

27: WE ARE FOR(N)EVER

027: we are for(n)ever

DAY 10.999

"Exactly how intense was your walk?" teases Brooke as Dakota and Elijah return to the group.

Calvin laughs, lifting his head up from Brooke's lap, for a second. Between his fingers are a bright red elastic band, which he's strumming and making it twist and turn. Arthur's sitting in front of Fiona, somehow distant from the rest, playing with the fringes of the patterned blanket they've laid out. It's to distract him and Dakota is very much aware of that. Fiona is spread out on the blanket, gazing at the many clouds of stars above. She's frowning and it is because of the pollution messing the image in front of her.

"As intense as Arthur looking at artwork," Elijah replies, taking a seat beside Arthur.

Arthur looks at him, interrupted in his trance, and softly gazes at Elijah. "Hmm?" he asks, unknown to the conversations held. His pale face is twisted into a look of question, as his mind takes in the faint string of words he'd heard.

"You're such a charmer," Elijah chuckles, shaking his head. Dakota smiles a toothy one at his words. Arthur gives him a tight smile, in return.

"Anything we should know, Dakota?" Arthur mutters, tracing an irregular pattern into the grains of the sand.

"Why don't you tell me?" Dakota hoarsely whispering, leaning onto her arm. Arthur looks at her for the longest time. He's confused. What exactly is he supposed to tell her?

"Okay, ew, I can't deal," Brooke loudly interrupts, before Calvin proceeds to pretends to barf.

"Well, you're not going to have to put up with it any longer," Fiona sadly murmurs, breaking her gaze from the glistening stars. Her eyes come to rest on Brooke, with her and everyone else looking at her expectantly. She smiles a tight smile. Fiona smiles to give courage and happiness, but the heavy bitterness rests evidently behind it. She shrugs a shoulder, trying to show that the fact hasn't shook her at all. "Last clue," she mumbles, throwing the piece of envelope at the sand. It's weight makes the grains of the sand fly in different directions, just like them, soon.

"It can't be," Brooke firmly denies, refusing to believe the disheartening truth. "It's only been ten days," she argues, looking at the back of Calvin's head, as he'd gotten up and was leaning over to grab the truth.

Calvin frowns, quickly ripping off the sealed opening of the encasement. His fingers fiddle with the paper inside, before he takes out the flimsy clue out. His eyes go across the paper multiple times, before he lets out a loud, defeated sigh. Brooke, concerned, gets onto her knees and shuffles closer. She peers over his shoulder.

"Hello, team! If you're reading this, then you've found your final clue. You can't sleep," Brooke quotes whoever wrote this down. Wrinkle form on her forehead and she questions the writer. "I'm sorry, what?"

Calvin chuckles - he doesn't know if the humour is included in the sound or not. He gently looks over his shoulder at his girlfriend. "You can't sleep. That's the final clue," he whispers, his eyes stealing a glance of her lips.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dakota nervously chuckles, getting onto her knees. Her skirt exposes her creamy legs, just as she folds the sleeves of her black turtle neck onto her fingers.

Calvin lifts his head to look at Dakota, his eyes wondering over her face, trying to find a suitable explanation to make all of this seem alright. After a while, he smiles, sharply, shrugging a shoulder in defeat. With a small utter, Dakota hears, "I don't know."

What a perfect sum up, Dakota thinks, of everything.

She bites onto her bottom lip, trying to make sense of what they have been given. But her eyes drift off to someone she's fond of.