Lie Until You Laugh

13- Drunken Walks

Well, this happened again- nothing in this chapter is rated R and it won't let me change it to PG-13 so just know that it's not actually graphic or anything <3

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I’m convinced that I’m not going to the bonfire tonight. I have a long list of reasons why I do not want to go. The first one being that I’m exhausted. After staying up so late last night at the fountain, I’ve been slumping through the day and then I slumped through the morning practice. Another reason is Penn. During the morning practice, he totally avoided me. That’s fortunate for me, because him avoiding me also meant that we were avoiding the incredible awkwardness that would come along with speaking to each other at practice. We are only have way through the day though, so maybe his petrifying side will come after lunch.

It was all fun and games when we were in the dark, but now he’s Penn the Petrifying again, in the bright sunshine. And I’m Red.

“I still think you should go,” Stella tells me as we’re walking back into the studio for our afternoon practice with Mason and Brian with us. “We just got new dresses and I am absolutely dying to see you in one of them.”

“I’ll think about it,” I say even though I’m still pretty set on not going at all, but I don’t want to disappoint her, so I’ll give her some hope for now.

“But Andrew will be there,” Stella reminds me as we go into the studio. There aren’t many people in there yet because almost everybody is still eating lunch. I don’t know why we come into the room early sometimes, but it seems to happen often that we’re one of the first groups of people in the room. The only other people in the room right now are a group of girls in the corner giggling about something.

“That’s nice for him,” I nod with a small laugh.

“I thought you stopped trying to hook Sienna up with Andrew once you got the crazy idea about Penn,” Mason reminds her. She says Penn’s name quieter than the rest of the sentence because he’s just across the room. I guess it doesn’t really matter though, because he already knows about Stella’s theory.

“That’s very true,” Stella nods in confirmation. “But that was before she came in late last night, soaking wet with a smile the size of Texas on her face.”

“I did not have a Texas-sized smile on my face,” I deny with a shake of my head. Instinctively, I look up at Penn, who is sitting in the metal folding chair with his phone in his hands. He’s not looking at his phone though, he’s looking at me. My throat goes dry and blood starts rushing to my cheeks as I notice the hint of a smile on the edges of his mouth which makes it obvious that he heard what Stella just said. “I did not.”

“You so did,” She nods. “It was like a can of butterflies erupted in your stomach before you came back to the room.”

I’m positive that I was not that giddy at three in the morning. Especially not after being submerged in a stinky fountain with Penn of all people. She’s exaggerating. “You were half awake, so you were probably delusional.”

“Why are you getting so embarrassed?” Mason wonders. “Andrew isn’t even in here.”

“I’ve only been giving this conversation half of my attention,” Brian pipes. “But I’m pretty sure Sienna never said that she was with Andrew. I’m also pretty sure that Andrew would have said something to me if he was out at three in the morning with a girl. That really never happens to him.”

“It never happens to you either, mister,” Mason giggles, poking his side with one of her fingers.

“It wasn’t Andrew?” Stella asks me, ignoring Mason and Brian for the moment.