Escape Route | ✓

3

'Are you sure this is a good idea?'

Alice rolled her eyes at the stunning blonde in front of her. 'I'm absolutely certain this is a brilliant idea,' she replied saucily. 'Just loosen up, okay?'

Rolling her eyes at the gorgeous brunette, Carrie tugged self-consciously on her patterned dress. 'I just feel like it's a bit much,' she murmured.

'You're a city girl!' Alice threw her hands up in the air in frustration. 'I can promise you that nothing will go wrong, you'll have a great time. If a guy hits on you and he makes you feel uncomfortable, just hit him where it hurts most, yeah?'

Biting back her laughter, Carrie nodded. 'Okay. Let's go, then,' she shot a smile at the other girl.

The two of them left Carrie's house and got into her truck. It had been a week since her first day on the farm, and things seemed to be going fairly smoothly. She and Jace weren't arguing all the time, they were getting on fairly well, in fact. Thankfully, there weren't anyone incidents like in the pantry and the tack room. As nice as it felt having Jace pressed up against her like that, it had been fairly embarrassing.

The two of them were on their way to a campfire party that Alice had insisted Carrie attended. She had said she would make new friends and begin to fit in with everyone else. Carrie had tried to protest, but it was to no avail.

'Right, where am I going?' she asked, turning the ignition of her slightly battered truck on and setting of down the driveway. Although battered, it was a lot better for country roads than her city car that currently sat in the garage at the farm.

'Turn left,' Alice instructed, and then proceeded to babble on about how good this campfire party was going to be. 'You'll meet all the girls,' she grinned, 'And I'm sure they'll love you, as well as all the guys!'

Carrie chuckled lightly, trying to mask her nerves for this. She wasn't big on making friends, and hadn't been for a little over eleven months. 'Maybe.'

Alice directed her down a dirt track, and they arrived into a clearing, where plenty of trucks were parked, but they all looked a bit grander and more modern than Carrie's, not that she minded, of course. She had a much more swish car than any of the ones here back at the farm.

'Park there,' Alice told her, pointing to a gleaming white truck, and undid her seatbelt before the engine had even been cut. 'Let's go!'

Reluctantly, Carrie got out of the truck, and followed Alice to the campfire, where fifteen or so people were gathered, chatting merrily. She pulled her jacket around her tightly, hoping for a sense of comfort in this uncomfortable setting.

Alice tapped a girl on the shoulder, and hugged her tightly. 'Mal, this is Carrie, she's the new owner of Simon's farm,' she explained, tugging on Carrie's arm to bring her forwards, grinning at her. 'Carrie, this is Mal, my best friend.'

Carrie tried not to wince at her words and smiled. 'Hey, Mal, it's nice to meet you,' she said.

Mal, who had brown hair cut into a bob, threw her a friendly grin and pulled her in for a hug. 'It's great to meet you Carrie,' she smiled. 'Alice hasn't shut up about this new girl that's come into town.'

Smiling shyly, Carrie shrugged. 'I doubt that's the case,' she murmured quietly. 'It's a nice place here.'

'You're from Chicago, am I right?' Mal raised a curious eyebrow. 'Quite the change of scenery from high rise buildings, huh?'

'Hmm,' Carrie hummed in agreement. 'It's a nice change, though. Refreshing, you might say,' she added.

She was introduced to all the other girls and the four boys that were there, but she had a hard time remembering all their names.