We Could Be Enough - Lams

XIV.

I shiver and bury myself in my jacket as I sit on the cold wooden bench. How is it this cold in the middle of summer? Hopefully it gets warmer soon. I can't stand this. it's supposed to be summer, damn it!

"John, are you dying?" Peggy asks. "That's not fair. I called dibs on dying first."

"What, no." I whip my head around to face her. "You can't call dibs on dying first, I did that first." A white lie is one of my best friends. Been friends since 3rd grade when I wanted the television but my sister was watching it. 'I need it for school' was one of my favorite ones to use. Now that I'm in college, it doesn't work that much anymore. 

"No, you didn't!" 

Damn. She caught me. Plan B.

"You can't prove that." I cross my arms and stick up my nose.

She goes to say something but closes her mouth as she realizes she's trapped.

Ha ha. Plan B worked. Success!

"If you don't remove your dibs I will boil your teeth." She hissed.

Dear god, I have never been so terrified in my life, Jesus save me

"Nope." Damn my mask of confidence. I hate it.

"Hey, guys!" Angelica runs over and sits next to us. Eliza follows closely behind, leaning on the arm of the bench.

"Hello!"

"Guys, have I or have I not already called dibs on dying first?" Peggy sighs.

Angelica rolls her eyes. "Nobody's dying. I won't let it happen." 

She pauses. "And if anyone were to die first, it'd probably be one of the boys 'cause they're constantly doing stupid shit."

Eliza nods and says, "Earlier they said they were going to go flick gophers."

"Is that a euphamism for something or..." 

Do I really need to finish that sentance?

"Oh, no. They go lay on the grass next to one of the gopher holes and wait for it to poke it's head out, then they flick it. I don't understand them sometimes." She shakes her head.

I stare at the ground between my feet. "Why though."

"Why should we know?" Peggy shrugs.

The wind comes by again. I remember stepping out of the cafeteria after dinner and almost being blown off my feet.

There were two reasons though. One, the wind. Two, Alexander. Damn, he's hot. But also funny. But also smart. But also a million other things. This isn't fair. Why is he so good at everything. I'm gonna sue him for being too perfect.

But I was mostly blown off my feet because of the wind.

Maybe it's because the camp is in a valley in the middle of a mountain range. That could explain it.

"Look, there they are." Eliza points to some people laying in the dirt next to the flagpole. 

"Why are we friends with these idiots?" I ask myself.

"I don't even know." Angelica replies. All of the sisters start nodding. It's like a hive mind. Alright, this is getting kinda creepy.

"I'm gonna go get a good seat at the fire pit. See ya suckers later." Angelica gets up.

"Wait for me!" Eliza says, running after her. She turns around quickly, "Sorry! Bye!".

I turn my head to the right. Peggy sits still, staring across the open lawn in front of us.

"Aren't... you going to follow them?" 

"No." She keeps staring ahead. "Just because we're sisters doesn't mean we do everything together. I'm allowed to have my own life."

"Sorry, Peggy. I didn't mean to..." I search for the word. I don't mean to say 'generalise' or 'group you together like that' because that's not what I mean. Like, They seemed to do almost everything together or at least always agreed. I made the mistake of thinking of them as 'the sisters' and not 'Peggy, Angelica, and Eliza'

I need to stop doing that.

This is Peggy, and she's an awesome individual.

I let the silence fill my ears. The wind blowing through the trees sounds almost like the waves of a beach. I wish I was with my family when they went to the beach. I wonder if they brought Colin along?

Oh wait. 

Colin is my dog. He's fat as fuck and I love him.

"Can we go walk over and see what the guys are doing?"

"Sure." I'm glad I can get my butt off that frozen bench. Why in the world is it so cold right now. Jesus, it was almost 90 degrees earlier.

Global Warming

I shuffle my feet along the grass. Peggy starts kicking a pinecone she found on the floor.

"Isn't it weird that you and Alexander met yesterday morning but you're already best friends? I mean, he's spent more time with you than any of us so far." She looks at me  trying to analyse my expression.

"Oh, uh, I... didn't realise that." I stumble over my words.

"I didn't want to say this when anyone else is around, but I think you two look cute together."

What.

Excuse me, no

"Oh, uh, I think we're just .. friends. I mean, it's like a straight girl and a straight guy, right? Can't they just be friends?"

"I just thought I should tell you instead of keeping it a secret. But I also didn't want to tell you in front of everyone else cause then it'd be awkward. Like... Sorry, I'm- I don't know what I'm saying."

"Peggy, Peggy it's okay. It doesn't really matter anyway."

Okay. So I lied.

I have to work on keeping my facial expressions neutral. If they can tell just by looking at me that I like him, then Houston, We Have A Problem.

"Heads up!" She punts the pinecone towards the guys. Lafayette whips his head around just in time to get a pinecone to the forehead.

I chuckle as he stomps over, glaring at Peggy.

As he leans over her, she quickly shoves the blame onto me.

"Hey! Peggy kicked it, not me." 

He crosses his arms and glowers at us. "I hate you both."

He storms back over to where Alex and Hercules were laying on the ground, laughing their hearts out.

I look at Alex's face again. God, Peggy's right. No no no, this can't happen. I just gotta.... ignore the hell out of my feelings for two months then we'll probably never see each other ever again.

Easy, right?