Pen Ink

Bailey - Baaaaaabe

"What kind of questions are these..?" I mumbled to myself as I tapped another answer.

"Important ones." Simon says crossing his arms over his chest

"Yes. Why of course. Sorry, I forgot that the world will end if I can't say whether I prefer the moon or the stars." I joked sarcastically. "But of course I pick the moon." I mumbled the last bit.

"I did too." Simon smiles at me.

"Alright, I'm done."

"And?!" Robin asks excitedly, rushing over like her life depends on it.

"Hufflepuff." I smirk.

"No effing way.." Robin narrows her eyes as she looks me over.

"I was fuckin with you." I laughed quietly, showing them the phone. "I'm a Slytherin."

"I knew it." She smiles proudly. Simon reaches over and takes his phone back. 

"The burgers are ready!" Kennedy smiles as she runs a hair through her long black hair. "Oh, and Bailey put another five dollars in the swear jar."

I looked at her straightfaced. "You have the ears of like a dog or some crap..." I grumble as I give a dollar to the swear jar. Everyone else loads into the kitchen and follows Kennedy out through the back door to my backyard. The one thing I always look forward to about these barbecues is the food. Kennedy makes some really good burgers. She got the recipe from our dads. I've tried it a couple times, but they never turn out as good as hers. It's like she puts magic into them. She claims it's just lots of love, but either way, it tastes delicious.

After begrudgingly shoving a dollar into the jar I head out to the backyard to join everyone else. It's as lively as ever. Everyone appears to be having a good time. Kennedy, Simon, and Mrs. Wells are all having their own conversation while chomping down on burgers. Aubrie and Robin have disappeared, (most likely they just went down to hang near the shore, I live rather close) like they always do during our backyard parties. And Lucas is finishing setting up cornhole. He's always on top of getting the games ready and I greatly appreciate it. I made my way over to the tall blonde giant who was now headed to get a burger. "Lucas! Hey." I greet, waving as I move to grab a paper plate. As I grab the plate I feel his big muscular arms wrap around hugging me tightly. "Baaaaabe." He jokes, his voice deep. "I missed you." We both share a laugh as he lets me go grabbing a plate.

Lucas is my 'boyfriend.' It's a long-running joke we have. A while back when I was trying to find my house, he went looking with me because he was originally going to be my roommate before he moved in with Robin and Aubrie. Well, when we were looking for the house, one of the landlords we met confused us for an engaged couple. Since then Lucas often refers to me as babe, boyfriend, baby, etc. Basically whatever he can get away with. Lucas also isn't in a committed relationship yet. So it's not like it matter much. He knows his soulmate, they text a lot but he doesn't know her in real life. Plus both of them have agreed they want to take it slow.

"I still don't know how you eat your burger with all that garbage on it." Lucas says to me as we make our food. I glance down at my plate. My cheeseburger looks delicious if you ask me. I put the top bun on it after I finish with all my toppings; Lettuce, tomato, onion, and ketchup. I glance over at Lucas' rather plain cheeseburger. He doesn't put much on his.

"At least mine has some flavor. Yours is literally cheese and burger..." I narrow my eyes at him as I pile a mix of plain potato chips and salt and vinegar next to my burger. It's a game of what I like to call chip roulette. 

"Hey. There's also some ketchup and mustard on it." He laughs, grabbing some plain potato chips to go with his.

I laugh as well popping a chip in my mouth, the salty-sour taste of salt and vinegar chips filling my mouth. 

Lucas grabs two beers, tossing me one. "Just like old times." He says as we head towards the Simon and the girls.

"You know it babe." I say, the two of us laughing as we make our way towards them.

Kennedy laughs loudly as the three of them appear to share jokes. Her eyes widen as she looks over Simon. "Dude, you just finished two burgers in under ten minutes.." She says, chuckling as we join them.

"Yes, I did." He says proudly before pushing through Lucas and I. "And if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go get a third one." He clears his throat going to get more. I laugh lightly as I look towards the girls.

"Glad I decided to make more burgers than I usually do.." She mumbles, laughing lightly.

I notice Mrs. Wells is glancing between the two of us. "Bailey when you said you invited your sister, I wasn't expecting you two to be so alike." She smiles warmly chuckling.

I laugh nervously, smiling as well. I look towards Kennedy. "I don't know what you mean." We both say at the same time, something we've been doing since we were little. A little game we liked to play. She points a finger at me as we both speak again, "Hey! Jinx!" We shout. "Jinx again!" The both of us speak at the same time one more time before the two of us burst out in laughter, Mrs wells laughing lightly as well. I look over to see Lucas shaking his head as he smiles. "I swear you two never stop." He sighs. All of us catch our breath as I see Robin and Aubrie head towards us. They must be done wanting alone time.

I look between everyone, happy to see for once that everyone is happy. Literally, everyone is having a good time, laughing and enjoying themselves. These little parties we have always make me so happy. Just the chance to actualy be happy and hang out with friends. And for once I'm actually enjoying myself  and not distracted thinking about my soulmate.