Why Not?

Jake

A/N: Once again, the art above will be my own art. And I fixed last chapter's header art. So, go check that out if you want 💙❤️

Today was the day. Everyone was finally out of the hospital, alive, well, all that good stuff. The group chat had been buzzing with jokes and friendly teasing, with some not-so-friendly teasing from Michael and Christine at each other.

But it didn't really matter. This was the first time everyone would be all together, unsquipped.

People drove themselves to the lake. (except for Michael and Jeremy because... YOU KNOW)

The place wasn't too crowded and the water didn't feel too cold. (I checked since I was there first.)

I was only beginning o set up when I heard three female voices yelling at me. Of course, I knew right away who it was. You guessed it! Chloe Valentine, Brooke Lohst, and Jenna Rolan. These three were seriously soooooooooo fucking loud.

"JAKE! OH MY GOD! YOU LOOK SO GREAT!!" Chloe yelled excitedly, hugging me in a way I was hoping was only friendly.

Brooke only gave me a small "Hi" and a friendly wave.

Jenna and I hugged for a moment once Chloe was off of me.

The three of them all looked as cool and jaw-droppingly pretty as always so I let my guard down.

Jeremy and Michael were the next to get there. The two of them looked happy to see everyone as they greeted the girls and I excitedly. They weren't big on physical contact. Especially Michael.

"He-Hey Jake!" Jeremy greeted. I noticed that his stuttering had gone down significantly since the last time I saw him.

Michael has headphones on and wasn't listening to a damn thing going on around him as he bobbed his head to the Bob Marley in his ears.

Christine was next to arrive, already chirping about how nice the sand was.
One thing I observed was that Michael became even more antisocial when Christine got there. Though, that was to be expected from them.

"Hey Jake!! Isn't it nice out!?" She yelled, not even remotely aware of how loud she was being.

Rich was the last to arrive. He seemed a little off. A bit more anxious.
He greeted everyone with a loud "THUP MOTHERFUCKERTH!!! And Jake. Hi."

At that everyone was laughing. Rich always knew how to make everyone laugh. It was part of what made him so.. charismatic to me. To everyone!!

There was something else off.
Everyone was dressed in their swimwear...
Jenna in her purple and black one piece,
Chloe in her brightly colored top and black bottoms,
Brooke in a blue swimsuit with yellow beads where it was tied together,
Chris in a blue, pink, and green one piece,
Jeremy and Michael in red and blue swim trunks,
And rich in a T-shirt and pretty long shorts.

See what I mean??

Everyone was all chatting excitedly, catching up.

"Have you heard Mean Girls!?" Christine blurted as if she had been waiting ages to ask.
Brooke was the first to reply, nodding ecstatically. "Ooooooh! Yeah I did!!"
Chloe was staring at Brooke as she responded. "Brooke and I listened to it together."

The girls had their own conversation going on musical theatre shit.

Jeremy and Michael were talking about some video game.
"Michael!! Have you seen any gameplay on Detroit Become Human!?" Jeremy spoke in such a relaxed manner you wouldn't believe he had anxiety if someone told you.
"Hell Yeah!! Jack's play-through got pretty much everything right." Michael sounded exited, using animated hand gestures to express himself.

That left Rich and I.

I started up the conversation. Per usual.
"Hey Rich! How've you been buddy?" I tried to conceal my worry for him.

"Hey Jake! I've been okay. You?" He asked me, he still looked off, even with everyone acting as they normally would.

I guess Rich hasn't had a sense of normalcy in a while and this is the first time he's even had something close to it in months.

I was about to respond before he burst out into am exited yell. "DID YOU HEAR ABOUT AJR THTARTING TO WRITE THEIR THIRD ALBUM!?"

AJR was Rich's favorite bands. And I had to admit, he got me into them so of course I was exited with him.

But forget the surface. Let's start talking about how I feel.

That sounded fucking weird and I'll never say that again. I am so sorry.

But I liked this conversation more than the one we shared in Rich's hospital room.
The words we spoke felt like they were just desperate attempts to fill the space between us; To fill the air with some kind of sound so it didn't thicken on us.

The one we have now as we all stand in the warm sand felt more natural. Like the kind we used to have outside our lockers. Man, I miss those days..

Suddenly Jenna groans, cutting through all the exited conversations among our large group.

She begins to actually speak. "I'm fucking burning up and I see a deck in the middle of the lake. Who wants to swim the fuck out there!?"

Everyone in our group cheers, including me.

Well, not everyone. There was one person I didn't hear among the rest of my friends.
Rich.

The joyful look on his face was replaced with one of terror and anxiety.

The group ran into the water, trying to get there as fast as possible.

However, I don't follow. I stayed behind with my favorite short friend.

I looked down at him. "Hey.. Rich. Aren't you gonna go out there?"

"No.."
"Why not?"
"Because I just don't want to. Not today."
"Then why did you come out here?"
"'Cause I didn't want to be at home.. and I wanted to see you guyth."
"Rich."
"What!?" He turned to me, tears forming in his eyes.
I turned to him, fighting the strong urge to hug him.
"Rich, no one's gonna make fun of your burns.."

And that was the first time I had seen Richard Goranski cry.

•••••••••••••
Word count: 1021

Holy shit that chapter is long as fuck.

I know, I know. I wrote the chapter really fast. It's 11:29 PM and I don't feel like sleeping so I figured I'd write you guys a chapter!!

I'm not good with dialogue Shhhhhhh I am aware.

But I hope you enjoyed anyways. I also hope the length of this chapter made up for the shortness of the last one.

And I hope you all have a lovely day/evening/night/morning

WTF 168 READS!? HOLY FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK THANK YOU SO MUCH

Edge:Out