Gem | Daniel Desario

[3]

Leaning against the wall, Layla and the freaks were all waiting for Lindsay to come out of her classroom after Nick sent in a fake message for her. Jacob was keeping himself busy by throwing a bouncy ball at the wall and Nicole was fixing her lipstick, using the trophy shelves window reflection like a mirror.

Once they all saw Lindsay dash past them, her eyebrows furrowed in worry, Nick called out after her as Layla, Jacob, and Nicole started making their way towards the exit of the school as Nick explained the whole situation about buying a keg for the party to her. Layla and her friends made their way to Nicole's car while Daniel and his friends went to his car. "We'll meet you there!" Nicole yelled out to Daniel as she slipped into the driver's side, Jacob in the back and Layla in the passenger side. Nicole started to pull out of the schools parking lot and halfway to the liquor store, Daniels car a few feet in front of them, Jacob shifted in his seat, popping his head in between the two front seats.

"I saw you and Daniel leaving during the assembly." Jacob wiggled his eyebrows at Layla who rolled her eyes in response. "What did you guys do? Make out? Hook up? Get high? All of them?"

Layla turned around in her seat to face the curious curly haired boy. "Fuck no. We just hung out at the patio. We left cause it was boring as hell." From the corner of her eye, she saw Nicole softly chuckling as she tapped her fingers on her wheel.

"That's lame. I was hoping for something more... spicy." Jacob sighed, sitting back on the seats.

"Daniel will never, ever, ever, have a chance with me. Not in a million years." And with that remark, they have made it to the liquor store. Nicole and Jacob gave each other looks before they followed Layla out of the car.

✵ ✵ ✵

"Wow, this is a nice house," Layla says, exhaling as she stepped out of Nicole's car. Another car door slamming caught her attention as she turned over her shoulder to see Daniel, Nick, and Ken stepping out of Daniels car, right across the street. She turned back around to face Nicole and Jacob who were passing a small bottle of liquor to each other, taking gulps. "Come on guys."

Jacob looked up, tossing over the bottle to Layla. She takes a sip as the three purportedly gracious friends walked up to Lindsay Weir's front door, the other three, most likely already high friends close behind them. Jacob knocked on the door as Layla handed the small bottle of liquor to him, making Jacob stash it in a pocket inside his jacket. "Hi." Lindsay greeted once she opened the front door. "Come in." She opened the door wider, letting all six of them in.

"Wow."

"So," Lindsay closed the door behind her. "What do you think?" She asked as everyone looked around her home. Snacks placed all around, some weird colorful posters plastered around.

"What do you think we are?" Ken asked with a slight laugh, turning to Lindsay who had her hands stuffed in her pocket, a small smile laid on her lips. "Hippies?" Lindsay smile lowered into a thin line.

"Shut up man." Nick laughed. "I think it looks great." He nodded his head, making Lindsay's smile lift up a little.

"Yeah, I mean, you got some nice snacks," Jacob said as he picked up a handful of chips from a glass bowl. "You might wanna switch this glass bowl for something else though if you don't wanna it to get broken." He stuffed the chips into his mouth, whipping his hands.

"Wow." Daniel slowly said as he walked up to a poster with a unicorn and a rainbow on it.

"My house was so boring looking so I just wanted to make it look more party like," Lindsay explained for all of the colorful posters.