All Roses Have Thorns

Sierra XI

She didn't know what she expected, but it definitely wasn't this.

Erin was smiling at her. "Hey Sierra!" It wasn't just some stupid forced smile like when she had invited Sierra on the trip, but an actual smile.

She couldn't help but smile back, butterflies returning to her stomach. "Hey."

"Come join me in the back!" Maggie waved her over.

She climbed into the back and put her bag down in the middle seat. Safiya shut the door.

"Alright," Erin turned around to look at them, "Since I've got an odd mix of friends here, I think we should do basic introductions. Name, favorite color, and a random fact about yourself. I'll go first."

She was already focused on something other than introducing herself, pulling at the sleeve on Zach's right arm, since it was wrapped around her shoulder. "Uh, I'm Erin. My favorite colors are black, gold, and silver in various combinations, and uh..." I know the soulmates of most of the people in this car. She covered her mouth before the words could slip out. "Frick- wait, um... I can speak three languages." She nodded, satisfied with her answer. "Jake, you go next."

"Okay." He was already driving. "As that nerd said, my name is Jake, my favorite color is sky blue, and... I didn't know what leeks were until I was twelve." Sierra found herself nodding as he spoke. He seemed nice.

"Wow."

"I'm Ryan," the next boy looked up from his phone, "my favorite color is red, and I can write the same word with both hands at the same time so they're mirrored to each other." She definitely got weird vibes from him, but a cool kind of weird.

Zach leaned his head back to look at the girls in the back. "Hey. I'm Zach. I like dark blue and my favorite flower is anemones." Sierra blinked at his fact. Out of all of the boys she knew in her grade, Zach seemed to be the coolest and he gave off a bad boy vibe. She never would've thought she'd learn his favorite flower.

"My name's Matt... which is not short for Mathematics," he glared at Maggie, who was smirking in the back. "My favorite color is green. For some reason, I get potatoes every weekend. Just a single potato. Every weekend." He maintained eye contact with her throughout these sentences. She just wiggled her eyebrows.

Reese paused the chess match. "Hi, um, I'm Reese. Purple is my favorite color. I'm ambidextrous and can write with my toes."

Ri? Sierra wondered. Could it be her? She asked, "Do you go by Ri?"

"Yeah. That's my main nickname. Either that or ReeRee," she smiled.

She smiled back, but didn't see Erin watching her.

"Alright, what's up, people? I'm Safiya. My favorite color is spearmint green, and I have five brothers."

Maggie was still having a long conversation with Matt through eye contact. "Hello, I'm Maggie and my favorite color is pink in all forms. Fun fact: I am the one who gives Matt a potato every weekend."

"I know," Matt deadpanned. "You threw one through my window last week."

She shrugged, "Potatoes always find a way."

"Uh, hi..." Sierra's eyes flickered around the various faces as Maggie and Matt argued about potatoes. "I'm Sierra. My favorite color is periwinkle and I... write a lot? I don't know if that counts as a fun fact, but yeah." Erin was smiling at her again. Am I dreaming?

"Alright," she took out her phone. "We've got a couple hours of driving, but we'll stop for lunch in the middle. Any questions?"

Yeah actually. Why are you being so... friendly? No one said anything.

"Then let the road trip begin!"

»» — ⋆❀⋆ — ««

Sierra stared at the ceiling of the van, lost in thought. It was oddly quiet, despite the amount of people in the car. The only sounds she heard were the bumping of the van along the road, some quiet music, and the occasional voice of the phone lady giving directions.

She looked around the car. Maggie was reading a book on her phone, probably Percy Jackson for the five hundredth time. Reese and Safiya were either resting or asleep, the two leaning against each other. She couldn't see Erin, so she was probably leaning on Zach or Matt.

It took her a moment to realize that Zach was staring at her intensely. He reached his left arm backwards and held out a piece of paper.

She looked at him questioningly before taking it in her hand. It had a number, probably his, and the sentence "text me cause I've got something to ask you." She shrugged and pulled out her phone to add him to her contacts.

what do you want?

Erin was kind of nervous until a couple days ago
so
I wanted to ask
do you like
lowkey hate her?

What?!
I don't hate her!!
If anything
She hates me

But she doesn't
What's going on with you two
If you don't mind me asking

She hates me

You sure about that?

...no?

exactly
just...
give her a chance okay?
She's been struggling with something lately

...
she didn't want me coming on this trip

but now she does

Why?

she's
uh
That's not for me to say
talk to you later

Wait what

She looked up to see him looking at her again. Zach smiled and gave her a wink before he turned back to the front and put his phone away.

She was confused, oh so confused.