Into The Wild

T W E L V E

I force my drowsy eyes open. I didn't have a good night’s sleep at all. I kept thinking about the incident last night.

The kiss replays in my head for about the millionth time.

I shake my head, trying to clear it from my head, trying to sit up on the bed.

“What's with you? You have dark bags under your eyes,” Carly points out as she gets out of the bathroom. I watch her as she places lip balm to her lips which once again reminds me of the incident. Unconsciously, I touch my lips gently thinking back to how soft Luke’s lips were.

Carly looks at me strangely from the mirror. “Do you want some lip balm?”

“Yes, I want the lip-” I stop talking when the thought of Luke’s rosy lips come to mind. My stomach feels like it's full of butterflies and like a sort of roller coaster. I let out a girlish squeal and kick my legs furiously, slamming my head against the pillow.

Go away thoughts!

“What the- Are you okay?” Carly asks dumbfounded with my actions. She’s finally stopped applying the lip balm on herself.

“No!” I yell back, abruptly getting up to go to the bathroom to freshen up.

I splash water at my face as soon as I enter.

Wake up. Get it straight.

“What’s wrong with her?” I hear Madison ask. When I leave the bathroom to wipe my face on a towel, I see her leaning over her top bunk. Carly shrugs and makes a face, turning towards Aria’s bunk. They pretend I’m not there.

“Do you have any idea?”

Aria turns over on her bed in response.

“Guess not.”

I hide a laugh in my hand. Aria must be so tired. As soon as I got back from that… the incident, I had to tell Aria all about it. We spent hours last night just talking about him and a few other guys which included some she said she might have her heart set on.

I burst into our cabin and while everyone was asleep, Aria was the only one awake. She had a creepy smile on her face when she saw me. “You kissed, didn't you?”

My eyes almost bugged out of its sockets. “What the hell! How did you know?”

It was her turn to widen her eyes. “No way! Did he really kiss you? I was just teasing-!” She covered her mouth, jumping off her bed and stalked towards me.

“Luke… how did it feel?” Aria asked curiously.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, wishing we wouldn't talk about it. But Aria was Aria and Aria didn't stop until she got what she wanted.

As soon as we finished talking about my kiss with Luke, Aria went down her own trail talking about a guy she's befriended and now is attracted to.

I feel a hand tug on my shirt. I blink, slowly returning back to today from that short memory of yesterday.

Carly and Madison are already out the door which leaves me and Aria alone, lugging their feet with them and I don’t blame them because we’re all too tired to do much lately. It took me one entire day to recover from all the hikes we completed.

Aria and I wash up and walk out together to grab some breakfast from the cafeteria. As soon as we enter, everyone is looking our way. I look behind me just in case Luke is there, but he isn’t. It’s just me… and Aria. “Does my hair look weird or something? Why is everyone staring?” I unconsciously run a hand down my wig. Aria brings my hand down and shrugs, pulling me towards the table Madison, Carly, and Jay are occupying. It was nice of them to grab two trays for me and Aria.