The Curvy Curse

Chapter 28: Greetings

        This was relaxing. A drunken stumble along the beach with the love of my life, and the people I was considering to be my best friends. Aruna was someone I'd miss if I was honest with myself, and I had a feeling the rest of us would, too. I looked over at her subtly. She hadn't mentioned family, and mentioned being alone. Those weren't lies. Could she possibly come back with us? So many new questions; I'd figure out answers later. I looked at them all; Blake, Chase, Netis, Rogue, Aruna. It felt a bit weird without Lily, and I wondered if she'd become a memory of my old life. I was suddenly hit by how different my life was, how different I was. My journey had started well over a year ago, a relatively short time. I was self-concious, scared, and alone. I had Lily, but she'd never understood my fears and tried pushing me through them in ways that weren't okay for me. Everyone here, however, honestly seemed to like me. To care.

           As if on cue, Rogue wrapped an arm around my waist as the twins simultaneously chucked me under the chin.

"Cheer up, empty Reese's cup."

"Eh?"

   "Empty," Chase repeated.

"Because you're a sad fucker," Blake clarified. I frowned.

"Y'all are sweet," I grumbled, feeling the grains of sand sink between my toes.

    "So... Ari? Shit, Aruna," Chase corrected himself.

"Yaaaaaas?" she answered, struggling to finish off her mouthful of fishy cruddy whatsit.

"Who do you live with here?" he asked, beaming at her as if she wasn't eating the most disgusting thing any of us had ever seen. She swallowed thickly, tilting her head up to check out the tops of the palm trees.

    "Uhh... Well, they went sailing over there," she said, pointing to jagged, terrifying looking cliffs far out on the ocean. "They owned that villa you guys stay in, renting it out to people. After their ship sank from the big storm a few years ago, I was left the house. But I stay in the smaller house nearby and sell flowers," she said sheepishly, scratching her chin. I felt our little groups stomachs drop as one as we thought more on that.

  "Who do you live with?" Netis asked bluntly. Blake elbowed her, and she punched him in the crotch.

"Just on my on, you know. My employee Reef is pretty nice and pretends to be my gaurdian. The last thing I needed was to go and get adopted or something, I didn't want new parents." I swallowed thickly, nodding.

     "Yeah. I get that," I said. We all stopped walking and sat in the sand, watching the waves. I layed in Rogue's lap, squirming every now and then as the warm water would come up the sand temporarily and lap between my toes. The moon was shining full and pale above us, watching silently as we stared back. My head was swimming.

    "There are TWO moons," Rogue slurred. I giggled, feeling the water come up even clsoer and go a bit past my knees.

"Bitch stop, there are three," Blake corrected, snorting derisively.

    "If we ate that scary crap of Aruna's there's by none," I laughed. Netis cackled, and we all laughed at the "can u not" look on Aruna's face. Netis only laughed louder, a loud obnoxious laugh that was abruptly cut off by a mouthful of soggy, wet sand. She spit dramatically, falling back and clutching her throat.

    "Leave my culture alone, American!" Aruna howled. Netis sat back up abruptly, eyeing her demonically and reaching for sand of her own. She threw it directly at... Chase. He looked down at his now wet shirt, and back at her. In a second we'd all scrambled to our feet, backing away from each other. I looked at Rogue in outraged shock.