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⠠⠄⡐⠠⠁⠄✰☽⡐⠁⠠⡐⠄⠄
We gather around in a circle how Carmen had instructed us to do while she dug into her small denim backpack. I smack an ant that tried to make its way up my pants killing it, I huff in annoyance hoping she would find whatever she was looking for soon.
"Here we go!" She squeals holding up a brown paper bag.
"What is it?" Finn squints his eyes in disappointment.
We all look at each other in confusion. She smirks rolling her eyes. She unravels the bag and takes out a plastic baggy with something that looked like dirt and dried up grass.
Finn laughed in disbelief.
"What is it?" I take it from Carmen's hand to examine it. It only takes me a couple of seconds to process what it was. I hand it back to Carmen quickly.
"It's weed." Red shakes her head. It was clear that she didn't want to take any part in this.
Normally I wouldn't either but my curiosity gets the best of me. Carmen grabs a small piece of what looked like parchment paper from the crumbled up bag. She hands the bag and small paper to Finn after he got cocky and bragged about being a pro.
I watch him intently. He carefully taps the bag letting the dried up leaves carefully fall into the semi folded paper. He then puts a piece of rolled-up cardboard on the tip and rolls it up, licks the end securing the paper shut, and twists the end to keep it from falling out.
"Jesus Christ, Finn. How do you know how to do it? Fucking pothead." I shove his shoulder as he looks down at the stick with a proud smile.
Carmen reaches in her bag pulling out a neon lighter covered in stickers. She smirks bringing it up to her lips and lights it. She inhaled the smoke and exhales smoothly. This obviously wasn't her first time. She attempts to pass it onto Red but she only shakes her head. Carmen shrugs giving it to Finn. He smoothly does the same as Carmen and hands it to me.
I take it from his long fingers carefully examining it. I hesitantly bring it up to my lips and suck. I immediately feel my throat go dry as I cough uncontrollably. Finn pats my back as he laughs at me.
"Leave her alone." Carmen playfully rolls her eyes at Finn. We continue to pass it on. I only take two more puffs before giving up.
Red reaches out her hand taking it from Finn's hand. She takes a surprising amount and holds it in for a bit. When she releases it passes it back to Carmen.
After a bit, we all begin to laugh hysterically. I begin to feel light. I look over at Red and for the first time in a while, I could see the giggly carefree girl I had met that fateful summer day. She turns to look at me as I stare at her with a smile. Covering her mouth she attempts to hold in a giggle.
I look down to my fingertips as they begin to feel tingly. The whole thing was so odd, but I liked it. Finn begins to have a meaningless conversation about multiple topics with Carmen.
Red gets up and walks over to the big rock that was submerged in shallow water. I stand up to follow her. Once I see her hop onto the rock with her shoes in I gasp and giggle.
"Red! Your shoes!" I point at her soaked shoes. She looks down at her feet and shrugs.
Red puts out her hand for me to grab. I take her hand and immediately feel a puddle begin to form in my converse. She quickly grabs me pushing me into the deep part of the Lake. I squeal in shock as my body feels the warm water submerge me. Once I resurface I open my eyes but no one was there. I continue looking around frantically for Red before she pops out of the water gasping.
Laughing she splashed water onto my face while she desperately tries to keep herself afloat. I shake my head trying to get the water out of my eyes.
After a couple of minutes, Red gets tired and makes me drag her out of the water. I pull her onto the grass and plop down beside her. We both lie on the long grass looking up at the sky. I could feel the hot sun burning my skin but I paid no mind. The feeling of my jeans clinging to my skin weighed me down.
"Hey, Lana." Red whispers and scoots closer to me. I hum I'm response shutting my eyes.
She hums for a while before speaking again. "I really miss you." She continues to whisper.
"I'm right here." I giggle in response to her odd comment.
Red grabs my hand interlacing our fingers and nods. "I know." We lie there soaking up all the light.
"Red?" I felt as if it were my turn to ask a question.
"Yes?" She responded still lying very still.
I could feel myself dozing off as my eyelids were extremely heavy. "Why don't you like me anymore?" I question asking her what I felt had been weighing me down for a while.
Red remains quiet for a while but I do not de ask my question. She tightens her grip around my hand.
"I never stopped, Lana. That's the problem." She huffs. I turn my head to look at her. That's when I notice how close we really were to each other. Red turns to look at me and our noses touch. We stay in this position for a while staring at each other. She brings her hand up to her chest clutching the gold cross necklace around her neck and slowly turns away from me.
