Gabriel: Prequel

fifteen

[ harper's pov]

"To Harper and Gabe!"

"Woah, it's not like we're getting married or anything," I remark, clinking my can with the others.

"Even though you so desperately want to," Gabe coos, grinning.

 "You're going home, though, and that's something to celebrate! We're gonna miss you," Amancia pouts, rubbing my arm and masterly setting my can down with a warning glance. 

"Yay, the devil is finally going into hiding again," Rehan cheers, raising his arms. Nicholas glares at him, automatically making the former be quiet.

As we have many times, we came to sit together at the river bank, watching as stars pepper the night sky. Dots of light glitter through the darkness, creating a bittersweet atmosphere for us.

Amancia insisted we all wear something "worthy", to which we all declined. On the plus side, though, she looks incredible and joyous as always. Admittedly, I don't want to say goodbye. I've come to appreciate all of them for their quirks. Especially her, though. I never had friends that were girls, or friends in general, really, who didn't have an ulterior motive. But she's made of pureness and goodness. Usually, I'd cringe at it and shun them away, but she has this force of nature that compels me to want to stay with her. 

"You're not allowed to not visit us, you know? I'm going to come every weekend," she grins, to which I grin, too. 

"Of course; what would I do without you?"

"Dress worse?"

I roll my eyes, but still grin back at her.

Whilst the boys are engaged in a conversation of something stupid, she places a hand over my own, her warmth flooding through me. "I want to thank you for being so you; so raw and so genuine. I love you very much, Harper."

I squeeze her hand, nodding. "You're pretty great, too."

She laughs, probably acutely aware that I'm not good enough with words to match her sentiment. She fiddles with a bag, before shoving it in my hand. "Open it."

I eye the bag as I open it cautiously, surprised when my fingers come into contact with something fluffy and small. Socks - baby socks. The very ones I had seen in the stall, slightly changing my stance on children.

"I don't like them," I mutter, unable to stop looking at them.

"Uh huh," she beams, patting my arm before winding her arm around a whiny Nicholas. 

Lanterns float by us in sync with cheers as people let them go; shades of purple wade by into the night, floating into nothingness. 

"Oh! Let's do it, please!" Obviously Nicholas abides to her request and we all follow, buying a lantern, paper and a pen. We sit away from each other as we write our messages. Supposedly, you write your regret and let it go; you write your wish and let them float, and you write a secret and let it be hidden by the night. 

I fumble over what to write for a while, watching as the others are almost finished. I have many regrets and many secrets, but not many wishes. Finally, I settle on writing them, placing them in the lantern carefully as we let them fly away.

"Took your time; must have been a good wish," Gabe comments, snaking his arm around my wasit.

"Oh, yeah, it was. Take a guess."

"To see me naked," he grins, resting his neck in the crook of my neck. I taunt him by shrugging, letting a finger slide down his chest.

"Her wish was to probably have me die soon," Rehan calls, staring at me, interested, no doubt.