6/ Picnic

Day #3

The next day runs quicker than expected.

I spend it cooking up ways to connect more with my new roommates and ways to avoid some people I rather not talk about. But from the looks of things, Louis didn't really look that bothered as he seemed to have the same idea in mind.

Not soon enough the next day arrives and I'm able to come up with the best way to connect. And is,

Picnic!

It sounds like a good idea to me and everyone chirped into my idea and before we knew it, we begin to set up the place outside the house and near the pool.

I'm busy setting the clothe for the small wooden table when Chase approaches me with a set of knives in his hands.

He probably loves the specific leather jacket he has on cause since the first day I've seen him, he's never gone without it.

"Nice idea of having a picnic Valley," Raising my head a bit up, I try acting like I didn't already see him approaching.

"Thanks. The idea just came to my mind and here we are," I say, cautiously watching the way he held the knives.

"Yeah. I believe true bonding will take place today," He replies with a smile that I'm sure didn't come out right.

"Maybe. I think we need more plates, I'll help Liza with them," I return the smile, happy with the excuse that came naturally to me.

He seems like a nice person, but the vibe he gives me says otherwise.

Approaching Liza, I wonder if she didn't feel my presence cause she certainly didn't look up.

"Hey," I greet as she continues wiping the plates dry.

"Hey," She replies dryly.

Things have never been well with our friendship. But seeing it's barely a that, I refer to it as our situation ship.

Although she was one of the people I had in my life, she didn't seem to want to put away our differences. So maybe I wasn't that nice to her as we grew up, she never seems to let go although I've showed her multiple times that I've changed to a new leave.

"Nice weather isn't it?" I ask trying to strike up a conversation knowing she loves to talk about nature.

"I guess it's alright,"

"True True," I bend my back a bit so she'll have no choice but to look down at me.

"But do you know who else loves the weather?"

"No?" Her answer comes straight.

"Raven. She and you have like almost everything in common," I bite my lower lip in excitement as I begin listing.

"You two love taking pictures of nature, talking about nature, thinking about nature. Em.. Breathing?" That last one came in a somewhat questionable form as I get empty with reasons why Raven would like her.

"That's really funny Valley, but if you'll excuse me, I've important things to take care of like the dishes," She begins piling the plates before walking past me.

Never have I ever seen someone so eager to walk away from a conversation.

And I've met myself.

×××

The picnic was a success.

The place was tidied, wine on the table and to my surprise, the men had the food done in a heartbeat.

I believe the guys had no intention on taking care of that aspect if not for Kiko challenging them. Something about women doing better in the kitchen even in the 21st century got them ticked so before we knew it, the place was filled with a delicious roasted beef aroma.

Hope it tastes as nice as it smells.

Taking a seat, I smile at the sitting arrangement.

Cole at my left side, Chase far from my view but unfortunately, Louis just has to occupy the seat right in front of me.

So with this, I couldn't help but notice how he dressed especially for the small occasion.

He's in a simple pair of grey shorts, matching slides and vest. If you minus the dark shades he still has on, it will be simple yet stylish.

I wonder why Cole hasn't taking style advise from him.

I'm stuck in my female thoughts when I notice there lips crack into laughter.

So I let in the voices from the outside world.

"And yes just like that, the college called and we've been asked to speak with the college recruits for two days. Maybe we can even be roomies," Rosà takes Liza's hands as they begin to shriek like a toddler high on sugar as they continue to bounce off the table, making it rattle beneath me.

Liza has always been cold with me and I thought that coming to live with me, she would have a new attitude towards me.

Guess I was wrong.

Getting back to their conversation, I turn to the guy next to me.

"That's great Rosà! I'm sure you deserve it," Cole says enthusiastically, as he takes hold of her hand although she was at the opposite angle.

"Hey what about me?" Liza pouts. "I'm also going,"

"OK Liza. I'm happy for you too," He smiles at her before letting go of the hand.

"You know what this reminds me of?" I ask him with a smile as I place a palm on my face. "That time when we filled that college application for the same school when we were 15 only to send it to the wrong address," I say, taking the hand that was formally in Rosa's.

"Oh yeah I remember that time. What you two did was really dumb," Liza points out while taking a sip from her juice.

"Yeah it probably is now, but then it was pretty funny and you have to admit that," Cole looks her straight in the eye, but most especially, he was holding my hand firmly while doing so.

Rolling her eyes, she ends up acting like her phone screen's more important than the conversation. But Cole doesn't seem to notice, so why should I care?

"Oh do you remember that time we let that rapid dog into our maths teacher Mr. Franklin 's tent during our grade 10 camping trip?" I ask, awaiting for his response.

"I'll tell the story, so we - " It kinda continues like this for a while. Us spilling our memories to our audience as Liza sometimes dropped her side of the story.

Everyone listens with rapid attention and I have to admit, we did some crazy shit back in the day.

But now that we have a certain amount of knowledge and maturity, I believe all those mischief will stay in the past.

Wait did you actually buy that? Cause I didn't from the moment it crossed my mind.

Even Louis glances up from his food a couple of times but who's counting?

We were closer to the ending of our memories sharing when someone finally spoke.

"Wait tho, there's something that doesn't add up. You two were a couple when all this stuff happened right?" Gwen drops the fork in her hand and pushes her empty plate forward.

"Yes, kinda obvious,"

"Then why did you two breakup in the first place?" Acquiring this, Gwen presses her black lipstick painted lips together as everyone begins to nod in agreement.

I glance at Cole who doesn't share the same puzzled look as I do, which somehow brought fuel to the question that kept burning inside of me.

Why did we breakup?

×××

I've never felt so confused before.

Well that's partially true if we minus the disturbing situations in my life such as the first time I learnt about the birds and the bees, or when I learnt that I couldn't get married to my five year old cousin at the age of 9.

Although all of those topics were shockers to me as a growing kid, this one seems to have a similar effect on me.

We were just questioned on our reasons for breaking up and if I can recall properly, I have been reminded on multiple occasions that I was to blame for our split up.

But when ever I review the events in my head, the only things I was guilty for was once or twice getting aggressive on the girls that threw themselves at him, regardless of my obvious presence.

Although I have no reason for us breaking up, Cole seems to have an idea or two on the other hand.

Getting impatient, I slowly begin to rub my pendant while I and everyone wait for Cole to clear things up, but he didn't.

I really don't know what I was waiting for. Maybe for him to say that we are working getting back together and everything was all in the past, or even that we were already there.

But No, it never came.

Instead this happened.

"I think that's enough talk about the past. We're just friends, and that's it," Cole says coldly, letting go of my hand before taking a sip from his drink.

Feeling every ones eyes on me, I squirm in my sit as I begin to beg the universe for a distraction before I do something I would end up regretting later.

"So, I hear you all are in a band," Kiko clears her throat, clearly breaking the damned silence.

"Yeah I heard that. True," Rosà and Liza agree in unison.

"Well actually it is true, and I think I have the best way to top this evening," Darwin says giving each and everyone one of us a mischievous grin that sends me immediate relief.

Thank you kiko.

•••

A/N: Hey guys!

So I'm so happy cause I was able to make a double update in one day. Pretty cool. So what are your views on this chapter. Anyway, the next one will obviously be better as I hope they change such an awkward subject.

Don't forget to vote, comment, follow, and share.

Ofure⭐~