Something Different, 91: Care less.
We arrived at Old Lake at exactly 9.20am. Technically, it took twenty minutes for us to arrive here from my house. I opened the door of Nat’s limo and set my slippered feet onto the rocky and stoned pathway. “Smell the fresh air of Old Lake, Ivs!” Nat said as she stood next to me. I didn’t think I’d quite get what other things she said, as I was totally and fully dumbstrucked of the scenery. Along the stony pathway, there were trees. The colours of their leaves were orange, yellow, brown and red. They were lined up along the pathway. On the ground, I also saw some of the leaves rolling around the ground. Some were even flying around. And then, I was back to reality. “… so annoying!” “Huh?” I snapped, “What?” I looked at Nat after a few seconds of staring out into the dream world. Nat crossed her arms and looked at me, annoyed. “You weren’t listening to every word I said, didn’t you?” “I er… well—” “Knew it.” Nat tisk-ed. “Anyway, never mind. It’s not important anyway.” “Aw, Nat!” I quickly said, “I’m sorry. You can tell me again, again. I was, you know, dumbstrucked.” “Ah.” Nat nodded her head, “Okay, understandable.” “Hey!” I heard London call out, “Let’s get this going already.” *** It took us approximately five minutes to walk from the parking space to the waterfall. And let me tell you, it is beautiful. The waterfall is located in the middle of a picnic spot. The water flew into a lake. The lake was crystal clear and very clean. There were huge rocks, arranged in sizes; small to big. There were trees surrounding the lake, too. I put the stuff down on to the ground and breathed in a huge sniff of air. I could stay here forever. “Where’s the picnic cloth?” I heard Penelope ask. I turned around to see Penelope and Nat searching for something in a huge brown picnic basket. “Where is it?” Penelope hissed. “I think it’s here.” I told her as I bent down on my knees to open the bags I carried which were placed on the ground. I opened the zip, and inside it were plates, paper cups, spoons, forks and… “Found it!” I said as I waved a red and white chequered pattern picnic cloth. “Thank god!” Penelope said, standing up. “Don’t you mean, Thank Ivy?” Nat corrected her in a joking way. “Right.” Penelope said as she took the picnic cloth from my hand and blushed. “Heh, sorry Ivs.” I laughed, “Sokay.” “Where?” I heard someone say. I turned to my left and saw that London was talking to her Sidekick. “What?” I heard her say. “Uh… no. He isn’t? Why?” She bit her lip. “Who’s she talking to?” I said at once as Nat came to join me. Nat shrugged, “Paul, I think.” “Oh.” I said. At the same time, London shut her Sidekick close then headed her way towards us. “Who was that?” I asked. London wiggled her nose funnily, “Jesse.” “Ah.” Both Nat and I said at the same time. “Of course.” Nat said. “He’s on his way.” London said, “And Eva’s still clueless.” “Sweet.” Penelope smiled evilly as she joined us. “Anything else?” Nat asked. London put her thinking face on, “Hm. Er. Oh yeah. Er..” “Errr… ?” I mimicked London and stuck my tongue out. London laughed sarcastically, “Very funny. It is well. It’s—” Suddenly, I felt my pocket vibrate. “Hold that thought.” I put up a finger almost touching London’s lips. “—Okay.” I walked away from the girls just a few steps away. I searched for my iPhone in my pocket and once I finally reached it, I saw a picture of Dash smiling to me. Dash. I didn’t feel like talking to him now. Not after the so called incident that happened last night. I let the phone ring for another five seconds, sighed then decided to answer. I pressed the Answer button on the screen and said, “Hello?” “Babe?” I heard Dash said from the other side of the line. Ah. Oh my god. I miss talking to Dash. His voice. His scent. His skin. His touch. His… Ah. Quit it, Iv. “Hello?” “Hey.” He said. “Uh, I’ve… bad news.” “What bad news?” I asked. “I can’t come to Eva’s party.” I swear. I felt my heart stop beating as it cracked into half. “What?” “I’m sorry. I’ve this… thing going on at my dad’s office and I can’t skip it. I swear, that man needs to chillax from his work and an in and about routine of his.” Gee. That sounds familiar. Why do I think that this is also applying to you? “Right.” suddenly I remember that when we talked with Eric earlier in Nat’s limo this morning, Dash was with them. “Weren’t you with Eric and the others earlier?” “Er, yeah I was.” Dash said, “I was escaping my dad’s torture chamber. But, he called me and said if I don’t go with him to his office, he’s gonna ground me for life.” Wow. Some strict dad you’ve got there. “Erkay. So, where are you now?” “In my limo. On the way to dad’s office.” Uhuh. “Kay then.” I said, sounding so fed up. “I’ll make it up to you guys, I promise.” “There’s no need to promise. It’s okay really.” I said. “But, Ivy I—” “It’s okay. You go ahead. I gotta go. Bye.” “But, Ivy—” Were his last words before I hung up. I let out a huge sigh as I put my iPhone in my pocket and headed my way to the girls, who were still talking and standing at the same place where I left them probably five minutes ago. “What’d he say?” Nat asked once I stood next to her. “He’s not coming.” I said at once. “WHAT?” The three of them said at the same time. “Yeah.” “What? But, he was with Eric and the others earlier!” Nat exclaimed. “I know. But, he had to go since he has something to do at his dad’s office or whatever crap he said.” I spat. “Yeow.” London said, “Somebody’s on a tantrum.” “Ya think?” Nat said, “Chill girl.” She said to me as she patted my shoulder. “Chilled.” I forced a smile. “Anyway, everything ready?” “Oh everything’s ready alright.” We heard a familiar voice. All the four of us turned around to face Eric, Paul and Dan. Eric was holding two black bags with both his hands, and a backpack’s strip along his shoulder. Paul was bringing a white box, which I bet was the cake. And Dan, was bringing a wireless radio. “Eric.” Nat said immediately. “Sorry we’re late.” Eric said as he put the stuff on the ground. “Sokay.” I said, “I don’t think it’s even early to come.” I looked around. “Ivy, woman,” Eric said as he caught my attention, “Sorry about Dash.” “Sokay.” I forced another smile. “It’s not like I care anyway.” I heard a few gasps and smiled at response. “Seriously?” Paul asked. “Seriously.” I laughed. “Wow.” “Anyway, ready to get this party started?” Penelope smiled. “Oh yeah. When were we never?” Eric grinned.
