ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

"well?" i ask, motioning for either will or niki to say something.

"so you guys are in love?" wilbur asks. "that 'we're just friends' bullshit doesn't work on us."

"woah there," i say, eyes wide. of course they figured me out. "love is a strong word..."

"i mean, yeah love is a strong word, " niki says. "but... strong attraction leads to having to use strong words like that..."

"so you're telling me i am in love?"

"no. i don't know how you feel. only you do. those are just my words of wisdom."

i sit back and nod.

"well, do you guys think-"

"ELLO BOYS!" tommy shouts, rapidly approaching our booth. all three of us jump and look at him. "woah, hey, am i interrupting something? you guys look like you've just seen a ghost."

"nope, all good," i say, quickly getting out of the booth. "we're gonna look at the menu now." wilbur and niki nod and jump out of the booth. wilbur grabs $30 from alex and a napkin with everyone's orders written down from clay.

"can't believe alex and i lost that stupid race," wilbur mutters, pulling out his credit card. niki laughs.

"what are you getting, val?" she asks.

"croissant sandwich. no questions asked," i reply.

"ooh, sounds good. i think i'll get that too."

"look at what the gremlin got," wilbur says, showing niki and me the napkin. tommy wrote that he wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"gotta feed the beast," niki says. wilbur and i laugh.

wilbur pays for everyone's food with his credit card and alex's money. the girl at the cash register says that someone will bring the food out to us when it's ready, so the three of us make our way back to the booth. tommy gets up and motions for me to get in, so i scoot in next to nick. tommy swiftly sits down after me.

"thanks," i mutter, smiling.

"yeah... no problem," he says, brushing his hair out of his face. i slightly cringe at the awkwardness.

that is, until nick slides his phone towards me and i turn my head to him.

"let's play fireboy and watergirl," he says.

"oh my god yes," i say.

we play the game until our food arrives. we all devour our food quickly, racing seems to have left us hungry. once we're done, tommy and i head over to the shop, deciding we wanted to take a break from tubing.

we walk into the building and a blast of heat hits us. i consider taking off my jacket, but know i'll regret it when we go back outside.

we walk around and i find a hoodie that i like, and tommy ends up buying the same hoodie.

"we can match," tommy says. i nod.

"cute," i reply. his face turns slightly red.

at about 2, everyone decides to go home. we sit quietly in the car until toby speaks up.

"oh crap!" he shouts. we all turn to him.

"did you forget something?" wilbur asks, looking at him through the rear view mirror.

"forgot that i have to do a cooking stream for a sub goal you mean? yeah."

"oh that sounds fun!" niki exclaims.

"no no, not fun. not fun at all. i have to do it TODAY."

"why today?" alex asks.

"i promised chat. oh god, i told them i was free to do it today, i forgot about the trip-"

"well then, we'll do it today," nick says. "chat will like a group cooking stream. what are we making?"

"cake..." toby scratches his head.

"that sounds like fun!" karl shouts. "i wanna help!"

"count us all in," clay says. everyone nods and toby smiles.

"thank god i'll have some help," toby says, still smiling.

"always," tommy says, patting toby's shoulder.

so it's settled. we're baking a cake on stream when we get home.

i wonder how that will go.