with the lovely flowers in her hair

There was many ways Jesse had thought this whole thing would go with Devon, most of which had them joking about high school and putting it behind them. They’d always been close, even if you took the romantic feelings away, as human beings they connected. But so far things had just been awkward and Jess didn’t really know if there was anything he could do about that. He thought sleeping on the couch could be a good start, considering she more than likely had a partner waiting for her at home, and for Devon’s sake he didn’t want to make that weird. But at this hour of the night he was strongly considering moving to the floor with how miserable the couch was to sleep on. Shifting in a futile attempt to get somewhere in the range of comfortable, he soon after heard her question through the silence. “Yeah” he replied quietly, taking a pause as he sat up, figuring sleep was a long shot at this point. “Sorry if my tossing is keeping you up. I work nights, so my normal sleep schedule is totally fucked.” he explained quietly, making sure not to disturb Max and Juda. “Are you okay?”

A sense of relief spread through Devon's body when she heard his voice in the still air. Maybe he didn't hate her as much as she thought. She followed in suit and sat up, only able to make out the silhouette of his body in the darkness. "I'm okay." She answered softly, as not to disturb the others. "I'm in the same boat as you, fucked sleeping schedule and all, so no need to apologize about the tossing. I'd be wide awake either way." Something in the air gave Devon a surge of bravery and she crawled forward on the bed, settling herself a few feet away from the couch. Tomorrow she'll tell herself it was because it was 2 a.m. and everything felt like an alternative universe at that point or that she was drunk on her sleepiness, but right now she just wanted to be closer to him. "Why are you sleeping on the awful couch?"

“Devon, oh my god. I believe you! I didn’t even need you to back that up with evidence or wild descriptors, I would have believed you regardless. I- Is that…from the Exorcist? Jeez. Do you think you’ll ever be able to eat or drink again? Are we going to have to cryogenically freeze you for the rest of the trip to keep you well?”

“I’m sorry for the horrifying mental image, Ellie! I didn’t know you were squeamish. Sadly it is, you know the scene where she projectile vomits all over the priest? I was the possessed child and the toilet was the priest. As for eating and drinking again, I wanted a large pizza immediately after, so the cryogenically freeze might not be necessary.”

“Distance makes the heart grow fonder, Dev.” he reminded her, lifting himself up onto the edge of the pool beside her. “Fold her up, give her a break and get in the water, would you?”

“You can’t force me to do that, Keaton!” She exclaimed as she clutched the towel tighter, using it as a security blanket. “She’s all I have in this world.”

“Thanks, Dev, but trust me, it gets so frizzy and gross when it gets wet. I give the swamp thing a run for his money,” Nicky smiled, “A three-count sounds good to me. I’m ready when you are.” Nicky kicked off her flip-flops and set her towel on a nearby beach chair. 

“Trust me, all of us flat haired girls would kill to look like the swamp thing even for a day.” She mirrored the girls smile. “Now or never, right?” Devon tossed her towel on the chair and slipped her shoes off, taking a deep breath. “One, two...”

“We all know how pale you are, Dev. You’re not hiding anything.” Keaton called from inside the pool, his arms on the edge while he tried to convince her to join him. “You know we aren’t going to judge you anyway, that’s not who we are. Or at least I won’t.”

She cautiously stepped closer to the edge of the pool, giving him her full attention as she looked down at him. “Despite the amount of fun everyone seems to be having, I just can’t force myself out of this towel. She’s warm, comfy and my new best friend, pretty much.”

“I’ll lose mine if you lose yours,” Nicky said as Devon brought up not wanting to let go of her towel and get in the water. “I really want to swim too. I may not be shockingly pale, but my hair is going to make me look like a swamp monster the second it meets the water.” 

“Your hair is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen and only gonna get more gorgeous with water.” Devon assured the other girl, not even shy about how envious she was over her curls. “I say we jump in on the count of three? If we do it at the same time it might make it a little easier.”

“Swear.” Holland shook her head at the mention of alcohol, a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. “Liquid courage. I knew it well.” She’d like to say she had no idea where the drinks were, that she’d been having too much fun to notice. But she noticed. “They’re in the coolers over in that corner,” she pointed to the spot furthest from the gate entrance, where a few discarded pool toys blocked their current line of sight. “Harder stuff is in the one with the blue lid.” Her hands waved in a “be gone” gesture, ushering her friend to have fun. “Go, get your drink on. I’ll be here waiting until you’re ready. If worst comes to worst, I’ll strip you down myself and shove you in.”

The fact that Holland immediately knew where the drinks were worried Devon, but she pushed the thought out of her mind, for fear of ruining her best friends night by bringing up her concerns. Her gaze lingered on the coolers for a few moments they were pointed out. “Right, coolers and blue lid. Well, here goes nothing, I guess?” She offered, feeling slightly nervous over any alcohol being in her system. What happened the the last time she was drunk is something she’s still working on forgetting about. “Try to have some fun, okay? Just because I need this lame stuff to exist here tonight doesn’t mean you do.” Blowing Holland a quick kiss, the girl turned and made a beeline for the cooler.

Cassidy laughed, relating to the girl. She herself had always been obscenely pale. “Hey if it makes you feel better me taking off my clothes would more than definetly blind everyone.” She chuckled. “But who cares, your body is beautiful if you want to swim you 100% should. I’ll be mad if you don’t.” 

“Maybe you and I should take are clothes off at the exact same time and truly blind everyone.” She laughed, admiring Cassidy’s confidence. “You do have a point, it’s not like I should be trying to impress anyone anyway. You guys have to accept me, whether I’m blindingly pale or not.”

“What? I know we’re all toughest on ourselves but you are perfect. Trust me, okay? No one is going to be thinking that. But if you’re feeling that uncomfortable I will totally distract everyone..” Or try to. “By doing this… in the middle of the pool and um.. singing?”

Devon couldn’t help but laugh over how adorable James was, all the insecurities she was feeling prior were slowly slipping away with the other girls dance moves. “You do something silly and still manage to look stunning? Not fair.”

“You do realize we’ve known each other for most of our lives, right? That we’ve had countless sleepovers, pool parties, and other more intimate encounters with each other? No one here is going to be surprised by your body, Dev. And no one is going to judge you for it. We can go in at the same time, okay?” Holland had always known Devon was pretty, and that wasn’t dependent upon her skin tone. But insecurities were usually irrational, so she wasn’t going to mock her for it. “If you even think anyone is looking at you funny, I will injure them.”