Adrian Rivera

“Rivera, you aren’t scared of those girls seeing you naked are you?” Ronnie asked, smirking and pulling off her shirt as they reached the water, “Skinny dipping means naked so strip off, babe.”

“Right, right, and that makes all the difference. You do know we’re very close to a lake? So it’s really a matter of when it’ll happen again.” Emma spoke with a roll of her eyes as she watched him stake the ground, “You haven’t read the instructions yet.” She then said, holding the paper up in exasperation. “How am I the killjoy? I just don’t want stupid decisions to happen and you are always the gang leader for those.” 

“I’m hearing a lot of complaining back there– use that energy on hiking instead of running your mouth,” Levi teased. When he reached a bit of a break in the incline, Levi decided to stop to wait up for Adrian. “They switch it up every few weeks or so, but yeah I’d say it does.”

“It’s fine– I’m fine,” she lied, despite knowing Adrian would clearly see right through it. Once he had come over she sighed, for some reason unable to keep up the act once he was right beside her. “I was being stupid and I really fucked up my leg,” Rori admitted, gesturing to the bandage that was wrapped around her shin and all the way up to her knee, which had one of those wide bandaids on it. “I don’t recommend bike riding through these forests and suddenly slamming the breaks,” she added with forced and humorless chuckle. “I’ll be okay,” Rori then said, still unable to bring herself to look at him for some reason.

“It’s Jude, not hard to forget given there’s a song about it.” Jude commented, pausing for a moment after he had spoken to look at the other, “Please don’t sing, I don’t want to attract any wildlife with what I can only imagine would be the noises that came from you. No offence.” He spoke, though he was pretty sure he shouldn’t be criticizing the other getting his name wrong, not when he couldn’t remember himself what the others was. Alan. Andrew…. Alvin. “Well that’s rather convenient, not that I’m complaining.” 

Emma watched Adrian as he looked around the area for a tent spot, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to help him or not. She was sure of the fact that a disaster was long overdue for him. “Oh, you mean the one where we thought you were missing and then found you fully dressed in a bathtub in the water? Yeah you did.” Emma replied, “I’m hoping this time is different, but… y’know.” 

“Do you know where we’re headed?” he couldn’t help but ask the other. They were about half an hour into their hike and Dallas had been doing his best to keep track of the path just in case they got lost, but he wondered if his guide had a game plan or not. “We… we might be going in circles.”

@ofrivera​

Rori was having trouble falling asleep for some reason. She’d rest for small bursts before waking up again. So eventually she gave up, slipping out of the polyester tent as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake Jack up. When she made it out she noticed somebody else sitting in the little mutual space the group had set up the night prior. The only difference was the ember-less campfire in the middle. “Couldn’t sleep either?” she asked, moving to sit near Adrian and wiping her eyes slightly. “What time is it?”

Adrian surveyed the camping equipment in silence, before eventually picking up a few of the stakes and searching for a grassy area to put them. Did he just put them in the ground and then tie poles to them ? Shrugging, he glanced back at Emma. “ I’m surprised you decided to come, honestly. I thought we’d scared you away after that birthday party Noah brought you to once. ”

“ Man, I won’t lie, I’d enjoy this more if I didn’t spend all night partying. Or... drinking. I guess you can’t really call too many beers in the woods a party in comparison to our usual style. Did you sleep any ? ”

“ Rori ? Are you hurt ? ” Adrian called out upon seeing his best friend planted on the ground as he returned with one of their friends. They’d known one another long enough for him to tell, even from a distance, that she was in pain. Immediately ending his prior conversation with a wave of dismissal, he crossed the campsite to kneel beside her. “ Hey, hey, what happened ? ” he asked without any of his usual bravado.

“ Hey, Jeff ! There’s plenty of branches over here, ” Adrian called out to the other as he rounded the corner. “ It looks like the tree took a hit in that storm the other night. ”

“ When was the last time I even went outdoors for more than ten minutes ? The ski trip ? I need to get a gym membership, ” Adrian admitted between ragged breaths on their hike. “ Does HQ training still kick ass ? ”

“ Now, remind me the parameters of this dare. Skinny dipping as in just underwear or all clothes barred ? ”

“Do you think anyone brought paper to start the fire?” Myles asked, a bunch of wood already stacked in her arms. “Like, should we try to find dry leaves or something?” she continued, momentarily not thinking of her best friend’s powers clearly.

“Adrian, for the love of god, this is the stupidest idea you’ve ever had. You could die doing this you know?” Noah said, looking down the cliff and then at the other, “Why do you want to do this?”

@ofrivera​