1
‘Pass me a s’more, please, Dean,’ Faye said to her boyfriend. He offered her a s’more that was dripping chocolate everywhere. Honestly, it looked like a mess, just the way she liked it. She held out her plate to him and he dropped the chocolatey mass into the middle of it.
Dean smiled at her and lovingly watched her devour the s’more, smearing chocolate across her face in the process. She was the most beautiful girl in his eyes, covered in chocolate or not.
‘Ugh, get a room you two!’ came a voice from behind them. Faye turned around, wiping her mouth with her forearm with a slight frown on her face. How rude.
The frown was replaced with disbelief and pure joy as she realised who the remark came from. She dropped the paper plate and almost knocked Dean out as she leapt up off the tree stump she was sitting on. Faye jumped on her best friend, tackling her to the ground in a hurricane of hugs and laughing.
‘Rin, you’re finally here! I missed you so much. How dare you keep me waiting for so long?’ she inquired, helping Rin up off the forest floor. They had been planning this bonfire get together for weeks. It had been almost a year since they had seen each other, considering that Rin and her family had moved to Australia for her mom’s new job.
Sadly, her mother passed away a few months after they arrived there. Rin was too upset to disclose details but Faye supported her wherever she could. With nothing anchoring them to Australia anymore, Rin’s dad gave them a few more weeks to end off any unfinished business they had in Australia and moved them back to Hedgeport.
‘I missed you too, idiot,’ Rin laughed, raking the fallen leaves out of her recently dyed pink hair. She hugged Faye again, remembering all the memories that they have with each other.
‘Ahem,’ someone cleared their throat from the direction from which Rin came. Her twin sister Ryind stepped out into the clearing with a stupid grin plastered across her face. Faye let go off Rin and went over to greet Ryind with an equally enthusiastic hug, minus the jumping of course.
Rin and Ryind looked almost exactly the same. Even their haircut was the same, aside from the fact that Rin’s was bright pink and Ryind’s was chocolate brown with amber highlights. Their sense of fashion also differed greatly. Rin dressed like someone out fresh off the streets, complete with intricate tattoos covering both of her arms. Paired with her frayed denim shorts, ripped thigh length black stockings, signature combat boots and army jacket, she was the epitome of a rebel.
Ryind on the other hand was a vintage girl who would be more comfortable behind the camera, taking photos than in front of it.
Dean came up behind Faye and snaked his arm around her waist protectively. ‘It’s nice to see you two again. It’s been ages. I love the new hair, Rin,’ he said with a smile.
‘Yours doesn’t look too bad either,’ she replied, eyeing his naturally silver coloured hair, which was dyed black the last time they saw each other. They made their way back to the bonfire and took their seats.
‘Do you guys want to hear a scary story?’ he grinned at them, the firelight making his mismatched eyes twinkle menacingly.
When they had first met, Dean hid his heterochromia by wearing a cornflower blue contact lens in his left eyes to mask the bottle green one he was born with. He dyed his hair black regularly to cover up the silver.
When he asked her out, she only said yes on two conditions. That he wouldn’t wear the contact lens anymore and he would let the silver grow out. Sure, he got a few weird looks from people every now and then, a few rude remarks were passed about it behind his back but he didn’t really care, it was worth it for the way that Faye made him feel. She loved him as he was, with silver hair and mismatched eyes.
‘Sure, why not. I could do with a bit of a scare,’ Rin commented. She had always been a bit of a horror nut, much to Faye’s dismay.
‘Great. Brace yourselves, girls, this one’s going to give you insomnia for weeks,’ Dean chuckled. ‘here we go.’ Faye huddled closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder.
‘”Once upon a time, in these very woods, there was a-“’
‘The life of the party has arrived. I hope we’re not too late,’ Brennan’s voice rang out as he marched into the clearing, wearing his signature goofy grin. He plopped himself down next to Ryind, his amber eyes glowing a slightly reddish colour in the warm light of the fire.
Behind him trailed Kyron and Amerie, who seemingly just finished an argument, but that was nothing new. For two people who claim to be friends, the argued an unnecessary amount, but considering that they were friends with the same group of people, they had to pretend to keep it civilised between them. They each sat down as far away from each other as humanly possible around their little bonfire.
It was just like the old times, before Rin and Ryind moved, before their friend group was torn apart by life, only to be brought together again by some annoying higher power. They spent the next few hours exchanging stories, reminiscing about the past, eating an unnatural amount of snacks and laughing so loudly that, if they weren’t in the middle of a forest, someone would have most definitely filed a noise complaint. Even Amerie and Kyron seemed to be getting along.
Times like those almost made it possible to forget about the monsters that usually ran rampant in their heads. They didn’t need anyone but each other.
‘Hey, Faye, why don’t you and I go exploring? Like old times,’ Rin asked with a grin.
‘Hell yes! That sounds like fun. See you guys in a bit.’ Faye stood up, kissed Dean on the cheek and followed after Rin into the forest, the beams from their flashlights dancing over the trees as they walked.
