Hold On Till May

"Why are we even at the park, Gaskank?" Aurora asked as the group of friends walked into the park. Jack immediately ran to the swings, Zack to the monkey bars, and Rian just stood back and shook his head. The show a few hours ago had done fantastic and this was Alex's way of celebrating. His favorite park with his best friends and a few bottles of booze.

"Drink up, Princess!" Alex laughed while handing Aurora a bottle of Absolut. One side of his mouth went up into a perfect, mischievous smile. She took the bottle out of his hands and smiled back. Both of them headed towards the swings to figure out that the other boys had already taken their bottles out of their hoodies where they were so hidden that not even Aurora saw them.

"Riiiiiiiian!" Aurora screamed after half of her bottle was gone and the alcohol kicked in. "Come push me." Her voice was like a little kids and she smiled goofily when she was tipsy. Alex couldn't help but smile at her.

Rian made his way over to Aurora with a slouch in his step and a frown on his face. "Why do I have to push you?" He whined.

"Because you looooooooooove me, silly boy!" She giggled. Rian finally pushed her as fast as he could. He laughed his head off the entire time, like whining before wasn't an issue at all.

"Why can't you push me?" Jack asked from the other swing.

"Because you're not a Princess!" Aurora laughed at him like a little kid. Eventually, she fell off the swing and everyone bursted out into clear laughter. "Aight! Let's just go talk or something," she suggested. No one rejected the offer - or demand - whatever it was.

+++

Time had passed, yet no one had a phone on them to tell them the time. It had to be around 4 in the morning by now, but no one truly cared. All the alcohol was gone and the teenagers ended up sitting in the middle of the playground on the very top floor where all the slides were. They talked until they laughed and cried - some even admitted somethings that they had to get off their chests and some asked for advice.

Aurora, however, was in neither of those two categories. She was afraid that Zack would slip and spill her secret to Jack and Rian, but lucky enough for her, he didn't do such a thing.

Four of them sat up against the walls of the playground, while Jack stretched himself out in the middle of them, with his head on Aurora's lap. They were so comfortable with each other that no one seemed to understand their friendships. Everyone would whisper about them because no one truly knew what it was like to have that close of relationships with their friends, even if they thought that was exactly what they had.

"Let's talk about how in love Aurora and Alex are, yeah?" Jack finally said. Everyone gave him a look as if telling him to shut up, especially Aurora. Jack scoffed at them. "It's so obvious that it's sickening," he giggled with hiccups. "I mean, she's always talking about this boy that she thinks doesn't want her, and that boy is obviously Alex. So let's just get this out of the way." Aurora sighed and covered Jacks mouth with her hand.

"You're as drunk as a skunk, Jacko," Aurora shook her head.

"Babe, I don't believe that skunks drink, but I will take your word for it!" He saluted her with his words. Jack moved his head onto her thigh and started shaking it back and forth. With every movement, Aurora flinched every time to the point where her face looked like she was in utter agony. Alex defiantly noticed and didn't know what to do.

Of fucking course, he thought to himself. Why, of all nights, would I have to find out about this?

"Think we should be headed back to the house?" Alex asked his four friends. They all nodded sleepily. They all got up and started walking down the street towards Alex's house. "Tonight was great, I'm not gonna lie about that," Alex smiled at all his friends. They all agreed. Alex intertwined his fingers with Aurora's as they walked together. Her face turned bright red, even through the redness of her cheeks from her inebriation. "I love you, never forget that," Alex whispered into her ear.

"I love you too," she mouthed. Both three words meant a lot, but once again, neither of them thought that the other meant it as more than friends. But when each said it, it was more than that.

The night ended with Without A Paddle and munchy foods. The basement filled with laughter that was loud enough to wake up Alex's parents, but miraculously didn't. They fell asleep while watching the title screen when the sun was slowly rising, but they fell asleep feeling more proud of themselves than they ever had before. The boys and the girl knew that their little hometown band was going to go somewhere. That thought was enough to make all of them fall asleep with a smile on their faces.