february 18th, 2021

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UNIVERSAL WAS CROWDED. really, really, crowded. people were everywhere, it smelt like cotton candy and vomit, and celia kept feeling feet stepping on her brown converse. at least she had her friends, and jack of course, which made the panic in her throat fall back into her stomach.

jack was on her left, his hand in hers, but his mind seemed to be on something that wasn't butterbeer. on her right, there was finn, his hufflepuff robes brushing against hers. sophia and wyatt were in the front talking about erin's flight, which was supposed to be coming that night, and jaeden and chosen were talking about music.

celia's robes were pooled at the soles of her feet, and she didn't think she could keep walking without tripping. "soph!" she called out to the redhead in front of her.

"yeah, lia?"

"do you have a bobby pin to pin up my robes?" celia asked, stopping in her tracks. jack directed his attention from the pink beaded bracelet on his wrist- which he had kept smiling at- to an ice cream place. he called everyone over, but finn, sophia, and celia stayed where they were.

"shit, i don't." sophia sighed as she jogged over to celia and finn. celia's gaze moved from sophia's figure running towards her to finn, who was rummaging through his pants pocket. after thirty seconds of digging, he pulled out a yellow bobby pin.

"you're a lifesaver, finn!" celia exclaimed, sending the tall boy a grin. he returned the smile and placed the bobby pin in celia's open palm. as sophia pinned up her hufflepuff robes, celia turned her attention back to jack, who was laughing with chosen and jaeden.

'he looks normal' she thought, her heart rate starting to pick up as she looked at her boyfriend's smile. she loved him. she did. he was the only person she could ever picture herself being with, and she hoped he thought the same.

the trio headed over to the ice cream place, as chosen handed celia her butterbeer ice cream. she placed a playful kiss on his cheek, as he just burst out laughing. things were going good. erin was coming tomorrow, she had an amazing boyfriend, she had amazing friends; what could possibly go wrong?

the seven made their way over to an empty picnic table, and they all sat down with their ice creams in hand. it was nice, quiet. the calm before the storm. universal was fun; california was fun. it was all fun.

as the excited shouts and blaring music were the background music to their moment together, celia mulled over what had been going on with jack. he had been acting weird the whole trip, and even before the trip he had been acting out of the ordinary. he was secretive, always on his phone, and had even become a total douche to his friends. was he cheating on her? what if this was some sort of joke being played on her? why is his mom always calling him?

maybe he was cheating. celia wanted to deny it, but she saw what had gone on with her parents a few years before, and she knew her mom was cheating on her father. her father had moved out and then they got divorced, leading to the whole debacle with her mom and peter.

at least she lived with her dad now. no more of whatever the hell her mother was doing, no more peter, just sweet, sweet privacy.

maybe celia should talk to him about the situation. he would understand, right? no that's a douche move, but it would give her an outside view. i mean, if she wrote this all down in a book and published it asking for advice, was it possible that a random teenager gave her the outside insight she needed?

finn's shoulder bumping against celia's broke her out of her thoughts. "hey," he said, "how about going on the flight of the hippogriff with me and wyatt?", giving celia a small grin.

she nodded, before grabbing his and wyatt's hands and walking over to the line outside of the ride. it was a short line, which meant they only had to wait a small bit. the trio stood in line talking about erin's awaited arrival, which made wyatt's eyes twinkle with what looked like excitement.

"dude, i haven't seen her in months and i miss my girlfriend. she's literally the best." wyatt gushed, a goofy smile spread across his face. finn playfully rolled his eyes before leaning down, his hands cupping around celia's ear.

"do we really have to listen to wyatt talk about her the rest of the day?" he joked. celia giggled, her fist landing into finn's arm. wyatt had gone on his phone and started to scroll through edits, so the two were left with their own thoughts.

the ride went by smoothly, and celia didn't feel like throwing up after getting off it. wyatt had run off to the bathroom right after, though. the rest of the day went by, and the two in the hufflepuff robes had almost cried in the car as they went back to the air bnb.

while finn and celia comforted each other in the way back, sophia, wyatt, and chosen whispered about the two while sitting in the middle row.

"i think he has feelings for her, s. have you seen the way he looks at her?" chosen whispered, gesturing to the two. celia had rested her head on finn's shoulder as they watched big mouth on his phone, giggling simultaneously every couple of minutes.

"i know, chosen. but she has jack, remember?"

"have you even been paying attention to that fuckface?" wyatt chimed in.

"yeah, and as soon as he gets the chance, finn will fucking sweep lia off her feet and carry her into the pacific ocean as the credits roll."

"you got that right, soph." chosen agreed.

the three turn around to look at the two in the back, who had ended up falling asleep. their gazes flew back to jack, who was in the passenger's seat, eyes glued to the phone screen.

"you think he's cheating?" sophia asked.

"oh i don't think he's cheating, i know he's cheating. i just don't know how to tell her." wyatt sighed, his gaze traveling from jack to the backseat.

"i could talk to finn and get him to convince her to go through his phone." chosen suggested, his shoulders shrugging up and down.

"that's not a bad idea, cho. but it is pretty early into this trip and we should just let her put the pieces together for now. if she doesn't before we leave, finn will do something about it, i know it."

"true fucking that. finn has the best ideas for revenge, so if jack is cheating, he'll know what to do."

"he'll probably come up with an idea revolving around sex."

"wyatt!" sophia whisper-shouted, her fist flying back and into wyatt's shoulder.

"ow!"

"just shut the fuck up for now, guys. we can all talk about it in my room tonight." jaeden quietly chimed in, before all of them nervously laughed at the fact that jack didn't even pick his head up to listen in to what they were saying. he always did that, even if the conversation wasn't about him.

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foreshadowing 😈😈
ALSO SORRY IT'S
SHORT