37| The Emergence

                                    

                                          
Riley lays on her back with her eyes closed and an open book laying on her stomach, listening to the buzzing sound of a hundreds of voices talking all at once, picking up the distinct sounds of laughter every now and then or the shrieking sound of children running away from Bozo the Clown.
Admittedly, its a hard task at finding any sort of peace like this, especially whilst studying in a place like Preston where trouble just seems to suspiciously catch up to everyone, but its not impossible.
They may drive her crazy at times and bring her to tears more often than not, but she can't imagine spending time with another bunch of idiots who have expensive taste when it comes to snacks.
"Open."
Riley opens her eyes, looking up at Kenna smiling down at her whilst hiding something just outside of her line of sight. "Huh?"
"You mouth, not your eyes."
"Oh, right." Riley quickly apologises before resuming her position, leaving her mouth open patiently.
She hears Kenna shake a can before spraying something fluffy and creamy into her mouth. 
She eats the whipped cream, tasting a fruity hint of strawberry, sitting up to grab the can from Kenna's hands to spray some more.
"Okay, don't eat it all. Save some for the rest of us." Kenna teases, slowly pulling the can out of Riley's hands.
"Are you call me fat?" Riley chirps, pretending to be offended.
"Yes, have you seen your-"
"Woah, there are kids around." Arlo interjects, crashing down next to the pair, his fingers already covered in Cheeto dusts.
Riley giggles, adjusting her body to make more room for him. "Hello stranger."
"Who?"
"You." she replies, wiping his chin with her thumb. "I feel like I haven't seen you around."
"What can I say, I'm a busy man."
Asanti scoffs, lowering the blacked out sunglasses he borrowed from Riley. "Busy eating all our food."
"Actually that was me." Lance confesses, getting random objects thrown at him. "What, I'm a hungry boy."
"Where did Freddie go?" Kenna asks Asanti, holding the beer he asked her to put in the cooler for a few minutes after he let it sit for too long.
Asanti scoffs, lowering the glasses back over his eyes. "Chasing after another girl, what do you think?"
"What's his problem?" Arlo mutters, turning back to Riley. "He seems bitchier than usual."
"Something happened with him and Freddie, you know how they are. Always butting heads." Riley purses her lips, glancing over at Asanti whose expression looks sharper than chiseled stone.
She doesn't get much more time to ponder on that as a suddenly yelp from the opposite direction draws her attention.
After tripping over something small and landing on her back, Kenna prises her eyes open, feeling a weight climbing all over her chest.
It's only after she peers into the eyes of the mysterious hairball that Kenna recognises the pug from hell.
"You!"
The demon spawn barks once before leaping off Kenna's chest, sprinting towards the picnic basket closest to Lance and Farah.
"Someone catch that dog!"
Lance doesn't hear her screams until it's too late. The chubby dog sprints past him, snatching the fried chicken wing right out of his hand.
"Oh hell no."
As Lance climbs to his feet, Farah tries to hold him back. 
"Babe it's already...gone..." she utters, her words going unheard as he sprints after the Pug. "Why do I even bother?"
Lance dives for the beast, only narrowly missing it's legs, leaping head first into the creamy strawberry and vanilla sponge cake.
Kenna picks up the slack, ripping out one of the umbrella from the ground and hurtling like a javelin to block off its path.
The Pug doubles back, halting when it comes face to face with Kenna, tilting it's head to the side as if challenging her for round two.
"You're going down bitch!"
Kenna charges, only to be out manoeuvred, resulting in a drawn out chase that begins to spiral out of control.
Riley and Arlo try to help whilst Amara joins Asanti on his blanket, not wanting to join the absurd festivities.
"What's happening?" he asks, resting his eyes.
"They're chasing a dog." Amara replies, using her teeth to open her aquamarine water bottle.
"In public?" Asanti scoffs, trying to cheat his way back into his daydream.
Meanwhile, Kaizen returns from buying an ice-cream cone, being smacked into by Lance after the Pug runs beneath his legs.
He is momentarily winded, spreading his tall frame out on the ground instead of fighting against the pain, failing to realise that he now has blue bubblegum ice-cream smeared across his forehead that is starting to get stuck in his midnight hair.
The Chaos comes to an end once Arlo trips over his feet whilst trying to avoid the picnic items laying on the blanket.
In his effort to stay upright, he grabs onto Riley who ends up tumbling with him into Bjorn's conveniently placed pool.
He makes the smart decision to spin mid fall, catching Riley as she falls on top of him.
The shallow water, barely coming up to Arlo's ears still manage to drench both of them however.
Arlo peers up at Riley, unable to control his snorting laughter at how bizarre and foolish the entire situation is.
Riley laughs too, holding both arms out on either side of Arlo's head to suspend her weight, feeling extra supported by Arlo's hands holding her waist.
"Hi." he whispers breathlessly.
"Hello." she whispers back, staring into his eyes that appear golden in the sun.
"Hey." Bjorn replies, reminding the pair that this is his pool. "Oh, I thought we were doing a thing."