(Of course Sorrel :)
Arlo nearly busted down the door, holding his foot aloft while his arms were filled with bottles. Each one of them with a sort of eccentric design— an orange engraved on the glass. All four held white and orange striped straws— as was usual for the brand.
Arlo gave a smile, calling, “Welcome!”
Of course he was late, but he already acted like he owned the room. Seeing the table surrounded by chairs, he took his seat at the head, passing out the glasses like a bartender would. One to each of the three seats before him, keeping one for himself and taking a swig. The juice never got old. Well… in the sense of time? Of course it did. But for Arlo? Never.
His same smile kept on his face as he looked at the members. “So? What’d I miss?”
Daniella looked up at him from the blue plastic chair she sat in. "What took you so long this time? Even I got here before you." Despite her annoyed tone, she took a glass gratefully, along with a straw he offered. It was something of an unspoken joke between them. They would all drink the orange juice. Besides, why not? Daniella had even gone so far as to bring some from home once to keep the tradition alive.
Finn was sprawled across two chairs, why? Because they were gay, a theatre kid, and dramatic. They held up a hand, cheering as Arlo came in with the juice. "Gimmie that good good citrus squeeze."
Kade rolled his eyes. "How do you guys still like that stuff?" He grinned, holding his hand out for some as well. "You didn't miss anything, really. We've just been sitting in silence waiting for you to come and make everything exciting."
“Well, of course,” Arlo replied, his smile even audible through his words.
“And no big deal,” he began, waving his hand dismissively to Daniella’s comment. “I just forgot to set my alarm… again… like yesterday…. and the— the day before.”
He shook his head. “Swear I need an alarm to remember my alarm, but lord knows I’ll forget that one, too. This fricken paradox.”
He gave a small laugh, his blue eyes wandering from member to member. He took a sip of the orange juice— the acidic flavor pungent yet delightful. To him at least.
Jackson mumbled something incoherent to himself as he picked up a glass that held the familiar orange liquid. He slowly took a sip from the straw with orange stripes as his practically glowing, amber eyes scanned the room. The orange juice was something he had gotten sick of a while back, but that was something he kept to himself. He didn't wish to ruin a tradition.
He carefully removed his thin lips from the straw in order to smile and spoke in his usual bright, happy tone. "Well, at least you're here now. That's all that counts, right?" His bright eyes locked on the other people who were at the table for a split-second before refocusing at the wall he was staring at. His voice dropped to a barely audible mumble. "At least, everyone else seems to think so."
Daniella lifted her head and met his eyes sympathetically. "Chill out, Jackie," she whispered before turning back to Arlo, still with the slightest hint of annoyance in her voice. "It's not really a paradox though." She pulled out her blue backpack and dug through it. "But seriously though, I can write you a note. It's about time you got your sleep schedule under control." She pulled a purple inked pen out of a pocket and scribbled on a stickynote. "Put this somewhere you'll see it tonight. Right now." Daniella handed it to him and put everything back in her bag with only slight difficulty before straightening up with a flick of her head to make her hair fall into place.
She took a sip of the orange juice. "So. What's up?"
Finn pretty much downed the orange juice after taking the straw out, they put the straw between their teeth after all the liquid was gone. "Orange piss, lovely stuff." They muttered, they were the supplier of cursed thoughts, they couldn't let a day go by without doing their job.
Arlo scoffed, rolling his eyes with a grin at Finn’s comment.
He took the sticky note gently from Daniella, sticking it to his shirt pocket. He’d most definitely forget about it. But that was fine. Coffee was a thing.
“Not much, really,” he continued, though his eyes were still on Jackson’s with a sort of puzzled look. He shook his eyes away, smiling at Daniella. “Cramming for finals and the like,” he said, twirling the glass on the table. “How ‘bout you guys?”
"Well, isn't someone a good student?" Kade grinned at Arlo. "I'm not even bothering to study. I'll get what I get. It doesn't really matter to me." He shrugged. "My sister is getting married in the fall. They finally set a date." He sipped some of his orange juice and wrinkled his nose slightly. It tasted slightly stale, as if it was getting old. He shrugged, and took another sip.
Daniella struggled to keep herself from telling him off for his irresponsibility, but resisted. She had known him for some time after all. "Congratulations," she said. "How long have Kindle and the guy been together anyways?"
"A couple years now, I think?" Kade shrugged. "We've known him for a long time, though." He held up his glass of juice. "To old friends."
Arlo let out another genuine smile, his eyes still holding that youthful twinkle. “That’s great for them.”
He also held up his glass, nodding toward Kade.
“To old friends.”
Daniella rolled her eyes playfully raised her cup of orange juice. "To old friends," she said, with an almost melancholy look in her eyes.
Kade felt her mood, which was less than happy, and turned to her. He put his juice down on the counter and pointed to her with both hands, using finger guns. "Okay. What's wrong?"
"It's just," she started, "we're all growing up. I've already sent out a few applications for college." She looked around, the melancholy in her eyes more prominent. "The group," she nodded around the table, "we're going to be split up. Who knows what will happen?"
"We'll still stay friends," he said confidently. "We've been through the entire high school experience together. We'll be friends forever. I know it."
Jackson's eyebrows furrowed slightly at Kade's sentiment, almost as if in doubt. However, he voiced nothing of those thoughts and simply nodded in agreement, taking a sip of the citric liquid in his glass. He removed his lips from the straw once more, his lips curling into a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah," he spoke softly, "probably, anyway." As he finished his sentence, he leaned back in his chair, flicking down his sunglasses from his forehead to cover his eyes. He quietly hummed the tune of "Pumped Up Kicks" as he thought over everything.
Arlo nodded, looking more solemn than normal.
“And I’ve been accepted already…,” he mumbled. “But hey, we have time left.”
He paused, then stood up, hands still resting on the table. The others probably knew— this is when he’d put on a full inspirational production.
“Like Kade said,” he began, nodding to the boy. “We probably will keep in touch forever. Knowing us, it’s because we’re stubborn as hell. But we don’t have to worry about that right now. We have — what— a month left? Three weeks?”
He took a breath, a smile creeping to his face. “We’ll be fine. Let’s make the most of it. How’s that for a cheesy speech, eh?”
Finn hummed. "I don't know about you all, but I will be taking road trips to visit you." They raised an eyebrow, challenging anyone to say that they won't. "And, I'll video call you, and I'll send letters, and I'll send you memes on a daily basis."
"Absolutely. Besides, you have to miss me. I don't know how you all will ever survive not seeing my beautiful face!" Kade shook his head in mock sadness. "Come on, guys. Like Arlo said, we still have three months. We can make the most of those moments." A grin split across his face. "And maybe we can even get some better drink than orange juice!"
Daniella laughed for the first time that day. "Okay, guys," she said, "you got me. But," she said, turning to Kade, "what would we get instead of orange juice? I'm not exactly rolling in money here."
“Lemonade,” Arlo said in a mocking tone, wagging his head at Kade. “But we never would. Why? Because this orange juice is the bomb.”
Sarcasm laced every word that flowed from his mouth, and his grin just complimented it.
“But hey, we could get creative. Blood orange, mandarin….” he paused for a moment. “….orange. I dunno that’s all I got.”
"Maybe blood orange," Daniella mused. "Stay in tradition, you know?"
"Oh, yeah, you guys are hilarious," Kade said, rolling his eyes. "What about adding a splash of alcohol to the drinks one time?" He had done that before, and it actually tasted decent. Or, at least, he had liked it. His sister hadn't though, for some reason.
"Eh, not today though," Daniella said. "Maybe the day of graduation."
"Yeah," he said, sighing and leaning back in his seat. "I don't really have some on hand right now, so I can't do anything."
Jackson laughed slightly. "Nah dude, I'll pass on the alcohol idea. I think that stuff's nasty." He sat back up in his seat and lifted his sunglasses from his eyes. "But I'm sure we'll find something that we'll all like."
“Well, if we really wanted to be adventurous,” Arlo began, twirling his glass while holding the straw between two fingers. “We could try… orange soda.”
He leaned in, whispering the words with fake excitement.
