When I woke up the next morning, I was a little groggy. It didn't feel like I had been sleeping for a while. And my face, the only part of me not safely hidden in my sleeping bag, was freezing, especially the tip of my nose.

I would have curled up against Alex for warmth, but he wasn't there. Instead, I sat up in the tent, looking around, a little confused and then I looked down in surprise, feeling cold.

My freaking sleeping bag was unzipped.

Ugh.

And I was sure I had zipped it. Or maybe I hadn't. I had been pretty tired.

Oh well.

I didn't hear anyone outside. Everyone must still have been asleep, so where the hell was Alex?

I lifted my legs to my chin, rubbing my nose on my knees, holding my arms around them.

Damn it, I was cold.

I had my hood on, and I could feel my hair, still a little damp. That really didn't help my cause.

I decided to go look for Alex, and maybe stand by the fire, if it hadn't died, so I crawled out of the tent.

Oh just perfect.

Alex hadn't even zipped it closed it properly

How out of it was he?

I got out of the tent, and yawned loudly, stretching my arms far out, before walking up to the fire.

The grass was covered with dew, damping my shoes and the bottom of my sweat pants as I walked to the circle of chairs. The morning was chilly, the light wind making the leaves of the trees shiver now and then. The sun was still low, but piercing, meaning the morning was barely beginning.

I wrapped my arms around me.

Alex was there, sitting on a chair.

"Hey, how long have you been up?" I asked him, startling him.

"Damn it Kitty, don't sneak up on me like that again," he said and I think he put his phone in his pocket.

What was he doing on his phone at this time of the day?

Oh well.

"You still look tired," Alex stated.

"That's because I am," I answered and yawned again. "Damn it, it was freaking freezing in there. When you left you could have zipped up the tent properly. How long did the cold had to creep in the tent?"

"About an hour and a half," Alex laughed.

"Why'd you get up so early?" I asked him, frowning.

He looked quite tired himself. Actually, he had huge bags under his eyes.

I sat on the char beside him, lifting my legs to my chest.

"Oh you know. I woke up, couldn't sleep again, got out, the usual," Alex said and stretched.

"God, it's freezing," I whispered and wrapped my arms around my legs.

"Stop complaining Kitty," Alex laughed, shaking his head. "We said no whining."

"Yeah, well, I thought the rule died when you brought Clark and Shawn and their entourage," I answered with a small scowl.

And then Alex started to laughed, but like a lot.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, just you Clark and Shawn, and Blake's face last night... You should have seen him, one of the two dummies stole his tent and got it on in it. He was pissed," Alex laughed.

"What did he do? Interrupt? Join?" I snorted.

"No actually, he just scowled a lot," Alex laughed.

"Where did he sleep then?"

"Huh? Oh, I let him sleep in my car," Alex trailed.

I smirked. "I'm going to go wake him up," I said with an evil smile.

"Oh, forget about it, he's already up," Alex answered.

"Where is he then?" I asked, looking around for him.

"He went running, like one hour ago. Who knows, he might've really been caught by a bear this time," Alex said, snorting.

I frowned. "Running?"

"Yeah, I know, I made that face too," Alex laughed.

"Oh well," I trailed, dismissing the matter. "I'm hungry."

"Want some hot dogs?" Alex offered, smirking a little.

"Dear god, no. I'm still burping those from yesterday," I whined, making Alex laugh more.

"How about some toasts?" Alex offered. "Grilled on the barbecue, and then we could melt some of those chocolate chips of yours and you could put it on them!"

"I don't think I tell you this often enough but I love you," I smiled at Alex.

That sounded good. Anything with chocolate really made me a happy woman.

"That's true, I feel neglected," Alex said dramatically.

"Alright, stop being an ass and start making me some food," I ordered him.

Still laughing, Alex got to work while I tried to warm up already.

I saw someone coming up from the trail, running.

Blake.

Who in their right mind would be running right now? And for an hour.

I didn't think I could ever really understand that boy.

"See! I didn't die of hypothermia," I yelled when he was close enough to hear me.

The smirk was instantaneous. "Yeah, and that really is a miracle since you were like a freaking Popsicle when you went to sleep," Blake answered, rolling his earphones around his iPhone and putting it all on the picnic table.

"Please. I'm tougher than that," I told him, smirking a little.

"Good to know," Blake laughed and then he started to run again.

"Hey? Where are you going?" I called after him.

What the hell? Running again?

"Swimming! Wanna come skinny dip with me?" Blake said turning around, smirking like an idiot, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Please, the last thing I need is to hurl my not-even-eaten-yet breakfast," I answered rolling my eyes.

"You're the one missing out," Blake called after him, laughing and then disappeared in the trail.

Little bitch.

"I'm proud of you Kitty, resist the temptation," Alex said laughing, handing me a toast with chocolate on it.

"I'm going to let that one go, because you just gave me food, but don't you ever say things like that again," I told him, my eyes narrowing.

Alex sat beside me, laughing and shaking his head.

"So, what are you doing this afternoon?" I asked him, before taking a bite of toast.

Yum. Chocolate.

"Sleeping!" Alex snorted.

"That sounds nice," I agreed, thinking I would probably do the same, but then I thought about something. Hadn't I agreed I would drive Blake to the freaking library this afternoon?

Crap.

By now, people were slowly starting to get out of their tents, stretching, yawning, complaining about the cold and the damp grass, hair everywhere, bag under the eyes and body crouching a little.

I guess we were all feeling the same way.

"I smell food," Trevor yelled.

"Yeah, well, get your own," Alex answered him.

"Aw come on," he whined

"Nah ah! I'm not your cook like Lexi," Alex laughed.

And then Trevor looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

"Nope, I'm not falling for those," I said shaking my head, laughing a little.

"Damn it," Trevor mumbled and let himself fall on a chair.

"We should start packing soon," Alex trailed.

"Yeah, you're right," Connor answered, yawning.

I was listening to the guys, holding my toast in my hand, my elbow resting on the armrest, when someone snatched it from me.

I turned and glared at the thief.

Blake, of course.

He took a big bite, smiling.

"You big meanie! Give me my toast back! Get your own," I hissed, getting on my feet.

Blake lifted the toast in the air and held his other hand out, keeping me away and then he shook his damp hair, sending tiny drops of freezing water in my direction.

"OH MY GOD! Are you out of your freaking mind?" I yelled, protecting my face with my arms.

"I thought you were tougher than that," Blake smirked happily and took another bite from my toast.

"Seriously Blake, I'm not a morning person! Give me my food," I hissed, scowling at him.

"Alright," Blake laughed and gave me my toast back.

"You're an ass," I glared.

"Thanks," Blake answered, smiling.

"And you're in a good mood," I remarked, frowning.

"Yope!" Blake answered, still smiling.

Smiling?

Hmm? It wasn't a real big kind of smile, but it definitely wasn't a smirk.

Weird, he had a dimple on his cheek when he smiled like that. If it was possible, he looked even hotter.

Alright Lexi, get a grip!

"That surprises me. I thought you were going to murder your two partners in crime this morning," " Alex said, laughing a little.

"Yeah well, there's nothing like a good night of sleep to calm all that unresolved anger," Blake said, and the smirk was back, but the smile was still kind of there.

Alex looked at him frowning, and I don't know why, for one second they actually looked like they kinda had an argument in their heads, but I dismissed it because Stacey's shrill laugh echoed through the forest, Shawn trailing behind her.

He didn't look like he had a nice night.

Ha ha!

"Well, looks like Clark's the bastard who corrupted my tent," Blake said, and frowned a little "I think I have to go punch him in the face a little," he trailed and then walked towards where his tent was, a little further away from everyone else's actually.

I shrugged and then went to sit back in my chair, finishing the little among of toast I had left.

When I was finished, we started to gather our things, putting the fire out, getting the barbecue in Alex's jeep, picking up the chairs, putting the dirt bikes back in the trunk of Mark truck, unpicking the tents, everyone busy with something.

About an hour later we were all packed and ready to go.

"No one forgot anything?" Alex called, as we were walking to our respective cars, "because it's probably the last time we're coming before the snow melts in spring so you better not leave anything."

No one protested, so then we got in the cars, leaving barely any trance of our presence other than the ashes where the fire had burned.

I wasn't really happy to leave.

First, because I liked being at the Creek, it held some kind of summer feeling to it, and knowing we wouldn't go back for a while actually made me gloomy.

And second, because I had to ride back with the three pervs again.

"Come on, lighten up Pumpkin," Blake laughed beside me, as I buckled my seat belt, while Clark started the car.

"I have not even fully woken up yet, give me some time," I answered, and yawned to prove my point.

Blake laughed.

While the first cars started to drive away and we waited to follow behind one of Tila Tequila's song colorful songs started to play.

"Oh for the love of god," Blake suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Clark asked in front.

"I was fine, going along with the other songs because they were, you know, funny, but this... this is just sad," he said shaking his head.

"You don't understand talent," Clark protested.

"Being good looking doesn't always equal talent, and this," Blake said pointing to the radio "is not talent."

"You're just mad because I fucked in your tent instead of you," Clark snorted.

"No actually, but I do intend on burning the thing, thanks for reminding me," Blake answered and then the car started to drive away from the Creek.

I stopped listening to the boys' argument and closed my eyes, enjoying the sun warming my face slowly, the wind hitting my skin, and took a deep breath smelling the earthy smell of the trees and leaves and grass and water and sand.

And then I opened my eyes, leaving the Creek behind.

_______________

Bye bye Creek, it was fun reading about you again. I'm a big nostalgic so I always kind of enjoyed the ending of this chapter, because the way Lexi is feeling, I feel all the time about any small thing that's like "for the last time". It's a problem really. 

If you have any questions about this chapter or anything in general you'd want me to answer, leave it here.

The live reading of this chapter will be back at it's usual time, so Sunday March 21st, at 11AM EST on my instagram page at instagram.com/kaygiard

See you there! :D