The Spawns

The Spawns | Chapter XXV -- I Promise I'll Be Gentle

THE SPAWNS

I Promise I'll Be Gentle

Chapter XXV—Jayden

© DarknessAndLight

I never truly understood the expression "cutting through tension with a knife" before sitting in a car with Cole, Maika and Dakota. Maybe cutting the tension with a knife wasn't the right way to express what was going on though. It kind of felt like when Grandpa Eaton would grab me by the shoulder and keep me down on me seat explaining to me the fluidity of changing meters in Francis Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra whenever Cole and I would break something in his house. The weight of the tension was as pressing as Grandpa Eaton's grip.

"No one here likes you go away, get a clue, go back to your fucking zoo I want to burn as you do," Maika sang very loudly in the back seat. Dakota was sitting beside me in the passenger seat and Maika and Cole were sitting behind.

"Huh, Maika, could you maybe, change your tune," I asked, trying to be as soft spoken as I could, given the circumstances.

"I don't know," Maika replied sweetly. "Could you maybe be more supportive of my artistic drive instead?"

"I'm feeling a lot of tension..." I trailed, and coughed a little.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, hey Cole, I've got an amazing idea to pass the time while we're driving," Maika said, and my hands clenched a little around the steering wheel, while giving sideway glances at Dakota.

She looked completely unfazed, pushing the cuticles of her nails.

"What have you got in mind Tiger?" Cole replied.

"Wanna make out?"

I jerked the car to a stop and parked by the side of the road. "Okay, seriously, can we just all act normal please?" I asked my two friends in the back.

Maika grinned at me. "How is me making out with Cole not normal? I'm actually thinking about making it something more permanent."

Cole didn't look like he was going to argue. What the actual fuck? What was wrong with those two? Were they freaking serious?

"Please, you're just saying this to get on Jayden's nerve, you two aren't attracted to each other," Dakota interjected beside me. Yes. Thank you.

"Oh yes, because you're the expert on what I want," Cole snorted.

"Can we just all not argue and get along please?" I asked again.

"Look, I just want to bitch to acknowledge something," Maika said, and a flinched while she glared at Dakota. "We had no reason to bring you along. Sure, Cole's mom said we had to you bring along if we wanted to go for a road trip, but technically, we really didn't need her approval. We could have left on our own, we're all adults here. We just humoured her because we feel bad for her sometimes. So there, we could have just left without the red-head she-devil. But we still brought you along. So there's absolutely no room for your sabotage, your snubbing, your menaces and your condescension. Really anything that could get on my nerve has no place in this car otherwise I'll drop your ass on the curb faster than Cole's parents can get undress."

"And if you were unaware, that's not a lot of time," Cole pointed out.

"Jesus, guys, chill, will ya?" I groaned.

"Fine," Dakota answered.

"Perfect, you can drive on Jayden, Cole and I will just start making out now," Maika said, smiling that sweet smile again.