The Last Song - Virgato/Jochris

TWO

The next morning was even worse. Waking up in an unfamiliar room, ugh, he didn't feel at home. It wasn't a dream, as Joel had hoped the day before to be, it all seemed pretty much real which sucked. He sighed as he stood up to go to the bathroom and take a shower, completely ignoring the small 'hello' from his father who was making breakfast in the kitchen.

The bathroom was incredibly tiny and the fact that they all had to share cause it was the only one in the house made it even more unpleasant, but he managed. Even through the cold water, he managed. While standing under the freezing cold water, he tried to think of ways or excuses he could use to get out of that place, but nothing came to his mind, leaving him even more frustrated. 

Once in his room and while he was putting on some clean clothes, he felt the smell of bacon fill the air, making him gag. Though he also couldn't ignore the way his stomach grumbled. He realized then he hadn't eaten anything since he got there the day before and found the perfect excuse to get out of the house because there was no way he would eat whatever his father and brother were doing in the kitchen.

He grabbed his backpack and filled it with the few things he always carried around with him. Charger, wallet, instant camera, and a change of clothes because you can never be too careful. He put the black bag around his right shoulder and open the door to his room only to see his dad trying to teach Gabriel how to flip a pancake by the kitchen. 

"There you are champ, made you some eggs with toast and bacon. Pancakes are not done yet, but if you wait a few more minutes, I'll get you some as well" he heard his father tell him in an extremely positive tone of voice. 

Joel only looked at him at first, no expression on his face whatsoever and then decided the only answer he would give would be a roll of his eyes. All before walking to the front door and leaving the house with heavy footsteps. 

"What's up with him?" Francisco asked Gabriel who turned out to be better than him at flipping the pancakes.

"Vegetarian dad" answered the youngest one. 

Fran raised an eyebrow while looking at him "since when?" 

"about a year ago"

Fran nodded, he never really understood how could someone be vegetarian when meat was so good and now it turned out his very own son was one. He really did miss out on a lot of things the past few years.

"Think you can handle it?" Fran asked Gabriel "I'm gonna try to talk to him and get him to eat something"

Gabe nodded "I think I can handle it better than you can.

[...]

Joel let out a sigh when he stepped off into the sand and realized once again they were in the middle of nowhere and he had no idea where anything was. He figured calling an uber was the best bet, but soon realized it wasn't when he opened the app and there were no drivers around. He was about to curse into the air when he heard the wheels of a car pull up right in front of him.  

The car was an old blue jeep that he recognize from pictures he'd seen in his mother's old photo albums. In the front seats, however, where two teenage boys he didn't recognize at all. The one driving had dark skin and hair that was clearly died blonde. On the passenger seat was a boy, almost his height from what he could tell, pale skin and brown hair with highlights that he covered with a baseball hat. They both stepped of the car, looking at him as if he was an alien. 

"Hey, we're looking for Francisco, do you happen to know him?" asked the boy with no hat on.

Joel nodded, no smile or expression in his face whatsoever "he's my dad"

"wait a minute" said the tallest boy of the two while smiling "You're the son that's visiting for the summer?"

"One of them" stated Joel "is it supposed to be funny or are you just an asshole?"

The boy looked taken aback from the reaction that Joel gave to his statement and realized that his tone of voice might've come off a bit rude "not at all, I didn't meant it that way, it's just" he looked around "you look nothing like him"

Joel smiled sarcastically "Yeah, at least luck is with me in some aspect"

Both boys let out a laugh while Joel kept the same poker face he has come out with. One of them would've said something if it wasn't for Francisco opening up the door of the house and coming down the steps while calling Joel's name. He stopped behind his son and placed an arm around his shoulders when he saw the two other boys.

"I see you've met Chris and Richard"

Joel pushed his arm and took a few steps to the side "I wouldn't say that exactly"

Fran nodded "Well, they're responsible for fixing the car you will be driving this summer and they're also from around here so you might wanna get to know them"

"Great" Joel mumbled, causing Chris to look at him with a bit of confusion. Fran was such a great guy, he would know better than anyone so it was hard for him to connect him to the bratty boy standing in front of him. 

Fran sighed and took out hid wallet from his back pocket to pay the two boys "Thank you for fixing her up, I put an extra buck for your hard work guys"

Richard was the one who took the money because Chris was too busy starring at Joel who was desperately trying to avoid having to share more words with anyone. While looking around, he noticed a pier not too far away and he figured he could find something to eat there since it looked to be filled with people and little stores. 

He only turned back when he heard his father's voice call out for him "Son, come back inside and eat something. I'll make you a salad or something you can eat instead of that bacon"

"I'm not hungry" he answered at the same time that his stomach decided to make whale noises. His father raised an eyebrow and gave him a playful smile "I don't wanna eat here"

Fran smiled "Great, maybe you can take the car out for a ride and get something to eat from the town center. I'm sure Chris and Richard would love to shown you around and you can give them a ride back to the shop"

Joel let out a sarcastic laugh, why was his father being suddenly so nice to him "Thanks, but I'd rather walk"

Chris talked then, trying to make things less awkward "That's okay Fran, I'm sure we'll cross paths with Joel again and we really don't mind walking, it's not that far anyway"

Joel smiled "Great, it's all set, I can leave now" and without waiting for anyone else to answer, he turned around towards the beach and started walking. He did, however, heard his dad apologize for his behavior which only caused him to roll his eyes.

He really was hungry and he kinda regretted not taking the car when he had the chance to because now that he was walking towards the pier, he realized it was gonna take him a while. Of course his pride would never let him turn around the tell his father he changed his mind, especially  not in front of those guys who he could still see from where he was. They seemed to be laughing really hard at something Fran had said and his father even gave them a few playful punches in their arms, making them laugh even harder. 

He felt his eyes water, but he made sure to blink multiple times to not let a single tear fall, not this time, not anymore. 

A/N: I don't wanna promise I'll be updating more often, but I'm happy I finally did. Hope you guys liked it. 
-Val.