Fearless

Chapter 23

But at least I have my friends and my family, right?

"Is everything okay?" Lucas asked as I shut the door to the passenger seat.

"She's just having a tantrum because she can't go to the movies with her stupid boyfriend." Carter sighed as he started the engine.

"I'm not having a tantrum." I said, annoyed by that notion.

"It sucks for all of us Sky. I had a party at this hot blondes house tonight and I had to tell her I couldn't go. She was so disappointed, but I suppose that worked in my favour because now it looks like I'm playing hard to get and-" Ryan began before being cut off.

"Dude, shut up." Lucas said. "I bet you don't even know her name."

"Yeah I do. It's Jessica...or is it Hannah? Maybe it was Georgia..." he said, debating with himself and provoking an eyeroll from all of us.

"I know it sucks for all of us, but now Jake thinks I'm lying to him. He thinks I'd rather hang out with you guys than him, and now he's upset with me." I explained, turning the conversation away from Ryan's hook-ups.

"You would rather hang out with us. Don't even lie." Carter smirked.

"No I wouldn't." I said sharply, although I wasn't telling the complete truth.

They can be fun sometimes. I still wanted to be with Jake though.

"Wow, love you too Sky." Ryan said sarcastically.

"You know what I mean. I'm sure you'd much rather be with your 'hot blonde' than hang out with me." I said, turning to him.

"Okay, valid point." he agreed.

"Well too bad, because you're both stuck with us." Lucas sighed, he was probably the only person out of the three of them which I could tolerate.

"I hope our parents fix this mess soon, as great as you guys are, I need to do something fun soon or I'll go insane." Carter said.

"Agreed." The three of us said in sync with one another.

~

Once we arrived home, it was just the four of us. Although Nick was planning to come over later.

The boys had decided to stay at ours tonight just for a change of scenery as they often did, and we all walked straight through to the kitchen where Mom and Jocelyn were waiting for us.

"Oh hey guys, how was practice?" Mom smiled.

I looked at her and noticed that she was wearing unusual  work attire of all black clothes and a leather jacket with her hair tied into a slick ponytail. Though looking as glamourous as always.

"It was alright." Carter nodded, jumping up to sit on the kitchen counter.

"Yeah, Nick's really fitting into the team. He's a great player." Lucas noted.

"Well that's nice to hear." Mom replied.

"You'll all be glad to hear that I've been baking all afternoon." Jocelyn chuckled from beside my Mom as she headed over to one of the ovens.

"Yes! Jocie you are the best. What have you made? Chocolate cake? Red velvet? Eclairs? Brownies?" Ryan listed off excitedly like a child as he jumped up and down in joy.

She reached into the oven with her big oven gloves and pulled out a tray of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, and they smelt heavenly.

"Cookies!" Ryan exclaimed loudly.

"Yes sweetheart." she laughed as she placed the tray onto the kitchen counter and Ryan reached forward to grab one.

As he reached, Jocelyn slapped his hand away along with Carter's.

"No. You have to wait for them to cool down first. We can't have you burning your mouths now can we?" she said.

"Fine." they both groaned.

"Oh Sky, before I forget, your dress arrived today. You need to make sure it fits so that we don't need to make any last minute alterations."

"Ok, how long have we got? Two weeks?" I said as she nodded.

"What's the dress for?" Lucas asked.

"Oh it's for Ellie's wedding. I'm a bridesmaid."

Ellie is my cousin and Hailey's older sister. She's only 22, yet she met her high school sweetheart at 15, and now they're getting married. It's crazy.

She asked Hailey and I to be her bridesmaids, along with a couple of her friends from school and college. I felt bad that Leanne wasn't asked, but she didn't seem too bothered about it seeing as she doesn't know Ellie all that well.

If Leanne can avoid wearing a dress at any cost, she will. She, again, takes after Tris in that respect.

"Yeah and since Matteo and Dawn are paying for the wedding, they're being very generous and each of you get to bring a plus one if you'd like. It's going to be a pretty big event, so pick wisely boys." Mom explained.

They'd all received their invitations about a year ago, so they'd obviously forgotten. Typical.

"Awesome!" Ryan smiled widely.

"Are you taking anyone Sky?" Lucas asked me softly, staring down at me with his kind eyes.

"I, eh, I think I'll probably just ask Jake." I muttered, looking at my Mom for unnecessary approval.

"Of course." Carter scoffed under his breath, yet clear enough for me to hear him.

"Carter, be nice." Mom warned.

"I just don't get why he has to come to a family event." he shrugged.

"Will Laura be coming?" I asked.

"Probably."

"That's why."

"Whatever. We'll be in the den." he said as he jumped down from the counter and left the room with Lucas and Ryan following behind.

~

Not long after they'd left, Jocelyn had finally allowed me to have a cookie and Nick had arrived at the house.

Dad and Will were still at work and he'd asked if he could stay over with the boys, of course they'd said yes.

"Hey Sky." he said as I opened the front door for him.

"Hey Nick, you know you can just come straight in. That's what everyone else does." I laughed.

"Thanks." he replied.

"The boys are in the den." I said, pointing up the stairs and swallowing the remains of my cookie.

"Oh, actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you first." he said.

"Oh right, yeah, of course, what about?" I asked, leading him through to the living room where we both took a seat on the large couch.

"Well, I've been thinking, and I've kind of had my eye on a girl since we moved here..." he said with nervous laughter.

"Really? Who?" I asked curiously.

"You."