Love For The Ride

Chapter 11

Sophia's POV

I roll over towards the source of the heat in my bed. It's been about two days since everything came out between Ella and my brother and we've kind of all be stepping on eggshells. Grayson drapes his arm over me and pulls me closer to him. I giggle as he presses his face into the crook of my neck and his breath tickles me. He kisses my neck lovingly. "Morning Soph." He says, voice still thick with sleep.

"Morning."

"Girls! Wake up!" I hear Max yell from downstairs. "You have mail!"

I groan. "He has a key?" Grayson asks.

"Yes. He does. Unfortunately."

I stand up as I hear Max making his way up the stairs. "It's about nationals!" I freeze, halfway through putting a shirt on and look at Grayson. He scrambles out of bed and throws on a pair of sweatpants and a shirt, falling out of bed in the process with a loud thump. I finish getting dressed, with a pair of shorts and a t shirt. We quickly run out of my room, with Ella and Jackson, right on our heels. We stop at the end of the hall, right in front of Max. "I figured that'd get all of your attention. Now, I'm going to forget the fact that all four of you came out of two rooms and hand this to you. Here you go Sophia." I take it from him and kiss his cheek.

"Thanks Max."

We all walk downstairs and I open the first one, addressed to me. "What's it say?" Ella asks eagerly.

"Hold on." I scan the letter quickly and smile. "You've all been invited to nationals."

"All three of us?" Grayson asks.

"Yeah." I say nodding. "The competition is in two weeks." I stand up. "I need to tell everyone in the company so they can come out. It's in Dallas."

"Isn't that where your dad is?" Ella asks.

I nod. "Yeah." I say shortly. I see Grayson look at me. I shake my head slightly. He knows a majority of how mine and my father's relationship is. Which is to say the least, strained. To put it nicely, we don't deal with each other a lot because of the fact that he didn't raise me and because I can't be around him too much because if I am I'll end up getting into it with him over the stupidest stuff because he decides to, whether it's on purpose or not, get my nerves and pick fights with me. "Alright. You three should probably start with more practices today. As soon as possible." I say, taking the leadership role like usual. I turn and face them. "Which means, everyone go get dressed. I'll work on food really quick. Would you like to help Max?"

The older man nods. "Sure."

"Alright. Go on." I motion to Ella, Jackson, and Grayson.

Grayson walks to me and kisses the top of my head then starts up the stairs. I smile after him and see Ella shaking her head. I see her mouth the words whipped and I glare at her. She chuckles then her and Jackson go upstairs. "Hey Jackson?" I say before he goes.

He turns and Ella stops and watches me. "What's up?"

"We need to talk. There's some extra stuff you need to see. I'll show Grayson when he comes back down." I say as an excuse. I look to Ella and can tell she sees through my lie. Even though she does, she still goes upstairs without questioning me. That will probably come later when we're alone. I look at Max. "Would you mind going out to the fridge out in the garage and get some of the eggs and stuff from out there Max? We don't have any in here."

He nods in understanding. "Sure thing sweetheart."

"Thanks."

He walks out and I look at Jackson. "This has nothing to do with Nationals, does it?" Jackson asks.