Road Trip With Trouble

Chapter 1 - Handcuffs and Cheese

"I bet you enjoy these cuffs" he whispers into my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. Sweat trickles down his forehead as he looks desperately around the room. The feeling that my stomach has dropped is still there, and being so close to him in this situation does not help, but in a way I'm also glad it's with him. I laugh. It's funny to see him in this state. I don't know which is harder to believe, the fact that we were just handcuffed together by an old lady, or that he's trying to flirt with me.

16 HOURS EARLIER

Rough tires roll on the smooth road of a rich neighbourhood. I stare out the window wondering if it was really worth agreeing to come on this trip with my best friend and her boyfriend's popular friends, but Elly abruptly disturbs my thoughts.

"I FORGOT TO PACK IN MY VAGINA STEAMER!"

Every person in the car turns their head at her exclamation.

"We're not turning around just for your...female cleanser," José calmly says from the driver's seat.

"Wow." She scoffs, "My own boyfriend doesn't want to turn around for me to have a clean-"

"As Elly's dearest, closest, bestest friend, I have to agree with José and insist that we DO NOT TURN AROUND AT ALL COSTS!" I interrupt.

She glares at me from the passenger seat while I give José a low-five, and turns to face the backseat. "Can you believe this?" Beside me Vivi looks up from her phone and shrugs.

"Thank god we're bringing Jake and the rest with us, because if it were just us..." she trails off. "Please tell me we're almost at his house so the cool people can officially join?"

I chuckle at Vivi's bold remark. She's the type of girl to say mean things and think of it as 'just being honest.'

A few minutes of Elly complaining about her forgotten steamer later, we arrive at Jake's house. His big jeep is on the driveway with a bunch of other people waiting inside.

"JAKE!" Vivi practically jumps out the window to greet the 'cool' people. The cool people meaning Jake the asshole and his asshole friends.

I decide to stay in the car while everyone else greets and bro-hugs each other. Elly turns to me, "Hey, who's that girl over there?" I look up at the golden-locked girl with model-like legs she was referring to.

"Um, isn't that Jake's cousin or something he said he was gonna bring with?"

"Oh," she shifts back into her seat, "yeah I remember he said her name was Brie or something."

I nodded while making the connection between the two blond-haired relatives. When Jake sees us in the car, he immediately strides over to us.

"Elly and Allie, yo what's up!" He says as he opens the door on Elly's side and leans with his arm on the roof of the car.

My eyes automatically roll back into my head at the sound of his voice and the smell of his axe spray. "The sky."

His eyes squint as he looks at the road. "Yeah alright," he chuckled, "I need you guys to do me a favour: my beautiful cousin, Brie, will be catching a ride with you bunch, so take good care of her."

On queue, Brie appears next to him and gives a small wave. A flash of her shy smile makes me warm up to her.

"I'm Natalie," I introduce myself, "and this here is Elly."

"Cool, I'm just gonna grab my bags and then we can go I guess."

"No need, Lee's bringing your bags over here right now," Jake gestures at the guy walking over with fluffy pink bags. Normally, this would be a sight I'd be amused by, but the cocky, curly haired, annoyingly attractive guy ruins it.