To Be Alone With You

8. on the road

CHAPTER EIGHT

ON THE ROAD

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Kaspian's mom was home, and she claimed that she wanted to "spend time with him before he went off to college."

He tried to convince her that there were still over six months left for him to even finish high school, but she didn't listen.

So now, Kaspian was making pancakes with her for breakfast, at the fucking crack of dawn. Although nine o'clock wasn't exactly the crack of dawn.

Kaspian let out a yawn, covering his mouth. "It's past nine mijo, you wake up much earlier on weekdays! You can't possibly be sleepy now, not when we're making your favourite!" Kaspian's mom exclaimed, chopping up some butter into cubes.

"Mom, your favourite unfortunately isn't my favourite as well. But I appreciate the gesture."

Letting out a displeased sigh, his mom looked at him, resting her knife on the chopping board. "You make yourself so tired with these sports and everything. Don't get me wrong, I am very proud of you, mijo. But you need to take breaks, it's unhealthy to tire yourself out every single day."

"Everyone on the team does the same amount I do," Kaspian pointed out to his mom, wiping his hands with a cloth.

"Liar! I know you excercise in your own time too, don't try to fool me," she replied smugly.

Kaspian frowned. "I'm not even working anymore, I genuinely have nothing else to do," he complained. "I just hang out with my friends, I practice and I study." Realisation dawned on him. "Oh my god, I'm such a bore."

His mom simply ruffled his hair, before saying, "Maybe you should get a new job. You can ask around today, see if anyone has an opening."

Just as she finished her sentence, Kaspian's phone started ringing. North.

"Go, go, I'll finish here," his mom shooed, diverting her attention back to the food in front of her.

"Hey Kas!" North yelled through the speaker, and Kaspian had to move his phone slightly away from his ear in order to not burst his eardrums. Still, an easy smile spread across his face upon hearing North's voice.

"Hey, it's early. What are you doing up?"

"I dunno. I'm so hyped today, for some reason," they said, giggling. Kaspian felt his heart bloom with affection for them.

North always got like this during the holidays, and since it was nearly the end of November, Thanksgiving was in two days, and Christmas was soon after, leaving them more excited than usual.

The same couldn't be said for Kaspian though, he despised the holidays. But, he did enjoy the break that he got from school and track and everything else in general.

"I wanna go to the lake," North suddenly declared.

"Today?"

"Yeah!"

The group went to the lake at least twice a year, and they'd only gone once this year. It made sense for them to go before the year ended, so Kaspian ended up agreeing to go. The lake was always fucking freezing though, and people like North and Stella tended to be cold throughout the year, so it wasn't exactly an ideal place for them to be. However, there was a cabin that North's parents owned, so all of them always just ended up staying there for the night.

Rich people things.

Kaspian was getting ready to go to the library before meeting the group, when North sent a message on the group chat.