Whatever past you come from, you don't have to go back
"He'll like this one. It's made out of black glass. It's perfect," I think out loud. "We'll take this one," I tell the employee.
"Okay. That'll be $700. Do you want it delivered," he asks.
"Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!"
"No," I answer but the boys thought otherwise. "We will be taking it right now. And carrying it out," I smile. The employee nods, walking over to the counter.
"What're you talking about," Tristan whispers.
"That thing weighs like 200lbs," Dylan exaggerates.
"It's like 100lbs at most. It'll be fine. You guys got it, right Zach," I pat his shoulder knowing he's the strongest out of the group. It's definitely more than 90lbs.
"Ahah yeah heh heh," he chuckles unsurely.
"Perfect. You guys handle this and put it in the car and I'll go next door and get food, snacks and junk. Your favourite ones too," I assure, I hand Dylan one of my credit cards.
"Also drop it, crack it or so much put a dent or nick in it and it's coming out of your paycheck!" I yell while walking out the store.
•••
"I am not enjoying this," Trist mumbles smushed against the window.
"Neither am I," Zach muffles against the other window. Basically the coffee table fits. With one exception. It has to go in the middle leaving barely any space for Tristan and Zach in the back. So they're being squashed by the coffee table and smushed into the window.
"We are almost there," I inform as Dylan laughs at them.
"Dylan, I advise you to shut up," Tristan mutters.
"Or I'll physically hurt you," Zach threatens but that doesn't stop Dylan. He takes out his phone and snaps a few pictures.
"Guys if you decide to murder Dylan. Please schedule it after we bring in the coffee table," I advise.
"Deal as long as I get to break his arm," Zach grumbles. I laugh pulling into the underground parking. Once I park Tristan and Zach immediately open the door and stretch.
"Should've put on the child locks," Dylan jokes.
"That would've been hilarious," I agree as I get out of the car. Zach, Dylan and Tristan all carry the coffee table as I open the door and press buttons for them. I'm also carrying all the groceries. We finally make it to the top and walk down the hallway. I can hear the music from here. I use my key and open the door seeing Chase, Shawn and Alex sitting around as AJ is yelling and singing song lyrics out loud. Hendrix is cleaning up the rest of the broken coffee table.
"Woohoo AJ!" I shout. The boys all turn my way and Chase gets up walking over to me. He bends down to kiss my cheek as the other boys walk in with the coffee table.
"What's this," he asks.
"I told you I'll get you a new coffee table. So I did." I gesture over to the new and improved coffee table. The boys bring it in further to the living room.
"I thought you were joking. How much did this cost," Chase asks.
"$700, child labour of three boys and pain and suffering of two," Zach exaggerates. Chase snaps his head to me and I shrug.
"I know it's pricey but it's black glass. Better than your old one and don't pay me back. It's a gift," I make clear as I walk to the kitchen. Chase follows me in and I take out frozen pizzas.
"What did I do to deserve the best fiancée ever," Chase questions, taking the boxes of pizzas from my hand. I turn on the oven while he opens them up.
"Avenge the gates of hell to collect your devil princess," I ramble. Chase looks at me weirdly before I laugh.
"Such a pretty face with an odd personality," he mumbles walking out of the kitchen. I throw the pizzas in the oven and take out a large glass bowl. I bought a shit ton of candy. I take it out of the grocery bags and dump it all in.
"Hendrix!" I shout, needing help. Within seconds he storms in and I hand him the pop and glass cups. I pick up the bowl of candy and the other grocery bags with chips and donuts and walk back to the living room with Hendrix.
"Hey, I have a question. How did Shawn get sent to the camp? Class 0 is so hard to get," AJ asks. Chase turns down the music so we can all hear properly.
"I was literally asking Chase the same question the other day," I mention.
"Wait, I'm curious about what you all did," Alex says.
"Okay well why don't we all just explain our stories tonight. Once the pizza is done," I suggest. Everyone agrees and we sit around for the next 20 minutes playing music and uno as the pizza is being cooked. I hear a bell ding from the stove and get up to get it.
I take out the pizzas and place them all on a plate. I walk back over to the group and set it down on Chase's new coffee table. It's not long before everyone digs in. "See you need a table. You're welcome," I gloat to Chase as he pulls me onto his lap.
"Grazie," he whispers, nibbling on my earlobe. I giggle, pulling away slightly as the group gets settled.
"I'll go first," Hendrix volunteers. Chase wraps his arms around my waist and places his chin on my shoulder. I wrap my arms over his and snuggle back into him.
"Basically this was about a year or two ago...
Hendrix's POV - Two Years and 2 Months Ago
"You got this! Don't even worry about a thing. This is it," Daniel assures me. He's been my best friend for the past four years. We're closer than ever.
"You're right. I got this," I take a deep breath before starting up my car.
"You've done it a million times before. This time just with the big boys. Half a million on the line, you got this," he encourages. He pats my shoulder through the window.
I wait for the girl barely dressed in clothes to wave down the white flag. Once she does my foot presses on the accelerator harder than ever and I'm off. I keep my eyes focused on the road and the cars around me.
Driving is one of the things I'm good at. It's always been my safe place. A chance to clear my mind. I wanted to do it professionally but my dad thinks it's a waste of time and useless. So might as well make it illegal with an increased amount of money.
I keep my spot in first place as I drift left all around. I watch from my rear view mirror as two cars smash together. That's definitely going to be a hefty price to repair.
A car approaches me, coming up and knocking me to the side. I keep focused on not trying to tip over and anyway I can escape this. I slowly lift my foot off the accelerator slowing me down and the car ahead gets confused. I use this as my advantage to speed back up faster than before and pass him.
Asshole.
Before I have the chance to drift right this time, a car hits the back of mine sending me off course. I close my eyes as my car spins off track until it stops and I'm in the middle of a street. Sirens go off but what's half a million dollars compared to an easy bail.
I press on the gas taking a short detour. I know how to get back on track. As I keep driving I notice the one police car is now four. They increase by one every four minutes I've been driving. I make a sharp right turning back onto the track where I'm placed in 3rd.
One car ahead of me pulls over off to the side after noticing the seven cop cars behind me. Probably an ex-convict trying not to get charged again. I continue speeding until I hit the back of the car in the first place sending his car out of control. I try not to look back as I pass the finish line. I usually don't play dirty but I will if I have too.
I hit the emergency break and yank forward as the car stops. I take off the seatbelt quickly and get out of the car. The crowd cheers but when the police finally catch up. Everyone makes a run for it.
I throw my hands in the air knowing the drill. I've been arrested for reckless driving countless times. But usually I'll either get a speeding ticket or easy bail. Considering this is like my 50th time. I doubt I'm getting off that easy.
•
And I didn't. I had the option between seven years or this stupid camp. I chose the camp. Turns out Daniel had been the one who set up the whole knock me off track and called the cops. I should've known. No one got half a million either. I got disqualified by default for going off track and no one else made it to the finish line. They all fled as I got arrested.
Hendrix's POV - OVER -
Back to Charm's POV
"Damn Hendrix. I mean you may not have won the half a million but at least you won us. I open that's better than half a million," I say sincerely.
"Nah! It's half a million. I could buy friends with that for cheap," Alex jokes. I take a throw pillow and whip it at his face. "Ouch. Joking," Alex rubs his nose as we all laugh at him.
"If I'm being honest, yeah. It is better," Hendrix says.
"Wait but how did you end up being class 1 at first? Street racing is class 2," AJ asks.
"You left something out," Chase intervenes.
"Okay, okay! When the cops arrested me I accidentally punched one of them and ran before I got tackled. I tried fighting back so I could escape because my dad would lose his shit if I got arrested again. But that didn't work and I got tazed. Plus it wasn't my first charge of assault," Hendrix explains and we all nod our heads accordingly while laughing a little.
"I was just a 16 year old scared shitless of his dad. AJ you're up," Hendrix says.
"Alright well get ready for a boring story I guess. This was what two maybe three years ago," AJ says.
AJ's POV - Three Years and 2 Months Ago
"Yo! AJ," I look over at my teammate and best friend Ryan. "Hot bitches and drinks tonight after the game, my place. You in," he asks. He throws his arm over my shoulders as we walk down the school hallways.
"Hell yeah dude," I high-five him, continuing to walk down the halls.
"Good and control your anger. We don't need you benched again for fighting. You're our best player," the bell wins indicating we're officially late for class. Ryan let's go of me and runs off to his as I walk across the school.
"Hey babe," I wrap my hands around my tiny girlfriend's waist and breathe out. She giggles, wrapping her hands around my neck as she spins around. She kisses me before pulling away with a pout.
"I can't skip this time. I have a test and so do you," she reminds me. I roll my eyes.
"I'm already failing. What's one test going to do," I question.
"You know AJ you could be so smart if you tried you know. Last year you got straight A's and this year you aren't even passing your grade," she rambles on about how smart I am. I don't care.
"I'm gonna go smoke. I'll see you later," I kiss her cheek walking away and ignore her calls for me. Eventually she gives up and walks to her homeroom.
•
"Johnson! Here," I turn around to see Coach Benson. I approach him but take notice of how he doesn't look pleased with me.
"What's up Coach," I ask.
"You can't play tonight. School rules, you failed three classes already this year and you're failing 2 right now. The others aren't even above 60%," he explains.
"What do you mean I'm not playing tonight," I ask calmly. But I can still feel the slow anger rising in me.
"School policy. Until you can get your grades up to at least a C, you're benched Johnson," he clarifies before walking off. I ball my hands into fist ready to punch something.
"AJ! You good man," Ryan asks, approaching me.
"No I am not good!" I fume punching a locker.
"Oh shit. Man calm down you're like a fucking beast when you're mad," Ryan quickly leads me away from the huge dent in the locker. "What's up," he asks as we reach his lockers.
"Coach says I'm benched until I can get my grades up," I confess as Ryan rummages through his locker. As soon as the words fall from my mouth he slams his locker closed.
"What," he asks.
"You heard me," I retort.
"This is bullshit. You're our best player what the fuck man. I'm going to- no. We're going to us and the whole team," Ryan smirks mischievously.
"What?" I ask confused.
"Us and the whole team before the game. We are going to make Coach regret ever benching our best player. Ready for some fun Johnson," Ryan looks up to me. I nod agreeing.
But I didn't have any idea what I was in for. Who knew a harmless prank could cause such harm